Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1918-01-24
Diaries Of German Soldiers Tell
of Murder and PiIIage in
Belgian Cities.
CALLED "DISGRACE TO ARMY"
No Discrimination Made Between In
nocent and GuIty-lnfants Shot
In Dead Mothers Arms-Tes-
tlmony Of Brand Whitloek

have been taken prisoner Hou heP'
diaries, and these hare been cOnfs-
rated by the captors. Many haze
been published, frequently NTH fac
rimile reproductions to guarantee
heir authenticity. The fOllOwing
extracts, with the testimony Of
Brand Whitlock, are made public By
the committee on public information
ut Washington:
"Aug. %. Our men came back
and said that at the point where the
valley Joined the Meuse we could not
get any further, as the villagers were
shooting at us from every house. We
shot the whole lot-16 of them. They
were drawn up in three ranks; the
same shot did for three at a time.
The men had already shown
their brutal instincts; =.
"The sight of the bodies of all the
inhabitants who had been shot was
indescribable. Every house in the
whole village was destroyed. We
dragged the villagers one after an
other out of the most unlikely corners.
The men were shot as well as the
women and children who were In the
convent, since shots had been fired
from the convent windows; and we
burnt 1t afterwards.
"The inhabitants might have es-
capped the penalty by handing over the
guilty and paying $4,000 francs.
"The inhabitants fired on our men
again. The division took drastic
steps to stop this, the villages being
burnt and the inhabitants being shot.
The pretty little village of Cue
d'Ossus, however, was apparently set
on fire without cause. A cycllst fell
off his machine and his rifle went off.
He Immediately said he had been shot
at. All the Inhabitants were burnt
in the houses. hope there will be nc
more such horrors.
"Dlsgrace to Our Army"
"At Leppe apparently 200 men were
shot. There must have been some in
nocent men among them. In future
we shall have to hold an inquiry a.
10 their guilt instead of shooting
them.
"In the evening we marched tt
Maubert- -FOntaine. Just as we were
having our meal the alarm was sound
ed-everyone is very jumpy.
September 3. Still at Rethel, OF
guard over prisoners. . The houses
are charming inside. The middle class
in France has magnificent furniture
We found stylish pieces everywhere
and beautiful silk, but In what a stat'
Good God Every bit o
furniture broken, mirrors smashed
The Vandals themselves could no
have done more damage. This plac,
is disgrace to our army. The In
habitants who fled could not have ex
pected, of course, that all their good
would have been left intact after s.
many troops had passed. But the col
umn commanders are responsible 70
the greater part of the damage, a
they could have prevented the l0Otln
and destruction. The damage amount
to millions of marks; even the safe
have been attacked.
"In q solicitors house, in which, a
luck would have it, oil was in exec
lent taste, including a collection 0
old lace and Eastern works of ar
everything was smashed to bits.
81 could not resist taking Il littl
memento myself here and there.
One house was particularly elegan
everything in the best taste. The ha
was of light oak; found a splendi
ralncoat under the staircase and
camera for Felix" (Fr0m the diar
of an officer in the One Hundre
Seventy-elghth regiment, Twelfth Sal
on corps.)
But his horror apparently was nj
shared by the German commander
chief, as is evident from the follow
ing:
"order.
"To the People of Liege.
"The population of Andenne, aftt
making u display Of peaceful inter
tons toward our troops, attacked the
in the most treacherous manner. Wit
my authorization. the general con
manding these troops has reduced Il
town to ashes and has had 110 person
shot.
II bring this fact to the knowledl
of the people of Liege in order tn,
they may know what fate to expe
should they adopt similar attitude.
"Llege, 22d August, 1914.
GENERAL Won BUELOW."
Brand WhitIock Writes Of Massacre
In his report of September u, 19l
to the secretary of state. Minlst
Whitlock has much to tell of the p,
icy Of frightfulness. The followil
passages refer to the subject of ma
sacres:
Summary executions took place
Dinant) without the least semblan
of judgment The names and numb
of the victims are not known, but tn
must be numerous. have been u
able to obtain precise details In II
respect and the number of persC
Tho have fed is unknown. Among t