STUDIES AND DOCUMENTS ON THE WAR German Atrocities from German evidence by Joseph BÉDIER Professor at the “Collège de France” Translated by BERNHARD HARRISON LIBRAIRIE ARMAND COLIN 103, Boulevard Saint-Michel, PARIS, 5 e . 1915   Pudor inde et miseratio. Tacitus. I intend to prove that the German armies cannot wholly escape from the reproach of sometimes violating the law of nations, and I mean to prove my case according to French custom from absolutely trust worthy sources. I shall make use o

I open haphazard the Diary of a soldier of the Prussian Guard, Gefreiter Paul Spielmann (I Kompagnie, Ersatz-Bataillon, I Garde-Infanterie-Brigade). Here is his account of a night alarm in a village near Blamont on the 1 st September. At the bugle call, the Guard wakes, and the massacre begins ( Plates 1 and 2 .) «The inhabitants fled through the village. It was horrible. Blood was plastered on all the houses, and as for the faces of the dead, they were hideous. They were all buried at once, to

In an unsigned note-book of a soldier belonging to the 32 nd Infantry (IV Reserve Corps) we come across the following statement. «3 rd September. Creil. The iron bridge has been blown up. Consequently we burnt the streets and shot the civilians.» [3] The regular French troops alone—the Engineers—had blown up the iron bridge at Creil; the civilians had nothing to do with it. To excuse these massacres, when they condescend to make any excuse these note-books usually say: “ civilians ” and “ sharps

This ( Plate 5 ) is the first page of an unsigned note-book: “ Langeviller , 22 August. Village destroyed by the 11 th Battalion of the Pioneers. Three women hanged on trees: the first dead I have seen.” [13] Who are these three women? Criminals surely, guilty no doubt of having fired on the German troops, unless they had been telephoning to the enemy; and the 11 th Pioneers had no doubt punished them justly. But they have expiated their crime now, and the 11 th Pioneers have gone by, and of the

Often when German troops wish to carry a position, they place civilians, men, women and children before them, and take shelter behind this shield of living flesh. As the stratagem consists essentially in speculating upon the noblemindedness of the adversary, of saying to him: “You will not fire upon these unhappy people, I know, and I hold you at my mercy, disarmed, because I know you are less cowardly than I”, as it implies a homage to the enemy, and humiliation of oneself, it is almost inconce

Article 28 of the Hague Convention of 1907, signed by Germany, runs thus “It is forbidden to pillage a town or locality even when taken by assault.” Article 47 runs: “(In occupied territory), pillage is forbidden”. This is how the armies of Germany interpret these articles. Private Handschuhmacher (of the 11 battalion of Jägers, reserve) writes in his diary: “8 th August 1914. Gouvy , (Belgium). There as the Belgians had fired on German soldiers we at once pillaged the Goods Station. Some cases,

I must admit that out of the forty diaries I have examined, there are six or seven that tell of no exactions, either from hypocritical reticence or because certain regiments wage war less vilely. And I even know of three diaries, whose authors, as they narrate sordid details, are astonished, moved to indignation, saddened. I shall withhold their names, because they deserve our consideration, and to spare them the risk of being one day blamed or punished. The first, P te X ..., who belongs to the

H. M. the German Emperor, in ratifying the Hague Convention of 1907 agreed (Article 23) “that it is forbidden ... (c) to kill or wound an enemy, who having laid down his arms and having no means of self-defence, gives himself up as a prisoner; (d) to declare that no quarter will be given”. Has the German Army respected these conventions? In the French and Belgian reports, evidence is plentiful resembling the following which comes from a Frenchman captain in the 288 th Infantry: “On the evening o

General Stenger’s order of the day, mentioned on page 29 was communicated orally by various officers in various units of the brigade. Consequently the form in which we have received it may possibly be incomplete or altered. In face of any doubt, the French government has ordered an enquiry to be made in the prisoners’ Camps. Not one of the prisoners to whom our magistrates presented the order of the day in the above mentioned form found a word to alter. They one and all declared that this was th