Trafika Europe 14 - Italian Piazza

Edgardo Franzosini

of Wi lhelm I I , to act as human shields against the gunf ire of their fel low citizens who were resisting the invasion. Those who didn’t march fast enough on the muddy roads were rewarded with a bul let to the nape of the neck. Chi ldren were beaten to death with the butt end of ri f les before their mothers’ eyes. Sons and husbands were bayonetted before their sisters, their wives, who were then ordered to dig the graves. Girls were raped and murdered, their bodies left by the sides of the road, skirts upturned, bel l ies sl iced open. Boys were beaten and hung by their scrotum. Husbands and wives were bound together with rope, back to back, straw stuffed into their trousers and under their skirts: an off icer would approach them with a smi le on his face and a cigarette in his hand, ready to set them on f ire. Chi ldren were ordered to dance before the bodies of their parents, to dance and sing the old folk song: I l pleut, i l pleut, bergère —It ’s raining, it ’s raining, l ittle shepherd girl . The bel l towers of churches were toppled out of fear they could be used by snipers. Perhaps al l of this was not in strict compl iance with the laws of war and the international conventions signed by the Kaiser, but the strenuous Belgian resistance had ultimately exasperated the soldiers of the German Army.

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