St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1915-05-19
Germans Worse Than Fiends.

Germans Worse Than Fiends.
One could hardly believe the facts
concerning outrages in Belgium by
the Germans were it not for the high
authority by which the indictment
: is made Some months ago a spe-
cial government committee was ap-
lpointed to investigate and report on
"outrages alleged to have been com
mitted by German troops during
the present war" and at the head
of that commission was Viscount
Bryce, formerly British ambassador
at Washington Mr. Bryce is so ia
vorably known in America, both as
diplomat and a historian that his
word will not be questioned. Here is
a statement by the committee:
ct is proved
First. That there were in many
parts of Belgium deliberate and sys-
tematically organized massacres of
the civil population, accompanied by
many isolated murders and other out
RACES.
| Second. That in the conduct of
the war generally innocent civilians,
both men and women, were murdered
| in large numbers, women violated,
and children murdered.
'"Third. That looting, house
burning and the wanton destruction
of property was ordered and coun-
tenanced by the officers of the Ger
man army, that elaborate provision
had been made for systematic incen-
diarism at the very outbreak of the
war, and that the burning and de-
struction were frequently where no
military necessity could be alleged,
being indeed part of a system of gen
eral terrorization.
Fourth. That the rules and
usages of war we're frequently brok-
en-. particularly by the using of CT
villains, including women and chill
drew as shield for advancing
forces exposed to fire, to less degree
by killing the wounded and prison
ers, and in the frequent abuse of the
Red Cross and the white flag"
The report makes an official docu- !
ment of over 10000 words and gives
in detail many of the savage Outrages
committed by the Germans. 1t tells |.
of many murders of whole families
including defenseless women and
and of one instance where
a two-year-old baby was found nailed
to the door of a farm house by its
hands and feet. The bodies of many
If the victims were mutilated in an |
manner. S
The commission fixes the response i
,iIity for these horrors in the follow Y
ng: I
''This taking of the inhabitants in t
,roups and marching them to va
ious places must evidently have
zen done under the direction of
igher military authority. The Ill
reatment of the prisoners was under Il
he eyes and often under the d1rec- 7
ion or sanction of officers, and Off 7,
ers themselves took part in it.
1T is to be noticed that cases oc-
ur in the dispositions in which hu- t.
lane acts by individual officers and t
0ldiers are mentioned, or in which 6
Ulcers are said to have expressed re- :,
ret at being obliged to carry out or u
ers for cruel action against the CT o
ilians Similarly, we find entries h
/ diaries which reveal a genuine .
ity for the population and disgust =
t the conduct of the army. 1t ap-
ears that a German non-commis- 81
oned officer stated definitely that S,
e was acting under orders and eX- II
cutting them with great unwilling y
ess' A commissioned officer on be-
lg asked at Louvain by a witness, d
highly educated man, about the D
orrible acts committed by the sol is
lers, said he was merely executing
rders,' and that he himself would
2 shot if he did not execute them" p
The statement by the officer that Il
Q twas merely executing orders" >
lows that it is not the German sol a.
Ter or the German people that de- II
and such hideous atrocities. 1t II
slieves the people who have won IL
lch high position in the industrial W
nd scientific world from a terrible IL
Idictment but they are not relieved
ON the stigma of obeying such
endish and inhuman government.
o carry out such orders is a dis =,
race that it will take centuries to : :
| +.