As to Case: On August 22nd, 1914, in command of the munitions column detachment of the 1st Foot Artillery Regiment No. 9, I arrived with my staff at our quarters at Yschippe in Belgium. We numbered about 18 men and 14 horses. Beside ourselves, Munitions Column No. 5 was bivouacked to the south of the village, while Column No. 6 at the other end had been actually brought inside the village. The staff was quartered apart from the other troops in the neighbourhood of the church in two adjacent buildings. The occupants of these houses, both men and women, met me in a very friendly spirit.
At nine o'clock I lay down to sleep in my room on the first floor. At 11.30 I was awakened by a noise in the house, and my non-commissioned officer informed me that shots had been fired. As I myself had heard nothing, I did not believe the story, and returned to bed. Scarcely had I extinguished the light when a gun was fired, and the shot struck against the window-panes. I then alarmed all the men, and ordered the unharnessed waggon to be pushed crossways over the street, and the Mayor and six inhabitants to be brought to me as hostages, and tied together one pace apart from each other. I informed these persons that they would be placed in a line across the street if a single other shot was fired. The wives of the hostages took care that this statement of mine was made known throughout the place. After this, no more shooting occurred, and next day I left the village without further molestation.
Present: President of the Court, SCHWEINITZ. Secretary of the Court, LIPS.
There appeared as witness Sergeant-Major Peschke, who made the following statement:
As to Person: My name is Karl Friedrich August Peschke. I am 33 years old; Protestant; a merchant of table-glass; at present Sergeant-Major of the 6th (Foot) Artillery Munitions Column.
As to Case: From the 22nd-23rd August 1914 we lay at Yschippe; our waggons had been driven to the western exit of the place. I had myself at first found quarters in the village, and found my hosts there apparently friendly. But after I had learnt that already on the preceding day shooting had taken place, I determined to pass the night in bivouac. There we came under fire about 11.45 p.m. from the direction of Corbion, at a distance of some 500-600 metres to the west of us. I at once ordered the watch to seek shelter and reply vigorously to the fire, which then in a short time ceased. After about a quarter of an hour the firing recommenced, and, indeed, more actively than before. When I myself with four men advanced towards our assailants they fled in the direction of Corbion. When we reached the hedge from behind which firing had taken place our assailants were already from 100-200 metres away. I recognised unmistakably that these persons were civilians, and not soldiers.