Belgians Under the German Eagle

by Jean Massart

E.—Ferocity.

We may be brief, for the cruel character of Kultur is so obvious, and appears so plainly from the documents cited, that it would be idle to insist upon it.

If it were necessary to justify our aversion, we need only remark that the cruelties recorded were systematically premeditated. Do not the Kriegsbrauch im Landkriege (Usages of War on Land according to the Great General Staff) state that the observation of these usages is not "guaranteed by any sanction other than the fear of reprisals," and that the officer, the child of his age, carried away by the moral tendencies which affect his country, must protect himself "against exaggerated humanitarian ideas," and must realize that "the only true humanity often resides in the unmitigated employment of these severities?" If such principles are professed by the highest authorities, the German soldier will not shrink from any degree of violence; for he knows that wickedness will not merely provide him with amusement; it will also help to achieve the final aim of warfare.

So that the officer shall be in no danger of forgetting the spirit in which he should conceive his relations with the enemy population, he carries some such aid to memory as the Tornister-Wörterbuch. If he has letters or proclamations to draft, he has recourse to L'Interprète Militaire of Captain von Scharfenort, professor and librarian at the Academy of War in Berlin. M. Waxweiler (in La Belgique Neutre et Loyale, p. 265) has already drawn attention to the cruel and odious character of this vade-mecum, so we will not enlarge upon it. It was after consulting L'Interprète Militaire that a certain placard posted in Belgium in the August of 1914 was drafted. It gives no details as to the "lugubrious cruelties"; it applies both to towns and villages; it speaks of the "mayor" instead of the "burgomaster"; it is neither dated nor signed; in short, it presents all the characteristics of an "emergency placard," drafted beforehand.

Proclamation.

We are not making war upon citizens, but only on the enemy army.

In spite of this, the German troops have been attacked in great number by persons who do not belong to the army. They have committed acts of the most lugubrious cruelty not only against combatants, but also against our wounded and our doctors who are under the protection of the Red Cross. To prevent these brutalities I order that which follows:

1. Any person who does not belong to the army and who is found arms in hand, will be shot instantly. He will be regarded as outside the laws of nations.

2. All arms, rifles, pistols, Brownings, sabres, daggers, etc., and all explosive material, must be delivered immediately by the mayors of every village or town to the commander of the German troops; if a single weapon is found, no matter in what house, or if any act has been committed against our troops, our transports, our telegraph lines, our railways, etc., or if any one gives asylum to francs-tireurs; the guilty persons and the hostages who will be taken in each village will be shot without pity. Besides this, the inhabitants of the villages, etc., in question will be driven out. The villages and towns even will be demolished and burned. If this happens on the road of communication between two villages or two towns, the inhabitants of the two villages will be treated in the same manner.

I expect the mayors and populations will be able, by their prudent supervision and conduct, to ensure the safety of our troops as well as their own.

In the contrary case, the measures indicated above will come into force.

Signed: The General Commanding-in-Chief.
(No name.)

The appeal to brutality comes from above. In 1900 the whole world shuddered at the advice which Wilhelm II gave the expeditionary corps setting out for China. "Follow the example of the Huns," cried the Kaiser. Why, then, do the Germans profess to be annoyed when compared to-day with the soldiers of Attila—or when their motto is spelt Gott mit Huns?

A German lieutenant, whose military note-book we have had before us, does full justice to his companions. After the massacre and burning of Ottignies on the 20th August, 1914, he wrote as follows (we translate):—

The inhabitants were in the square, under a guard of soldiers. Several men were condemned by the Council of War and at once put to death. The women, dressed in black, as in a solemn procession, then departed. Among those who had just fallen, how many innocent were shot! The village has been literally sacked: the "blond brute" has shown himself for what he is. The Huns and the freebooters of the Middle Ages could not have done better. The houses are burning now, and when the action of the fire is not enough we raze what remains standing.

Very suggestive too is the placard of the 26th April, 1915, in which Baron von Bissing informs us that according to Mr. Fox, an American journalist, the Germans have committed no useless "cruelties." Then there are useful cruelties? Really the Governor-General, who seems to know his subject, ought to publish a table differentiating the various qualities of cruelty.

But a thing that does surprise us is that the virus of cruelty should already have contaminated civilians—I mean the Catholic members of the Reichstag. Herr Erzberger, the same who asserted, and who perhaps is asserting still, that the Belgians invaded Germany on the 2nd August, wrote what are perhaps the most coldly ferocious words imaginable: "Above all, no sentimentality!" (N.R.C., 6th February, 1916, evening edition).

Such advice bore fruit, as we shall discover when we come to examine, in succession, the physical and moral tortures in which our executioners delight. But first let us cite a few examples of aggravations. By that we mean acts of malice which do not endanger the life or reason of the victims, but which reveal, perhaps the more clearly for that, the desire to torment.