The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1918-02-07

FrlghtfuIness Taught by German
Leaders Belongs to Age Of
BarbarlSm.
SOLEMN PLEDGE MERE WORDS
kaIser's Statesmen Had No Intention
Of Keeping Faith With Their
Agreement on International Law
Horrors Told by Diaries.

Agreement on International Law
Horrors Told by Diaries.
In 6 ping to the American people
the knowledge of German inhuma,,-
ity in Belgium, says pamphlet IS
sued by the committee on public in
formation, tho evidence Is drawa.
mainly from German and american
sources. The German sources in
clude official proclamations ana
other official utterances, letters a,,S
diaries of German soldiers, and quo
tations from German newspapers.
The Rules for Field Serpice" of the
German army advises each soldier
to keep such diary while on active
service.
In the wars waged in ancient times
1t was taken for granted that con-
quered peoples might be either killed.
tortured, or held as slaves that their
lands would be devastated. "Vae VIC
tis woe to the conquered For two
centuries or more there has been a
steady advance in introducing ideas OF
humanity and especially In confinine
the evils Of warfare to the combatants.
The ideal seemed to have become 80
thoroughly established as a part Of In.
ternational law that the powers at The
Hague thought 1t sufficient merely to
state the general principles in Article
XLVI 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 confiscated." Germany, In common
with the other powers, solemnly
pledged her faith to keep this article,
but her military leaders had no inten.
tiOn Of doing 80. They had beer
trained In the ideas voiced by Gen. Won
0-yetaa s-sase 60 .s Feeffeef1% Ism sfa
Is seen to be relatively gentle pro-
,cedure, useful to keep the masses OF
the people In a state Of obedience
This had been Bismarck's policy, too
According to Moritz Busch, Bismark's
| biographer, 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 to 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
diaries Of the individual German sol.
diers.
During the night Of August 1916
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 noncommissioned
officer Reinhold 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.)
"In the night Of August 1919 the vii.
lage Of Saint-Maurice was punished
for having fired on German soldiers by
being burnt to the ground by the Ger
man troops 1.-TWO regiments, the
Twelfth landwehr and the Seven.
teenth.) The village was surrounded,
men posted about a yard from one an.
other, so that no one could get out
| Then the Uhlaps set fire to 1t, house
by house. Neither man, woman, nor
child could escape; only the greater
part Of the live stock we carried of
as 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" (From
the diary Of Private Karl Scheufele Of
the Third Bavarian regiment and land
wehr infantry.)
"At ten o'clock in the evening the
first battalion Of the One hundred and
| Seventy-eighth marched down the steep
incline into the burning village to tho
burning village to the north of Dinant.
A terrific spectacle Of CHASTITY beauty.
At the entrance to the village lay about
fifty dead civilians, shot for having
fred upon our troops from ambush. In
the course Of the night many others.
were also shot, 80 that we counted ova(
zoo. Women and children, lamp
hand, were forced to look on at
horrible scene. We ate our rice
In the midst OF the eorpses, for
had nothing since morning. w
searched the houses we foupf
OF wine and spirit, but p/
Captain Hamann was -
last phrase In shorthan
diary Of Private PhiliI
Hundred and Seventy-ei
OF infantry. Twelfth arn