Herr Knutz—an elementary school-teacher in civilian attire, and a non-commissioned officer when in the German army—seems to possess some rays of human feeling. "Just as I was leaving the fort I saw seven or eight Belgian civilians guarded by our men with fixed bayonets. They were charged with firing on German soldiers. I must say that the lamentations of these men—aged from 20 to 50—made a deep impression on me. They had thrown themselves upon their knees, and with raised hands were weeping and beseeching that their lives might be spared.
"The villagers are exceedingly ignorant, and when their land is in danger, believe themselves justified in seizing any old shot-gun or revolver which lies at hand. Probably some of the more prudent are aware that it is a mad enterprise, but the instinct of self-defence is so innate in the simple country people that advice does not help in the least." (Von Bethmann-Hollweg and von Tirpitz justify the use of gas, the sinking of merchant vessels containing women and children, the dropping of bombs on open towns, etc., etc., by the plea of self-defence.—Author.)
"But it is otherwise with regard to the atrocities on our wounded; these are a stain on Belgium's national honour which will not easily be wiped out. A German would never perpetrate such monstrous crimes,[[112]] and that we can say without any overweening opinion of ourselves."[[113]]
[!-- Note Anchor 112 --][Footnote 112: This is hypocrisy or ignorance.—Author.]
[!-- Note Anchor 113 --][Footnote 113: Ibid., pp. 18-19.]
Herr Knutz offers no proof of the alleged atrocities; he has heard of them, believes and repeats the story. I have some fifty German books describing the war in Belgium, and in all of them similar legends are mentioned, but in no single instance is a case proved and nailed down. No victim is named, and the scene of the alleged atrocity is never given, hence it seems to be the usual German artifice to make Stimmung, i.e., to raise feeling.
One thumb-nail picture from the teacher's diary shows that the Germans created only too well a Stimmung of abject terror among the Belgians.
"This morning, August 19th, we searched a small wood for Belgians, but found none. On leaving the wood a touching picture met our eyes. Several families were fleeing with their children, and the barest necessaries of life, into a neighbouring village. An old woman on crutches was trying in vain to keep up; a young mother with a sucking child was sobbing and pressing the babe to her bosom. The boys were weeping bitterly and holding their hands high to prove that they were harmless. We passed by the ruins of Roosbeck, where civilians had shot on the 20th Artillery Regiment, for which reason it was burnt down."[[114]]
[!-- Note Anchor 114 --][Footnote 114: Ibid., p. 27.]
Among the various interesting pictures of the Fatherland sketched by German authors perhaps the following is the most naïve: "English, French and Belgians, hand in hand; how nicely it was all thought out; Belgian neutrality—so solemnly pledged by all the Powers—was nothing but a screen behind which they wrought the most devilish plans against Germany. It was a neutrality which had long since been betrayed and sold by the Belgian Government.