The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1918-02-14
FrightfuIness Taught by German
Leaders Belongs to Age Of
Barbarism.
SOLEMN PLEDGE MERE WORDS
'ksIser's Statesmen Had No Intention
OF Keeping Faith With Their
Agreement on international Law
Horrors Told By Diaries.


ity IN Belgium, says a pamphlet IS
sued BY The committee on public in
formation, the eUidence is dram
mainly from German and american
sources The German sources in
clude Official procldmdtions and
other Official utterdnces, letters and
diaries Of German soldiers. and quo
tdtions from German newspapers.
The Rules for Field Service" Of The
German army advises each soldier
10 keep such a diary while on active
service.
In the wars waged In ancient times
II was taken for granted that con-
quered peoples might be either killed,
tortured, or held.as slaves that their
property would be taken and that their
lands would be devastated. "Vae vic
It's woe to the conquered" For two
centuries or more there has been
steady advance in introducing ideas Of
humanity and especially in combining
the evils Of warfare TO the combatants.
The ideal seemed 10 have become so
thoroughly established NJ a part Of in
ternational law that the powers mt The
Hague thought II sufficient merely to
state the general principles In Article
NLvI OF the regulations Family hon
ors and rights. the lives Of persons
and private property, as well as re
ligious convictions and practice. must
be respected. Private property cannot
be confiscnted." Germany. In common
with the other powers. solemnly
pledged her faith to keep this article.
hut her military leaders had no inten-
tlon Of doing so. They had been
trimmed In the ideas voiced by Gen. Won
Hartmann 40 years ago: Terrorism
Is seen 10 be relatively gentle pro-
ccdure. useful 10 keep the masses Of
the people IN state Of obedience"
This had been Bismarcks policy, too
According TO Morltz Busch, Blsmark's
blographer. Bismarck, exasperated by
the French resistance. which was still
continuing In January. 1871, said:
"If In the territory which we occupy
we cannot supply everything for our
troops. from time 10 time we shall send
flying column into the localities
which are recalcitrant. We shall shoot,
hang and burn. After that has hap
pened few times, the inhabitants will
finally come TO their senses"
Horrors Told In Soldiers Diaries.
The frightfulness taught by the Ger
man leaders held full sway in Belgium.
This Is best seen In the entries In the
.tt..4,.. - ,ha tnItviduoI Chairman SOL
diers.
During the night of August 15-l6
Engineer CIR gave the alarm In the
town of Wise. Every one was shot or
taken prisoner and the houses were
burnt. The prisoners were made TO
march and keep up with the troops.
(From the diary of noncommlssloned
officer Relnhold Koehn of the Second
battalion OF engineers. Third army
corps)
"a horrible bath Of blood. The whole
village burnt. the French thrown into
the blazing houses, civilians with the
rest" (From the diary OF Private
Hassemer Of the Eighth army corps.)
sin the night OF August 1919 the VII
lage OF Maurice was punished
for having fired on German soldiers by
being burnt TO the ground by the Ger
man troops 1.-TWO regiments, thu
Twelfth landwehr and the Seven
teenth.) The village was surrounded,
men posted about yard from one an
other. so that no one could get out.
- IN hnngQ
by house. Neither man, woman, nor
child could escape; only the greater
part of the live stock we carried on,
ms that could be used. Anyone who
ventured to come out was shot down.
All the inhabitants left In the village
were burnt with the houses" Nrom
the diary OF Private Karl Scheufele Of
the Third Bavarlan regiment and land
weir lnfantry)
AT ten o'clock In the evening the
first battalion Of the One hundred and
Seyenty-elghth marched down the steep
incline into the burning village 10 the
burning village TO the north OF Dinant'
A terrific spectacle of CHASTITY beauty
At the entrance to the village lay about
City dead civilians, shot for having
fired upon our troops from ambush. In
the course OF the night many Others
were also shot, so that we counted over
200. Women and children, lamp In
hand. were forced TO look ON at the
horrible scene. We ate our rice later
In the midst OF the corpses, for we had
had nothing since morning. When we
searched the houses we found plenty
OF wine and spirit but no eatables
Captain Hamann was drunk" (This
last phrase In shorthand) (From the
diary OF Private Philip Of the One
Hundred and Seyenty-eighth regiment
Of infantry. Twelfth army corps)
Writing from Belgium In 1915 Irwin
3. Cobb said:
.Briefiy what saw was this: saw