German Atrocities: A Record of Shameless Deeds — Context and Discussion

HE HAGUE CONVENTION 19

“ II. MY INTERVIEW WITH BELGIAN MINISTERS OF STATE 21

“ III. THE BRITISH PRESS BUREAU STATEMENT 26

“ IV. SECOND REPORT OF THE BELGIAN COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY 34

“ V. CAN THESE THINGS BE TRUE? 44

“ VI. WANTON BRUTALITY 47

“ VII. 300 MEN SHOT IN COLD BLOOD 52

“ VIII. THE INFERNO AT VISÉ 54

“ IX. THE MAIDEN TRIBUTE 58

“ X. ATROCITIES ROUND LIÉGE 66

“ XI. THE CRIME OF LOUVAIN 73

“ XII. FRENCH PROTEST TO THE POWERS 91

“ XIII. THE DESECRATION OF CHURCHES 101

“ XIV. TREATMENT OF ENGLISH TRAVELLERS 105

“ XV. WHAT OUR SOLDIERS SAY 109

“ XVI. THE ANTWERP OUTRAGE 117

“ XVII. “THE HUSSAR-LIKE STROKE” 124

WHAT THE KAISER SAID:

“When you meet the foe you will defeat him. No quarter will be given, no prisoners will be taken. Let all who fall into your hands be at your mercy. Gain a reputation like the Huns under Attila.”

This quotation from an address of the Kaiser to German troops, before they were dispatched to Peking in 1900, was circulated on post cards throughout Germany.

WHO WERE THE HUNS OF ATTILA?

The Kaiser, we read, has exhorted his soldiers to make themselves as much dreaded as the Huns of Attila. It is worth while to recall the methods of this savage, for he was nothing better. In one expedition across Greece and in another across Italy he reduced seventy of the finest cities to smoking ruins and to shambles. The inhabitants were either slaughtered on the spot or marched away in chains to end their lives as slaves. Men, women, children, babies--all came alike to this black demon of outrage and destruction. Briefly, the Monarch of the Huns may be best described as the worthy leader of one vast gang of Jack-the-Rippers.

And this is the blood-guilty ruffian whom the Kaiser now holds up as his exemplar! Judging by Louvain, he is no unworthy follower of his Master.

_In addition to the sworn facts and statements supplied officially to me by the Belgian Government, I have here included some others which have been recounted by wounded men who have returned from the front, by doctors who have attended them, and by the special correspondents of Reuter’s, the Central News, and other news agencies, and of the London and provincial newspapers._

Mr. Asquith has described the sacking of Louvain as “the greatest crime committed against civilization and culture since the Thirty Years’ War. With its buildings, its pictures, its unique library, its unrivalled associations, a shameless holocaust of irreparable treasures lit up by blind barbarian vengeance.”

It was a little over a month after the declaration of war that reports of great events began to crowd in upon us. Much had happened in that short space of time. The enormous forces of the Kaiser had forced back the line of the Allies well into France. We admired the huge machine at work. From a military point of view the rapidity of the advance of such an enormous body of men was something unique in warfare. It was not this wonderful achievement of the German army, however, it was not the equally wonderful resistance made by the Allies against overwhelming numbers, it was not the glorious record of Belgian, French, and British heroism--which resulted in practically nothing being gained by their adversary--it was none of these things that aroused and amazed the nations of the civilized world. It was something very different which arrested their horrified wonder, something which, in the words of the _Times_, “will turn the hand of every civilized nation in the world against them” (the German nation).

The atrocious acts committed by the troops of the Kaiser have staggered the civilized world, and it must now be plain to the meanest intelligence that these atrocities and acts of inhuman barbarity were not the doings of soldiers intoxicated with the excitement of success in battle, or maddened to the point of avenging defeat, or to be ascribed to an unbridled license of irresponsible troops out of hand. There is no longer any doubt, even in minds slow to believe them, that deeds which bring the blush of shame to the cheek as we read of them have been perpetrated; there is as little doubt where the responsibility for them rests. It is with the Kaiser and the men around him.

“Until now we have maintained an attitude of deliberate reserve upon the innumerable stories of German atrocities which have reached us,” says the _Times_. “We published without comment the unanswerable list of shocking excesses committed by the German troops, which was sent to England by the Belgian authorities. When a German Zeppelin cast bombs upon ill-fated women asleep in their beds at Antwerp, we did no more than explain the bearings of international law upon conduct which has met with universal reprobation in Europe and America. But now the real object of German savagery is self-revealed, not only by the effacement of Louvain, but by the shameful admissions sent forth from the wireless station at Berlin. On Thursday night the following official notification regarding Belgium came vibrating through the air:--

“‘The only means of preventing surprise attacks from the civil population has been to interfere with unrelenting severity and to create examples which by their frightfulness would be a warning to the whole country.’

“Such is the cynical nature of the German apologia for the destruction of Louvain. Such is the character of the warfare of the modern Huns. They seek to strike terror into the hearts of their foes by methods which belong to the days of the old barbaric hosts, who were thought to have vanished from the world for ever.

“There must be no mistake about the apportionment of blame for this and numberless other crimes. We have listened too long to the bleatings of professors bemused by the false glamour of a philosophy which the Germans themselves have thrust aside. The Kaiser and his people are alike responsible for the acts of their Government and their troops, and there can be no differentiation when the day of reckoning comes.

“The Kaiser could stop these things with a word. Instead, he pronounces impious benedictions upon them. Daily he appeals for the blessing of God upon the dreadful deeds which are staining the face of Western Europe--the ravaged villages, the hapless non-combatants hanged or shot, the women and children torn from their beds by cowards and made to walk before them under fire, all the infamies which have eternally disgraced German ‘valour.’ We are no longer dependent upon hearsay for these stories. Our own men are bringing them back from the front. Let there be no mistake as to where the responsibility rests.”

What the Kaiser Said.

It was the Kaiser (addressing his troops in June, 1900, on their setting out for Peking) who said:--

“_When you meet the foe you will defeat him. No quarter will be given, no prisoners will be taken. Let all who fall into your hands be at your mercy. Gain a reputation like the Huns under Attila._”

=And Who Was Attila?=

=It is worth while to recall the methods of this savage, for he was nothing better. In one expedition across Greece and in another across Italy he reduced seventy of the finest cities to smoking ruins and to shambles. The inhabitants were either slaughtered on the spot or marched away in chains to end their lives as slaves. Men, women, children, babies--all came alike to this black demon of outrage and destruction. Briefly, the Monarch of the Huns may be best described as the worthy leader of one vast gang of Jack the Rippers.

And this is the blood-guilty ruffian whom the Kaiser now holds up as his exemplar! Judging by Louvain, he is no unworthy follower of his Master.=

Then was it not =Bismarck= who said:--

“_You must leave the people through whom you march only their eyes to weep with._”

It was also the Kaiser who said, addressing his soldiers, “You must only have one will, and it is mine; there is only one law, and it is mine.”

And then again, I repeat, it was a Berlin wireless that flashed the official message:--

“The only means of preventing surprise attacks from the civil population has been to interfere with unrelenting severity and to create examples which by their frightfulness would be a warning to the whole country.”

Need we seek further to fix the responsibility?

What are the rights of nations in a state of war? There are first of all the unwritten laws of nations and humanity which need, or should need, no defining amongst civilized peoples. There are also the definite and specific Acts laid down at The Hague Convention, which it was declared by the signatories would not be legitimate in war between civilized nations. Germany was a signatory to The Hague Convention. At this Convention the Powers limited the rights of belligerents in the means to be adopted of injuring the enemy. Here are some of them:--

BY Article XXIII. it was especially forbidden:--

“To kill or wound treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army.

“To kill or wound an enemy who, having laid down his arms, or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at discretion.

“To declare that no quarter will be given.

“To employ arms, projectiles, or material calculated to cause unnecessary suffering.

“To make improper use of a flag of truce, of the national flag, or of the military insignia and uniform of the enemy, as well as the distinctive badges of the Geneva Convention.

“To destroy or seize the enemy’s property, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war.”

The law of civilized warfare was further made plain as follows:--

Article XXV.: “The attack or bombardment, by whatever means, of towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings which are undefended, is prohibited.”

Article XXVI.: “The officer in command of an attacking force must, before commencing a bombardment, except in cases of assault, do all in his power to warn the authority.”

Article XXVII.: “In sieges and bombardments all necessary steps must be taken to spare as far as possible buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals, and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not being used at the time for military purposes. It is the duty of the besieged to indicate the presence of such buildings or places by distinctive and visible signs which shall be notified to the enemy beforehand.”

In other further Articles it was laid down that a belligerent is forbidden to force the inhabitants of territory occupied by him to furnish information about the army of the other belligerent, or about its means of defence. It was forbidden to confiscate private property, and also laid down that family honour and rights, the lives of persons, and private property, as well as religious convictions and practice, must be respected. Pillage was forbidden, and prisoners must be humanely treated.

Stories of German brutality and ruthless disregard of these rules of civilized warfare as set out above were, from the opening of the war, continually reaching England. At first the public were sceptical about such tales of horror. Unfortunately, however, it was too clearly seen that the Germans made war in a manner which was very far from being civilized. Atrocities were being committed with a definite object--an object which was self-revealed, not only by the effacement of Louvain, “a shameless holocaust of irreparable treasures lit up by blind barbarian vengeance,” but by the disgraceful admissions sent forth from the German wireless station which I have already quoted.

The character of the warfare of these modern Huns was to terrorize the inhabitants of a hostile country, so that the invader might proceed on his way without fear of molestation. Therefore, the unspeakable crimes of the Kaiser’s forces have not even the excuse of being outbursts of national savagery. The shameful record contained in these pages are the cold and calculated brutalities of a nation who boasted of its “culture,” whose prayerful Emperor held up his hands to his Maker invoking success for his horde of ruthless barbarians, but who has shown that in war he respects no law of God, and regards the solemn treaties of nations as “scraps of paper.”

“We can only pray for a hastening of the day when all that is best in the German people will reassert itself as of old, and when the long reign of an arrogant and ruthless military caste will be looked back to by the countrymen of Schiller and Goethe as a nightmare that never can return.”

--From the American _Nation_.

Article XXIII. of The Hague Convention forbids:--“To kill or wound treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army.”

From almost the first day of the war this undertaking, given by Germany along with the other Great Powers, has been treated by her as a “scrap of paper.”

The fearful deeds of horror which have besmirched the name of Germany form a terrible page of history. They have been proved by captured Germans themselves to have been deliberate, and to have been actually ordered by officers as high in rank as colonels and majors, and to be part of the Kaiser’s preconceived plan. The murder of unarmed, inoffensive citizens, the hussar-like stroke of sowing neutral waters with death, the destruction of unfortified towns and the massacre of their inhabitants, the violation of women and young girls, the forcing of men, women, and children to march as shields in front of their troops, the murder of the wounded, the wholesale slaughter of non-combatants, the tortures, the mutilations, and the vile outrages are surely sins against humanity, and are bound to meet with an awful and just retribution. The blood of those martyred innocents cries aloud to God for vengeance, and such vengeance must surely come upon the Kaiser and the inhuman monsters surrounding him who have so deliberately urged on their wild assassins to commit the unspeakable crimes reported during the first month of the war.

It must be remembered, in reading of these terrible atrocities, that while they were being committed on the defenceless on every hand, yet the Kaiser sent a telegram to the King of Würtemberg actually thanking the Almighty for the success of his marauders in their murderous campaign against women and children. The text of the Kaiser’s message was: “With God’s gracious assistance, Duke Albrecht and his splendid army have gained a glorious victory. You will join me in thanking the Almighty. I have bestowed on Albrecht the Iron Cross of the First and Second Class.--WILHELM.” God’s gracious assistance!

The ruthless and utterly inexcusable barbarities committed by the German army were surely without parallel in the whole history of the world. The spectacle of racial degeneration which Germany displayed staggered civilization, and this awful story of murder, cruelty, and debauchery will surely remain for all time as a record of infamies which have eternally disgraced the German nation. About the apportionment of blame there must be no mistake. The Kaiser could have prevented it by a single word. But, condemned by his own speech, he and his people are alike responsible for the acts of the troops, and no differentiation can be made by right-thinking people.

My Interview with Belgian Ministers of State.

In order that the civilized world should be acquainted with the terrible atrocities committed in Belgium, the King of the Belgians, who had served in the trenches with his men, disguised as a private soldier, appointed a Mission to proceed to the President of the United States and lay the case before him. The members of the Mission were:--

=M. Carton de Wiart, Chief of the Mission, who is the Belgian Minister of Justice;=

=M. de Sadeleer, Leader of the Conservative Party;=

=M. Pau Hemans, Leader of the Liberal Party;=

=M. Emile Van der Velde, Leader of the Socialist Party.=

=All these men are Belgian Ministers of State, and were accompanied by Count de Lichtervelde, who acted as Secretary to the Mission.=

The members of this Mission first came to London to present an Address to the King. On the evening of the day these gentlemen were received by His Majesty, and later by Sir Edward Grey, I had the privilege of a private interview with them.

I had a long talk with M. Carton de Wiart, during which he unfolded to me many frightful details, and

“=These abominable crimes against humanity and civilization call for condign reprobation in the face of the civilized world.... Let us hear no more whining about German ‘culture.’ But let us make it known that we will make the world ring with our sense of horror.=”--_Frederic Harrison._

explained the reason for the appointment of a committee of inquiry. He described to me scenes he himself had witnessed. He laid stress upon the bombardment and destruction of open towns--that is, towns unprotected and undefended by any military works--such as Malines and Louvain; while Antwerp, being a fortified place, ought to have had twenty-four hours’ notice given to its inhabitants before it was attacked with bombs, yet no such notice was given. On the contrary, attacks by Zeppelins had been made without warning in the dead of night. He also described to me the atrocities committed by the Germans in the bombardment and setting fire to small villages without any military reason or necessity whatever. He related harrowing details of the massacre of perfectly innocent people, non-combatants, men, women, and children.

He showed me a letter from a person of repute in Belgium who had motored from Brussels to Louvain by the Tervueren road, in which I read: “After I got to a village named Veerde St. George I saw only burning villages; peasants beside themselves with terror threw up their arms in sign of submission on my approach. When I got to Louvain I found the whole town in ruins, and soldiers were still piling straw against buildings which had escaped the flames and igniting them.”

Authenticated Documents.

The mass of documents which the Mission were carrying to America, he informed me, were all signed statements of persons who had been eye-witnesses of the atrocities, as well as those of many who had suffered.

In a chat I also had with M. Emile Van der Velde, another member of the Delegation and the leader of the Belgian Socialists, he said: “I went to Malines after the fighting, in order to investigate the state of affairs. I found only eight Belgian people in the town, but even then the Germans were bombarding the deserted houses, apparently with the sole object of destroying them. The whole object of the Germans,” he added, “had been to create such a reign of terror that the whole population of Belgium should flee into Antwerp, and so render it impossible for the people congregated there to be fed. I myself examined the bodies of a peasant and his son which had been cut to pieces by bayonet thrusts.”

Another member of the Delegation told me that he had learned from several wounded persons how a druggist living near Tirlemont, on refusing to act as guide to the Uhlans, was shot three times and then bayoneted; and further, in the same hospital, wounded soldiers had told him how that while lying upon the battlefield many had been bayoneted or shot.

The Delegation had, earlier in the day on which I had this interview with them, presented an Address to His Majesty at Buckingham Palace, the text of which has been published. It ran:--

“SIRE,--Belgium, having had to choose between the sacrifice of her honour and the peril of war, did not hesitate. She opposed the brutal aggression committed by a Power which was one of the guarantors of her neutrality.

“In this critical situation it was for our country an inestimable tower of strength to see coming forth the resolute and immediate intervention by great and powerful England.

“Commissioned by His Majesty the King of the Belgians with a Mission to the President of the United States, we have considered it to be our duty to make a stay in the capital of the British Empire to convey to your Majesty the respectful and ardent expression of gratitude of the Belgian nation....

“Our adversary, after invading our territory, has decimated the civil population, massacred women and children, carried into captivity inoffensive peasants, put to death wounded, destroyed undefended towns, burned churches, historical monuments, and the famous library of the University of Louvain. All these facts are established by authenticated documents. Each we shall have the honour of submitting to the Government of your Majesty.