Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-05-13

was not confined to its citizens. Large
crowds Of people were brought into Lou
vaine from the surrounding districts, not
only from Aershot and Gelrod but also
from other places. For example, a wit
ness describes how many women and
children were taken in carts to DouNain
and there placed in a stable. OF the hum
dreds of people thus taken from the
various villages and brought to Louvaine
as prisoners, some were massacred there,
others were forced to march along with
citizens of Louvain through various
places, some being ultimately sent to the
Belgian lines at Malines, others were
taken in trucks to Cologne, others were
released.
Some were marched through Cologne
afterwards for the people to see. Ropes
were put around the neCks of some and
they were told they would be hanged.
A firing squad was prepared and five or
six prisoners were put up, but were not
shot This taking of the inhab-
| itants in groups and marching them to
various places must evidently have been
! done under the direction of a higher mill
tary authority. The ill-treatment Of the
! prisoners was under the eyes and often
under the direction or sanction of Of
| Ulcers, and officers themselves took part
! in it,
1T is to he noticed that cases occur in
the DISPOSITIONS in which humane acts by
| individual officers and soldiers are men
toned. or in which officers are said to
have expressed regret at being Obliged to
carry out orders for cruel action against
! the civilians. Similarly, we find entries
i'm diaries which reveal a genuine pity
for the population and disgust at the
conduct of the army. II appears that a
German nonCommissioned officer stated
definitely that he was acting under or
ders and executing them with great UNI
Willingness A commissioned officer on
being asked at Louvain by n witness,
highly educated man, about the horrible
acts committed by the soldiers, said he
was merely executing orders and that
he himself would be shot If he did not
execute them.
I'VE are driven to the conclusion that
the marrying of the villages in the dis
trict, the burning of large part of Lou
vain, the massacres there, the marching
out of the prisoners, ana the transport to
Cologne, (all done without inquiry as to
whether the particular persons seized or
killed had committed any act. were due
to a calculated policy, carried out scien-
tifically and deliberately. not merely with
the sanction, but under the direction of
higher military authorities. and were not
due to any provocatlon or resistance by
the civilian population"
Diaries of Germans Quoted.
A division of the report is given to
I = al WWNN--
a sergeant of the First Guards regiment,
who received the Iron Cross. says under
date of August 10: "A transport of DO
Belgians came through Duisburg in tho
morning. OF these. eighty. including the
| oberburgomaster. were shot, according
to martial law" The diary of member
of the Fourth company of Jagers, says,
under date OF August %: About go in
habitants' and the village were burnt Ar
tillery is continuously shooting Just
now, the crossing of the Mouse begins
near Dinant All villages. chateaux and
houses are burnt down during the night
It IL beautiful sight TO see the fires all
round us in the distance" Another diary,
| by a member of the Second Mounted
battery. First Kurhessian Field Artillery
| regiment. No. II. records an incident
which happened in French territory near
| Lille on October II:
I'VE had no fight. but we caught about
twenty men and shot them"
The committee says of this last diary:
! by this time killing not in a fight would
seem to have passed into a habit"
| The report adds that the most i'm
portant entry is contained In diary No.
49, This contains no name and address,
| but names referred to in the diary indi-
cate that entries were made by an Of
| ficer Of the First regiment of Foot
| Guards. The entry, made at Eermeton
on August "a. says: I'VE took about
1000 prisoners; at least 500 were shot.
The village was burnt because the in
habitants had also shot. Two civilians
were shot at once"
Scene of Systematic OutraEes.
The conclusions OF the committee, as
to the various detailed recitaIs, are as
/ follows:
I'VE must now sum up and endeavor
to explain the character and significance
of the wrongful acts done by the Ger
man army in Belglum
! III line is drawn on a man from, the
Belgian frontier to Liege and continued
] ~ N'A'NA ''ANAt anu u HeNOUu line draw n
/ from Liege TO Malines, a sort of figure
resembling an irregular Y will be formed.
1t is along this Y that most Of the sys-
tematic (as opposed to isolated) outraRes
were committed. II the period from Au-
gust TO August 90 is taken Il will be
found TO cover most of these organized
outrages. Termonde and Alost extend, il
IS true, beyong the Y lines, and they be-
long to the month of September Murder.
rape, arson ana pillage began from the
moment when the German army crossed
the frontier. For the first fortnight of
the war the towns and villages near
! Liese were the chief sufferers From
August 10 10 the end of the month out
RACES spread in the directions of Char
lero. and Malines. and reach their period
OF greatest intensity. There is a certain
significance in the fact that the outraEes
around Liege coincide with the unex.
pected resistance of the Belgian army in
that district, and that the slaughter
which reigned from August 10 TO the END
Of the month is contemporaneous with
the period when the German army's need
for a quick passage through Belgian al
al costs was deemed imperative.
Here let a distinction oe drawn be
tween two classes OF outrages
individual acts Of brutality-ill-treat
Of. .HH.aN