n. 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