Rather than consider that the small-arms fire may have come from the French troops on the west bank, the German soldiers blamed Belgian civilians, killing seven and burning down 15 to 20 houses in reprisal.

The massacre was another reprisal against anticipated civilian resistance and was the largest of the German war crimes perpetrated during the invasion, which became collectively known as the Rape of Belgium.

The wooded ridge on the east bank was topped by the Napoleonic era stone Citadel of Dinant overlooking the town and the Meuse bridge, 100 m (330 ft) below.

[2] Before the battle, the Mayor of Dinant urged the population to not take part in the fighting and forbade manifestations in support of the Allies.

Five German infantry brigades, three cavalry divisions with horse artillery and machine-gun detachments and ten Jäger battalions crossed the Belgian border.

[5] On 15 August, troops of the German 3rd and 4th Cavalry divisions, five battalions of Jäger and three field artillery groups, attempted to take Dinant by coup de main.

Jäger descended the stairway and advanced into the town by 1:30 p.m.[7] The French, lacking artillery, were forced out of the citadel and then back over the bridge to the west bank.

Some German detachments conveyed in motor vehicles armed with machine-guns, attacked houses in the neighbourhood of Dinant and several inhabitants of Houx were killed and the village sacked and burnt down.

German infantry and pioneers advanced from Ciney along the central road into Dinant, killed seven civilians and burned 15 to 20 houses.

[2] A German soldier wrote later that they had been ordered to ... kill everyone and wipe off the map one part on the left bank [sic] of the Meuse!!!

The foremost troops had reached the Meuse, where they were fired on from all sides; in the panic, Germans may have shot at each other but claimed later that revolvers and shotguns had been used by civilians (no survivors admitted to taking up arms).

The Germans had anticipated attacks by civilians, moved forward in two columns and each time they reached a door they stopped, fired through windows and threw bombs into the cellars.

In the late afternoon, 19 men at the ironworks were shot; the rest were taken to the Place d'Armes, being made to shout, "Long live Germany!

Soldiers of GR 100 separated 137 men, lined them up against a garden wall and shot them, on the orders of Lieutenant-Colonel von Kielmannsegg, the I Battalion commander.

[17][a] Grenadier Regiment 101 and the 3rd Pioneer Company entered Les Rivages during the afternoon, to build a pontoon bridge over the Meuse.

Some inhabitants of Dinant cheered the success of the French and the cliffs nearby created echoes, which made it difficult to judge the direction of fire.

The unusual acoustics contributed to the German belief that they were attacked from behind by civilians, while they were being engaged by the French from Bourdon on the west bank.

Two battalions of the 8th Infantry Brigade were in reserve with an attached cavalry regiment and d'Esperey ordered the commander, Charles Mangin to rush to Dinant.

[20] Dinant was looted and German troops destroyed public and historic buildings, including the collegial church and the town hall.

The Germans claimed that the civilians helped the French and 19 people, including two ten-year-olds from Hastière-par-delà, were killed and the village burned.

[26] The killings continued on 24 August; houses burned for days and lit up the countryside and a stench of corpses polluted the air as they decomposed in the sun.