"Last night a shooting affray took place. There is no evidence that the inhabitants of the towns had any arms in their houses, nor is there evidence that the people took part in the shooting; on the contrary, it seems that the soldiers were under the influence of alcohol, and began to shoot in a senseless fear of a hostile attack.
"The behavior of the soldiers during the night, with very few exceptions, makes a scandalous impression.
"It is highly deplorable when officers or noncommissioned officers set houses on fire without permission or order of the commanding, or, as the case may be, the senior officer, or when by their attitude they encourage the rank and file to burn and plunder.
"I require that everywhere strict instructions shall be given with regard to the treatment of the life and property of the civilian population.
"I prohibit all shooting in the towns without the order of an officer.
"The miserable behaviour of the men caused a noncommissioned officer and a private to be seriously wounded by German bullets.
"The Commanding Officer,
"Major von Bassewitz."
In his report of September 12, 1917, to the Secretary of State, Minister Whitlock has much to tell of the policy of frightfulness. The following passages refer to the subject of massacres:
"Summary executions took place [at Dinant] without the least semblance of judgment. The names and number of the victims are not known, but they must be numerous. I have been unable to obtain precise details in this respect and the number of persons who have fled is unknown. Among the persons who were shot are: Mr. Defoin, mayor of Dinant; Sasserath, first alderman; Nimmer, aged 70; consul for the Argentine Republic, Victor Poncelet, who was executed in the presence of his wife and seven children; Wasseige and his two sons; Messrs. Gustave and Léon Nicaise, two very old men; Jules Monin and others were shot in the cellar of their brewery. Mr. Camille Pistte and son, aged 17; Phillippart, Piedfort, his wife and daughter; Miss Marsigny. During the execution of about forty inhabitants of Dinant, the Germans placed Germans force wives to witness husbands' executions. before the condemned their wives and children. It is thus that Madame Albin who had just given birth to a child, three days previously, was brought on a mattress by German soldiers to witness the execution of her husband; her cries and supplications were so pressing that her husband's life was spared."
"On the 26th of August German soldiers entered various streets [of Louvain] and ordered the inhabitants of the houses to proceed to the Place de la Station, where the bodies of nearly a dozen assassinated persons were lying. Women and children were separated from the men and forced to remain on the Place de la Station during the whole day. They had to witness the execution of many of their fellow-citizens, who were for the most part shot at the side of the square, near the house of Mr. Hemaide. The women and children, after having remained on the square for more than 15 hours, were allowed to depart. The Gardes Civiques of Louvain were also taken prisoners and sent to Germany, to the camp of Münster, where they were held for several weeks.
"On Thursday, August 27th, order was given to the inhabitants to leave Louvain because the city was to be bombarded. Old men, women, children, the sick, priests, nuns, were driven on the roads like cattle. More than 10,000 of the inhabitants were driven as far as Tirlemont, 18 kilometers from Louvain."
"One of the most sorely tried communities was that of the little village of Tamines, down in what is known as the Borinage, the coal fields near Charleroi. Tamines is a mining village in the Sambre; it is a collection of small cottages sheltering about 5,000 inhabitants, mostly all poor laborers.
Massacres in Tamines.
"The little graveyard in which the church stands bears its mute testimony to the horror of the event. There are hundreds of new-made graves, each with its small wooden cross and its bit of flowers; the crosses are so closely huddled that there is scarcely room to walk between them. The crosses are alike and all bear the same date, the sinister date of August 22d, 1914."
"But whether their hands were cut off or not, whether they were impaled on bayonets or not, children were shot down, by military order, in cold blood. In the awful crime of the Rock of Bayard, there overlooking the Meuse below Dinant, infants in their mother's arms were shot down without mercy. The deed, never surpassed in cruelty by any band of savages, is described by the Bishop of Namur himself:
Slaughter of the innocents at Rocher Bayard.
"One scene surpasses in horror all others; it is the fusillade of the Rocher Bayard near Dinant. It appears to have been ordered by Colonel Meister. This fusillade made many victims among the nearby parishes, especially those of des Rivages and Neffe. It caused the death of nearly 90 persons, without distinction of age or sex. Among the victims were babies in arms, boys and girls, fathers and mothers of families, even old men.
"It was there that 12 children under the age of 6 perished from the fire of the executioners, 6 of them as they lay in their mothers' arms:
"The child Fiévet, 3 weeks old.
"Maurice Bétemps, 11 months old.
"Nelly Pollet, 11 months old.
"Gilda Genon, 18 months old.
"Gilda Marchot, 2 years old.
"Clara Struvay, 2 years and 6 months."The pile of bodies comprised also many children from 6 to 14 years. Eight large families have entirely disappeared. Four have but one survivor. Those men that escaped death—and many of whom were riddled with bullets—were obliged to bury in a summary and hasty fashion their fathers, mothers, brothers, or sisters; then after having been relieved of their money and being placed in chains they were sent to Cassel [Prussia]."
Mr. Hugh Gibson, the secretary of our legation in Belgium, visited Louvain during its systematic destruction by the Germans. In A Journal from our Legation in Belgium, New York, 1917, pages 164-165, he relates what the German officers told him:
"It was a story of clearing out civilians from a large part of the town, a systematic routing out of men from cellars and garrets, wholesale shootings, the generous use of machine guns, and the free application of the torch—the whole story enough to make one see red. And for our guidance it was impressed on us that this would make people respect Germany and think twice about resisting her."
German pastors and professors far from the excitement of the firing have defended this policy of frightfulness, e.g.:
Pastor defends frightfulness.
"We are not only compelled to accept the war that is forced upon us * * * but are even compelled to carry on this war with a cruelty, a ruthlessness, an employment of every imaginable device, unknown in any previous war." Pastor D. Baumgarten, in Deutsche Reden in schwerer Zeit, "German Speeches in Difficult Days."
"The fate that Belgium has called down upon herself is hard for the individual, but not too hard for this political structure (Staatsgebilde), for the destinies of the immortal great nations stand so high that they cannot but have the right, in case of need, to stride over existences that cannot defend themselves, but live, as parasites, upon the rivalries of the great." Prof. H. Oncken, in Süddeutsche Monatsheft, "South German Monthly."