For awareness of
uncivilized behaviour,
From the
unraveling illegal invasion
Of Belgium
territory - the diplomatic
Mission of
Belgium Legation in London,
Made requests fo examples
of German
Barbarous acts made
on Catholic clergy.
i
Across the
invaded country of Belgium,
Great disregard
was made on houses
Of religion - with
all churches profaned
And destroyed -
as the army of Germans
Passed through
villages and towns -
Such buildings
used as prisons, stables,
And charnel
houses - as their vessels
Of religion were
invariably stolen.
A priest told his
own tale of escape -
When on 15
August, where in Schaffen
At 9 a.m. came
swarms of Germans
Into the village
- claiming untruths
Of being fired on
- they turned on
The people, to
steal, burn and murder.
As countless
houses succumbed to flame,
Came murders of 27
innocents - the priest
Fell into the executor’s
hands - ill treated
They built a
gallows for him to hang -
Until then,
forced to stare at the sun.
A fellow prisoner
was beside him,
To suffer broken
arms, then coldly killed.
With the
burgomasters house alight,
They threw the priest
inside, only
To pull him out -
a game played all day.
By evening, he
was made to look towards
The church - the
last time he would see it.
As evening drew
on they released him,
To flog him - lying
on the ground, bleeding
An officer ordered
him up and to go -
At distance they
fired some 50 rounds.
He dropped - they
stopped, he lay rigid
As if shot - half
under a bush, ragged -
Left for dead he made
an escape to Diest.
ii
A priest at
Buechen, Father de Clerck,
An invalid, on 21
August was arrested -
Accused of
shooting at German Soldiers.
An impossibility,
as he was not even
Able to conduct a
service - the man,
Was dragged, hoisted
atop of a cannon.
Then pulled down,
thrown into a ditch -
By his arms and
legs the soldiers pulled
Him along a pavement
- the elderly man,
Suffering in
agony, answered that he
Preferred death than
such cruelness.
At aged 83, he
was then shot dead.
iii
By a witness on
24 August, the priest
Of Gelrode was
taken to Aereshot,
Where with three
wounded men,
He was accused as
an English spy -
Within the town
hall, he then suffered.
On the next day
the priest brought before
The church, to be
hit by their rifle butts,
Until his arms
and hands dripped blood -
Taken from there,
across to the bridge
Over the Demer he
was shot and left.
In morning his
body thrown to the river.
iv
In Louvain on 27
August, civilians
In the number of
seventy, were taken.
Among them a
Spanish and American
Priest - The
people were then dragged
About the town
all day - given insults
And molestation
with regular threats,
Of them to suffer
military executions.
The invaders of a
neutral country,
Proclaimed their full
intentions -
As on 6 September,
at Grivegnée,
Liège
- where enforced
occupation
Of German authorities
stated;
'When Hostages
are taken the priests,
Burgomasters and members
of
The Communal Administration
Are to be put at the
head of the list.'
Under the lists
of Commission Of Inquiry,
Came the evidence for Germanic military
Cruelty, put on
those in the clerical body.
Hence many
dioceses witnessed such
Killings of innocent
Catholic priests.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1915. German
Outrages on Catholic Clergy - Torture and Murder - Invalid Priest of 83 Shot. The Daily
Telegraph, [online] 9 Jan. P.10.
Col.4. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11331132/Daily-Telegraph-January-9-1915.html
[Accessed: 10 January 2015].
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 10 January 2015).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered
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