The Washington herald., 1915-01-25
ACCUSE GERMANS
ON OWN Words
Atrocity Charges Confirmed
by Diaries Found on Pris-
oners, Says Investigator.
PHOTOS ARE PUBLISHED
Indicate Wanton Disregard of Lives of
Women and Children as Well
as Men.
PHOTOS ARE PUBLISHED

have been partly sorted and classified by
a committee, OF which Ernest Lavisse
historian and member Of the Academy,
is chairman.
Article 20 OF the regulations for Ger
man troops in the field recommends that
each soldier keep a diary of events. Con-
sequently several thousand Of these note
books have been seized by the French.
as authorized by article OF The Hague
Convention Of 1901. Joseph Bedier. pro-
fessor Of the College Of France. a men,
ber of the commission. has selected up
ward of forty of these notebooks. writ
ten by German officers and soldiers. and
publishes photographs of the originals,
with a translation i'm French. in a
pamphlet entitled German Grimes. as
Proved by German Evidence" forming
part of the large work undertaken by
Ernest Lavisse. called Investigations
and Documents Concerning the War
Prof. Bedier thus proves by exclusively
German evidence and quite independently
Of official reports already made by the
French and Belgian governments that
the German troops have been guilty of
innumeTable acts of robbery. arson, as
Sassination. pillaEe. and rape committed
upon the innocent and peaceful inhabi-
tantS OF French and Belgian towns and
villages. done in most cases in an or
rauizeu. systematic manner. by virtue of
superior orders and in wanton violation
nf the laws of nations as prescribed by
The Hague Convention. of which the
Inited States is a party
Women and Children shot.
4 few extracts from these notebooks
and the photographs. which I have be-
fore my eyes, taken at random. are as
follows:
"Gefreitc Paul Spielmann. First Com
pany, Frsaz Battalion. First Garde In
fantry Brigade. describes the night at
tack on September in the village near
Blamont Next day he says, a tele-
phone wire was found in a house. Six
ty inhabitants were executed. Among
them were old women, old men. and three
children, all hUddled together, the chill
dren clinginE to one another. The walls
were spattered with blood. II was a
horrible sight. After that the villa Ee
was given over to us for pillaEe. I no
ticcd A mother with her two little chill
iren. one of whom had a deep cash on
the skull and one eye Eouged out
The notebook OF Hassemer, Eighth
Army Corps, says:
August 3 at SOmmepv-o the Marine,
Is a horrible carnage. The village was
burned to the ground. Frenchmen, sol
diers. and civilians We're thrown into
the burning houses and all burned up
together"
The notebook Of a soldier-Philip Ka-
menz, First Company. First Battalion.
l7Sth Regiment. August 3. at II
o'clock in the evening the battalion
marched into the village north Of Dinant
and burned it because shots had been
fired upon our troops at the entrance to
the village. Fifty inhabitants were shot.
Bnd during the night many more were
shot. We counted over 9O0 bodies exc
Cuted. while women and children were
compelled 10 hold a lantern or electric
lamp in the hands and forced to look al
the horrible sight. We then ate our
rice amidst all those dead bodies be
cause we had not tasted food since morn
ing"
F.Ntrac; from a proclamation Of Gen.
Nun Rulaw. posted at Liege on August %:
The inhabitants of Andenne. after hav-
iuc declared their peaceful intentions,
we're guilty Of treachery. It is with
my consent that the general command
ing burned the whole village and exc
cuted 100 inhabitants"
Extract from the proclamation Of Maj.
Dierkmann at Grivegnee on September S:
"AU who do not obey the command of
hands up shall he shot at once"
Innocent Killed, Too.
Extract from the proclamation Of
Faron Won der Goltz at Brussels on Oc-
tobcr :: I'm the future the localities
nearest the point where railroad or tele-
.-raph lines have been injured, no mat
1-r whether the inhabitants are accom-
plircs or not shall be punished without
mercy. Hostages shall be taken from viii
lagos near such lines. and at the first
Rttempt to injure the rails or wires shall
be forthwith shot"
From a notebook. the signature illeg
iblc. of a soldier OF the Eleventh Pioneer
battalion. "Iaugeviller, August p
Villages DESTROYED by Pioneers. Noticed
the bodies Of three women executed by
hanging from tho branch of a tree.
These are the first bodies l have yet
seen"
Another entry in the same diary a
week later: Wv destroyed eight houses
with their inhabitants. In one of these
two men with their wives and a girl of
eighteen were killed by hayOnet thrusts.
This young girl nearly softened my heart,
for her look was so innocent. But it is
impossible to master our feelings, for
at such moments one is no longer
human being. but a brute"
Extract from the diary OF an officer
nr the 17Sth Regiment. Twelfth Army
Corps at Lisognes. Ardenncs: Here a
Marhurg Jaeger rifeman stood up three
women. one behind the other. and killed
III three with one discharge OF his
riRc."
First Lieut. A. Eberlein. Bavarian in
fantry. describes the occupation of st.
Die at the end Of August: "a good idea
suggested Itself to me. In order to avoid
the enfiladinG fire in the village I made
the inhabitants sit in chairs in the mid
die OF the street with their hands tied,
whereupon the enfilade fire ceased. We
then occupied the houses opposite and
got possession OF the village. In the
meantime every inhabitant seen in the
streets at once was shot down.
Sergt. Hermann Levith 16Oth Infantry,
Eighth Corps. noted: Our third COM
pany captured the village of Bieure. We
then pillaged and burned nearly all the
houses"
soldier, Sebastian Reishaupt, Third
Bavarian Infantry, First Corps, notes:
"Paruy Meurthe ct Moselle-This is the
FIRST We have burned. Afterwsrd the
dance began. and We burned village after
village Then we rode on our bicycles
across the meadows and fields and sat
down by the roadside and ate cherries"
Threw Incendiary Bombs.
Moritz Crosse. nth Infantry, after de-
scribing the sacking of st. Vieth and
Dinant, writes: "Afterward we threw
quantities OF incendiary bombs into
houses. and, IT being Sunday, our mill
tary chorus gave concert singing"
Prof. Bedier came across several note
DOCKS IN which atrocities are described
with regret. and are accompanied by Sc
we're criticism of the conduct Of fellow
soldiers. Prof. Bedier withholds the
names Of these writer's % avoid the