German Barbarism: A Neutral's Indictment

by Léon Maccas

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 Germans have taken supplies without payment not only in Belgium, but also in France. As they were taking without payment their demands were unmeasured. On several occasions the amount of their demands was simply preposterous. Being thus forced to denude themselves far beyond their means, the inhabitants were a prey to famine, whilst the German troops were gorging themselves, and even allowing what they had taken to be lost and go bad. Under such conditions the inhabitants found they were compelled to take to flight.

At Brussels, the requisition of large quantities of provisions was ordered. These provisions had to be delivered on the 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd August, by virtue of a note sent by Captain Kriegscheim, acting in the name of General Sixtus Arnim, in command of the 4th army corps, in presence of the mayor. If these deliveries did not take place by certain fixed times the town would be obliged to pay double the amount, based on the market price. These large quantities of provisions could not be used. Although they had been scraped together by so painful efforts they were simply squandered. Four thousand kilos of meat had to be thrown out, as well as piles of rolls of butter, and quantities of coffee and sugar, which the troops were unable to consume.

It appears that in several cases these requisitions were merely made as an excuse for pillage. In this way the works at Herstal, near Liège, were ordered by the German headquarters staff to deliver 50,000 rifles and three million cartridges. Of course the manager of the works refused. Then the German headquarters staff assembled again the board of administration of the company. There was a fresh refusal, and no less energetic, to do what the enemy demanded. The board urged the authority of the clauses of the Hague Convention. Consequently, and in revenge for this opposition, the German headquarters staff ordered that the armouries should be pillaged.

At Amiens, as the town was unable to supply the enormous quantity of provisions demanded by the Germans, twelve inhabitants were taken as hostages, and transferred to Clermont. There they had to appear before a sort of court-martial, which condemned them to pay 20,000 francs. This sum was paid by the municipality.

At Epernay, 50,000 bottles of wine were requisitioned to enable the German soldiers to get tipsy. At Antwerp, requisitions were made of provisions which were intended to be consumed on the spot. These provisions were sent by rail to an unknown destination.

At Lille, in the month of November, the mayor was obliged to deliver 1,500,000 francs’ worth of food produce. On the 25th of the same month General Heindrich warned him by official letter that Germany could no longer meet the needs of the population, and that if “England could not make up her mind to allow provisions from over seas to come in for the support of the occupied provinces of France, it would be chiefly the French population who would have to bear the result of this state of things.” The amount of requisitions of food produce imposed on Lille was so great, according to the declaration of the mayor of Lille, dated 27th November, 1914, addressed to General Heindrich, that “if the situation continues, the town would suffer an absolute famine, which would affect thousands of families, composed mainly of women and children.”

General Heindrich also made some show of remedying this state of affairs by advising the mayor of Lille to ask for the assistance of the Swiss Government. The mayor of Lille attempted this application on the 28th November, but the German authorities took care not to transmit it (see the Temps of the 20th December).

The fact that the German requisitions amounted to pillage was recognised by the American Commission of Relief for Belgium, which gratuitously distributed ten to twelve million francs’ worth of provisions a month.

On the advice of Sir Edward Grey, Mr. Hoover, President of this Commission, asked the German Government to abstain from requisitioning provisions of any kind, as otherwise American subscriptions would have the effect of indirectly contributing to the support of the German army, which would take pains to pillage officially the provisions sent for poor Belgians. The German Government replied that it would consent to refrain from requisitioning provisions to the east of Ghent. This was as much as to confess that the German military authorities had taken away from the inhabitants of Belgium provisions of which they stood in need.