German Barbarism - free ebook by Léon Maccas

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German Barbarism

Léon Maccas

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148 chapters

GERMAN BARBARISM

GERMAN BARBARISM

GERMAN BARBARISM A NEUTRAL’S INDICTMENT BY LÉON MACCAS DOCTOR OF LAW OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS WITH PREFACE BY M. PAUL GIRARD OF THE INSTITUT DE FRANCE HODDER AND STOUGHTON LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO MCMXVI Printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay &amp; Sons, Limited , BRUNSWICK ST., STAMFORD ST., S.E., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK....

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PREFACE

PREFACE

This new volume on Germany’s conception and practice of war is the work of a neutral, a fact which would alone suffice to secure it our sympathies. Moreover, it is a book which is systematically arranged, based on documentary evidence, serious and obviously sincere, qualities too weighty not to compel the respect not only of the French public, but of all those, to whatever nationality they may belong, who may care to read it or merely to glance through it with an unprejudiced eye. The author is

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INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

The reader will find in the pages which we herewith offer him a detailed picture of the cruelties committed by Germany in the war which involves half the nations of Europe. In this war, which she let loose upon the world, Germany is not attacking merely armies and fortresses. She takes her victims even from the civil population, and systematically harries even the property of private individuals. She revives under our eyes the times of Attila: to every soldier whom she dispatches against her ene

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The Custom of War

The Custom of War

Eternal peace is a chimera. Whatever pains we may take to avoid war, there always comes a moment when tradition and interest, passion and affection clash and bring to pass the shock which we desired to avoid, a shock which, in the conditions within which civilisation evolves, appears not merely inevitable, but salutary. So we see that philosophers and historians have generally spoken of war as a necessary evil. But just because of the services which war is called upon to render at certain times,

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German Military Writers’ Theory of War

German Military Writers’ Theory of War

German military writers have paid no attention to that. In the picture which they have drawn of force, they have left no room for justice and moderation, which alone make it worthy of respect and bring about lasting results. The triumph, such as it is, of violence, bounds their whole horizon. Clausewitz, an author who has the ear of Germany, writes, “War knows only one means: force. There is no other: it is destruction, wounds, death, and this resort to brutal force is absolutely imperative. As

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The German State of Mind on the Eve of War

The German State of Mind on the Eve of War

These principles had their full effect as soon as the Germans thought that war was inevitable. Do not let us here discuss the excitement which people naturally feel under such circumstances, nor the emotions of wild enthusiasm and patriotic hatred into which the rush of events leads them. If these emotions lead to excesses, we can neither wonder nor complain at it. Excess is in the nature of things and is part and parcel of a system in which material forces work for a just end—namely, the safety

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The State of Mind of German Intellectuals

The State of Mind of German Intellectuals

But let us leave the military writers, and speak of men whose peaceful profession ought to have the effect of inspiring in them feelings of moderation. The classes whom we call the intellectuals have been the most savage of all. “We are barbarians!” wrote the famous German journalist, Maximilian Harden, in his paper Die Zukunft , at the beginning of the war. “England is in alliance with yellow apes and rejoices to hear it said that Germans have been murdered by drunken Cossacks. The English, the

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The Plea of Reprisals

The Plea of Reprisals

Violations of the law of nations and, still more, acts of cruelty committed in war, have almost always escaped punishment properly so called. The victim usually finds himself powerless to exact retribution for them. Only one course is permitted to him: that of reprisals, by which he counters acts of violence with other acts of violence. His aim, therefore, is not vengeance: the point is to compel the enemy to keep to what is permissible, through fear of penalties to which he will be exposed if h

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Reprisals and the Germans

Reprisals and the Germans

On many occasions the Germans have had recourse to the plea of reprisals to justify acts of violence committed by them. We shall show that this plea is a misuse of terms. One of the excuses which they have most frequently put forward is that civilians have taken part in the war, in Belgium, in France, in Poland. But the question of the civilian population taking part in military operations is bound up with the question of francs-tireurs, which Germany wanted to solve to suit herself and which wi

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German Slanders which Attempt to Disguise Cruel Acts of the Imperial Troops as Reprisals

German Slanders which Attempt to Disguise Cruel Acts of the Imperial Troops as Reprisals

All the other excuses of the Germans are of the same kind. Their very weakness proves that they are slanders. For example, Germany has endeavoured to spread in foreign countries, and especially in Switzerland, a rumour to the effect that people on their way back from enemy countries who had stopped in France, and also Swiss subjects, had been ill-treated by the French authorities. The object of this grotesque report was obviously to forestall charges under the same heading which would fall on Ge

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Trivial Acts have sometimes been the Cause of Terrible Reprisals

Trivial Acts have sometimes been the Cause of Terrible Reprisals

One of the manœuvres practised by the Germans consists in their firing some gunshots themselves, at the moment when they were entering a village evacuated by enemy troops, and pretending that these shots came from civilians. Consequently they began to resort to what they called reprisals. All the more did they resort to them when the smallest actual offence gave them any pretext. In his book, German Evidence for German Crimes , M. Bédier tells how at Orchies “a woman was shot for not having obey

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In Poland

In Poland

A circumstance quite as trivial as the disobedience of the Orchies peasant woman was the occasion for the monstrous acts of cruelty and extortion of which the Germans were guilty at Kalich, in Poland. In that place, because some one threw a stone at a patrol, Lieutenant-colonel Prenster, in command of the garrison, caused all the residents in one house to be shot, and then, thinking that that was not enough, he had all the people who lived in Rue Vroclavska brought out of their houses and riddle

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The Germans Admit that their Pleas of Defence are a Sham

The Germans Admit that their Pleas of Defence are a Sham

The Germans have been trained in a rigorous school, but they are lacking in flexibility of mind. Moreover, they were unable to avoid admissions which confute their falsehoods. So it happened that when the Berliner Tageblatt recorded acts of cruelty which it alleged had been committed by the Allies, a refutation of its charges came from Germany itself. This paper told that in France cigars and cigarettes filled with powder were given to German prisoners: Vorwaerts took up the task of replying to

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Reprisals among the Allies

Reprisals among the Allies

These took place on account of the treatment of German prisoners of war after their internment. Even on this question complete equality has not yet been reached, as the Allies did not desire to treat their prisoners in the least like Germany treats hers. In their behaviour towards civilians the Allies have always confined themselves to the limits prescribed by martial law, without having recourse to the right of reprisals. In Alsace, German immigrants very nearly gave occasion for reprisals. At

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Conclusion

Conclusion

To sum up, while the Allies, in face of the cruelties committed by their enemies, waived or restricted their right of reprisals; the Germans, on the contrary, not only exercised it, but boldly exceeded it, using it as a random excuse to justify a policy of vengeance and terrorisation. Acts of little importance were repressed by them like outrages. The doings of a single individual brought about the ruin of a village. Still more, these doings were invented to justify gratuitous excesses practised

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German Violence

German Violence

German violence, once it had been let loose by the declaration of war, forthwith became lost to restraint of every kind. It was not merely in pitched battles and amongst soldiers that it was displayed, but behind the lines, and in matters commonly supposed to be subject to diplomatic regulations. The official representatives of foreign countries had to suffer the consequences. By their conduct towards these distinguished people, German ministers and officials by their deliberate action proved to

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How the German Authorities behaved to the Dowager Empress of Russia

How the German Authorities behaved to the Dowager Empress of Russia

The Dowager Empress of Russia, Marie Feodorovna, mother of the Emperor of Russia and sister of Queen Alexandra of England, was travelling through Germany on the day after the declaration of war. She had just left England and was going back to Russia. On the order of the German authorities— (1) Her Majesty was stopped at Berlin, where she was forbidden to continue her journey to Petrograd to meet her family. (2) She was given the choice of going to Copenhagen or of returning to London. The Dowage

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How the German Authorities behaved to the Grand Duke Constantin of Russia and his Family

How the German Authorities behaved to the Grand Duke Constantin of Russia and his Family

The Grand Duke Constantin Constantinovitch, grandson of Nicholas I, known as a patron of arts and letters, who was at the baths of Wildungen, in Germany, with his family, when war broke out, was stopped two days after the Empress. At first the Germans thought of detaining him and making him prisoner, as they had done with Admiral Skridlof, formerly Admiral-in-Chief of the Russian Black Sea fleet, and several Russian generals who likewise happened to be in German territory. But they merely shut h

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How the Germans behaved to the Ambassador of France at Berlin

How the Germans behaved to the Ambassador of France at Berlin

The German authorities behaved in similar fashion to M. Jules Cambon, the Ambassador of France at Berlin. When, armed with his passports, he asked to leave by way of Holland, the minister refused his request and sent him word by M. de Lancken, a former adviser to the German Embassy at Paris, that he would have to return to France through Austria. “We should not recommend you,” he said, “to go through Denmark. The sea may not be safe…” M. Cambon then asked for himself and his staff a safe-conduct

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How the German Authorities behaved to other Members of the Diplomatic Corps

How the German Authorities behaved to other Members of the Diplomatic Corps

The French Minister at Munich and his family were notified on the 3rd August, at 6 p.m., that they must take train the following morning for Constance, under the supervision of an officer and a Bavarian official. The Minister asked for an extension of time, which was refused in accordance with instructions which he was told had been received from Berlin. On the other hand, the owners of the premises used as offices and residences by the legation demanded, under threat of distress, immediate paym

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Brutal Behaviour, which was Permitted by the German Police, of the Mob, to the Diplomatic Representatives of Foreign Countries

Brutal Behaviour, which was Permitted by the German Police, of the Mob, to the Diplomatic Representatives of Foreign Countries

We cannot be surprised that the mob shows little self-control in circumstances so critical as a declaration of war. But what cannot be permitted is that mob violence should be let loose, and not be forbidden by the authorities, upon the representatives of foreign powers, whose mission under such circumstances automatically comes to an end. In Germany, on certain occasions, the authorities were actually accomplices of the mob. This was the case as regards the treatment of the French and Russian d

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How the German Authorities behaved to Members of the Consular Service

How the German Authorities behaved to Members of the Consular Service

Members of the Russian, French and English consular service in Germany were to have still less favour shown to them than ambassadors and ministers. The Consul-General of Russia at Leipzig was unexpectedly summoned to the police station. He was there allowed thirty-five minutes to go to the station and take the train. His vice-consul, who was of a lower rank, was allowed only ten minutes, and his pockets were searched to boot. The Consul-General of France at Frankfurt got orders to go on the 4th

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German Misconduct towards People Incapable of Espionage

German Misconduct towards People Incapable of Espionage

Nevertheless, ill-treatment could not be justified in this way. As a precaution against spying, foreigners may be compelled to leave a country en masse . A straightforward and honest supervision may be exercised over them at their departure, but no one has the right to allow them to be struck, nor to expose them to the clamours of a mob, nor to speak to them as if they were prisoners in the dock. Only definite suspicion falling upon individuals would justify such conduct, and by justifying it wo

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How the Germans treated Russian Travellers

How the Germans treated Russian Travellers

Thirty-two Russians belonging to the highest aristocracy, who were passing the summer at Baden and other bathing resorts, were arrested at Hamburg and detained for several days. Thanks to the intervention of the Spanish consul, M. Veler, they were able eventually to continue their journey; but at Neumunster, M. Schebeko, on the authority of a telegram from Berlin, was suddenly arrested in the train, compelled to get out of the carriage guarded by soldiers with fixed bayonets, in the midst of a c

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How the Germans Behaved to French Residents and Travellers

How the Germans Behaved to French Residents and Travellers

The French were no more spared than the Russians. At Kembs, fronting Istein, the German authorities blew up with dynamite Monsignor Kannengieser’s dwelling-house. The noble prelate, who was almost blind, was shamefully ill-treated, because (such is the statement of the Liberté de Fribourg ) he had in his possession plans of Istein. As for French travellers going back to France, their journey was checked at any moment by the police, who stopped them for long hours, if not for whole days, at every

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Outrages committed by the Germans on Neutral Subjects Resident in Germany

Outrages committed by the Germans on Neutral Subjects Resident in Germany

M. Bernardino del Campo, ex-Minister of Finance of Brazil, ex-President of Sao-Paolo and leader of the Republican Party of that country, happened to be on the 3rd August at Bad-Nauheim with his wife, who was taking a course of treatment there, and his four children. The Germans showed no consideration either for his nationality, his rank or his age. M. Bernardino del Campo, although he had reached the age of sixty-two years, was struck with the butt-end of the rifle by Bavarian soldiers, robbed

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In Austria

In Austria

The Austrian authorities were as discourteous as the German to foreigners, subjects of neutral countries. At Carlsbad the famous singer, Adelina Patti, and her husband, Baron Cederstrom, a Danish subject, were kept prisoners for several days in their hotel, where the police searched everything and rummaged through all their trunks and portmanteaus, while the crowd, who threatened to carry the hotel by assault, raised a hideous din by way of demonstration against the singer, who is a friend of Ru

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Crimes committed by Germans against Neutral Subjects in the invaded Countries

Crimes committed by Germans against Neutral Subjects in the invaded Countries

The most serious of these crimes was that committed by the soldiers of Lieutenant-colonel Blegen at Dinant against M. Himmer, Vice-Consul of the Argentine. This vice-consul, who ought to have been respected not merely as a non-combatant and a neutral, but because his consular rank should have protected him, was killed, and the Argentine flag trampled under foot, with the result that keen indignation was aroused in the Argentine. Amongst the many inhabitants at Liège who were shot were five young

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The Use of Dum-dum Bullets in Belgium

The Use of Dum-dum Bullets in Belgium

The report of the military governor of Ghent, Lieutenant-general L. Clooten, and the results of experiments made by M. V. Rousseaux, armoury expert at Antwerp, prove indisputably that these bullets were in use among the Germans. The following is the report— “ Headquarters at Ghent, 26th September, 1914. “ Sir , “I have the honour to send herewith some cartridges with bullets of the kind called ‘dum-dum,’ seized on the Hanoverian Lieutenant von Halden, who was taken prisoner at Ninove, by my troo

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The Use of Dum-dum Bullets on French Soil

The Use of Dum-dum Bullets on French Soil

The first instance of the use of dum-dum bullets on French soil goes back to the early days of the war. It was denounced by the French Government in the protest which they addressed (21st August, 1914) to the signatory powers of the Hague Convention. This protest points out that “on the 10th August, 1914, after an engagement between French and German troops, a surgeon-major sent to the general in command of the Infantry Brigade” a case found on the road to Munster “close to the German Custom-Hou

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Use of the Same Kind of Bullets in the Colonies

Use of the Same Kind of Bullets in the Colonies

German troops have used dum-dum bullets on all fronts and at every point where military operations were in progress. The fact that they have done so was proved particularly in the Togoland battles and confirmed by the English Governor of the Gold Coast in his report to the Colonial Minister in London (September 1914)....

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Counter-accusations by the Germans

Counter-accusations by the Germans

The discovery of these facts could not fail to arouse universal indignation which Germany tried to forestall by accusing her enemies of similar acts. The Kaiser used the Wolff Bureau to make this accusation against France and England, and lodged a complaint against both with the President of the United States. France immediately issued a denial in a telegram under date 11th September, 1914. Another denial drawn up on September 8 had come from England. The Lokal-Anzeiger and the Tag of Berlin (Se

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Doctors attached to the German Medical Service have admitted that the German Accusation was False

Doctors attached to the German Medical Service have admitted that the German Accusation was False

People who allowed themselves to be deceived by an accusation which had its origin in Germany soon received proof, and from Germany too, that the accusation was false. Professor Straub, of Freiburg in Bresgau, published in a Munich medical journal the results of his inquiry into the nature of the French bullet. He admitted that, from the medical point of view, this bullet was composed of an admirable alloy, which could not poison, and he came to the conclusion that it was humane. Dr. Haberlin, a

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Dum-dum Bullets used Against the Russians

Dum-dum Bullets used Against the Russians

That the Germans used dum-dum bullets against the Russians was proved in a hospital at Vilna, where a lieutenant-colonel in the Russian infantry, wounded in the leg, chanced to be under treatment. The wound, which at its entrance was smaller than a penny, was as large as a hand where the bullet left the body. The photograph of one of the dum-dum bullets used in this way was given by the Novoïé Vrémia on 17th September, 1914. Moreover, the German missiles used against the Russian troops often gav

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The Same Practices followed in Austria

The Same Practices followed in Austria

The use of explosive bullets by the German troops was regularly followed by their allies, the Austrians, both on the Russian front and the Serbian. The superintendent of the Red Cross at Petrograd was informed at the beginning of the war by his deputy at the first outpost detachment that, after Austrian field works had been taken, a large quantity of explosive bullets in special pouches and in belts for use in machine-guns had been found, and also many spent cartridges which had been adapted for

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Abuse of the Privilege allowed to Bearers of a Flag of Truce and to Prisoners

Abuse of the Privilege allowed to Bearers of a Flag of Truce and to Prisoners

The following are some examples of this dastardly conduct. At Liège, the Germans resorted to it against the Commandant of the Bucelles fort, upon whom they treacherously made a murderous attack. They appeared with a flag of truce and demanded the surrender of the fort. “I refuse,” he replied. “Commandant,” was the answer, “come and see the condition of your defence works. You will agree that they can hold out no longer.” The Commandant went off with the Germans, intending to show them the satisf

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Other Forms of German Treachery

Other Forms of German Treachery

One form of treachery repeated very often by the Germans was to sound the bugle calls of enemy troops and thus mislead them. In the thick of the battles round about Mulhausen, in the beginning of August, the French were not a little surprised to hear the call to cease firing. Fortunately, one of the superior officers saw through the enemy’s treachery and immediately ordered the signal to be given for attack, which sent the Germans flying helter-skelter. As such acts in German eyes are permissibl

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Undefended Towns bombarded by the Germans

Undefended Towns bombarded by the Germans

The Germans committed all these crimes simultaneously, but the least excusable and most cruel of all was the bombardment of towns which the enemy had evacuated, and to which, therefore, he could render no further aid. Three French towns and districts, Pont-à-Mousson, Douai, and Lille, met with this fate from artillery and aeroplanes....

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Bombardment of Pont-à-Mousson

Bombardment of Pont-à-Mousson

This began on the 11th August, continued the following day, then on the 14th August and finally became intermittent. The firing on the town was resumed more than a hundred times. It was an open town, however, and the French army were not defending it, further than that the bridge over the Moselle had been put in a state of defence at the outbreak of hostilities by the 26th light infantry battalion. Moreover, the bombardment of Pont-à-Mousson took place without previous warning, and was not prece

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Bombardment of Douai

Bombardment of Douai

Towards the end of the month of August the town of Douai served as a storehouse for numerous German troops. It was formerly occupied on the 1st October. The outrages which it suffered from the Germans on the 8th and 12th October were committed against a town which it was, in fact, impossible for the French to defend. On the 8th October a Taube bombarded Douai, throwing two bombs, which did little damage. On the 12th October a second Taube threw another bomb, which burst behind M. Mathieu’s house

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Bombardment of Lille

Bombardment of Lille

On the 10th October, when the French were coming up to Lille, the Germans forcibly carried off M. Delesalle, mayor of the town; M. Ducastel, municipal councillor, and several other municipal officials. Then, when they had almost evacuated the town, they directed against it a furious bombardment, which began on the evening of the 10th October and continued, with a short interval, until the 12th October at 9 o’clock in the morning. The Rue Faidherbe was completely demolished and the end of the Rue

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Bombardment of Belgrade

Bombardment of Belgrade

On account of its geographical situation the capital of Serbia was evacuated by Serbian troops. Only civilians remained and the Red Cross flag was hoisted. Consequently the town was entitled to think itself immune from outrage and bombardment. Nothing of the kind was the case. Belgrade was bombarded on the 28th and 30th July, then from the 16th to the 18th August, and finally on the 14th and 15th September. Several quarters of the town were burnt; many of the inhabitants were killed, amongst oth

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Bombardments without Notice

Bombardments without Notice

We should not forget that the notice of bombardment required by the laws of war was impossible in more cases than one. Moreover, it is admitted that attacking troops are absolved from the charge of breach of these laws, when they do all they can to give warning. Besides, warning of bombardment is not always required to make an attacked town expect it. We could not, therefore, regard as a contravention of law all bombardments, without exception, which the Germans had made without giving notice. B

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Towns bombarded behind the Lines

Towns bombarded behind the Lines

One kind of bombardment for which there is no excuse is that in which German aircraft engaged over towns and villages behind the enemy lines, out of the reach of German guns and sometimes even outside the theatre of war. It is certain that the intention to give oneself up to such acts absolutely precludes respect for open towns and for preliminary warnings. It is the proof of an absolute contempt for the laws of war, and of a fixed determination to act contrary to ordinary good sense. The bombin

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Bombardment of Malines and Lierre

Bombardment of Malines and Lierre

When the Belgians took Malines again, on the 25th August, the Germans began to bombard it. This act can only be put down to a thirst for vengeance. They made violent efforts to demolish it quarter by quarter by bursting shells. One shell struck a bakehouse and killed two workmen in it. The cathedral, the museum, the town hall, St. Peter’s Church, the magistrates’ court, and all the buildings round about the “Grand Place” were badly damaged, and the ministers of State of the Triple Entente, who v

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Bombardment of Mars-la-Tour

Bombardment of Mars-la-Tour

The village of Mars-la-Tour, in Lorraine, was bombarded by the Germans on the 16th August, the anniversary of the battle which took place in 1870. They cannonaded the memorial church, Abbé Faller’s Musée patriotique , and the monument to commemorate the battle of 1870. The bombardment lasted a full hour, and took place with mathematical regularity. Only one house was damaged, which proves that the buildings mentioned were the carefully chosen target of the German guns; two persons, an old mechan

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Bombardment of Étain

Bombardment of Étain

On the 24th August, at one o’clock in the afternoon, the bombardment of Étain began. Suspended for some hours, it began again at nearly eleven p.m. and lasted until two a.m. The results were frightful. The next morning half the town was in ashes; the other half was falling into ruins. The Red Cross hospital in particular was aimed at. The first shell struck down the white flag, while Dr. Proust was operating on the wounded: the latter had to be hidden away in the cellars, whence they were driven

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Bombardment of Albert

Bombardment of Albert

The bombardment of Albert took place on the 30th August. We may judge how violent it was from a photograph of the ruins which appeared in L’Illustration for the 10th October. Whole streets disappeared, and the whole Place d’Armes was demolished: the Germans made a target of Notre Dame de Brébières, the basilica which the inhabitants call the Lourdes of the North, and to which so many pilgrimages make their way each year. This church was completely ruined by the sacrilegious fire expressly aimed

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Bombardment of Nancy

Bombardment of Nancy

The French Commission of Inquiry, in its report, published in the Journal Officiel of the 8th January, 1914, states that the capital of Lorraine was bombarded “without previous warning during the night of the 9th to 10th September. About sixty shells (continues this report) fell on the central and southern-cemetery districts—that is to say, on places where there is no military defence. Three men, a young woman, and a little girl were killed, thirty people were wounded, and serious damage was don

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First Bombardment of Reims

First Bombardment of Reims

The story of the first bombardment of Reims was told in the Temps of the 26th October by M. Henriot, who had the opportunity of interviewing an influential resident in the town. On the 4th September, whilst Zimmer, head of the German Stores Department, was negotiating the terms of a levy to be paid by the village, a shell, says M. Henriot, burst hard by. “What was that explosion?” cried the German. “You know you have no right to destroy anything.” He thought that the French were blowing up some

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Second Bombardment of Reims (18th to 20th September)

Second Bombardment of Reims (18th to 20th September)

The bombardment of the 4th September took place by order of General Bülow, as a reprisal for the disappearance of two bearers of a flag of truce, MM. Armim and Kimmer, who had been sent by him on the evening before to Reims. On account of these two worthies, who, without fulfilling their mission, had lost their way in the French lines, the town found that it was threatened with the execution of ten hostages, with bombardment, and with a levy of 100 million francs. The second bombardment took pla

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Damage to the Cathedral of Reims

Damage to the Cathedral of Reims

According to the report of the Commission of Inquiry, which had as President the French Under-Secretary for Fine Arts, and whose task was to prepare official accounts of the damage done to the Reims Cathedral, the following were the results of the bombardment— “The cathedral was struck by about thirty projectiles which, by actually striking the building or by explosion, pulverised the stonework, smashed the glass, and set fire to everything inflammable. “Projectiles, fragments of which struck th

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Other Results of the Second Bombardment of Reims (18th to 20th September)

Other Results of the Second Bombardment of Reims (18th to 20th September)

The cathedral was not the only objective of the second bombardment. Not only were several houses also destroyed and several people killed, amongst others Dr. Jacquin, who lived next door to the mayor, but the Spanish consulate was bombarded, with the result that several neutral subjects met their death, a fact which was noted in a preceding chapter. The town hall, the musée, the sub-prefecture (historic monuments all of them) were almost wholly demolished. An auxiliary hospital of the Société de

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Fresh Bombardments of the Cathedral of Reims (20th to 27th November)

Fresh Bombardments of the Cathedral of Reims (20th to 27th November)

After the 20th September, and in spite of the universal indignation aroused by the outrage which they had committed, the Germans continued the bombardment of Reims without intermission. But it was not until the last days of the month of November that the cathedral suffered fresh damage. On the 23rd November a shell struck and went right through a bell-turret in the south tower at the top; on the 27th another shell, falling between the south buttresses, burst on the vault of the aisle. A third sh

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The Bombardment of the Cathedral of Reims is Inexcusable

The Bombardment of the Cathedral of Reims is Inexcusable

In the words of M. Delcassé, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the protest addressed by him to the governments of neutral states on the morning after the first bombardment, the Germans committed this crime “without being able to appeal even to the appearance of military necessity and for the mere lust of destruction.” Nevertheless the Germans tried to justify it by alleging— (1) That by means of strong entrenchments the French had made Reims the chief corner-stone of their defence, and

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Public Opinion throughout the World roused to Indignation by the Bombardment of the Cathedral of Reims

Public Opinion throughout the World roused to Indignation by the Bombardment of the Cathedral of Reims

It is difficult to describe the indignation roused throughout all countries of the civilised world by the bombardment of the cathedral of Reims. The newspapers of the whole planet were its living mouthpieces. In Italy a number of learned institutions sent protests, either to the French Embassy at Rome or directly to the German authorities. The Association of Artists, especially, held a reunion, at which the most distinguished critics and artists of Italy were present, and which passed unanimousl

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Bombardment of Gerbeviller

Bombardment of Gerbeviller

The following are other examples of bombardments at this period, which were carried out at places less known, but in which the aim to destroy at any cost, by any means, and in violation of every law stands no less emphatically self-condemned. Of the picturesque little village of Gerbeviller there remains only a heap of stones, dust and ashes. The Germans bombarded it mercilessly in the month of August. Possibly this bombardment was due to necessity, but the precise aim of the German guns, posted

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Bombardment of Dompierre-aux-Bois

Bombardment of Dompierre-aux-Bois

On the 22nd September the Germans forced a way into Dompierre-aux-Bois. They entered each house with fixed bayonets, made all the men come out, and then shut them up in the church. On the following day it was the women’s and children’s turn, and so these poor people found they were compelled to face the fire of the German artillery which was let loose in the village. Men, women, children and old folk were, for five long days without ceasing, exposed to a rain of bombs and shells. On the 27th Sep

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Bombardment of Recquignies

Bombardment of Recquignies

According to the evidence of Dr. Barbey ( Echo de Paris of the 20th January), the first German shells fired at Recquignies, in the beginning of the month of September, were aimed at the brewery, which the Red Cross flag upon it plainly marked as a refuge for the wounded . Four inhabitants were killed and two others were wounded....

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Bombardment of Soissons

Bombardment of Soissons

The town of Soissons was bombarded from the 13th to the 17th September almost without intermission. The post office and the Grand Seminaire are in ruins. The cemetery quarter of the town was set on fire. Happily the cathedral suffered little. But the Germans deliberately and with precise aim fired at the hospital. This bombardment was without any reason that could be admitted, for the town ought to have been protected from artillery, as the Germans occupied the hills to the north of the town whe

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Bombardment of Sampigny

Bombardment of Sampigny

On the 15th September and the 8th October the Germans, with the desire to wreak revenge, bombarded the private residence of M. Poincaré, the President of the French Republic. The second bombardment, in the course of which forty-eight shells were discharged at this residence, brought about its complete destruction. It is well to note that this destruction was nevertheless denied by the Wolff agency, which declared that the story was a myth, and added that if the site upon which this residence sto

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Bombardment of Arras

Bombardment of Arras

The town of Arras was included, during the month of October, in the theatre of military operations. The Germans found a pretext for destroying it by two bombardments, one on the 6th, the other on the 20th and 21st October, which sowed destruction and death in this town. The first bombardment of Arras, which may be compared to that at Reims, was meant to destroy the town hall, a miracle of Flemish art, built at the beginning of the seventeenth century, one of the finest ornaments of northern Fran

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The Outrage on Notre-Dame of Paris

The Outrage on Notre-Dame of Paris

German aeroplanes made frequent moves towards Paris, of which we have already spoken. The outrage of the 11th October, 1914, deserves special mention, for this time the machine aimed at the cathedral. An incendiary bomb was dropped on Notre-Dame. This bomb set fire to one of the inner beams of the roof, smashed six of the stays of the north transept, and riddled with grapeshot the glass frame of the clock in the same transept. This outrage, coming after that at Reims, roused fresh protests from

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Bombardment of Hazebrouck

Bombardment of Hazebrouck

About the middle of November Hazebrouck suffered bombardment by a German aeroplane: a bomb killed a railway worker named Georges Demonvaux, and wounded two other people. The aviator came a second time, an hour afterwards, and threw three more bombs, aiming at the English and French Red Cross hospitals, which, fortunately, were only slightly injured. Finally, to bring to an end the list of cruel bombardments, let us put on record that of Houplines (15th December), where fifty civilians were kille

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The Wounded, the Red Cross, and the Geneva Convention

The Wounded, the Red Cross, and the Geneva Convention

What is the aim and object of battles between belligerent powers? To put out of action as large a number as possible of enemy soldiers, and thus, as much as may be, to break the enemy’s resistance. That, at least, is the conception of the aim of war entertained by all civilised nations, since only barbarians, from desire for revenge, from blindness and brutality, would seek to do injury for its own sake, and to seize the opportunity of a state of war to gratify their instincts for plunder. This

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Principles of the Geneva Convention which Germans have violated

Principles of the Geneva Convention which Germans have violated

We have already stated in the preceding chapter how seldom the Germans have carried out these principles, for, contrariwise, they have deliberately aimed their artillery at establishments for the shelter of the wounded, the sick, and the hospital services. This fact is not the only one which shows the contempt displayed by the Germans for the Geneva Convention. It seems that they have eagerly seized upon every opportunity which presented itself to violate this convention in every way. Not only h

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Killing of the Wounded ordered by Officers

Killing of the Wounded ordered by Officers

The German wounded are many. It followed, therefore, that the German medical service was disinclined to encumber itself with relays of enemy wounded. Perhaps this is also the reason why orders were given to the soldiers to kill the wounded. General Stenger issued, on the 26th August, an order of the day giving instructions to make no more prisoners and to leave no living man behind . The authenticity of this order, the full text of which we give in the next chapter, was confirmed by the evidence

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French and Belgian Officers killed by the Germans

French and Belgian Officers killed by the Germans

The number of officers killed by Germans on the different battlefields to which the war has extended is certainly greater than one would think. The following are two attested instances— On the 9th August, at Ormael in Belgium, the Belgian Commandant Knapen, who was already wounded, was killed. On the 12th August, after the battle of Haelen in Belgium, the Germans killed, by a revolver-shot in the mouth, Commandant Van Daume, who had been seriously wounded. On the 22nd August, at Gommery (Belgian

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Wounded Soldiers tortured before being put to Death

Wounded Soldiers tortured before being put to Death

The German crime of killing enemy wounded assumes a still more dreadful aspect when it is committed only after the victims have suffered cruel treatment. The tortures inflicted on the wounded argue an exceptional ferocity in those who are guilty of them, and yet such cases are not rare. On the 16th August, at Dinant, French soldiers were found with their heads smashed in by the butt-ends of rifles. On the 25th August, at Hofstade in Belgium, a soldier who had been slightly wounded was also kille

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Published Admission by Germans

Published Admission by Germans

These acts of German troops did not always make Germans ashamed. On the contrary, in certain cases they even thought it was a clever thing to boast about it. For instance, a story, which had come from the German non-commissioned officer Klemt (154th infantry regiment, 1st company), was published in a newspaper of Jauer in Silesia on the 18th October, 1914. The paper even put as a marginal note the following phrase “ The 24th September, 1914, a day of honour for our troops. ” In his pamphlet, Ger

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German Murder of People attached to the Medical Service and the Red Cross

German Murder of People attached to the Medical Service and the Red Cross

No more than the wounded were people engaged in tending or transporting the wounded spared by the Germans. We have said that in bombardments no distinction was made between Red Cross establishments and the others. But even outside these cases the Geneva Convention was so frequently violated that we are driven to attach no credence to the excuses invented in case of bombardment. Enemy doctors, nurses male and female, ambulance workers have been often ill-treated, wounded and even killed by the Ge

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The German Idea

The German Idea

In the present war, however, we have seen the Germans change all that: in this respect, as in so many others, they have shown unmitigated contempt for current conceptions of war. They have been seen to vent their hatred and desire for vengeance upon a prisoner. Therein is the reaction of a feeling of cruel pride. Have not the prisoners of war who fall into German hands committed the crime of offering resistance to the actions of the first people in the world? Consequently, M. Pierre Nothomb rema

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Blows

Blows

At Camperhout (in Belgium) the Germans amused themselves with imposing on the prisoners fatigue-duty, in the course of which the latter were struck on the slightest pretext. A Greek, who was a volunteer in the French army, has told what happened, in a letter to the Nea Himera at Athens. “There were eight hundred prisoners of us, five of whom were Greeks. We were brought before German officers, who ordered us to undress. Then they had us tied with ropes and whipped by six German soldiers.” They w

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Cross-examination

Cross-examination

At the same time that vengeance was being taken on the prisoners, attempts were made to extract from them information which would be useful for carrying on the war. They were questioned as to what they had seen, as to the enemy forces and the positions occupied by them, and in general on all military or strategic questions on which they might be supposed to have knowledge, as an hour previously they had been in the trenches. Sometimes, in order to obtain information like this, they were content

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Murders

Murders

In other places prisoners were shot. In an official note of the Russian Government, a German officer was mentioned by name as having formally given the order to hang all Cossacks who should be made prisoner. This was Major Modeiski, of the German cuirassiers. In confirmation of the fact, it was stated that in many places Cossack prisoners had been hanged, shot or killed by bayonet thrusts; at Radom, in the middle of October, an officer and four Cossacks; at Ratchki, a Cossack; at Monastijisk, fo

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German Admissions

German Admissions

In September 1914, when the Russians were forced to evacuate eastern Prussia before the advancing Germans, they had recourse to what was an indisputable right by making unusable such provisions as they could not carry away. In this way enormous quantities of bread were wet with petrol by orders from headquarters, so that the enemy could get no advantage from it. The Frankfurter Zeitung of the 8th October recorded this act as a crime which deserved punishment. Under the heading “A Just Punishment

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Treatment of Prisoners in Germany

Treatment of Prisoners in Germany

Once they had left the battlefields for the German fortresses, where they were to be kept under guard, it was inevitable that prisoners of war should be exposed to the most brutal ill-treatment, death, wounds and blows. A regular prison regimen following upon possible outrages on the field of battle would, of course, absolutely prevent that. But all the penalties which the prisoners could possibly be made to suffer under these new circumstances were heaped upon them in profusion. They were not a

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Murders

Murders

In the story of the murders committed by the Germans, of which women have been the victims, we see almost always that these were surprised in the midst of their common daily tasks. The horror of the crime committed against them is enhanced. It is still worse when the massacred women were about to perform some act of charity. At Tamines, in Belgium, a woman was killed in the middle of the street as she was carrying a sick old man. At Mayen-Multien a woman named Laforest was seriously wounded, in

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Wholesale Murder

Wholesale Murder

In many cases the Germans went as far as general massacres. The excuse invoked by them was a pretended right of reprisals. The most appalling of these butcheries seems to have been that of Dinant, which took place on the 22nd August and following days. “In these terrible days,” writes a Dutchman, M. Staller, on this topic, in the Telegraaf (translated in the Temps , 19th December, 1914), “at Dinant and also in the neighbouring villages of Anseremme, Leffe and Neffe, more than eight hundred perso

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Tortured Women

Tortured Women

A humane reader cannot repress a tremor as he learns the story of the tortures inflicted on women by the Germans on several occasions. We should have spared our readers these stories, were it not necessary to pay special attention to them for the purpose of showing how far German barbarism can go. At Dompierre-aux-Bois, after the bombardment which we have described, the Germans did not want to allow the people shut up in a church which they were bombarding even to go to look for water to tend th

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Poland and Serbia

Poland and Serbia

Such acts were outdone at the other end of Europe, in the Eastern theatre of war. In Poland, at Khabbeck, the Austrians mutilated two women on the pretext that civilians were helping the movements of the Russian troops. In the Podogorsky Arrondissement the Serbian troops found in the village of Jabonka the corpses of a young girl of about ten years old and of three old women, all three alike mutilated. Finally, Professor Reiss, of the University of Lausanne, who visited the Serbian territories i

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Abduction

Abduction

Let us take the case of abduction of women, led away by German soldiers and brought in troops to Germany. These wretched women were put down as hostages. It is, however, certain that in more than one case they were led away merely to gratify the soldiers’ lust. At Marcheville the Germans carried off several hundreds of women, who were interned at Amberg in Bavaria in barracks. At Saint-Mihiel seven or eight hundred women were also carried off to Germany. At Charleville the women were kept on the

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Violation

Violation

The number of women outraged by Germans where they lived is considerable. Violation was practised everywhere on invaded territory as a right of war, and without distinction of age. We feel in touch with an odious perversity as we read the story of these outrages, in which a depraved imagination is as prominent as their brutality. On the 4th September, at Rebais, a young woman of twenty-nine years, a wine-seller, was accused of having concealed English soldiers at her house. The Germans undressed

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Hateful Consequences of these Acts

Hateful Consequences of these Acts

Several victims of these crimes died: others lost their reason. For a large number the natural consequences of these acts condemn them to become mothers. Of all the victims of invasion, none have been more unfortunate than these. The practice of abortion cannot be tolerated. They are condemned to bring into the world the hateful fruit of savage bestiality. It should at least be admitted that they should be absolved from the duty of feeding and loving this offspring. A law to this effect will dou

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Resistance punished with Death

Resistance punished with Death

A number of women who resisted the violence of the soldiers were killed either by rifle shots or bayonet thrusts. At Esternay, on the night of Sunday, 6th September, the soldiers violated widow Bouché, her two daughters, and two women called Lhomme and Macé. When the mother resisted they fired on the whole group. Mme. Lhomme was struck, and Marcelle Bouché, who was seriously wounded, succumbed the following morning as a result of her wound. At Rebais, a lady of thirty-four years, who resisted th

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Refinement of Depravity

Refinement of Depravity

In order to increase the horror of these scenes, the Germans were pleased to commit their crimes even in the presence of the parents of these wretched girls. It was not enough for them to shame their victim, they must do it under the eyes of those whose duty it was to defend her, and whom they first made powerless. Pierre Nothomb’s book contains numerous examples. We tremble with indignation as we read the story. In France, at Coulommiers, a woman was violated on the 6th September before her hus

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German Admissions

German Admissions

On the question of the murder of women, young and old, M. Bédier’s book contains the admissions of the Germans themselves. Those of Blamont are told by the German soldier, Paul Spielmann (of the First Guards Infantry Brigade). “It was horrible: blood was plastered over all the houses, and as for the faces of the dead, they were hideous. “Among them were many old women and one pregnant woman.” The excuse alleged was “there was telephonic communication with the enemy.” The existence of this teleph

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Belgian and French Children ill-treated, wounded and killed

Belgian and French Children ill-treated, wounded and killed

We have already told the story of the ill-treatment to which six to eight thousand people, who were packed together standing in the riding-school and had to pass the night there, were exposed at Louvain. A number of children were included in these. Several endured great hardships, and the youngest died in their mothers’ arms. At Dinant, in the slaughter which took place, several children were massacred. In other cases we see that children were exposed to exceptional acts of violence. “On the way

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Children tortured by Germans

Children tortured by Germans

At Hofstade, said Pierre Nothomb, a lad of less than fifteen years was found with hands crossed behind his back and his body pierced with bayonet thrusts. At Pin, near Izel, two young boys saw the Uhlans coming; the latter took them as they passed, and made them run, with hands bound, between their galloping horses. Their dead bodies were found an hour afterwards in a ditch; as an eye-witness said, their knees were “literally worn out”; one had his throat cut and his breast laid open; each had a

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German Admissions

German Admissions

We read above the admission of a soldier of the Prussian Guard, Paul Spielmann, about the massacre of a village which “had been in telephonic communication with the enemy.” Among those who were massacred he adds that there were three children. “I saw this morning (2nd September) four little boys carrying on two sticks a cradle in which was a child of five to six months old. All that is fearful to behold. Blow for blow. Cannon for cannon. Everything was given up to pillage. “… I saw also a mother

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Outrages on Old People

Outrages on Old People

At every place where the civil population was brutally treated, outraged or shot en masse —at Louvain, at Dinant—no exception was made in the case of old folk. People of seventy and eighty years of age had to bear forced marches, to remain standing in packed masses, where they were kept for whole nights, at the risk of death, as was the result for a large number. But, in addition to these common instances, outrages of a peculiar kind are not wanting. At Rebais-en-Brie an old man of sixty-nine ye

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Torture of Old People

Torture of Old People

On the 26th August, not far from Malines, the dead body of an old man was found bound by the arms to a beam in the ceiling of his farmhouse. The body was completely burnt, except the head, arms and feet. At Triaucourt, in France, an old man of seventy, Jean Lecouturier, was thrown into the flames of a burning house. At Champuis, Jacquemin was bound to his bed by a non-commissioned officer, and left in this state without food for three days. He died some days afterwards. At Lavigneville (Meuse),

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Outrages on Priests

Outrages on Priests

The crimes committed in Belgium and France against the priests deserve separate treatment. The German newspapers and the Emperor alleged, in justification of these acts, that at the beginning of hostilities the curés and nuns of the invaded regions had abused their spiritual authority over the civil population by rousing them to frenzy and inciting them to act as francs-tireurs. But of such acts Germany has brought forward no proof. On the contrary, the German Catholic bureau Pax and the Kölnisc

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Ill-Treatment

Ill-Treatment

M. Auguste Mélot, deputy of Namur, published a book, Martyre du Clergé Belge , which throws light upon this conduct so far as Belgium is concerned. The curés of Wygmael and Wesemael were forced to march, on the 29th August, before the army with their elbows bound together. A curé of Rotselaer and a curé of Wackerzeel, aged seventy years, were shut up for whole days in a church, almost without food and under dreadful conditions. They were finally brought away to Germany, where insults were heaped

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Murder of Priests

Murder of Priests

According to inquiries made in four dioceses out of six, Malines, Liège, Namur and Tournai, it has been possible to fix the names of forty-four priests whom the Germans killed and of a dozen who are missing. These names are found in M. Mélot’s book. These crimes took place when a priest took it upon him to resist some massacre or some other kind of crime ordered by the Germans. Thus M. Wonters, curé of Pont-Brûlé, was shot because he wanted to prevent a German soldier from ill-treating an old pr

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Torture of Priests

Torture of Priests

Some priests died as a result of the agonies inflicted upon them. The executioners were not content with killing them outright; they wanted to make them suffer as well. M. de Clerck, the curé of Buecken, who was accused of having fired on the Germans, was first placed on a cannon. When his tormentors had their fill of watching his terror, they threw him into a ditch. Then the soldiers took him, some by the arm, others by a leg, and dragged him over the pavement. Only then did they shoot him. How

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The Arrest of Cardinal Mercier

The Arrest of Cardinal Mercier

The abominable behaviour of the Germans to the Belgian Catholic clergy was crowned by the arrest of Cardinal Mercier, Archbishop of Malines. The following is the account of the circumstances under which he was arrested, given by the reverend prelate in a letter of the 10th January, sent secretly to all the parishes in the diocese of Malines. “You are, doubtless, aware of a communication made by the German Government to the Brussels daily papers, to the effect that the cardinal archbishop of Mali

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Outrages on the French Clergy

Outrages on the French Clergy

The town of Roye was occupied by the Germans on the 7th September. On the morning of the 9th a burial was taking place. At the very time when the service was being held in the church, a French machine-gun came into the town and forthwith began to fire at a German outpost which had taken up a position in the town hall. The Germans rushed madly into the church, to the number of about fifty, and, to the great indignation of those who were present, seized the two officiating priests and the two chor

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The German Theory of Francs-tireurs

The German Theory of Francs-tireurs

The behaviour of the Germans to civilians gives us the opportunity of considering, before we proceed further, a theory which they promulgated at the outbreak of war, and which referred to the distinction that would be made as regards non-combatants who took up arms against invasion. In the early days of the war the German Government, through the agency of a neutral power, communicated the following two documents to France and Belgium. In order to show that the principle is both technically wrong

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The German Military Authorities and Non-combatants

The German Military Authorities and Non-combatants

German generals and officers have quibbled about inhumanity in their proclamations. The Burgomaster of Hasselt could communicate to his fellow townsmen on the 17th August the decision of the German military authorities, by which, “ in case civilians fired on the soldiers of the German army, a third of the male population would be shot .” The German Generalissimo Bülow announced, in a proclamation addressed to the communal authorities of Liège (22nd August), that “the inhabitants of the town of A

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Francs-tireurs

Francs-tireurs

These proclamations are a denial, pure and simple, of the right of civilians to resist an invader. This right, however, is recognised by the Hague Convention. In fact, these conventions declare that irregular corps raised to meet an invader are permissible, and that the soldiers who compose them must be treated according to the laws of war, provided that they take care— (1) “to have at the head of them a person who is responsible for his subordinates; (2) “to have a distinguishing mark, which is

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The Attitude of the Belgian Government

The Attitude of the Belgian Government

The declaration made by the Belgian Government the 5th August, 1914, and referred to in the communication of the German Government, reproduced above, included the assurance that Belgium would conform during the war to the laws and usages of war laid down by the Hague Conferences. Belgium, therefore, was perfectly within her rights in allowing armed resistance by civilians, in cases and under conditions recognised as legitimate by the Hague Conventions . And it was only from caution and from prem

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Crimes committed by the Germans in the Exercise of Reprisals

Crimes committed by the Germans in the Exercise of Reprisals

At Liège, on the 21st August, a shot was fired from a house situated on the Quai des Pêcheurs. Immediately the Germans opened fire with a machine-gun and blew up on the spot twenty houses, whose inhabitants were killed. Shortly afterwards ten other houses on the Place de l’Université were set on fire, but as the flames seemed to be spreading too much, the firemen were ordered to put them out. At Champguyon, on the 6th September, a man named Louvet was arrested for having fired under conditions f

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Massacres of Civilians for Paltry Reasons

Massacres of Civilians for Paltry Reasons

No less criminal are the attacks made by the Germans on the lives of civilians, for paltry reasons, for slight insubordination to unimportant orders, or even for acts that were quite blameless. The following are some examples of these crimes. In the government of Warsaw the Germans killed a Polish magnate, Count Thomas Potocki, for merely protesting against a requisition. At Dartainitza, near Semlin, on the frontier of Austria and Serbia, the whole of the inhabitants were led by the Austrians to

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At Dinant

At Dinant

A Dutchman, M. Staller, has told as follows in the Telegraaf (quoted above, see Chap. XI ) the story of the massacre of the people of Dinant. “On Friday, the 21st August, about a dozen Germans ventured as far as the middle of the town in an armoured motor, a regular moving fortress. They had machine-guns with them, and whilst the motor rolled along they fired to right and left at the houses, aiming chiefly, I maintain, at the upper storeys. It was already late, and, as the majority of the people

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At Louvain

At Louvain

Several people who had been killed at Louvain by the Germans had been buried by them on the square in front of the railway station. The Kölnische Zeitung had the assurance to deny the fact. But search was made, and the bodies of these victims of German barbarism were discovered. The following account of the exhumation was given by the Tijd of Amsterdam, above the signature of a journalist who took part in the work in the presence of several Belgians, Colonel Lubbert, German commandant of Louvain

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At Nomény

At Nomény

On the 20th August, 1914, the 8th Bavarian Regiment entered Nomény in command of Colonel Hannapel. “According to a story told by one of their soldiers,” said the French Commission of Inquiry, “their leaders had told them that the French tortured the wounded by tearing out their eyes and gashing their limbs. Thus they were in a fearful state of unusual excitement. From all sides came the rattle of rifle shots. The wretched inhabitants, whom the dread of fire drove from their cellars, were shot do

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At Lunéville

At Lunéville

The murders at Lunéville were committed, according to the French Commission of Inquiry, under the following circumstances— “On the 25th August, after firing two shots from the inside of the Worms tannery, to make it appear that they had been attacked, the Germans rushed into a workshop of this manufactory, in which an artisan named Goeury was working in company with Messrs. Balastre, father and son. Goeury was dragged out into the street, stripped, and brutally ill-treated, whilst his two compan

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Outrages and Attacks on Hostages

Outrages and Attacks on Hostages

Before ending this chapter and putting on record the admissions which German officers and soldiers have involuntarily made on the subject with which we are engaged, we may draw up two other categories of criminal acts which they have committed: (1) the practice of taking hostages, everywhere and on all kinds of pretexts, some of whom were ill-treated and killed, and (2) the callous deportation of civilians to Germany. To take hostages from among civilians whom the fortune of war condemns to inva

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Massacre of Hostages

Massacre of Hostages

At Blamont in Lorraine, ex-Mayor Barthélemy, aged forty-six years, was taken as a hostage and shot. The same fate awaited the then mayor and the chief people in the locality; when the French entered the town they found notices on the walls announcing that these people would be shot on the following morning. This was also the case at Courtacon (Seine-et-Marne), where five men and a child of thirteen years, taken as hostages, were exposed to the French fire during an engagement. Another hostage, n

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Hostages in Serbia

Hostages in Serbia

The hostages taken by the Austrians may be divided into two categories. They were, in the first place, the best-known Serbians, mayors or prominent inhabitants of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose imprisonment had no other object than to stop the invasion of that province by the threat of shooting them. The second category was composed of peasants, living in Serbian villages, who were shot in order to strike terror into the inhabitants. Amongst the hostages of the first category several were shot. T

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Deportation of Civilians

Deportation of Civilians

“The German military authorities had as profound contempt for liberty as for human life. Almost everywhere, people of every age were dragged from their homes and led away to captivity. Many died or were killed on the way.” These are the words in which the French Commission of Inquiry denounces that other crime committed by the Germans in the territories which they had invaded. In several places the inhabitants found they were deported en masse to Germany to dig trenches or to replace German agri

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The Germans admit all these Crimes

The Germans admit all these Crimes

As in the case of other kinds of outrage, so in that of the actions which we have just enumerated we are in possession of some admissions which have come from the Germans themselves. A soldier named Philip, of Kamenz in Saxony, writes as follows: “At ten p.m. the first battalion of the 178th regiment went down into a burnt village to the north of Dinant, a sadly beautiful spectacle, which made us shudder. At the entrance to the village there lay about fifty citizens, who had been shot for having

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Conclusion

Conclusion

All this evidence and all these admissions are sufficient to prove the criminal nature of the German treatment of civilians whose territory had been invaded. The pretexts which they allege have no validity. They are only made for the sake of appearances, and, on the other hand, the acts which they committed are such as admit no kind of excuse and can in no case be justified. Nevertheless the German Government attempted to do so. The Berlin Cabinet undertook to prove that the inhabitants of Liège

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Arson as a Policy

Arson as a Policy

As the French Commission of Inquiry remarked, arson was a common German practice, sometimes used as a weapon of destruction, sometimes as a means of intimidation. “The German army,” adds this Commission, “in order to be prepared for it, has a regular equipment, including torches, grenades, fuses, petrol-sprinklers, rockets which carry inflammable matter, and even little bags containing pastilles of a very inflammable compressed powder. Its incendiary fury is chiefly manifested against churches a

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Louvain

Louvain

The burning of Louvain must be regarded as an operation distinct from the bombardment. The bombardment was slight, but the burning fearful. The burning began on the 26th August at ten p.m. It was systematically carried out. In places where the fire did not catch on, the soldiers went from house to house throwing incendiary grenades. The largest part of the town, especially those parts of the upper town which included St. Peter’s Church, the university and its library, the greater part of the sci

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The Burning of Nomény

The Burning of Nomény

Various crimes committed at Nomény have had their place in foregoing chapters. But the burning of the place surpassed them all. On the 13th August, 1914, at the cry “the Prussians, the Prussians,” the inhabitants of this small village (in the province of Meurthe-et-Moselle) took refuge in the cellars. The German cavalry and infantry, sword unsheathed and revolver in hand, rushed, shouting, into the village. Mlle. Jacquemot, an eye-witness of these incidents, has described them in the Nancy Est R

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Senlis

Senlis

The burning of Senlis is one of the most frightful cases of destruction by fire of which the Germans have been guilty. They had hardly entered it on the 2nd September when they began to loot houses, and afterwards threw into them special bombs which caused fires to break out. As M. Émile Henriot has shown, in L’Illustration , 26th September, 1914: “It was not the bombardment that started the fire. A callous and calculated purpose directed this work of destruction. There are witnesses who affirm

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Baccarat

Baccarat

“On the morning after their arrival at Baccarat” (on the 25th August, 1914), says M. Jean Rogier in the Petit Parisien , “without excuse, without any pretext that the population had fired on them—for the mere lust of wickedness and destruction they set fire to the town. To begin with, they made an attack on the town hall. Soldiers bearing some resin torches, others cans of oil and petrol, marched as if on parade, to the town hall, splashed the walls with oil, emptied the petrol into the offices

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A Few Figures

A Few Figures

These narratives are eloquent and yet they are far from giving an idea of the destruction which the Germans left behind them. The figures tell us still more than the narratives. In Belgium, in fifteen towns and villages taken at random among the localities which the Germans systematically ravaged by fire, we note that 2191 houses were burnt: in other words, on an average each Belgian locality damaged by the fire of German torches had 146 houses burnt down. Moreover, we have mentioned in our inve

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Burning of Historic Monuments and Castles

Burning of Historic Monuments and Castles

It was not merely at Reims during the bombardment, and at Louvain during the fire, that the Germans showed their contempt for monuments and the treasures of art and science contained in them. In the following chapter we shall take note of the loot carried on in the interiors of these buildings. Here we speak only of fire and general destruction. Several castles were burnt down: those of Varolles, Moque-Souris, Sparre (in Chierry), the château of Brumetz (Aisne province), the town hall of Lunévil

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Sacrilegious Fires

Sacrilegious Fires

None the more were churches spared. The invader, the enemy alike of his foe’s taste and of his religious faith, spent as it were a double ferocity on the work of destroying the temples of God. “The church at Aerschot,” writes the Belgian Commission of Inquiry in one of its reports, “is a lamentable spectacle. Its three entrances and those of the sacristy have been more or less consumed. The entrance leading to the nave, and the side entrance on the right, both of massive oak, seem to have been h

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Desecration of Churches

Desecration of Churches

The Germans were not content with destruction. On several occasions they went out of their way to desecrate holy places; so much perversity, worse even than barbarism, is there in the regular habits of this nation and in the education which they receive. The church of Aerschot was not merely burned, it was also polluted; and the following narrative, given by a woman who was an eye-witness, a correspondent of the Evening News (of 24th September, 1914), will help to give us some idea of what went

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In Russia

In Russia

Instances of desecration of churches, Orthodox and Catholic, were still more numerous in Russia. The cause of this lies in the orders which were given to attack the Russian or Polish peasant through his religion, the most sacred of his possessions. The worst of these outrages was that suffered by the famous church of Our Lady at Tchenstokhova. It is the great centre of national pilgrimage, to which more than a million people go each year. The Germans did not shrink from desecrating this renowned

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German Admissions

German Admissions

We must not omit the chapter of admissions. So far as the burning of Aerschot is concerned, we find one of these admissions in the Kölnische Zeitung , whose correspondent admits that “the sight was alarming.” He adds that “the town was ablaze on all sides” and that “the barrels of spirits of wine blew up with a deafening clatter.” The Saxon officer of the 178th regiment, whose evidence we have already put on record, writes that “ the fine village of Gué-d’Hossus (Ardennes) was abandoned to the f

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The German Idea of War-booty

The German Idea of War-booty

The cherished idea of the German soldier is that war permits and excuses everything. Consequently the property of the inhabitants of the territory he invades does not seem to him to be immune from his cupidity. If the lust of possession seizes him, he thinks it is a brilliantly won booty, which rewards him for his efforts. Nevertheless, international law only recognises as booty what is taken from a state ; in all other cases it is pillage, and Bluntschli, the well-known German jurist, stigmatis

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The Objects of Pillage

The Objects of Pillage

Pillage covered everything, everything at least that could be carried away. What could be consumed was used at once, letters were everywhere pillaged. “Strong-boxes,” said the Commission of Inquiry, “have been gutted, and considerable sums robbed or taken by violence from them. A large quantity of silver and jewels, and also of pictures, furniture, objets d’art , linen, bicycles, women’s clothes, sewing-machines, and even children’s toys, have been taken away and put on wagons, to be brought to

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Pillage a General Practice

Pillage a General Practice

Other towns and villages saw acts like these repeated many times. Here are some examples taken at random. In the Province of Aisne, the village of Brumetz was sacked; in that of Jaulgonne, the Prussian Guard emptied cellars and carried off linen: theft and destruction combined resulted in loss to the extent of 250,000 francs. At Charmel similar incidents occurred. At Péronne, the inhabitants had to endure levies imposed on them without ceasing. All inhabited houses were searched from cellar to a

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Looting of Louvain

Looting of Louvain

During the days which followed the burning of Louvain, the houses which remained standing and whose inhabitants had been driven out were handed over to be looted under the very eyes of the German officers. This pillage lasted eight days. In bands of six or eight the soldiers forced in the doors or broke in the windows, rushed into the cellars, soaked themselves in wine, threw the furniture about, broke open safes, stole money, pictures, objets d’art , silver, linen, clothing, provisions. A great

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Looting at Aerschot

Looting at Aerschot

M. Orts, Adviser to the Legation, Secretary of the Belgian Commission of Inquiry, stated that the town of Aerschot was partially destroyed by fire, but that so far as the rest was concerned, he could affirm that it had been completely sacked. “I went into several houses,” he said, “and passed through the different storeys. Everywhere the furniture had been thrown about, gutted, polluted in a disgraceful manner. Paper-hangings fell in strips from the walls, the doors of the cellars were burst in,

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Looting at Dinant

Looting at Dinant

The Dutch journalist whom we have quoted writes in the Telegraaf with regard to this town— “In the Banque Henri the Germans had a disappointment, for they could not find where the safe had been concealed, but they stopped the manager and his son at the very moment when they were trying to escape on bicycles. As they refused to reveal the secret, they were killed with revolver shots. At the Banque Populaire the Germans, indeed, found the safe, but the greatest part of the money which it contained

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Looting at Lunéville

Looting at Lunéville

“During the early days,” says the French Commission of Inquiry, “the Germans were content to pillage, without otherwise molesting the inhabitants. Particularly was this the case on the 24th August, when Madame Jeaumont’s house was stripped. The stolen articles were put in a great cart, in which were three women, one clad in black, the other two wearing military costumes, and having the appearance, we were told, of canteen-attendants. “On the 25th August, M. Lenoir, aged sixty-seven years, was br

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Looting of Clermont-en-Argonne

Looting of Clermont-en-Argonne

Let us quote the Commission of Inquiry— “On the 4th September, during the night the 121st and 122nd Wurtemberg regiments entered, breaking the doors of the houses as they passed, and giving themselves up to unrestrained pillage, which was to continue during the whole of the following day. Towards midday a soldier kindled the fire. When the fire had gone out, pillage recommenced in the houses spared by the flames. Articles of furniture taken from the house of M. Desforges, fabrics stolen from the

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Looting of Château-Thierry

Looting of Château-Thierry

Château-Thierry was looted in the presence of officers, who must even have taken part in it, if we are to judge by the example of two German doctors, surprised in town by the arrival of the French troops, and who were then included in an exchange of prisoners. Their cases were opened, and in them were found articles of clothing obtained by looting shops. “During the whole week which the German occupation of Château-Thierry lasted,” wrote the Temps of the 25th October, 1914, “shops and rooms were

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Serbia and Russia

Serbia and Russia

The same kind of thing took place in Poland and Serbia. At Chabatz the shops were broken open and the goods which they contained stolen. In the Report of the Serbian Commission of Inquiry it is said that at Prngnavor and in the outskirts all the furniture of the inhabitants, such as beds, chests, chairs, tables, sewing-machines, and even stoves had been completely smashed and thrown outside the houses. The Commission also declared that all the domestic animals which had not been used for food or

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Theft of Pictures and Various Objets d’Art

Theft of Pictures and Various Objets d’Art

Objets d’art of every kind and pictures were several times stolen in this way both in Belgium and in France. The review Kunst und Künstler , in an article from the pen of Professor Shaeffer, who goes so far as to specify the pictures which ought to figure in German museums, proclaimed the right to take possession of such articles and bring them to Germany. It is true that in museums the greater part of the exhibits had been put in a place of safety. Others were surprised and looted. This was the

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Looting of Châteaux

Looting of Châteaux

All the fine old châteaux of the Champagne and Marne region, and all the rich estates and villas situate in that part of Lorraine which has been invaded, were also pillaged and sacked. The ironwork of the fourteenth and fifteenth century, the Gothic wainscoting, the antique furniture, were taken away. Everything which was supposed to have any value—jewels, silver, objets d’art , books—was stolen. At the Moulinot Priory, the property of M. de Chauffault, and at Raon-l’Etape, where the 99th infant

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Robbing the Dead and Wounded

Robbing the Dead and Wounded

The universally admitted obligation not to plunder an enemy who has fallen on the field of battle has been, like so many others, repudiated by the Germans. The personal belongings, silver, jewels, etc., of the dead and wounded have been not merely coveted, but actually plundered by them. Examples of this infamous conduct were numerous, chiefly on the battlefields of France. On the 8th August, on the spot where a small cavalry engagement had taken place, at Beuveille (in Champagne), a French lieu

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Enormous Taxes levied by the Germans

Enormous Taxes levied by the Germans

The taxes levied by the Germans in several towns of Belgium and France were represented by the invaders as either fines or war contributions. If, however, we consider them a little more closely, we shall not be able to see anything in them but theft, admitted and official. It is a consequence and an extension of thefts committed on the field of battle. That such levies should be permitted, they must be represented as expenses arising out of invasion. It is within such limits only that internatio

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German Pleas in Defence, and their Validity

German Pleas in Defence, and their Validity

It is hardly necessary to say that the principle of holding towns to ransom is not admitted by any one to-day. Bluntschli, the German jurist, writes on this head a phrase which sounds ironical: “War has become civilised…… No one has any longer the right to pillage, and still less the right to destroy, without military necessity; therefore there can no longer be any question of buying off this pretended right .” On the other hand, the policy of terrorisation is not admitted. It is, however, very

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The Chief Examples in Belgium of this Breach of International Law

The Chief Examples in Belgium of this Breach of International Law

The Germans imposed on the town of Liège a payment of ten million francs, and demanded fifty millions from the province. The provinces of Brabant and Brussels were assessed at 50 and 450 million francs respectively, “as a war contribution.” Moreover, it was declared in the note signed in the name of General Arnim by Captain Kriegsheim, of the general staff of the 4th army corps in presence of M. Max, Mayor of Brussels. At Louvain, the German authorities, represented by the commandant, Manteuffel

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Examples of the same Breach of Law in France

Examples of the same Breach of Law in France

The following is the notice which informed the inhabitants of Lunéville of the tax in which they had been mulcted— “On the 25th August, 1914” (runs the notice), “the inhabitants of Lunéville made an attack by ambuscade on German columns and trains. On the same day the inhabitants fired on medical sections wearing the Red Cross. Moreover, they fired on German wounded, and on the military hospital, which included a German ambulance. On account of these hostile acts a contribution of 650,000 francs

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Requisitions

Requisitions

In recognition of the necessities of troops in the field, the right of requisition is allowed, but it must, as far as possible, be exercised with moderation. Supplies must be paid for in ready money, or else must be acknowledged by receipts, and in any case payment must take place as soon as possible. The German publicist, Bluntschli, even imposes on the occupying troops the obligation to pay on delivery for supplies for which demand is made. In violation of this established principle, the Germa

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Other Examples of Official Pillage

Other Examples of Official Pillage

Examples of official pillage of every kind practised by Germany are to be had in abundance. Sometimes it was the military authorities who shamelessly seized the deposits in private banks. This was shown to have taken place at Liège, Dinant, and Louvain, where quite a large sum of money was taken from the Bank de la Dyle and 12,000 francs from the Banque Populaire. At Lille the savings bank was robbed. Sometimes pillage took the form of fining newspapers. In this way the Croix du Nord had to pay

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The Chapter of German Admissions

The Chapter of German Admissions

As far as concerns pillage carried on by way of requisitions we have the evidence of proclamations, letters, and other official communications issued by the German authorities. In no other documents could the chapter of admissions be so explicit. As for theft and pillage committed by soldiers or by officers in their private capacity, the following is evidence supplied by Germans themselves. A German reservist who died in France, privat-docent of a university, married, and father of a family, car

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The Responsibility of the Leaders

The Responsibility of the Leaders

At the beginning of this book we noted the fatal teachings of the most famous military writers of Germany, writers who formed the war-school in which was developed the military spirit of the officers of 1914. These teachings were theories of war carried on in defiance of international law. The putting to death of captured soldiers and defenceless civilians is latent in such doctrines. If, then, we wish to sum up in a word the system practised by German officers, during the course of a war which

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The Names of the Officers

The Names of the Officers

We shall mention here the names of the officers in question. But we must, above all, begin with the princes in whose name so many outrages have been committed. 1. The Emperor William II. In a speech addressed to his troops, on the eve of the battle of the Vistula, the Emperor William himself uttered these words, which form as it were the savage programme of all the atrocities that have been committed: “Woe to the conquered. The conqueror knows no mercy.” 2. The Emperor Franz Joseph. In an Imperi

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Conclusion

Conclusion

The theoretic responsibility for German cruelties, therefore, falls upon the military writers of Germany directly; but fundamentally, and probing more deeply, upon her professors, historians, and philosophers. Then come the heads of the army, who were the first to carry out these teachings. But the verdict of mankind condemns the whole of Germany; for all her citizens, from the highest to lowest, appear in the eyes of the world, which was at first amazed and then indignant, as identifying themse

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