They vie with one another in stealing, they steal everything and anything, and they keep a record of their loot: “Schnaps, Wein, Marmelade, Zigarren” so writes this plain soldier; and the smart officer of the 178th Saxon, who at first was indignant at the “Vandalismus” of his men, confesses in his turn, that the 1st of September at Rethel, he stole “in a house near the Hôtel Moderne, a splendid mackintosh and a camera for Felix”. Without distinction of grade, nor of arms, nor of Corps, they steal, and even in the ambulances the doctors steal. Here is an example from the diary of Private Johannes Thode (4. Reserve-Ersatz Regiment):
“Brussels 5. 10. 14. A motor arrives at the hospital with booty, a piano, two sewing machines, a lot of albums and all sorts of other things.”[22]
Two sewing machines, as «booty» (Kriegsbeute). Stolen from whom? No doubt from two humble Belgian women. And for whom?
VI
I must admit that out of the forty diaries I have examined, there are six or seven that tell of no exactions, either from hypocritical reticence or because certain regiments wage war less vilely. And I even know of three diaries, whose authors, as they narrate sordid details, are astonished, moved to indignation, saddened. I shall withhold their names, because they deserve our consideration, and to spare them the risk of being one day blamed or punished. The first, Pte X ..., who belongs to the 65th Inf. of the Landwehr, says of some of his fellow comrades (Plate 10):
“They do not behave like soldiers, but like common thieves, highwaymen and robbers, and are a disgrace to our regiment and our army.”[23]
The second, Lt Y ..., of the 77th Inf. Reserve, says:
“No discipline ... The Pioneers are not worth much; as for the artillerymen they are a gang of robbers.”[24]
