is illustrated by an entry in the diary of Kurt Hoffman, a one-year’s man in the First Jaegers, who on Aug. 5 was in front of Fort Fleron.  He illustrates his story by a sketch map.  “The position,” he says, “was dangerous.  As suspicious civilians were hanging about—­houses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, were cleared, the owners arrested, (and shot the following day.) Suddenly village A was fired at.  Out of it bursts our baggage train, and the Fourth Company of the Twenty-seventh Regiment who had lost their way and been shelled by our own artillery.  From the point D.P., (shown in diary,) I shoot a civilian with rifle at 400 meters slap through the head, as we afterward ascertained.”  Within a few hours, Hoffman, while in house 3, was himself under fire from his own comrades and narrowly escaped being killed.  A German, ignorant that house 8 had been occupied, reported, as was the fact, that he had been fired upon from that house.  He had been challenged by the field patrol, and failed to give the countersign.  Hoffman continues: 

“Ten minutes later, people approach who are talking excitedly—­apparently Germans.  I call out ‘Halt, who’s there?’ Suddenly rapid fire is opened upon us, which I can only escape by quickly jumping on one side—­with bullets and fragments of wall and pieces of glass flying around me.  I call out ’Halt, here Field Patrol.’  Then it stops, and there appears Lieutenant Roemer with three platoons.  A man has reported that he had been shot at out of our house; no wonder, if he does not give the countersign.”

The entry, though dated Aug. 5, was evidently written on the 6th or later, because the writer refers to the suspicious civilians as having been shot on that day.  Hoffman does not indicate of what offense these civilians were guilty, and there is no positive evidence to connect their slaughter with the report made by the German who had been fired on by his comrades.  They were “suspicious” and that was enough.

The systematic execution of civilians, which in some cases, as the diary just cited shows, was founded on a genuine mistake, was given a wide extension through the Province of Liege.  In Soumagne and Micheroux very many civilians were summarily shot.  In a field belonging to a man named E. fifty-six or fifty-seven were put to death.  A German officer said:  “You have shot at us.”  One of the villagers asked to be allowed to speak, and said:  “If you think these people fired kill me, but let them go.”  The answer was three volleys.  The survivors were bayoneted.  Their corpses were seen in the field that night by another witness.  One at least had been mutilated.  These were not the only victims in Soumagne.  The eyewitness of the massacre saw, on his way home, twenty bodies, one that of a young girl of thirteen.  Another witness saw nineteen corpses in a meadow.

At Blegny Trembleur, on the 6th, some civilians were captured by German soldiers, who took steps to put them to death forthwith, but were restrained by the arrival of an officer.  The prisoners subsequently were taken off to Battice and five were shot in a field.  No reason was assigned for their murder.