The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-22
DEFENDING KAISER WRITER PICT URES s THE EHORR0RSOF WAR
Reported German Cruelty Calls Forth Cry of Indig- nation, Says Berlin
 Correspondent

Berlin, September 7.-(Correspond- ence of Associated Presso-"A cry of indignation has been called forth to the wcrld.- writes W. Schuermnnn. Berlin war correspondent, who accom- parIe> the German general staff, "by the Germans so-caIled cruelty. In all countries that get their news through English nnd French sources stories of German barbarism are repeated. Ii Is. correspondents who can speak of what his own eyes have seen, to report what he can answer for before the forum of historical truth.
 .'I have spent days in the worst Franc Tireur regions of Belgium and France. My first impressions of the horrors of war were obtained at Battice, on the road from Aachen to Liege. where fight ing between Franc-Tireurs and our sol diers went on for days. Instead of flourishing village one sees there today charred ruins stretching along the high way for a mile.
 q saw things there that I shall re- member as long as live. l passed through village that was quite burnt out, where only few German landwehr soldiers were standing guard-no other living beings visible anywhere But when I came to the door of a house that had fallen in, saw in what had prob ably been the living room a white r 1rtt lrtaif. 4, 1aking in the debris. I called to her. She did not. hear me. Her face was like a gray stone, and here eyes fixed as in death. She dug as if she expected to find something under the fallen bricks. In a front garden which had been scorched by the flames. a woman in black dress was crouchine and weep ing, weeping have stood at many an open grave in the churchyard, but l have never heard anybody weep Aike that woman.
 Terrible Experience I
 ',The sound of it will ring in my ears as one Of the most terrible experiences of my life. Even the petty losses of property are painful to see In the up- per story of one house everything had been destroyed by fire, but at one place on the smoke-begrimed wall there hung the dscolored photo of a woman prob ably long dead. At one place a blue enameed childs bedstead peers out of the smoking debris, still filled with it's scorched msttress and pillows. Whoever has a child at home in it's snow white bed--but a curse and thrice curse upon those who caused all this misery. For them there is no punishment in this world sufficient. And when they now denounce our brave warriors as the cause of this desolation. this latter, shameful as it is, does not weigh much in comparison with what they actually did. Our German sol diers and landwehr men marched into the country of the enemy with the same order and discipline that they maintain the drill ground and in army ma neuvers. Wherever we came we guar anteed to the inhabitants security for life and property; we are waging war with the armies of the enemy, not with civilians. In Battice. the German proc lamation promising the Belgians peace, and the integrity of their territory was still seen or the walls of the burned houses.
 Inhabitants Treacherous
 Now what happened in Battice, Cler- mont, Herbe Fleron and other Belgian places was, with singular similarity as follows: The inhabitants let the Germans march in, received them with cringing friendlness, offered them wine in super fluous quantities and then fell upon them at night It goes without saying--for mere self-preservation demanded it--thar every murdered German was avenged. Where the murderers could be caught they were brought before a courtmar | tial, and if their guilt were evident, they were shot or hanged
 All this was done in perfect order, How far the self-control of our troops extends was proved to me by an ex- ample day before yesterday. At the entrance to the French fortress of Longwy. just captured, I Saw German soldiers bringing in troop of Franc Tireurs, quite old fellows, and among them a few common thieves, scarcely be- yond schoolboy age, all of them with criminal faces of the hardest type. Pity that we did not photograph them so that the world might see what hideous scamps are killing our men.
 ' What did these men do?' demanded an officer They put on Red Cross scarfs. then went upon the battlefield and mutlated our wounded We caught them in the act was the reply. 'WhN | did not you beat the scoundrels to death at onces We dare not do that. They | must be brought before courtmartiaI., |
  the character of this miittIation. The1 eyes of our wounded men. lying helpless !, in their pain upon the battlefield. were cut out with knives. But this was not by far the most cruel thing these beasts in- vented. Old and young men and women were caught as hyenas of the battlefield, and they received their reward.
 Young Girl Shot
 "At Wise a 16-year-old girl was shot |, because she was caught mutilatng our wounded. There is no mercy for such deeds, and there can be none. should like to know what other people in the world possesses the self-restraint, in the presence of such shameful crimes to wait 1 and bring the criminals before regular court.
 Beyond all doubt this Franc-Tireur warfare against us was organized. Other | wise it would be impossible to explain the uniform character of the mutilatons, attacks on field hospitals where physi- | clans, the wounded. and even the nurses fell as victims of these predatory rascals, in the attacks in villages and cities the same tactics were repeated over and over again. Suddenly the entire village is in of arms, and in two cases even of machine guns.