The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-01-09
WRITTEN RECORD
OF ATROCITIES
Diaries of German Soldiers Tell
of Murder and PiIIage in
Belgian Cities.
CALLED "DISGRACE TO ARMY"
No Discrimination Made Between In
nocent and GuiIty-lnfants Shot
in Dead Mothers Arms-Tes-
tinony of Brand Whitlock.

Very many German soldiers who
hare been taken prisoner had kept
diaries, and these hare been confs-
ccted By the capiors. Many hare
been published, frequently nth fac
smile reproductions to guarantee
their authenticity, The foHoming
extracts. wih the testimony Of
Brand lThulocL,, are made PubHc by
the committee on public information
At Washington:
and said that at the point where the
valley joined the Meuse we could not
get any further, as the villagers We're
shooting ut us from every house. We
shot the whole Lotto of them. They
were drawn ZIP III three ranks; the
same shot did for three Mt 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 ont Of the most unlikely corners.
The men were shot rs well as the
women and children who were in the
convent, since shots had been fired
from the convent windows; and we
burnt it afterwards.
THE inhabitants might have es-
capped the penalty by handing over the
guilty and paying 130oo 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
| dOssuS, however. was apparently set
on fire without cause. 4 cyclst fell
off his machine and his rifle went off.
| lie immediately said he had been shot
at. All the inhabitants were burnt
in the houses. hope there will be no
| more such horrors.
/ Disgrace to Our Army"
AT Lcppe apparently POO men were
shot. There must have been some In
J naefnF mon among them IN, future.
! we shall have to hold an inquiry as
/ 10 their guilt instead Of shooting
/ them.
"Iu the evening we marched to
| Maubert-Foniaine. ju>t us we were
| having our meal the alarm was sound
| ed-everyonc is very jumpy
September ,. sun at Rcthel. on
! guard over prisoners. The houses
are charming inside. The middle class
in France has magnificent furniture.
We found stylish pieces everywhere
and beautiful silk, bat i'll what state
/ Good God Every hit of
| furniture broken. mirrors smashed
/ The Nandals themselves could not
! have done more damage This place
! is disgrace To our army. The in
/ habitantS who fled could not have ex-
! pected, of course, that all their goods
/ would have been left intact after SO
| many troops had passed. Blu. the col
1 umn commanders are responsible for
! the greater part Of the damage. as
/ they could have prevented the looting
/ and destruction. The damage amounts
! to millions Of marks; even the safes
have been attacked
In a solicitors house, in which, as
luck would have it, all was in excel
| lent taste, including collection Of
old lace and Eastern works of art,
everything was smashed to bits,
Il could not resist taking little
mcmento myself here and there
| One house was particularly elegant,
everything in the best taste The hall
WAS Of light oak found n splendid
! r@incoat under the staircase and Il
camera for Felix" O1rom the diary
of an officer III the One Hundred
Seycuty-eishth regiment, Twelfth Sax
on CORPSE
Bat his horror apparently was not
shared 10y the German commander in
chief, as is evident from the follow
iu@:
"Order.
To the People of Liege.
The population OF Andcnne. after
making Il display of peaceful inten-
tIonS toward our troops, attacked them
in the most treachcrous manner. With
my authorization, the general com
manding these troops has reduced the
-l1.aIn 10 ashes and has bad Ito persons
q shot
4 bring this fHct 10 the knowledge
of the people of Iicset in order that
th"y may know what fate to expect
Should they adopt a similar attitude.
Licge, I'D August, 1914
"tiFNI,RAI.s Won BUELOW."
Brand Whtlock Writes of Massacres
In his report of September t.. 1917
10 the secretary of state, Minister
Whtloc6 has much TO tell of the pol
icy Of. frightfulncSS The following
Passages refer to the subject of mas
sacreS;
SUMMARY executions. took place (at
| binanD without the least semblancc
Of Judgment. The names and nu4phe,
81 the victims are not known, but they
| lTlI~I be 44rYeprOUS have Aoo,, -.