FOOTNOTES:
[14] And also justified by the laws of warfare as affecting invasion. Moreover: "The rules which affect a levée en masse (a general rising of the people to repel invaders, without organization) should be generously interpreted. The first duty of a citizen is to defend his country, and provided he does so loyally he should not be treated as a marauder or criminal." The Germans could not at the outset know that there was no levée en masse.—(Trans.)
[15] The Germans have tried to persuade Rome that these priests were not assassinated but killed in battle.
[16] To give an idea of these accusations, it was said that in the cellars of a Louvain convent the corpses of fifty German soldiers were discovered, murdered by the monks.
[17] If organized and disciplined, the civic guards and francs-tireurs would have formed part of the Belgian forces, provided they wore a recognizable sign and bore arms openly.—(Trans.)
[18] We shall see later (p. [221]) that at Louvain Dr. Hedin was shamefully deceived by the military authorities who were guiding him through the city. It is this which makes us fear that there may also have been deceit in the case of the villagers tried as "francs-tireurs."
[19] Kriegsbrauch im Landkriege. Professor J. H. Morgan has published a translation, with an introduction (John Murray). For a comparison between German, French, and English usages see Frightfulness in Theory and Practice, by Charles Andler, ed. Bernard Miall (T. Fisher Unwin).
[20] They are all, with a truly German lack of originality, with the genuine intellectual slavishness of the "blonde beast," simply repeating the words of Clausewitz, as all German military philosophers have done for the best part of a century.—(Trans.)
[21] A perusal of Clausewitz, von Hartmann, and the Kriegsbrauch would have dispelled all doubt. None of these theories is new: how often does a German develop a new theory? This peculiarly bloodless, mechanically ferocious barbarism is nearly a century old. The French had seen it in action before.—(Trans.)
[22] The Germans even accuse the Belgian Government of paying its "francs-tireurs" "by the piece"; that is, so much per German killed.
[23] If it had openly encouraged the civil population it would merely have ordered the levée en masse, which it had a perfect right to do: as Germany did in 1813. But it is interesting to note that in 1813 the German francs-tireurs were required not to wear distinctive uniforms or badges, and were allowed to use any weapons and any means of injuring the enemy. Germany invented the franc-tireur, and now expects Belgium to do what she would do in a like case. The bogy so feared by the German soldier is, indeed, his own shadow. Actually, of course, the Belgian Government called upon civilians to keep quiet and to surrender arms.—(Trans.)
[24] Thus Der Grosse Krieg, pp. 51 and 52, published a Wolff telegram on the 3rd August, 1914, saying that many spies had already been shot in Germany, but that the public should none the less be careful to report suspects, particularly those who spoke a foreign language.
[25] Étape (etappen, Germ.), stores, rations, or a halting-place.—(Trans.)
[26] If we mention Reims it is because the Germans have on eight occasions posted placards in Belgium bearing declarations relating to this crime against civilization.
[27] We have not been able to verify the authenticity of the quotation from the Times.
[28] In Germany the phrase has a meaning sui generis.
[29] Names will be published later.
[30] See photographs in Panorama, 9B (26th August, 1914), 17A (16th October, 1914), 18A (16th October, 1914).
[31] A pit for storing potatoes in good condition.
CHAPTER III
THE GERMAN MIND, SELF-DEPICTED
In those chapters in which we have dealt with the violations of international treaties, and of the Hague Convention, we have often been led to comment on the mode of thought displayed by those who committed these crimes. But hitherto we have touched upon the subject of German mentality only in an incidental fashion; it will doubtless be interesting to consider it more closely.
We shall utilize, by preference, documents of German origin. In cases where these are lacking, for example, in the case of the cruelties committed, we shall have recourse to observations which we ourselves have collected, and whose authenticity is indisputable.
In place of passing in review all the peculiarities of the modern German mind, which would occupy too much space, we shall confine ourselves to those from which Belgium has suffered most cruelly; but we shall not speak—it would be superfluous—of the obscene spirit of rape, and rapacity, and drunkenness. The three psychological elements which we shall consider are pride, duplicity, and spitefulness.