'o ♦ e« • O •! • .# ' ^^ *jfht/jC^ • Ta ^. ^ % *5;5^\iTv* ' ^ c-V •^ ^oV^ o -^^<^^ kP-T!, • tf . > 'o» ft 1^ '-^vyiPMf^ 0^ '^^ •' 5, /yj^ii^.^^^ .^'.•A-i:.X .A:;^.-^ /% * V-'-'^c,''-" V^^^Vv'^ %,'••••%<'' •3 i.-.V .0' ^. \i:>. *' r. ^O' ^^. GERMAN ATROCITIES GERMAN ATROCITIES AN OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION J J -''■ BY J; H. MORGAN, M.A., OF THE INNER TEMPLE, BARRI8TER-AT-LAW, PBOFEBSOR OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON; LATE HOME OFFICE COMMISSIONER WITH THE BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE Mentem mortalia tangunt NEW YORK E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY 681 FIFTH AVENUE COPTBIOHT, 1916, BT E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY Printed in the U. S. A. -6 1916 ©CI.A427982 TO M. ARMAND MOLLARD MINI8TRE PLENIPOTENTIAIRE, MEMBER OP "la COMMISSION INSTITUEE EN VTJE DE CONSTATER LES ACTES C0MMI8 PAR l'ENNEMI en VIOLATION DU DROIT DE8 GENS," THIS WORK IS DEDICATED IN RECOGNITION OP HIS COURTESY AND COLLABORATION IN THE PURSUIT OP A COMMON TASK. CONTENTS FAQB Prefatory Note v Dedication ....,., vii CHAPTEB I. — Introductory : (1) The British Enquiry 1 (2) The German Case — a critical Analysis of the German White Book .... 6 (3) German Credibility — a Review of the Evi- dence ...,.,. 30 (4) The Future of International Law and the Question of Eetribution .... 44 II. — The British Enquiry in France: (1) Methods of Enquiry 60 (2) Outrages upon Combatants in the Field . 64 (3) Treatment of Civil Population ... 76 (4) Outrages upon Women — the German Occu- pation of Bailleul ..... 81 (5) Private Property ..... 84 (6) Observations on a Tour of the Marne and the Aisne ...... 85 (7) Bestiality of German Officers and Men . 87 (8) Conclusion 90 III. — Documentary (Nev7 Evidence) : (1) Depositions and Statements (Fifty-six in number) illustrating breaches of the Laws of War by German Troops, mainly Out- rages on British Soldiers ... 93 CONTENTS PAGE (2) Documents relative to the German Occupa- tion of Bailleul 122 (3) Evidence relating to the Murder of Eleven Civilians at Doulieu .... l54 (4) Deposition of a Survivor of the Massacre of Tamines 137 (5) Five German Diaries ..... 139 (6) Documents forwarded by the Kussian Gov- ernment ....... 146 (7) The German White Book : The Introductory Memorandum ...... 158 (8) Depositions relating to the Massacre of Wounded and Captive Highlanders by a German Bombing Party on September 25th, 1915, at Haisnea . . . .169 (9) Depositions as to the use of Incendiary Bul- lets by the German Troops . . . 174 (10) Depositions as to the Employment by Ger- man Troops of Russian Prisoners upon Military Workg on the Western Front . 177 PREFATORY NOTE Professor Morgan desires to express his obligations to the Russian Embassy, the Foreign Office, the Home Office, the French Ministry of War, and the General Headquarters Staff of the British Expeditionary Force for the assistance which they have given him. For the opinions expressed in Part IV. of the Intro- ductory Chapter Professor Morgan is alone respon- sible. The whole of the documents given in the ''Documentary Chapter" of this book (except the Memorandum from the German White Book which has been published in German, though not, of course, in English) are now published for the first time. II GERMAN ATROCITIES Chapter I INTRODUCTORY THE BRITISH ENQUIRY The second chapter of this book has already appeared in the pages of the June issue of the Nineteenth Cen- tury and After. At the time of its appearance nu- merous suggestions were made — notably by the Morning Post and the Daily Chronicle— that it should be republished in a cheaper and more accessible form. A similar suggestion has come to us f rom^ the Ministry of War in Paris, reinforced by the intima- tion that the review containing the article was not obtainable owing to its having inunediately gone out of print. Since then an official reprint has been largely circulated in neutral countries by the British Government, and an abbreviated reprint of it has been published by the Parliamentary Recruiting Com- mittee in the form of a pamphlet. The Secretary to 1 2 GERMAN ATROCITIES the Committee informs me that considerably over a million and a half copies of this pamphlet have been circulated. At the suggestion of Mr. Fisher Unwin, and by the courtesy of the editor of the Nineteenth Century, the article is now republished as a whole, but with it is published for the first time a documentary chapter containing a selection of illustrative documents, none of which have hitherto appeared in print. For per- mission to publish them I am chiefly indebted to the Home Office and the Foreign Office. Needless to say, the original article also was submitted to the Home Office authorities, by whom it was duly read and ap- proved before publication. These documents by no means exhaust the unpublished evidence in my pos- session, but my object has been not to multiply proofs but to exemplify them, and, in particular, as is ex- plained in the following chapter, to supplement the Bryce Report on matters which, owing to the exig- encies of space and the pre-occupation with the case of Belgium, occupy a comparatively subordinate place in that document. This volume may, in fact, be regarded as a postscript to the Bryce Report— it does not pretend to be anything more.^ There is, however, an extremely important aspect of the question which has not yet been the subject of an official report in this country, and that is the *The writer's chief contributions to the Bryce Report will be found on pages 190, etc., of the Committee's Appendix [cd. 7895.] GERMAN ATROCITIES 3 German White Book.^ It has never been published in England, and is very difficult to obtain. There is some reason to believe that the German Govern- ment now entertain considerable misgivings about the expediency of its original publication, and are none too anxious to circulate it. The reason will, I think, be tolerably obvious to anyone who will do me the honour to read the critical analysis which follows. I will not attempt to prejudice that analysis at this stage. I shall have something to say later in this chapter as to the credibility of the German Gov- ernment in these matters. It is a rule of law that, when a defendant puts his character in issue, or makes imputations on the prosecutor or his witnesses, as the Germans have done, his character may legit- imately be the subject of animadversion. To impeach it at this stage might appear, however, to beg the question of the value of the White Book, which is best examined as a matter of internal evidence with- out the importation of any reflections on the char- acter of its authors. As regards the value of the evidence on the other side — the English, Belgian, and French Reports — I doubt if any careful reader requires persuasion as to their authenticity. In the case of the Bryce Re- port, the studied sobriety of its tone — to say nothing of the known integrity and judiciousness of its au- ' Published by the German Foreign Office under the title of **Die volkerechstwidrige Fiihrung des belgischen Volkskriegs. " The abbreviation "G. W. B. " will be used in the notes to this chapter. 4 GERIVIAN ATROCITIES thors — carried instant conviction to the minds of all honest and thoughtful men, and that conviction was assuredly not disturbed by the vituperative descrip- tion of it by the Kolnische Zeitung as a **mean col- lection of official lies." No attempt has ever been made to answer it. As regards the French Reports, which are not as fully known in this country as they might be,^ I had the honour of working in collabora- tion with M. Llollard, a member of the French Com- mission of Inquiry, and I was greatly impressed with their scrupulous regard for truth, and their inflexi- ble insistence on corroboration. My own methods of inquiry are sufficiently indicated in the chapter which follows, but I may add two illustrations of what, I think, may fairly be described as the scrupulousness with which the inquiries at General Headquarters were conducted. The reader may remember that in May of last year a report as to the crucifixion of two Canadian soldiers obtained wide currency in this country. A Staff officer and myself immediately in- stituted inquiries by means of a visit to the Canadian Headquarters, at that time situated in the neighbour- hood of Ypres, and by the cross-examination of wounded Canadians on the way to the base. We found that this atrocity was a matter of common be- lief among the Canadian soldiers, and at times we seemed to be on a hot scent, but eventually we failed to discover any one who had been an actual eye- ' The Reports have been translated, but not the evidence. I am indebted to M. Mollard for providing me with copies of the latter, to which reference is made below. GERMAN ATROCITIES 5 witness of the atrocity in question. It may or may not have occurred — we have had irrefragable proof that such things have occurred — and it is conceivable that those who saw it had perished and their testi- mony with them. But it was felt that mere hearsay evidence, however strong, was not admissible, and, as a result, no report was ever issued. In the other case a man in a Highland regiment, on discovering himself in hospital in the company of a wounded Prussian, attempted to assault the latter, swearing that he had seen him bayoneting a wounded British soldier as he lay helpless upon the field. He was positive as to the identification and there could be no doubt as to the sincerity of his statements. But as one Prussian Guardsman is very like another — the facial and cranial uniformity is remarkable — and there was no corroboration as to identity, no action was taken. As to the fact of the atrocity having occurred there could, however, be no doubt. I may add that the numerous British officers whom I interrogated in the earlier stages of the war showed a marked disinclination — innate, I think, in the Brit- ish character — to believe stories reflecting upon the honour of the foe to whom they were opposed in the field. But at a later stage I found that this indulgent scepticism had wholly disappeared. Facts had been too intractable, experience too harsh, disillusion too bitter. The lesson has been dearly learnt — ^many a brave and chivalrous officer has owed his death to the treachery of a mean and unscrupulous foe. But it has been learnt once and for all. And, indeed, judg- 6 GERMAN ATROCITIES ing by the information which reaches me from vari- ous sources, the enemy affords our men no chance of forgetting it. n THE GERMAN CASE — A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE GER- MAN WHITE BOOK On May 10th — some five days before the publication of the Bryce Report — the German Government drew up a voluminous White Book purporting to be a Report on Offences against International Law in the conduct of the war by the Belgians. It may be de- scribed as a kind of intelligent anticipation of the case they might have to meet ; the actual case, as pre- sented in the Bryce Report, they have never at- tempted to meet, and to this day that report has never been answered. The German White Book — of which no translation is accessible to the public in this country— has attracted very little attention over here, and I propose to make a close and reasoned an- alysis of it, for no more damning and incriminating defence has ever been put forth by a nation arraigned at the bar of public opinion. In doing so I shall rely on the German Report itself and shall make no at- tempt to refute it by drawing upon the evidence of the English and Belgian Reports, convincing though that is, because to do so might seem to beg the ques- tion at issue, which is the relative credibility of the parties. GERMAN ATROCITIES 7 German Invocation of The Hague Conventions. The case which the German Government had avow- edly to meet was the wholesale slaughter of Belgian civilians, and the fact of such slaughter having taken place they make no attempt to deny. They enter a plea of justification and, in a word, they attempt to argue that the levee en masse or ''People's War" of the Belgian nation was not conducted in accordance with the terms of the Hague regulations relating to improvised resistance in cases of this kind. I will not here go over the well-trodden ground of Belgian neu- trality ; it is enough that in a now notorious utterance the Imperial Chancellor has admitted that the Ger- man invasion was a breach of international law.^ The substance of the Hague Convention ^ is that the civil population of a country at war are entitled to recognition as lawful belligerents if they conform to four conditions. They must have a responsible commander; they must wear a distinctive and recog- nisable badge; they must carry their arms openly; * Speech in the Eeichstag, August 4th, 1914. But, so far as I know, no one in this country has noticed that the absolute inviolability of Belgium, under all circumstances and without exception, has been laid down in the leading German text-book on International Law, which declares that such treaties are the great ** landmarks of progress" in the formation of a European polity, and that the guarantors must step in, whether invited or uninvited, to vindicate them. * 'Nothing," it is added, * * could make the situation of Europe more insecure than an egotistical repudiation by the great States of these duties of international fellowship." — Holtzendorff Kandhuch des VolkerrecJits III. (Part 16), pp. 93, 108, 109. ' Begulations, Arts. 1 and 2. 8 GERMAN ATROCITIES and they must conduct their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war. In the case, how- ever, of an invasion, where there has been no time to organise in conformity with this article, the first and second conditions are expressly dispensed with, provided there is compliance with the third and fourth. Now, not only have these rules been sub- scribed by the German representatives and, according to Baron Marschall von Bieberstein, their principal spokesman at the Hague Conference, such subscrip- tion was absolute and unconditional ; ^^ but the prin- ciple which they embody has been accepted by all the leading German jurists. * ' There exists no ground for denying to the masses of a country the natural right to defend their Fatherland ... ; it is only by such levies that the smaller and less powerful States can defend themselves. ' ' ^ The same author- ity argues that no State is bound to limit itself to its regular army; it could, he adds, call up civil guards or even women and children, who in such case would be entitled to the rights of lawful belliger- ents.* What then is the German justification for the mas- sacre of the Belgian civilians? Its main contention is that the Belgian Government ''had sufficient time 'a cf. Von Bieberstein at the Hague Conference of 1907, *' The international law which we wish to create should contain only those clauses the execution of which is possible from a military point of view." {Actes et Documents I., page 282.) ■ Holtzendorff, IV., 385. * Hid., IV., 374. This is an important admission in view of what the Germans allege to have happened in Belgium. GERMAN ATEOCITIES 9 for an organisaiion of the People's War as required by international law " ; ^ in other words that a spon- taneous and unorganised resistance in Belgium could not claim the immunities of Article 2 of the Hague Regulations. The effrontery of this contention is truly amazing. The Belgian Government had, at the most, two days — two days in which to organise a whole na- tion for defence. The German ultimatum to Belgium was issued on August 2nd; the violation of Belgian territory took place on August 4th. How could a little nation with a small standing army organise its whole population on a military basis within two days against the most powerful and mobile army in Eu- rope, equipped with all the modern engines of war? The German Government do, indeed, attempt to sup- port their contention by urging further that *Hhe preparation of mobilisation began, as can be proved, at least a week before the invasion of the German Army. ' ' ^ Now, granting — and it is granting a great deal — that a week would be sufficient to organise un- trained civilians for defence, it would still remain to be proved that the Belgian Government did begin to mobilise a week beforehand. The German White Book does not prove it; the Belgian Grey Book dis- proves it. The Belgian Government, relying on the plighted faith of Germany, had not even begun to mobilise on July 29th — six days before the invasion/ •* German White Book: Introductory Memorandum. "German White Book: Introductory Memorandum. ''Belgian Grey Book (Correspondance Diplomatique relative a la Guerre de 1914), No. 8 (dated July 29th, 1914). 10 GERMAN ATROCITIES Indeed, it was only on July 24tli that they were suf- ficiently alarmed to address interrogatories to the Great Powers, Germany among them, for assurances as to the immunity of Belgium from, attack.^ As late as July 31st the German Government effectually con- cealed its intentions.^ It is, in fact, a matter of com- mon notoriety that the German move against Belgium was as sudden in execution as it was premeditated in design. She entered like a thief in the night. Charges against the Belgian Government. The main contention of the German Government therefore falls to the ground. What remains? It is here that the German answer betrays itself by its disingenuousness. There is an old rule of pleading, familiar to lawyers, which says a traverse must be neither too large nor too narrow. This is just the error into which the German contention falls. The apologies are too anxious to prove everything in turn as the occasion suits, forgetting that one of their con- tentions often refutes the other. In the introductory memorandum they argue that Belgium had time to organise and did not. In their excuse for the mas- sacre at Dinant, and their zeal to prove that the mil- itary exigencies were overwhelming, they say that **the organisation" — of civilian resistance — ''was remarkable for its careful preparation and wide ex- tent"; ''that the guns were only partly sporting ^Ibid., No. 2 (July 24th, 1914). 'British Blue Book (Great Britain and the European Crisis), Nos. 85 and 122. GERMAN ATROCITIES II guns and revolvers but partly also machine guns and Belgian military weapons proves that the organisa- tion had the support of the Belgian Government. ' ' ^^ In other words, in one part of the White Book they insist that the resistance was ruthlessly punished because it was not organised ; in another that because it was organised it had to be ruthlessly repressed. In another place/^ having to justify their peculiar prin- ciple of vicarious responsibility by which the inno- cent have to answer for the guilty, they say that the Belgian Government and the municipal hostages whom the Germans executed ought to have stopped ''this guerilla warfare," and did not do so. Now it is well known, and the German Government admits it, that the public authorities issued proclamations or- dering the people to abstain from hostilities and to surrender their arms. How does the German Gov- ernment meet this? The only evidence they can pro- duce in the whole of their pompous dossier is (1) the deposition of a German Jew, resident in Brussels, to the effect that, seeing the proclamation, he sent his servant to the Belgian authorities to deliver up a revolver, and that the servant came back and said that the Commissioner of Police had told him not to trouble as ''one need not believe everything that is in the papers"; ^^ (2) the deposition of a German lieutenant that an officer (not named) once showed him a document (not produced), which, "according "G. W. B. (Appendix C), General Eeport on Dinant. ^^ Ibid., Introductory Memorandum. 13 G. W. B., Appendix 51. 12 GERMAN ATROCITIES to his own account" he had found in the town hall of a neighbouring village (not indicated), containing an invitation on the part of the Belgian Government, addressed to the population, to render armed resist- ance in return for payment.^^ On such flimsy hear- say evidence, tendered by two Germans, rests the whole of the German case against the Belgian Gov- ernment. Belgian "Atrocities." Like a defendant who has no case, the German Government attempt to plead generally in default of being able to plead specifically. They therefore put forward a sweeping generalisation to the effect that, quite apart from the question whether the Bel- gians did or did not comply with the formal require- ments of the Hague Convention, they violated all the usages of war by *' unheard of" atrocities. *' Fi- nally it is proved beyond all doubt that German wounded were robbed and killed by the Belgian popu- lation, and indeed were subjected to horrible muti- lation, and that even women and young girls took part in these shameful actions. In this way the eyes of German wounded were torn out, their ears, nose, fingers and sexual organs cut off, or their body cut open. ' ' ^* Let us consider the depositions with which this accusation is supported. (1) Hugo Lagershausen, of the 1st Ersatz Com- " Ibid., Appendix 53. "G. W. B., Memorandum. GERMAN ATROCITIES 13 pany of the Reserve, his attention having been drawn to the significance of the oath, declares: '*I lost the other men of the patrol. About noon on August 6th, I came to a dressing station, which was set up on a farm near the village of Chenee. In the house I found about fifteen severely wounded German soldiers, of whom four or five had been horribly mutilated; both their eyes had been gouged out, and some had had several fingers cut off. Their wounds were relatively fresh although the blood was already somewhat co- agulated. The men were still living and were groaning. It was not possible for me to help them, as I had already ascer- tained by questioning other wounded men lying in that house, there was no doctor in the place. I also found in the house six or seven Belgian civilians, four of whom were women; these gave drinks to the wounded; the men were entirely pas- sive. I saw no weapons on them, and I cannot say whether they had blood on their hands, because they put them in their pockets. ' ' ^^ It is highly probably, is it not? Musketeer Lagers- hausen falls among ghouls who hastily put their in- criminating hands in their pockets and allow him who was ** entirely alone" and powerless to walk off and inform against them. Truly they must have been some of the mildest-mannered men who ever cut a throat. (2) Musketeer Paul Blankenberg, of Infantry Regiment No. 165, declares: *'We were on the march in closed column and passing through a Belgian village west of Herve. 'In the village some German wounded were lying and I recognised some Jager of ^^Ilid., Appendix 59. 14 GERMAN ATROCITIES the Jager Battalion, No. 4. Suddenly the column marching through was fired upon from the houses, and accordingly the order was given that all civilians should be removed from the houses and driven together to one point. While this was being done I noticed that girls of eight to ten years old, armed with sharp instruments, busied themselves with the German wounded. Later, I ascertained that the ear lobes and upper parts of the ears of the most seriously injured of the wounded had been cut off."" That is to say, a whole column of German troops is on the march in close formation, they round up the civilians and while they are doing this some little girls continue, in presence of this overwhelming force, to **busy themselves" by cutting up their comrades with the contents of their mothers' work-box. (3) Landwehrman Alwin Chaton, of the 5th Com- pany of the Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 78, de- clared : *'In the course of the street fighting in Charleroi, as we fought our way through the High Street and had reached a side street leading off the High Street, I saw, when I had reached the crossing and shot into the side street, a German dragoon lying in the street about fifty or sixty paces in front of me. Three civilians were near him, of whom one was bending over the soldier, who still kicked with his legs. I shot among them and hit the last of the civilians; the others fled. When I ap- proached I saw that the shot civilian had a long knife, covered with blood, in his hand. The right eye of the German dragoon was gouged out. ' ' " The witness adds that ''much smoke was rising "G. W. B., Appendix 56. ^^Ibid., Appendix 63. GERMAN ATROCITIES 15 from the body of the dragoon. ' ' This is to say that a general engagement, one of the hardest fought dur- ing the war, is going on in the middle of a town and three civilians are discovered within fifty or sixty paces, leisurely carving up a German dragoon! Is it credible? (4) My fourth example is too long to quote, but in substance it is this. Reservist G. Gustav Voigt de- poses that on August 6th he and seven comrades sud- denly saw five Belgian soldiers, fully armed, holding up their arms to surrender. When they went up to them they discovered that the Belgians had a German hussar strung up and freshly mutilated, and that they had two other hussars upon whom they were about to perform similar operations.^^ Without firing a shot, these men, caught red-handed under circum- stances which made their own death inevitable, sur- render immediately. Now I ask any unbiassed reader whether these dep- ositions, in each case uncorroborated, are such as to carry conviction to any reasonable man? Yet the whole of the ''proofs" adduced as to Belgian atro- cities are of this character. The Massacres — Andenne. When we come to the justification alleged for the wholesale massacres of communities the evidence is even more suspicious. In order to prove the Belgians unspeakable knaves the German Government have to present them as incredible fools. At Andenne, "a ^^ Hid., Appendix 56. 16 GERMAN ATROCITIES smaU town of a population of about 8,000 people," there were affrays in which *' about 200 inhabitants lost their lives. ''^* According to the German docu- ment, **two infantry regiments and a Jager bat- talion'' were marching through this place when they were set upon by the inhabitants. Two regiments and a battalion would constitute the greater part of a brigade ; they must have amounted to at least 7,000 men.^^ We are asked to believe that this small un- protected community (one of the German witnesses expressly says, *'I did not see one single French or Belgian soldier in the entire town or the envi- rons'') ^^ made an unprovoked attack on this over- whelming force, and that the women assisted with pots of scalding water. Two hundred of the civilians were, by the German admission, shot. The German losses were, it is added, '* singularly small." So sin- gularly small were they that the German Report omits even to enumerate them. Jamoigne and Tintigny. In another case — the village of Jamoigne — an am- munition column halted for water. The attitude of the population ''was friendly; water, coffee, and to- bacco were offered to some non-commissioned officers and men." Suddenly, while part of the population » G. W. B., Appendix B. "This is the normal figure of such German units according to the basis of calculation arrived at, after careful inquiry, by our own Headquarters Staff. *" G. W. B., Appendix B 1. GERMAN ATROCITIES 17 are standing outside their doors fully exposed, *'a general shooting'* is opened upon the crowd in the streets from the roofs and windows of the houses.^^ Is it intrinsically probable that Belgian civilians would be so careless of the lives of their fellow-cit- izens? Or take the case of Tintigny. An artillery ammunition column is welcomed, ** apparently with the best goodwill,'' assisted to water its horses, and then (but not before) ''when the horses had been again harnessed" and the opportunity for a surprise attack had passed, the inhabitants opened fire on the whole column.^^ Statements like these carry their own refutation with them. The Tragedy of Dinant. I turn to the case of Dinant, one of the most ap- palling massacres that have ever been perpetrated,^* even by the hordes of Kultur. No attempt is made to deny the wholesale slaughter ; it is freely admitted, and with sanguinary iteration we are told again and »2 G. W. B., Appendix 29. "^Ibid., No. 22. ^ See the Appendix to tlie Bryce Report, pages 25-29. Any one who reads the depositions of the Belgian witnesses there set out, and compares them with the depositions of the German soldiers in the White Book cannot fail to be struck by certain notable differences in quality. The Belgian witnesses never generalise, they betray no malice, and they mention instances of German forbearance. The exact converse is true of the German evidence. Lord Bryce 's Committee came to the conclusion that they ''have no reason to believe that the civilian population of Dinant gave any provocation." (Report, page 20.) See also the Eleventh Belgian Report (Bapports officiels, page 137). 18 GEmiAN ATROCITIES again ''a fairly large number of persons'* were shot, ''aU the male hostages assembled against the garden waU were shot.'^ Such hattues occur on page after page.-^ TThat is the German excuse? It is that the civilian population offered a desperate resistance. To prove how desperate it was. and consequently to es- tablish the *' military necessity,'^ it has to be con- ceded that they were organised. But this is pro^'ing too much, for ''organised" civilian combatants are entitled to the privileges of lawful belligerents. Therefore it is argued that they were "without mil- itary badges": this phrase occurs with a curious lack of variation in the words of each witness. It is added that women and ''children (including girls) of ten or twelve years" were armed with revolvers I "El- derly women," "a white-haired old man." fired with insensate fury. None the less — says one ingenuous German witness — ' ' the people had all got a ver\' high opinion of Germany." At intervals during the en- gagement not only were groups of civilianSj alleged to have arms in their hands, shot in groups, but unarmed civilians were shot — "all the male host- ages." In other words the whole of the German defence that the German troops were punishing illicit fran<:s-tireurs is suddenly abandoned. Tiring appar- ently of these laboured inventions, the German staff, in a grim and sombre sentence, suddenly throws off the mask: "In judging the attitude wMeh the troops of the 12th Corps *G. W. B., Appendix C. Summarv and also C 5, 7, 10, 31, 35, 40, 44 for references in the text GERMAN ATROCITIES 19 took against such a population, our starting point must be that the tactical object of the 12th Corps was to cross the Meuse with speed, and to drive the enemy from the left bank of the Meuse; speedily to overcome the opposition of the inhabitants who were working in direct opposition to this was to he striven for in every way. . . . Hostages were shot at various places and this procedure is amply justified."^ It has been estimated that about eight hundred civilians perished in this massacre. The German White Book freely concedes that the number was large; indeed by a simple process of induction from the German evidence it is clear that it was very large. It appears that a whole Army Corps (the 1st Royal Saxon) "was engaged and that the armed troops of the Allies were encountered in force. The German troops received a check and it seems fairly obvious that they simply wreaked their vengeance, as they have so often done, on an unoffending population, presumably in order to intimidate the enemy in the field. Not for the first time they attempted to do by terror what they could not do by force of arms. "We gave them coffee." It is characteristic of the whole apologia that hav- ing admitted to an indiscriminate butchery the Ger- mans attempt to gain credit for preserving through- out its course the most tender sentiments. In fact they are surprised at their ov/n sensibility. *'I have subsequently often wondered," says a Major Schlick, ''that our men should have remained so calm in the face of such beasts. "^^ Major Bauer * G. W. B., Appendix C. " C 44. 20 GERMAN ATROCITIES says, that he and his ''manifested a most notable kindness to women, old men and children"; so nota- ble that he suggests that ''it is worthy of recognition in the special circumstances." Major Bauer evi- dently thinks it a case for the Iron Cross. And in proof of this humanity he points out that the widows and orphans of the murdered husbands and fathers ' ' all received coffee ' ' ^® from the field kitchen the next morning. Perhaps ^lajor Bauer bethinks him- self of a certain cup of cold water. The Children w^ere "quite happy." More than this, the children seem rather to have enjoyed the novel experience. A German staff-sur- geon whose gruesome task it was to search a heap of forty corpses, "women and young lads," who had been put up against a garden wall for execution, says : ^* ** Under the heap I discovered a girl of about five years of age, and without anj injuries. I took her out and brought her down to the house where the women were. She took chocolate, was quite happy, and was clearly unaware of the seriousness of the situation.*' And with that amazing statement we may fitly leave this amazing narrative. Aerschot. The case of Dinant may be taken as typical. The evidence as to Louvain and Aerschot is not less in- " C (Summary Report) . "C51. GERMAN ATROCITIES Bl credible. We are asked to believe that at Aerschot ^^ the population of a small town suddenly rose in arms against a whole brigade, although the population was quite unprotected — ''we ascertained that there was no enemy in the neighbourhood. " ^^ To explain this surprising and suicidal impulse the Germans produce — it is their only evidence — the statement of a Cap- tain Karge, that he had ** heard rumours from vari- ous German officers" that the Belgian Government, * ' in particular the King of the Belgians, ' * had decreed that every male Belgian was to do the German Army **as much harm as possible." **It is said that such an order was found on a captured Belgian soldier." Strangely enough, the order is not produced — not a word of it. Also, *'an officer told me that he himself had read on a church door of a place near Aerschot that the Belgians were not allowed to hold captured German officers on parole, but were bound to shoot them." He adds that he ** cannot repeat the words of this officer exactly. ' ' ^^ ^° The story of Aerschot is peculiarly horrible. It was here that the priest was placed against the wall with his arms raised above his head; when he let them fall through weari- ness, the German soldiers brought the butt-ends of their rifles down upon his feet. He was kept there for hours, and aa German soldiers passed they used him as a lavatory and a latrine until he was covered with filth. Eventually they shot him. This is but one of many such horrors (see the Bryce Eeport, Appendix, pages 29, 46. See also the fourth and fifth Belgian Eeports). The German White Book admits (Appendix A 2) that "every third man was shot." "^ Appendix A 5. ** Appendix A 3. 22 GERMAN ATROCITIES Louvain. Let us now turn to Louvain. ''The insurrection of the town of Louvain," say the authors of the White Book with some naivete, "against the German garrison and the punishment which was meted out to the town have found a long-drawn-out echo in the whole world." Some twenty-eight thousand words are therefore devoted to establishing the thesis that the German troops in occupation of the town were the victims of a carefully organised, long premedi- tated, and diabolically executed attack on the part of the inhabitants assisted by the Garde Civique. Thus : **We are evidently dealing with a carefully planned assault ■which was carried on for several days with the greatest obsti- nacy. The long duration of the insurrection against the Ger- man military power in itself disposes of any planless action committed by individuals in excitement. The leadership of the treacherous revolt must have lain in the hands of a higher authority. ' ' — Summarising Eeport. Great emphasis is laid on the formidable nature of the attack and the heavy odds against which the Germans had to contend. The fire of the Belgians was ''murderous" (D 11, D 13), "fearful" (D 9), "violent" (D 36), "furious" (D 41); it was supported by machine-guns (D 28, 29, 37, 38, 40) and hand-grenades (D 46), and was materially assisted by Belgian soldiers in disguise (Appendix D 1, 19, 38), and by the Garde Civique (D 45, 46), who occupied houses with the most "elaborate prep- arations." In spite of this careful preparation the German troops, who had been in the town six days GERMAN ATROCITIES 23 and had there established the Head-quarters of a whole Army Corps (the 9th Reserve Corps), were so impressed by the ** extraordinarily good'* behav- iour of the inhabitants that on the evening of August 25th, about 7.30 or 8 p.m., they were taken completely by surprise. *'It was impossible to foresee," says Lieutenant von Sandt (D 8), "that the inhabitants were planning an assault." Other witnesses say, however, that **a remarkable number of young men" were observed congregating in the streets some hours beforehand. None the less the German au- thorities exhibited an ingenuous trustfulness and, what is even more remarkable, a cotaplete disregard of the most ordinary police precautions, which will come as a surprise to anyone who has studied the German Proclamations and the drastic measures usu- ally taken by them immediately upon their occupa- tion of a town. A "murderous" attack ; German casualties — five. Such was the situation when at seven o'clock on a summer evening (August 25th) of notorious mem- ory, the deep-laid plans of the Belgian authorities suddenly and murderously revealed themselves. A German company of Landsturm ^^ was marching through the town; the main body of the German troops quartered there were engaged several miles away, and only a few details remained in the city. This small body of unsuspecting soldiers — a company "'The 1st Company of the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Neusa Mobile Landsturm. 24 ger:max atrocities numbers not more than two or three hundred men — were suddenly set upon, at a signal given by rockets, by trained marksmen of the Belgian Army and the Garde Civique, disguised as civilians, acting with the aid of machine-guns and hand-grenades and actively assisted by the greater part of a large civilian popu- lation. The fire, as various soldiers of the Landsturm testify, was not only carefully controlled and di- rected, but was "murderous*' in the extreme. Yet, after carefully searching through their depositions, we find that only ^'five ynen of the company were icounded*' (D S) I Lieutenant Sandt and Dr. Berg- hausen feel constrained to explain these remarkably light casualties. They can only account for them by saying that in spite of the "carefully planned" and disciplined attack the Belgians, shooting from care- fully chosen positions, shot "too high*' (D S\ "at night" (D S, D 9} although the light at eight o'clock on an August evening is usually remarkably good, and one of the witnesses (D 26} says that at S p.m- it was "fairly light." The company appear to have disarmed the infuriated Belgians with remarkable ease, goiog into the houses two or three at a time (D 9\ and finding the occupants apparently as docile as sheep, so that although found with arms in their hands they allowed themselves to be led out in "a crowd" and "immediately shot" (D 44\ In one case, on entering an inn, the Germans found ' " behind the bar. a waiter," who had apparently taken up this strong strategical position alone with "a ease for shot placed by his side with the corresponding GERMAN ATROCITIES 25 ammunition." He also allowed himself to be led forth like a lamb to the slaughter (D 37). Contradictory witnesses. It is extraordinary also that although this mur- derous and carefully planned attack began at 7.30 C'l had just finished my soup," says Major Ton Manteuffel, who sat down to dinner at 7.30 — (Ap- pendix D 3), or at 8 p.m. (D 6), yet at 9 p.m., says Corporal Hohne, who entered the town with his regi- ment at that hour (D 36), ''the conduct of the civil- ians was quiet and not unfriendly," and his regi- ment w^as allowed to march right into the town — ''up till then nothing noteworthy had occurred." A N.C.O. of the same battalion says that "between 9 and 10 p.m." the Belgians were standing about the streets; all was "quiet," and they were "not un- friendly" (D 36). Another witness heard nothing till "9 or 9.30" (D 25). Another says (D 45) the signal was given at "9 o'clock." To the same effect another soldier (D 18). What is even more remark- able is the statement of Major von Klewitz that at 4 a.m. the next morning, after the Landsturm had cleared the houses, the infatuated inhabitants opened fire on an Army Corps which appears to have arrived in the interval and was then "moving out to battle" (D 2) ; and the presence of a whole brigade of Land- wehr (D 1) does not seem to have exercised any re- straining influence on these insane civilians. Like flies to wanton boys was a whole Army Corps to the burgesses of Louvain, who killed it for their sport. 26 GERMAN ATROCITIES The German authorities contend that, with intermit- tent executions, they tolerated this kind of thing for two whole days. They appear, however, to have borne a charmed life — the chief casualties among them were horses. Battalion Surgeon Georg Berg- hausen, in particular, who records as a remarkable fact that he once paid a hotelkeeper C'to please him and his employees") for meals he had ordered, waa "repeatedly shot at'' the whole length of a street but never so much as hit. He thinks this was due to its being so dark, though whenever the witnesses are concerned to testify that the firing was undoubt- edly by civilians, or by soldiers disguised as such, they can see ''quite plainly." The Priests. Never since the Day of Pentecost was there such a confusion of tongues. One witness labours to prove that no executions took place without a most decorous court-martial in the station square, the same soldier combining apparently the office of prosecutor and judge (D 38) ; another says that of "a crowd" of persons taken out of a house, the males were ''im- mediately shot" (D 44) ; yet a third says that a body of hostages were placed in front of a machine-gun with an intimation that they would be shot as a mat- ter of course if there were any more disturbance (D 37). It is admitted that a hundred civilians were shot, "including ten or fifteen priests" (D 38). One German witness says it is all the fault of the priests (D 38) ; another says it's the fault of the GERMAN ATROCITIES 27 Garde Civique (D 45) — both being apparently at some pains to exculpate the unhappy civilians. The quality of the evidence against the priests (and the civil population) may be gathered from the following deposition (D 42) of Captain Hermansen. He in- terviewed a priest who, he says, had behaved well on one occasion: "I rejoined that if his clerical brethren had acted in that [the same] manner, the Belgians and we would have been spared many unpleasant experiences. He did not contradict me."— (1)^2.) In witness whereof Captain von Vethacke comes forward and says: "In 80 far as priests were shot they too had been found guilty by the court. I came to know the priest mentioned by Captain Hermansen at the end of his declaration. He made an excellent impression on me also; and he did not contradict me either, when I expressed to him my opinion that certain of the clergy had stirred up the people and taken part in the at- tack."— (D 43.) Truly, a remarkable example of the argumentum db silentio! Perhaps the unfortunate priest remem- bered what happened to Faithful when he contra- dicted Chief Justice Hategood. All the evidence adduced, where it is not that of the German soldiers, is of this character. It is all hearsay, the Belgian witnesses quoted are invariably anonjrmous, and there are only five of them at that (D 30, 34, 37, 38, 42). At Bueken **the clergymen'* are accused of having incited the population to attack 28 GER^LIN ATROCITIES the Germau troops. The proof adduced is that the priest "left the church'' when the firiug began! What is the true explanation? One thing emerges quite clearly from these dis- orderly depositions and that is a great confusion of mind. The evidence from Belgian sources, very care- fully sifted by a Committee^* (presided over by Sir Mackenzie Chalmers) of the Belgian Commission and. independently, by the Bryce Conunittee,^^ is to the effect that two detachments of German troops fired on one another and then threw the blame on the innocent inhabitv / ** *^ '-SK** J"^-^^ 'Wm: .♦^•v « »« '^o^ lA . , ^ *I» a\ ^•i* ' • ♦ • «V> V? *^o » ), • •* O^ ♦ » , » " ^0 ▼^ ♦» .• av Deacidified using the Bodkkeeper process. •^ x'Jv ^ fl.S*# t^ j-^ % Treatment Date: „,., ~wii A*'''yJ» * ^^hW^^ • C.^ *^ O T A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 4 4- ^ • KyjIK^' ♦ i^ «^ o« 111 Thomson Park Drive . # /V ^ %^*^W^^ .^ ^ • Cranberry Township, PA 16066 aV ^„- ^<^ ••' A^ ^ (724)779-2111 nOvv Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: .. .j. ~»p Preservationlechnologies •<^ 0lt o :.'*. i* 1T%^ HECKMAN BINDERY INC. ^^ AUG 89 W^W N. MANCH-STER, ^*=-^ INDIANA 46962 °o J^ a