The Allied case against Germany with respect to the conduct of the Kaiser's troops in Belgium rests mainly on four publications. (1) "The Report of the Belgian Commission of Inquiry." (2) The Belgian "Rapports sur la Violation du Droit des Gens en Belgique." (3) The Belgian "Reply to the German White Book." (4) The "Bryce Report." It was the last of these which mainly influenced British and American opinion. This famous compilation owed much to the reputation of the eminent scholar who presided over the Enquiry, and to the names of Messrs. Fisher, Harold Cox and others who were members of the Commission. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that our experience during the storm and stress of the war does not indicate that our literary and intellectual leaders have as a class shown either greater fidelity to principle or less susceptibility to the evil influences of war-fever, than the ordinary man in the street; and now that the more salient symptoms of this fever are abating and prejudice is slowly being replaced by reasoned judgment, the Bryce report can no longer retain unchallenged its claim to present a critical and convincing record of unquestioned facts. The numerous statements which it embodies were mainly derived from Belgian refugees who had reached our shores. Very many of these men and women were naturally in a state of nervous excitement and full of bitter indignation against the invaders of their soil. Such mental conditions are never conducive to the presentation of accurate and veridical evidence. Further it is obvious that some of these refugees were not eye-witnesses of the outrages they describe, for they had fled from their homes and merely record their own inferences as to events which had occurred during their absence. Another serious weakness in the Report arises from the fact that the various barristers and others who were sent round to interview these refugees were with very few exceptions quite unable to converse fluently in French and wholly ignorant of Flemish. Finally, none of the evidence was taken on oath. Here then we have an ill-digested mass of unsworn statements—some merely at second-hand—made by excited and angry Belgians, and transmitted by interpreters, themselves unsworn, which is presented to the world as final and conclusive proof of Germany's guilt, while at the same time the publication in this country of a plain translation of Germany's official defence against these charges was forbidden by the Censor. The testimony of the Bryce Report served its purpose and aroused a volume of indignant and scandalised opinion which provided one of the sharpest weapons employed against our chief enemy; but it must be admitted that the methods by which it was compiled were so lax and uncritical that the results sink far below the level ordinarily demanded by the serious historian.
The definite and fundamental contention of both the Bryce and the Belgian Reports is that, with the possible exception of a very few and very doubtful cases, no civilian attacks were made on the German troops. This point is strongly and repeatedly emphasised.
"The German Government" says the Bryce Report, page 31, "have sought to justify their severities on the ground of military necessity and have excused them as retaliation for cases in which civilians fired on German troops. There may have been such cases in which such firing occurred, but no proof has ever been given, or to our knowledge attempted to be given of such cases, nor of the stories of shocking outrages perpetrated by Belgian men and women on German soldiers."
The Belgian Reply to the White Book (p. 7) is still more emphatic. "As a matter of fact the so-called Belgian francs-tireurs were non-existent.... The theory of an armed resistance on the part of the Belgian civil population to the German troops is utterly opposed to the facts." The following statement of Monseigneur Haylen is quoted: "We declare in concert with the whole Belgian people that the story of Belgian francs-tireurs is a myth, an invention and a calumny. We do not hesitate most solemnly to defy the German Government to prove the existence of a single group of francs-tireurs.... We have no knowledge even of an isolated case of civilians having fired on the troops.... In no single case was the supposed culprit named."
Such is the position definitely taken up by the official Reports and adopted by an overwhelming majority of people in Great Britain and America, to go no further. Nevertheless I have always found it difficult to accord unquestioning acceptance to the popular belief. From an a priori point of view it is difficult to believe that German troops, probably the most sternly disciplined and best educated soldiers in the world, should have deliberately gone out of their way to shoot innocent civilians in Belgium and destroy their property for no apparent reason at all. To embroil themselves wilfully with the civilian inhabitants at a time when every minute was precious in their scheme of a rapid advance against the Anglo-French forces was obviously the last thing the invaders would desire. The supposition that the Germans indulged in appalling and indiscriminate acts of terrorism against quite innocent people in order to secure the safety of their lines of communication is ridiculous on the face of it. In short, the current view of "Belgian atrocities," admirably as it served its purpose as valuable propaganda, contains within itself so many difficulties that no fair-minded historian of the future could accept it as it stands.
We have seen the evidence adduced to prove Germany's misdeeds in Belgium. Why have we been prevented from seeing Germany's defence against these charges? In any civilised society, even the vilest criminal is allowed to defend himself. What is the use of "defying Germany" to prove a single case of franc-tireur action and at the same time depriving the public of all access to the German White Book with its long list of specific outrages supported by sworn evidence?
Here then is presented for the first time in Great Britain Germany's official reply to the charges formulated against her troops during their passage through Belgium. The reader can judge of the evidence for himself. To refuse it a hearing on the a priori assumption that, as Mr. Bonar Law declared in the House of Commons, it was "full of lies," or that nothing that a German states could be true, is scarcely worthy of a sane and judicial mind. Nor do I hesitate to say in this respect that any Englishman who knew his Europe in pre-war days would have regarded the sworn testimony of a German as at least quite as trustworthy as the unsworn evidence of a Belgian.
But apart from the Bryce and Belgian Reports on the one hand and the German White Book on the other there exists a mass of evidence hitherto almost unknown in Great Britain or America—I refer to the evidence of the Belgian Press in the early days of the invasion. Here are some extracts from well-known newspapers:—
The Het Handelsblad of Antwerp, August 6th, 1914:—"A furious struggle without mercy, which roused in a portion of the civilian population of the Low Countries, disturbed in its peaceful work of the fields, a veritable and violent desire to defend the natal soil against the Prussian traitors.... It is incontestable that from the air-holes of the cellars, loopholes in the roofs made by removing tiles, from houses, farms and cabins a terrible fire was directed on the Uhlan and Silesian assailants."
Nieuwe Gazet, August 8th:—De Burgerij Schiet Mee Op Den Indringer. ("The citizens also fire on the invaders.") "At Bernot the outposts had to fight against the civilians who fired like madmen at the invaders from houses, roofs and windows. Some women even took part in the struggle. A young girl, eighteen years of age, armed with a revolver, fired at an officer.... The peasants and inhabitants kept up a regular fusillade against the Germans."
Het Handelsblad, No. 190:—"The peasants seized their sporting guns and killed the officer who was commanding the detachment and several men."
Nouveau Précurseur, Antwerp, says à propos of the massacre of Berneau:—"The priest of the village gives the signal to fire with a sporting gun from the belfry of the village. He was surrounded, forced to descend and shot." This is given as the account of an eye-witness.
Matin, Antwerp, No. 225:—"At Dormael the three brothers Sevenans who had fired on the Germans were shot; their bodies were pierced by lance-wounds and their house was burnt down."
Nouveau Précurseur, No. 223:—"It is no laughing matter. All the people, soldiers, Gardes Civiques or armed villagers take their task seriously.... It is no longer a question of soldiers or of the regular Gardes Civiques. These are villagers and retired members of the Garde. The majority are armed with sporting guns, several have revolvers and a few have sabres in addition." This is followed by the following advice from an officer of the Belgian Staff to a civilian correspondent:—"Take care not to fall into the hands of the Uhlans.... Never abandon your revolver; if you see them, fire at them but do not stop for a moment, it would mean death."
Burgerwelzijn, Bruges, No. 95, gives the following account of the fighting at Herstael:—"Some 2,000 Germans had penetrated as far as the National Arms Factory and were received by a hail of bullets. All the houses, even the smallest, had been transformed into veritable fortresses. In addition to this, barricades had been erected in the streets, behind which soldiers and civilians were posted ready to fire. Women and children brought up the supplies of ammunition. The resistance lasted until all the men and women were hors de combat. The Germans then penetrated into the village, no longer fighting under command, but firing independently. They sheltered themselves behind a few remaining bushes, for the inhabitants had burned and destroyed everything which could serve as cover. Their trumpets rallied them, at least those who survived, and they retired on Vivegnies. It was with real joy that the inhabitants had seen the enemy disappear, when the sound of a trumpet was suddenly heard. The Uhlans had remounted and were advancing on the village at a trot while the infantry at the same time wheeling to the right attacked the village from the flank. The population allowed the assailants to approach. The attack of the Uhlans was terrible, no less terrible the resistance of the villagers. Men, women and children opened such a frightful fire on the enemy that the first ranks tumbled one on the other. The Germans nevertheless entered the village streets, cavalry in front, infantry behind, while the exasperated populace did not cease to overwhelm the enemy with its fire. The women poured boiling oil and water on the German soldiers who rolled on the ground howling with the pain. It will be some time before the people in Germany learn what the assailants of the village of Herstael went through; one can, in fact, count on five fingers those who escaped alive from the carnage."
La Presse, Antwerp, No. 213:—"Fighting in the streets of Liège": "Liège is resisting marvellously. The inhabitants uniting with the Garde Civique are fighting in the streets."
La Métropole, Antwerp, August 8th:—"Some of the inhabitants of Liège broke open the window of a gunsmith's shop, seized guns, revolvers and cartridges and pursued the Uhlans to the outskirts of the town."
Nouveau Précurseur, No. 225, apropos of the battle of Haelen:—"Lieutenant Van Doren, 4th Chasseurs-à-cheval, charged with the defence of the town of Diest, had not a single soldier at his disposal. He appealed to the volunteer firemen of Diest. These as one man demanded to march to the firing line.... Three of the firemen were slightly wounded; their names are Emil Kneuts, Louis Van Attenhoven and Leandre Segars."
With regard to the incidents at Visé:—
De Stem van Haspengouw, August 6th:—"The Germans entered Visé where they met with a vigorous resistance not only on the part of a small detachment of soldiers who were there but also on the part of the civilians. The Germans completely destroyed the town."
The Nieuwe Gazet, August 7th:—"Some women and civilians have fired on the Germans who have shown themselves pitiless in sparing nothing."
Another correspondent of the same paper describes what he saw at Visé: "Young and old ran to take up arms, and if they were unable to stop the murderous advance of the German cavalry, the inhabitants at least resisted till the last moment. People fired from the houses upon the Germans, who, in conformity with the laws of war, in these cases, accorded no mercy. They penetrated into the houses from which the shots had been fired and shot a certain number of inhabitants found with arms in their hands."
Nieuwe Gazet, August 8th:—"After the German artillery had set some houses on fire, the infantry marched to the attack. This was not only directed against the soldiers, but also against the civilian population who took part in the combat. People shoot from the houses, small boys and women bombard the assailants with stones, and even some old men from behind the doors fire on the advancing soldiers."
The paper goes on to tell us that a German Officer assembled the inhabitants round him and was urging them to remain calm. "Scarcely had the officer closed his mouth, when a shot suddenly fired at him caused him to fall dead to the ground."
Gazette de Liège, August 5th—"The inhabitants of the country side display a fine enthusiasm; all the peasants are in ambush, armed with their sporting guns ready to fire on the invader."
In the face of such evidence, much of it furnished by correspondents who were eye-witnesses of what occurred, the main contention of the Belgian and Bryce Reports falls to the ground. The Belgian criticism of these statements as "taken from second-rate papers," "proving nothing," "unimportant," is obviously futile. That the German troops were confronted with a wide-spread and determined opposition on the part of armed civilians in flagrant violation of the Laws of War must be accepted as a fact established by evidence varied, cumulative and irresistible. On the other hand it is clear that no final verdict can be passed on the vexed question of the Belgian atrocities in general, until the unsworn evidence accumulated against the Kaiser's troops has been met to a much fuller extent. The White Book does not cover more than the incidents which occurred at Dinant, Aerschot, Andenne, Louvain, and the neighbourhood of Visé. While therefore it disproves, in conjunction with the Belgian evidence cited above, the propaganda plea that the story of civilian attacks was a myth, it does not of course deal with more than a portion of the ground covered by the British and Belgian Reports. Before any complete decision can be reached we should require official replies from the German Government to a variety of alleged outrages in dozens of villages like Gomery, Latour, Ethe, the horrible charge of the shooting of the Valckenaers family at Thildonck, and so on. There were certain cases, one of them known to the writer, in which mistakes and misunderstandings led to the execution of innocent civilians. Full allowance, too, must be made for the existence in all conscript armies of brutal and criminal types—not confined to the rank and file—and for the demoralising effects to which all the armies of the war were exposed whenever an abundant supply of wines and spirits was easily accessible by purchase or looting.