A Belgian Boy’s Story of the Ruin of Aerschot
The story of a delicate boy of sixteen, as told in the following letter which he himself wrote from Antwerp to his former employer, an American living at the time…
From: 1914 C.E. To: 1915 C.E.
Location: Aarschot, Belgium
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
“A Belgian Boy’s Story of the Ruin of Aerschot” from Thrilling Stories of The Great War by Logan Marshall, Gilbert Parker, Vance Thompson and Philip Gibbs, 1915.
To the thousands of unhappy Belgian refugees driven from their homes by the advancing Germans and transported to England the pity of the whole world has gone out; yet even more deplorable than the condition of these was the fate of those who were left behind to suffer at the hands of a relentless enemy. The story of a delicate boy of sixteen, as told in the following letter which he himself wrote from Antwerp to his former employer, an American living at the time in England, is typical.
When this boy, fleeing from Aerschot, arrived in Antwerp, without friends, money or papers, there was no agency to help him. If he had been a smaller child somebody doubtless would have taken pity on him and carried him with them as they fled; if he had been able to preserve his legitimatization papers the Belgian authorities would have given him some support; and, of course, if he had been older, he would have been immediately enlisted in the service of his country. As it was he could only drift before the foe, and suffer.
"Antwerp, Sept. 23, 1914.
"Dear Sir: As you correctly said in my testimonial when you were closing the office, the war has isolated Belgium. Really I can well say that I have been painfully struck by this scourge, and I permit myself, dear sir, to give you a little description of my Calvary.
"Your offices were closed in the beginning of August. As I did not know what to do and as the fatherland had not enough men to defend its territory I tried to get myself accepted as a volunteer.
"On Aug. 10 I went to Aerschot, my native town, to get my certificate of good conduct. Then I went to Louvain to have same signed by the commander of the place. This gentleman sent me to St. Nicholas and thence to Hemixem, where I was rejected as too young. I then decided to return to Brussels, passing through Aerschot. Here my aunt asked me to stay with her, saying that she was afraid of the Germans.
"I remained at Aerschot. This was Aug. 15. Suddenly, on the 19th, at nine o'clock in the morning, after a terrible bombardment, the Germans made their entry into Aerschot. In the first street which they passed through they broke into the houses. They brought out six men whom I knew very well and immediately shot them. Learning of this, I fled to Louvain, where I arrived on Aug. 19 at one o'clock.
His Arrest
"At 1.30 p. m. the Germans entered Louvain. They did not do anything to the people in the beginning.
On the following Saturday, Aug. 22, I started to return to Aerschot, as I had no money. (All my money was still in Brussels.) The whole distance from Louvain to Aerschot I saw nothing but German armies, always Germans. They did not say a word to me until I suddenly found myself alone with three of the "Todeshusaren" (Death's-head Hussars), the vanguard of their regiment. They arrested me at the point of the revolver, demanded where I was going and why I had run away from Aerschot. They said that the whole of Aerschot was now on fire, because the son of the burgomaster had killed a general. Finally they searched me from head to foot, and I heard them discuss the question of my fate.
"Finally the non-commissioned officer told me that I could continue on my way; that they would certainly take care of me in Aerschot, as I had been firing at Germans, and they would shoot me when I arrived. I would have liked better to return to Louvain, but with an imperious gesture he pointed out my road to Aerschot, and I continued. On arriving within a few hundred meters of the town I was arrested once more.
"I forgot to tell you that of all the houses which I passed between Louvain and Aerschot, there were only a few left intact. Upon these the Germans had written in chalk in the German language: ' Please spare. Good people. Do not burn.' Lying along the road I saw many dead horses putrefying. There were also to be seen pigs, goats, and cows which had nothing to eat, and which were howling like wild beasts. Not a soul was to be seen in the houses or in the streets. Everything was empty.
"I was then arrested when a short distance from Aerschot. There were with me two or three families from Sichem, a village between Diest and Aerschot. We remained in the fields alongside the road, while the Prussian regiments with their artillery continued to pass by. When the artillery had passed we were marched at the point of the bayonet to the church in Aerschot. On arrival at the church the families of Sichem (there were at least twenty small children) were permitted to continue on their way, and the non-commissioned officer, delighted that I could speak German, permitted me to go to my aunt's house.
A Town in Ruins
"The aspect of the town was terrible. Not more than half the houses were standing. In the first three streets which the Germans traversed there was not a single house left. There was not a house in the town but had been pillaged. All doors had been burst open. There was nothing, nothing left. The stench in the streets was insupportable.
"I then went home, or, rather, I should say, I went to the house where my father had always been boarding. You know, perhaps, that my mother died twelve years ago. I did not find my father, but according to what the people told me he had been arrested, and, with five other Aerschot men, taken to Germany—I do not know for what purpose.
"I got into this house without any difficulty, because the door was smashed in. I stayed there from Saturday, Aug. 22, up to Wednesday, the 26th, a little more comfortable. There was nothing to eat left in the house. I lived on what a few women who remained in Aerschot could give me. I was forced to go with the soldiers into the cellars of M. X., director of a large factory, to hunt for wine. As recompense I got a loaf. It was not much, but at this moment it meant very much for me.
Burying the Dead
"On Wednesday, Aug. 26, we were all once more locked up in the church. It was then half-past four in the afternoon. We could not get out, even for our necessities. On Thursday, about nine o'clock, each of us was given a piece of bread and a glass of water. This was to last the whole day. At ten o'clock a lieutenant came in, accompanied by fifteen soldiers. He placed all the men who were left in a square, selected seventy of us and ordered us out to bury the corpses of Germans and Belgians around the town, which had been lying there since the battle of the 19th.
That was a week that these bodies had remained there, and it is no use to ask if there was a stench. Afterward we had to clean the streets, and then it was evening.
The Leveled Guns
"They just got ready to shoot us. There were then ten of us. The guns had already been leveled at us, when suddenly a German soldier ran out shouting that we had not fired on them. A few minutes before we had heard rifle-firing and the Germans said it was the Aerschot people who were shooting, though all these had been locked up in the church and we were the only inhabitants then in the streets, cleaning them, under surveillance of Germans. It was this German who saved our lives.
"Picture to yourself what we have suffered! It is impossible to describe. On Aug. 28 we were brought to Louvain, always guarded by German soldiers. There were with us about twenty old men, over eighty years of age. These were placed in two carts, tied to one another in pairs. I and about twenty of my unfortunate compatriots had then to pull the carts all the way to Louvain. It was hard, but that could be supported all the same.
"On arriving at Louvain I saw with my own eyes a German who shot at us. The Germans who were at the station shouted 'The civilians have been shooting’ and commenced a fusillade against us. Many of us fell dead, others wounded, but I had the chance to run away.
Marching Among German Camps
"I now took the road to Tirlemont, marching all the time among German camps. Once I was arrested. Again they wanted to shoot me, insisting that I was a student of the University of Louvain. The Germans pretend it was the students who caused the population in Louvain to shoot at them. However, my youth saved me, and I was set at liberty.
No Money and No Work
"All my money, the twenty francs which you presented me and my salary for five weeks, as well as my little savings, are lying in Brussels, and I cannot get at them... I cannot work, because there is no work to be got. I cannot cross over to England, as, to do this, it is necessary that there should be a whole family. In these horrible circumstances, I respectfully take the liberty of addressing you, and I hope you will aid me as best you can. I swear to you that I shall pay you back all that you give me. I have here in Antwerp no place, no family. The town will not give me any aid, because I have no papers to prove my identity. I threw all my papers away for fear of the Germans. I count then on you with a firm hope to pay you back later.
"Please accept, dear sir, my respectful greetings."
Marshall, Logan, et al. Thrilling Stories of the Great War: on Land and Sea, in the Air, under the Water. L. T. Myers, 1915.
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