Tamines massacre

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Tamines , the Sambre and the Monument

The massacre Tamines was a war crime in the First World War . It was celebrated between 21 and 23 August 1914 in Tamines , now Sambreville , in the Belgian region of Wallonia . German troops shot 384 civilians. This contributed to the global anti-German sentiment.

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Historians of the Tamines massacre mainly rely on verbal reports from the survivors, press reports and soldiers' letters and diaries.

Another important and controversial source was the propaganda Bryce Report by British historian James Bryce , which he published on behalf of British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith . Bryce investigated the German war crimes against the Belgian civilian population ( Report of the Committee on Alleged German Outrages ). In the report serious allegations were made against the German army command; it came out in 1915 and was sold for a penny. As planned by the client, the Bryce Report had an enormous propaganda effect, especially in the hitherto neutral states, especially the USA. Today, however, the majority of researchers regard this report as a propaganda work.

On May 10, 1915, in response to the English and French reports , the Foreign Office in Berlin published a white paper on the German invasion of Belgium, which confirmed the alleged existence of the snipers who were responsible for the German reaction with their actions . This white paper is rated by today's historiography as an unsuitable source, since "its basic theses are untenable and in many of the witness statements it is demonstrably contestable and systematically falsified".

prehistory

On the morning of August 4, 1914, German cavalry units had advanced to reconnaissance on Belgian territory - in disregard of Belgian neutrality. The German battle plan, which was conceived by General Alfred von Schlieffen (1833–1913) in 1905 and modified by his successor Helmuth von Moltke (" Schlieffen Plan "), envisaged a march through Belgium to attack France from the north.

The neutrality of Belgium, which had been sealed in the protocol of the London conference of 1831, had been violated by the invasion of the German troops and war was declared. As provided for in the constitution , King Albert I took command of the army. For the first time in its history, Belgium was at war.

From August 3, the First and Second German Armies stormed the city ​​of Liège in order to conquer it . The Belgian defenders offered tougher resistance than the general staff had expected; around 5,000 German soldiers were killed in the siege and storming of the city. With the fall of Liege (August 8th the first fort surrendered, most of the others by the 14th), an important obstacle on the way to Brussels was removed.

General von Bülow , at the head of the Second Army, advanced towards Namur and Charleroi . On August 12th he reached Huy , where a Belgian brigade had lodged after crossing the Meuse . On August 20, a German column on orders from v. Bülows in the city of Andenne over two hundred civilians.

The Second Army continued its advance towards the river Sambre (it flows into the Meuse at Namur) and on August 20 reached the area around Sambreville , between Namur and Charleroi. Opposite her, the 19th Infantry Division of the 10th Corps of the French Army had taken a position. The French were supported by a less important group of the Gardes civiques of Charleroi.

Arrival of the Germans in Tamines

On Friday around 6 a.m., a German cavalry patrol , consisting of five Uhlans , was on the way from Velaine-sur-Sambre to Ligny. As she had just reached the town hall of Tamines (it belongs to Sambreville), about thirty French soldiers and some artillery riflemen of the Garde civique opened fire and wounded one of the cavalrymen. The other four fled towards the Velaine forest. The injured was the first prisoner of the Garde civique. Villagers came out of their houses and shouted “Vive la Belgique!” And “Vive la France!” These incidents are considered to be the initial spark for the following massacre of the civilian population by the Germans.

On August 21, around five in the morning, German soldiers crossed the Sambre, some established themselves at the bridge, others spread out in the streets of Tamines and broke into, looted and set fire to houses. Most of the residents who failed to escape were captured.

shooting

According to the report of the official Belgian commission of inquiry of 1915, on the evening of August 22, around 400 to 450 men were rounded up in front of the church, where a firing platoon opened fire. According to the witnesses, the execution peloton consisted of five rows of riflemen lined up one above the other. When the order to shoot was given, the Belgians threw themselves on the ground, so few were hit. Despite the order to get up again, the Belgians remained lying on the ground and only got up again after massive threats from the Germans, only to be hit by another volley immediately afterwards . According to witnesses, the peloton was supported by a machine gun from the bridge, although by now most of the people were already fatally hit or covered by the bodies of those shot. From now on the Germans began to shoot wildly at those who were still standing.

After the peloton had withdrawn, soldiers with Red Cross armbands, accompanied by soldiers with bayonets attached, came to take care of the wounded. According to witnesses, however, many of the seriously injured could no longer be saved. Around a hundred bodies were recovered from the river.

monument

On August 22, 1926, a monumental memorial to the victims of the massacre was inaugurated. It replaced a simple wooden cross from 1918 that commemorated the dead. A cubic pedestal with an allegorical figure symbolizing freedom rises above a three-tiered base . At her feet lie the bodies of two men and a woman, representing the victims of the massacre. The names of the victims are listed on three boards.

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  • Valleys of Meuse and Sambre . The Bryce Report into German Atrocities in Belgium, 12 May 1915. Report of the Committee on Alleged German Outrages. Appointed by His Britannic Majesty's Government and Presided Over by the Right Hon. Viscount Bryce. [2]
  • The Martyrdom of Belgium. Massaccres of Peaceable Citizens, Women and Children by the German Army . Testimony of Eye-Witnesses. [3]
  • Germany's violations of the laws of war 1914–1915 . Compiled under the auspices of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs; tr. and with an introduction by JOP Bland. With facsimiles of documents. Published London 1915 full text .

literature

  • Peter Buitenhuis: The Great War of Words: British, American, and Canadian propaganda and Fiction, 1914–1933. University of British Columbia Press. 1987. p. 27ff.
  • John Horne, Alan Kramer: German war atrocities 1914. The controversial truth. Translated from the English by Udo Rennert. Hamburger Edition, Hamburg 2004. ISBN 3-930908-94-8 Review by Jan Süsselbeck

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ one day ( online )
  2. ^ Karl Josef Scheible: World War 1914–1918. ISBN 1412020484
  3. ^ Bryce report: Committee on alleged German outrages. British Library, Collection ; Full text accessed on April 2, 2015.
  4. ↑ Helmut Donat: Whoever stands in our way. Zeit online, 1984. p. 4 , Laurence van Ypersele: Belgium . In: Encyclopedia First World War. P. 47.
  5. ↑ Jean Joseph Rouquerol: Général J. Rouquerol. Charleroi, août 1914… . Paris 1932. p. 67 ( BNF : [1] ).
  6. ↑ map (the two places are 96 kilometers apart by road)
  7. ↑ Maurice Tasnier and Raoul van Overstraeten: L'armée belge dans la guerre mondiale , Bruxelles, 1923, p. 22-25. Detailed map: Schmitz & Nieuwland, Vol. 3. p. 12.
  8. ↑ Ibidem, Témoignage n ° 4 du Bourgmestre Duculot du 29/11/1915
  9. ↑ The martyrdom of Belgium; official report of massacres of peaceable citizens (1915). Chapter II.
  10. ↑ Chapter II.
  11. ↑ Figure

Coordinates: 50 ° 25 ′ 58.8 ″  N , 4 ° 36 ′ 32.4 ″  E