The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1918-01-11
THE GERMAN WAY.

The following IL An extract taken
from the pamphlet issued by the Nat
ional Committee of Public Information
entitled German War Practices" It
shows how Germany carries on war:
not war, but cold blooded merciless
murder. This evidence cannot be refut-
ed. The stories published below are
extracts taken largely from diaries VI
German prisoners, and no one can be
30 silly as to believe that a German
colder would write down a libel upon
his countrymen. The man or woman
who can continue to doubt the ruth
lessness OF the German soldery after
this testimony would not accept the
evidence OF their own eyes. 1t is a
frightful arraignment of the German
people, 1t Is a horrible story Of Ger
man brutality. God may forgive any
thing, but 1t is beyond human nature
to forgive such outrages and 1t will be
generations before hatred Of every
thing and all things German can be
eliminated among the nations of the
earth:
In the wars waged in ancient times
1t was taken for granted that conquer
ed peoples might be either killed, tor
tured, or held as slaves: their property
would be taken and their lands would
be devastated. Vac victrs.-woe to the
conquered" For two centuries or
more there has been a steady advance
In introducing ideas OF humanity and
especially In confining the evils OF
warfare to the combatants. The ideal
seemed to have become so thoroughly
established as part OF international
law that the powers at The Hague
thought 1t sufficient merely to state
the general principles In Article XIV
OF the regulations: Family honors
and rights, the lives OF persons and
private property as well as religious
convictions and practice, must be re-
spected. Private property cannot be
confiscated." Germany, in common
with the other powers, solemnly pledg-
ed her faith to keep this article. but
military leaders had no intention OF
doing 80. They had been trained in the
ideas voiced by Gen. Won Hartmann 40
years ago: Terrorism Is seen to be a
relatively gentle procedure. useful to
keep the masses OF the people in a
state Of obedience" This had been
Bismarck's policy, too. According to
Moritz Busch. Bismarck's biographer,
Bismarck, exaggerated by the French
Resistance, which was still continuing
In January, 1871, said:
IF, In the territory which we occu-
py, we cannot supply everything for
our troops, from time to time we shall
send flying column into the locali-
ties which are recalcitrant. We shall
shoot, hang and burn. After that has
happened few times, the inhabitants
will finally come to their senses"
The frightfulness taught by the Ger
man leaders has held full sway In
Belgium. This IL best seen In the en-
tries In the diaries OF the individual
German soldiers.
Extracts from German War Diaries.
During the night of August 1915
Engineer Or gave the alarm In the
town OF Wise. Everyone was shot or
taken prisoner. and the houses were
burned. The prisoners were made to
march and keep up with the troops"
(From the dairy OF noncommissioned
officer Reinhold Koehn OF the Second
Battalion OF Engineers, Third Army
Corpse
"A horrible bath OF blood. The whole
village burned, the French thrown into
the blazing houses, civilians with the
rest" (From the dairy of Private Has
semer, OF the Eighth Army Corps.)
I'm the night OF August 1919 the vii
lage of Saint-Maurice was punished for
having fred on German soldiers by be-
ing burnt to the ground by German
troops 1.-TWO regiments, the 18th Land
wehr and the 17th). The village was
surrounded. men posted about yard
from one another, SO that none could
get out Then the Uhlans set fire to 1t,
house by house. Neither man, woman
nor child could escape; only the great
err part OF the live stock we carried off
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 dairy OF Private Karl Scheufel, Of
the Third Bavarian Regiment Of Land
weir Infantry
AT ten o'clock in the evening the
first battalion of the 178th marched
down the steep incline into the burn
ing 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 |
fired upon our troops from ambush. In |
the course Of the night many others
also were 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 spirits. but no eatables. |
Captain Hamann was drunk" (This |
last phase In shorthand.) (From the
dairy OF Private Philip. OF the One
Hundred and Seventy-Eighth Regi-
ment of Infantry. Twelfth Army
Corpse
august 9Th crossed frontier. Inhab-
itants on border very good to us and
gave us many things. There Is no DIFF
ference noticeable.
August 23rd, Sunday between Bir-
nal and Dinant. village Of Disonge.) |
At IL o'clock the order came to ad- |
vance after the artillery had thorough
ly prepared the ground ahead. The
Pioneers and Infantry Regiment 178
were marching In front OF us. Near "a