Chapter XIII: Part II (1)

Having thus narrated the offenses committed in Belgium, which it has been proper to consider as a whole, we now turn to another branch of the subject, the breaches of the usages of war which appear in the conduct of the German Army generally.

This branch has been considered under the following heads:

First.--The treatment of noncombatants, whether in Belgium or
in France, including--

(a) The killing of noncombatants in France;

(b) The treatment of women and children;

(c) The using of innocent noncombatants as a screen or shield
in the conduct of military operations;

(d) Looting, burning, and the wanton destruction of property.

Second.--Offenses committed in the course of ordinary military
operations which violate the usages of war and the provisions
of The Hague Convention.

This division includes:

_(a) Killing of wounded or prisoners;_

_(b) Firing on hospitals or on the Red Cross ambulances and
stretcher bearers;_

_(c) Abuse of the Red Cross or of the white flag._

TREATMENT OF THE CIVILIAN POPULATION.

(a) Killing of Noncombatants.

The killing of civilians in Belgium has been already described sufficiently. Outrages on the civilian population of the invaded districts, the burning of villages, the shooting of innocent inhabitants, and the taking of hostages, pillage, and destruction continued as the German armies passed into France. The diary of the Saxon officer above referred to describes acts of this kind committed by the German soldiers in advancing to the Aisne at the end of August and after they had passed the French frontier, as well as when they were in Belgian territory.

A proclamation, (a specimen of which was produced to the committee,) issued at Rheims and placarded over the town, affords a clear illustration of the methods adopted by the German Higher Command. The population of Rheims is warned that on the slightest disturbance part or the whole of the city will be burned to the ground and all the hostages taken from the city (a long list of whom is given in the proclamation) immediately shot.

The evidence, however, submitted to the committee with regard to the conduct of the German Army in France is not nearly so full as that with regard to Belgium. There is no body of civilian refugees in England, and the French witnesses have generally laid their evidence before their own Government. The evidence forwarded to us consists principally of the statements of British officers and soldiers who took part in the retreat after the battle of Mons and in the subsequent advance, following the Germans from the Marne. The area covered is relatively small, and it is from French reports that any complete account of what occurred in the invaded districts in France as a whole must be obtained.

Naturally, soldiers in a foreign country, with which they were unacquainted, cannot be expected always to give accurately the names of villages through which they passed on their marches, but this does not prevent their evidence from being definite as to what they actually saw in the farms and houses where the German troops had recently been. Many shocking outrages are recorded. Three examples may here suffice; others are given in the appendix. A Sergeant who had been through the retreat from Mons and then taken part in the advance from the Marne, and who had been engaged in driving out some German troops from a village, states that his troop halted outside a bakery just inside the village. It was a private house where baking was done, "not like our bakeries here." Two or three women were standing at the door. The women motioned them to come into the house, as did also three civilian Frenchmen who were there. They took them into a garden at the back of the house. At the end of the garden was the bakery. They saw two old men between 60 and 70 years of age and one old woman lying close to each other in the garden. All three had the scalps cut right through and the brains were hanging out. They were still bleeding. Apparently they had only just been killed. The three French civilians belonged to this same house. One of them spoke a few words of English. He gave them to understand that these three had been killed by the Germans because they had refused to bake bread for them.

Another witness states that two German soldiers took hold of a young civilian named D. and bound his hands behind his back, and struck him in the face with their fists. They then tied his hands in front and fastened the cord to the tail of the horse. The horse dragged him for about fifty yards, and then the Germans loosened his hands and left him. The whole of his face was cut and torn, and his arms and legs were bruised. On the following day one of his sisters, whose husband was a soldier, came to their house with her four children. His brother, who was also married and who lived in a village near Valenciennes, went to fetch the bread for his sister. On the way back to their house he met a patrol of Uhlans, who took him to the market place at Valenciennes, and then shot him. About twelve other civilians were also shot in the market place. The Uhlans then burned nineteen houses in the village, and afterward burned the corpses of the civilians, including that of his brother. His father and his uncle afterward went to see the dead body of his brother, but the German soldiers refused to allow them to pass.

A lance corporal in the Rifles, who was on patrol duty with five privates during the retirement of the Germans after the Marne, states that they entered a house in a small village and took ten Uhlans prisoners, and then searched the house and found two women and two children. One was dead, but the body not yet cold. The left arm had been cut off just below the elbow. The floor was covered with blood. The woman's clothing was disarranged. The other woman was alive but unconscious. Her right leg had been cut off above the knee. There were two little children, a boy about 4 or 5 and a girl of about 6 or 7. The boy's left hand was cut off at the wrist and the girl's right hand at the same place. They were both quite dead. The same witness states that he saw several women and children lying dead in various other places, but says he could not say whether this might not have been accidentally caused in legitimate fighting.

The evidence before us proves that in the parts of France referred to murder of unoffending civilians and other acts of cruelty, including aggravated cases of rape, carried out under threat of death, and sometimes actually followed by murder of the victim, were committed by some of the German troops.

(b) The Treatment of Women and Children.

The evidence shows that the German authorities, when carrying out a policy of systematic arson and plunder in selected districts, usually drew some distinction between the adult male population on the one hand and the women and children on the other. It was a frequent practice to set apart the adult males of the condemned district with a view to the execution of a suitable number--preferably of the younger and more vigorous--and to reserve the women and children for milder treatment. The depositions, however, present many instances of calculated cruelty, often going the length of murder, toward the women and children of the condemned area. We have already referred to the case of Aerschot, where the women and children were herded in a church which had recently been used as a stable, detained for forty-eight hours with no food other than coarse bread, and denied the common decencies of life. At Dinant sixty women and children were confined in the cellar of a convent from Sunday morning till the following Friday, (Aug. 28,) sleeping on the ground, for there were no beds, with nothing to drink during the whole period, and given no food until the Wednesday, "when somebody threw into the cellar two sticks of macaroni and a carrot for each prisoner." In other cases the women and children were marched for long distances along roads, (e.g., march of women from Louvain to Tirlemont, Aug. 28,) the laggards pricked on by the attendant Uhlans. A lady complains of having been brutally kicked by privates. Others were struck with the butt end of rifles. At Louvain, at Liege, at Aerschot, at Malines, at Montigny, at Andenne, and elsewhere, there is evidence that the troops were not restrained from drunkenness, and drunken soldiers cannot to be trusted to observe the rules or decencies of war, least of all when they are called upon to execute a preordained plan of arson and pillage. From the very first women were not safe. At Liege women and children were chased about the streets by soldiers. A witness gives a story, very circumstantial in its details, of how women were publicly raped in the market place of the city, five young German officers assisting. At Aerschot men and women were deliberately shot when coming out of burning houses. At Liege, Louvain, Sempst, and Malines women were burned to death, either because they were surprised and stupefied by the fumes of the conflagration or because they were prevented from escaping by German soldiers. Witnesses recount how a great crowd of men, women, and children from Aerschot were marched to Louvain, and then suddenly exposed to a fire from a mitrailleuse and rifles. "We were all placed," recounts a sufferer, "in Station Street, Louvain, and the German soldiers fired on us. I saw the corpses of some women in the street. I fell down, and a woman who had been shot fell on top of me." Women and children suddenly turned out into the streets, and, compelled to witness the destruction by fire of their homes, provided a sad spectacle to such as were sober enough to see. A humane German officer, witnessing the ruin of Aerschot, exclaims in disgust: "I am a father myself, and I cannot bear this. It is not war, but butchery." Officers as well as men succumbed to the temptation of drink, with results which may be illustrated by an incident which occurred at Campenhout. In this village there was a certain well-to-do merchant (name given) who had a good cellar of champagne. On the afternoon of the 14th or 15th of August three German cavalry officers entered the house and demanded champagne. Having drunk ten bottles and invited five or six officers and three or four private soldiers to join them, they continued their carouse, and then called for the master and mistress of the house.

"Immediately my mistress came in," says the valet de chambre,
"one of the officers who was sitting on the floor got up, and,
putting a revolver to my mistress temple, shot her dead. The
officer was obviously drunk. The other officers continued to
drink and sing, and they did not pay great attention to the
killing of my mistress. The officer who shot my mistress then
told my master to dig a grave and bury my mistress. My master
and the officer went into the garden, the officer threatening
my master with a pistol. My master was then forced to dig the
grave and to bury the body of my mistress in it. I cannot say
for what reason they killed my mistress. The officer who did
it was singing all the time."

In the evidence before us there are cases tending to show that aggravated crimes against women were sometimes severely punished. One witness reports that a young girl who was being pursued by a drunken soldier at Louvain appealed to a German officer, and that the offender was then and there shot. Another describes how an officer of the Thirty-second Regiment of the Line was led out to execution for the violation of two young girls, but reprieved at the request or with the consent of the girls' mother. These instances are sufficient to show that the maltreatment of women was no part of the military scheme of the invaders, however much it may appear to have been the inevitable result of the system of terror deliberately adopted in certain regions. Indeed, so much is avowed. "I asked the commander why we had been spared," says a lady in Louvain, who deposes to having suffered much brutal treatment during the sack. He said: "We will not hurt you any more. Stay in Louvain. All is finished." It was Saturday, Aug. 29, and the reign of terror was over.

Apart from the crimes committed in special areas and belonging to a scheme of systematic reprisals for the alleged shooting by civilians, there is evidence of offenses committed against women and children by individual soldiers, or by small groups of soldiers, both in the advance through Belgium and France as in the retreat from the Marne. Indeed, the discipline appears to have been loose during the retreat, and there is evidence as to the burning of villages and the murder and violation of their female inhabitants during this episode of the war.

In this tale of horrors hideous forms of mutilation occur with some frequency in the depositions, two of which may be connected in some instances with a perverted form of sexual instinct.

A third form of mutilation, the cutting of one or both hands, is frequently said to have taken place. In some cases where this form of mutilation is alleged to have occurred it may be the consequence of a cavalry charge up a village street, hacking and slashing at everything in the way; in others the victim may possibly have held a weapon; in others the motive may have been the theft of rings.

We find many well-established cases of the slaughter (often accompanied by mutilation) of whole families, including not infrequently that of quite small children. In two cases it seems to be clear that preparations were made to burn a family alive. These crimes were committed over a period of many weeks and simultaneously in many places, and the authorities must have known, or ought to have known, that cruelties of this character were being perpetrated; nor can any one doubt that they could have been stopped by swift and decisive action on the part of the heads of the German Army.

The use of women and even children as a screen for the protection of the German troops is referred to in a later part of this report. From the number of troops concerned, it must have been commanded or acquiesced in by officers, and in some cases the presence and connivance of officers is proved.

The cases of violation, sometimes under threat of death, are numerous and clearly proved. We referred here to comparatively few out of the many that have been placed in the appendix, because the circumstances are in most instances much the same. They were often accompanied with cruelty, and the slaughter of women after violation is more than once credibly attested.

It is quite possible that in some cases where the body of a Belgian or a French woman is reported as lying on the roadside pierced with bayonet wounds or hanging naked from a tree, or else as lying gashed and mutilated in a cottage kitchen or bedroom, the woman in question gave some provocation. She may by act or word have irritated her assailant and in certain instances evidence has been supplied both as to the provocation offered and as to the retribution inflicted.

(1) "Just before we got to Melen," says a witness who had
fallen into the hands of the Germans on Aug. 5, "I saw a woman
with a child in her arms standing on the side of the road on
our left-hand side watching the soldiers go by. Her name was
G., aged about 63, and a neighbor of mine. The officer asked
the woman for some water in good French. She went inside her
son's cottage to get some and brought it immediately he had
stopped. The officer went into the cottage garden and drank
the water. The woman then said, when she saw the prisoners,
'Instead of giving you water you deserve to be shot.' The
officer shouted to us, 'March.' We went on, and immediately I
saw the officer draw his revolver and shoot the woman and
child. One shot killed both."

Two old men and one old woman refused to bake bread for the
Germans. They were butchered.

Aug. 23--I went with two friends (names given) to see what we
could see. About three hours out of Malines we were taken
prisoners by a German patrol--an officer and six men--and
marched off into a little wood of saplings, where there was a
house. The officer spoke Flemish. He knocked at the door; the
peasant did not come. The officer ordered the soldiers to
break down the door, which two of them did. The peasant came
and asked what they were doing. The officer said he did not
come quickly enough and that they had "trained up" plenty of
others. His hands were tied behind his back, and he was
shot at once without a moment's delay. The wife came out
with a little sucking child. She put the child down and sprang
at the Germans like a lioness. She clawed their faces. One of
the Germans took a rifle and struck her a tremendous blow with
the butt on the head. Another took his bayonet and fixed it
and thrust it through the child. He then put his rifle on his
shoulder with the child upon it; its little arms stretched out
once or twice. The officers ordered the houses to be set on
fire, and straw was obtained and it was done. The man and his
wife and the child were thrown on the top of the straw. There
were about forty other peasant prisoners there also, and the
officer said: "I am doing this as a lesson and example to you.
When a German tells you to do something next time you must
move more quickly." The regiment of Germans was a regiment of
Hussars, with crossbones and a death's head on the cap.

The Hungarian Who Succeeded Count Berchtold as Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister and President of the Common Ministerial Council]

The New King of Rumania, in succession to his uncle the late King Charles I.

_(Photo from P.S. Rogers.)_]

Can any one think that such acts as these, committed by women in the circumstances created by the invasion of Belgium, were deserving of the extreme form of vengeance attested by these and other depositions?

In considering the question of provocation it is pertinent to take into account the numerous cases in which old women and very small children have been shot, bayoneted, and even mutilated. Whatever excuse may be offered by the Germans for the killing of grown-up women, there can be no possible defense for the murder of children, and if it can be shown that infants and small children were not infrequently bayoneted and shot it is a fair inference that many of the offenses against women require no explanation more recondite than the unbridled violence of brutal or drunken criminals.

It is clearly shown that many offenses were committed against infants and quite young children. On one occasion children were even roped together and used as a military screen against the enemy; on another three soldiers went into action carrying small children to protect themselves from flank fire. A shocking case of the murder of a baby by a drunken soldier at Malines is thus recorded by one eyewitness and confirmed by another:

"One day when the Germans were not actually bombarding the
town I left my house to go to my mother's house in High
Street. My husband was with me. I saw eight German soldiers,
and they were drunk. They were singing and making a lot of
noise and dancing about. As the German soldiers came along the
street I saw a small child, whether boy or girl I could not
see, come out of a house. The child was about two years of
age. The child came into the middle of the street so as to be
in the way of the soldiers. The soldiers were walking in twos.
The first line of two passed the child. One of the second
line, the man on the left, stepped aside and drove his bayonet
with both hands into the child's stomach, lifting the child
into the air on his bayonet and carrying it away on his
bayonet, he and his comrades still singing. The child screamed
when the soldier struck it with his bayonet but not
afterward."

These, no doubt, were for the most part the acts of drunken soldiers, but an incident has been recorded which discloses the fact that even sober and highly placed officers were not always disposed to place a high value on child life. Thus the General, wishing to be conducted to the Town Hall at Lebbeke, remarked in French to his guide, who was accompanied by a small boy: "If you do not show me the right way I will shoot you and your boy." There was no need to carry the threat into execution, but that the threat should have been made is significant.

We cannot tell whether these acts of cruelty to children were part of the scheme for inducing submission by inspiring terror. In Louvain, where the system of terrorizing was carried to the furthest limit, outrages on children were uncommon. The same, however, cannot be said of some of the smaller villages which were subjected to the system. In Hofstade and Sempst, in Haecht, Rotselaer, and Wespelaer, many children were murdered. Nor can it be said of the village of Tamines, where three small children (whose names are given by an eye witness of the crime) were slaughtered on the green for no apparent motive. It is difficult to imagine the motives which may have prompted such acts. Whether or no Belgian civilians fired on German soldiers, young children at any rate did not fire. The number and character of these murders constitute the most distressing feature connected with the conduct of the war so far as it is revealed in the depositions submitted to the committee.

(c) The Use of Civilians as Screens.

We have before us a considerable body of evidence with reference to the practice of the Germans of using civilians and sometimes military prisoners as screens from behind which they could fire upon the Belgian troops, in the hope that the Belgians would not return the fire for fear of killing or wounding their own fellow-countrymen.

In some cases this evidence refers to places where fighting was actually going on in the streets of a town or village, and to these cases we attach little importance. It might well happen when terrified civilians were rushing about to seek safety that groups of them might be used as a screen by either side of the combatants without any intention of inhumanity or of any breach of the rules of civilized warfare. But, setting aside these doubtful cases, there remains evidence which satisfies us that on so many occasions as to justify its being described as a practice the German soldiers, under the eyes and by the direction of their officers, were guilty of this act.

Thus, for instance, outside Fort Fleron, near Liege, men and children were marched in front of the Germans to prevent the Belgian soldiers from firing.

The progress of the Germans through Mons was marked by many incidents of this character. Thus, on Aug. 22 half a dozen Belgian colliers returning from work were marching in front of some German troops who were pursuing the English, and in the opinion of the witnesses they must have been placed there intentionally. An English officer describes how he caused a barricade to be erected in a main thoroughfare leading out of Mons when the Germans, in order to reach a crossroad in the rear, fetched civilians out of the houses on each side of the main road and compelled them to hold up white flags and act as cover.

Another British officer who saw this incident is convinced that the Germans were acting deliberately for the purpose of protecting themselves from the fire of the British troops. Apart from this protection the Germans could not have advanced, as the street was straight and commanded by the British rifle fire at a range of 700 or 800 yards. Several British soldiers also speak to this incident, and their story is confirmed by a Flemish witness in a side street.

On Aug. 24 men, women, and children were actually pushed into the front of the German position outside Mons. The witness speaks of 16 to 20 women, about a dozen children, and half a dozen men being there.

Seven or eight women and five or six very young children were utilized in this way by some Uhlans between Landrecies and Guise.

A Belgian soldier saw an incident of this character during the retreat from Namur.

At the battle of Malines 60 or 80 Belgian civilians, among whom were some women, were driven before the German troops. Another witness saw a similar incident near Malines, but a much larger number of civilians was involved, and a priest was in front with a white flag.

In another instance, related by a Belgian soldier, the civilians were tied by the wrists in groups.

At Eppeghem, where the Germans were driven back by the Belgian sortie from Antwerp, civilians were used as a cover for the German retreat.

Near Malines, early in September, about 10 children, roped together, were driven in front of a German force.

At Londerzeel 30 or 40 civilians, men, women, and children, were placed at the head of a German column.

One witness from Termonde was made to stand in front of the Germans, together with others, all with their hands above their heads. Those who allowed their hands to drop were at once prodded with the bayonet. Again, at Termonde, about Sept. 10, a number of civilians were shot by the Belgian soldiers, who were compelled to fire at the Germans, taking the risk of killing their own countrymen.

At Tournai 400 Belgian civilians, men, women, and children, were placed in front of the Germans, who then engaged the French.

The operations outside Antwerp were not free from incidents of this character. Near Willebroeck some civilians, including a number of children, a woman, and one old man, were driven in front of the German troops. German officers were present, and one woman who refused to advance was stabbed twice with the bayonet, and a little child who ran up to her as she fell had half its head blown away by a shot from a rifle.

Other incidents of the same kind are reported from Nazareth and Ypres. The British troops were compelled to fire, in some cases at the risk of killing civilians.

At Ypres the Germans drove women in front of them by pricking them with bayonets. The wounds were afterward seen by the witness.

(d) Looting, Burning, and Destruction of Property.

There is an overwhelming mass of evidence of the deliberate destruction of private property by the German soldiers. The destruction in most cases was effected by fire, and the German troops, as will be seen from earlier passages in the report, had been provided beforehand with appliances for rapidly setting fire to houses. Among the appliances enumerated by witnesses are syringes for squirting petrol, guns for throwing small inflammable bombs, and small pellets made of inflammable material. Specimens of the last mentioned have been shown to members of the committee. Besides burning houses, the Germans frequently smashed furniture and pictures; they also broke in doors and windows. Frequently, too, they defiled houses by relieving the wants of nature upon the floor. They also appear to have perpetrated the same vileness upon piled up heaps of provisions so as to destroy what they could not themselves consume. They also on numerous occasions threw corpses into wells, or left in them the bodies of persons murdered by drowning.

In addition to these acts of destruction the German troops, both in Belgium and France, are proved to have been guilty of persistent looting. In the majority of cases the looting took place from houses, but there is also evidence that German soldiers and even officers robbed their prisoners, both civil and military, of sums of money and other portable possessions. It was apparently well known throughout the German Army that towns and villages would be burned whenever it appeared that any civilians had fired upon the German troops, and there is reason to suspect that this known intention of the German military authorities in some cases explains the sequence of events which led up to the burning and sacking of a town or village. The soldiers, knowing that they would have an opportunity of plunder if the place was condemned, had a motive for arranging some incident which would provide the necessary excuse for condemnation. More than one witness alleges that shots coming from the window of a house were fired by German soldiers who had forced their way into the house for the purpose of thus creating an alarm. It is also alleged that German soldiers on some occasions merely fired their rifles in the air in a side street and then reported to their officers that they had been fired at. On the report that firing had taken place orders were given for wholesale destruction, and houses were destroyed in streets and districts where there was no allegation that firing had taken place, as well as in those where the charge arose. That the destruction could have been limited is proved by the care taken to preserve particular houses whose occupants had made themselves in one way or another agreeable to the conquerors. These houses were marked in chalk, ordering them to be spared, and spared they were.

The above statements have reference to the burning of towns and villages. In addition, the German troops in numerous instances have set fire to farmhouses and farm buildings. Here, however, the plea of military necessity can more safely be alleged. A farmhouse may afford convenient shelter to an enemy, and where such use is probable it may be urged that the destruction of the buildings is justifiable. It is clearly, however, the duty of the soldiers who destroy the buildings to give reasonable warning to the occupants so that they may escape. Doubtless this was in many cases done by the German commanders, but there is testimony that in some cases the burning of the farmhouse was accompanied by the murder of the inhabitants.

The same fact stands out clearly in the more extensive burning of houses in towns and villages. In some cases, indeed, as a prelude to the burning, inhabitants were cleared out of their houses and driven along the streets, often with much accompanying brutality--some to a place of execution, others to prolonged detention in a church or other public buildings. In other cases witnesses assert that they saw German soldiers forcing back into the flames men, women, and children who were trying to escape from the burning houses. There is also evidence that soldiers deliberately shot down civilians as they fled from the fire.

The general conclusion is that the burning and destruction of property which took place was only in a very small minority of cases justified by military necessity, and that even then the destruction was seldom accompanied by that care for the lives of noncombatants which has hitherto been expected from a military commander belonging to a civilized nation. On the contrary, it is plain that in many cases German officers and soldiers deliberately added to the sufferings of the unfortunate people whose property they were destroying.

OFFENSES AGAINST COMBATANTS.

_(a) The Killing of the Wounded and of Prisoners._

In dealing with the treatment of the wounded and of prisoners and the cases in which the former appear to have been killed when helpless, and the latter at, or after, the moment of capture, we are met by some peculiar difficulties, because such acts may not in all cases be deliberate and cold-blooded violations of the usages of war. Soldiers who are advancing over a spot where the wounded have fallen may conceivably think that some of these lying prostrate are shamming dead, or, at any rate, are so slightly wounded as to be able to attack or to fire from behind when the advancing force has passed, and thus they may be led into killing those whom they would otherwise have spared. There will also be instances in which men intoxicated with the frenzy of battle slay even those whom on reflection they might have seen to be incapable of further harming them. The same kind of fury may vent itself on persons who are already surrendering, and even a soldier who is usually self-controlled or humane may, in the heat of the moment, go on killing, especially in a general melee, those who were offering to surrender. This is most likely to happen when such a soldier has been incensed by an act of treachery or is stirred to revenge by the death of a comrade to whom he is attached. Some cases of this kind appear in the evidence. Such things happen in a1l wars as isolated instances, and the circumstances may be pleaded in extenuation of acts otherwise shocking. We have made due allowance for these considerations and have rejected those cases in which there is a reasonable doubt as to whether those who killed the wounded knew that the latter were completely disabled. Nevertheless, after making all allowances, there remain certain instances in which it is clear that quarter was refused to persons desiring to surrender when it ought to have been given, or that persons already so wounded as to be incapable of fighting further were wantonly shot or bayoneted.

The cases to which references are given all present features generally similar, and in several of them men who had been left wounded in the trenches when a trench was carried by the enemy were found, when their comrades subsequently retook the trench, to have been slaughtered, although evidently helpless, or else they would have escaped with the rest of the retreating force. For instance, a witness says:

"About Sept. 20 our regiment took part in an engagement with
the Germans. After we had retired into our trenches, a few
minutes after we got back into them, the Germans retired into
their trenches. The distance between the trenches of the
opposing forces was about 400 yards. I should say about fifty
or sixty of our men had been left lying on the field from our
trenches. After we got back to them I distinctly saw German
soldiers come out of their trenches, go over the spots where
our men were lying, and bayonet them. Some of our men were
lying nearly half way between the trenches."

Another says:

"The Germans advanced over the trenches of the headquarters
trench, where I had been on guard for three days. When the
Germans reached our wounded I saw their officer using his
sword to cut them down."

Another witness says:

"Outside Ypres we were in trenches and were attacked, and had
to retire until reinforced by other companies of the Royal
Fusiliers. Then we took the trenches and found the wounded,
between twenty and thirty, lying in the trenches with bayonet
wounds, and some shot. Most of them, say three-quarters, had
their throats cut."

In one case, given very circumstantially, a witness tells how a party of wounded British soldiers were left in a chalk pit, all very badly hurt, and quite unable to make resistance. One of them, an officer, held up his handkerchief as a white flag, and this

"attracted the attention of a party of about eight Germans.
The Germans came to the edge of the pit. It was getting dusk,
but the light was still good, and everything clearly
discernible. One of them, who appeared to be carrying no arms
and who, at any rate, had no rifle, came a few feet down the
slope into the chalk pit, within eight or ten yards of some of
the wounded men."

He looked at the men, laughed, and said something in German to the Germans who were waiting on the edge of the pit. Immediately one of them fired at the officer, then three or four of these ten soldiers were shot, then another officer and the witness, and the rest of them.

"After an interval of some time I sat up and found that I was
the only man of the ten who were living when the Germans came
into the pit remaining alive and that all the rest were dead."

Another witness describes a painful case in which five soldiers, two Belgians and three French, were tied to trees by German soldiers apparently drunk, who stuck knives in their faces, pricked them with their bayonets, and ultimately shot them.

We have no evidence to show whether and in what cases orders proceeded from the officer in command to give no quarter, but there are some instances in which persons obviously desiring to surrender were, nevertheless, killed.

_(b) Firing on Hospitals or on the Red Cross Ambulances or Stretcher Bearers._

This subject may conveniently be divided into three subdivisions, namely, firing on--

(1) Hospital buildings and other Red Cross establishments.

(2) Ambulances.

(3) Stretcher bearers.

Under the first and second categories there is obvious difficulty in proving intention, especially under the conditions of modern long-range artillery fire. A commanding officer's duty is to give strict orders to respect hospitals, ambulances, &c., and also to place Red Cross units as far away as possible from any legitimate line of fire. But with all care some accidents must happen, and many reported cases will be ambiguous. At the same time, when military observers have formed a distinct opinion that buildings and persons under the recognizable protection of the Red Cross were willfully fired upon, such opinions cannot be disregarded.

Between thirty and forty of the depositions submitted related to this offense. This number does not in itself seem so great as to be inconsistent with the possibility of accident.

In one case a Red Cross depot was shelled on most days throughout the week. This is hardly reconcilable with the enemy's gunners having taken any care to avoid it.

There are other cases of conspicuous hospitals being shelled, in the witnesses' opinion, purposely.

In one of these the witness, a Sergeant Major, makes a suggestion which appears plausible, namely, that the German gunners use any conspicuous building as a mark to verify their ranges rather than for the purpose of destruction. It would be quite according to the modern system of what German writers call _Kriegsraeson_ to hold that the convenience of range-finding is a sufficient military necessity to justify disregarding any immunity conferred on a building by the Red Cross or otherwise. In any case, artillery fire on a hospital at such a moderate range as about 1,000 yards can hardly be thought accidental.

(2) As to firing on ambulances, the evidence is more explicit.

In one case the witness is quite clear that the ambulances were aimed at.

In another case of firing at an ambulance train the range was quite short.

In another a Belgian Red Cross party is stated to have been ambushed.

On the whole we do not find proof of a general or systematic firing on hospitals or ambulances; but it is not possible to believe that much care was taken to avoid this.

(3) As to firing on stretcher bearers in the course of trench warfare, the testimony is abundant, and the facts do not seem explicable by accident. It may be that sometimes the bearers were suspected of seeing too much; and it is plain from the general military policy of the German armies that very slight suspicion would be acted on in case of doubt.

_(c) Abuse of the Red Cross and of the White Flag._

THE RED CROSS.

Cases of the Red Cross being abused are much more definite.

There are several accounts of fire being opened, sometimes at very short range, by machine guns which had been disguised in a German Red Cross ambulance or car. This was aggravated in one case near Tirlemont by the German soldiers wearing Belgian uniforms.

Witness speaks also of a stretcher party with the Red Cross being used to cover an attack and of a German Red Cross man working a machine gun.

There is also a well-attested case of a Red Cross motor car being used to carry ammunition under command of officers.

Unless all these statements are willfully false, which the committee sees no reason to believe, these acts must have been deliberate, and it does not seem possible that a Red Cross car could be equipped with a machine gun by soldiers acting without orders. There is also one case of firing from a cottage where the Red Cross flag was flying, and this could not be accidental.

On the whole, there is distinct evidence of the Red Cross having been deliberately misused for offensive purposes, and seemingly under orders, on some, though not many, occasions.

ABUSE OF THE WHITE FLAG.

Cases of this kind are numerous. It is possible that a small group of men may show a white flag without authority from any proper officer, in which case their action is, of course, not binding on the rest of the platoon or other unit. But this will not apply to the case of a whole unit advancing as if to surrender, or letting the other side advance to receive the pretended surrender and then opening fire. Under this head we find many depositions by British soldiers and several by officers. In some cases the firing was from a machine gun brought up under cover of the white flag.

The depositions taken by Professor Morgan in France strongly corroborate the evidence collected in this country.

The case numbered h 70 may be noted as very clearly stated. The Germans, who had "put up a white flag on a lance and ceased fire," and thereby induced a company to advance in order to take them prisoners, "dropped the white flag and opened fire at a distance of 100 yards." This was near Nesle, on Sept. 6, 1914. It seems clearly proved that in some divisions at least of the German Army this practice is very common. The incidents as reported cannot be explained by unauthorized surrenders of small groups.

There is, in our opinion, sufficient evidence that these offenses have been frequent, deliberate, and in many cases committed by whole units under orders. All the acts mentioned in this part of the report are in contravention of The Hague Convention, signed by the great powers, including France, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States, in 1907, as may be seen by a reference to Appendix D, in which the provisions of that convention relating to the conduct of war on land are set forth.

CONCLUSIONS.

From the foregoing pages it will be seen that the committee have come to a definite conclusion upon each of the heads under which the evidence has been classified.

It is proved--

(i.) That there were in many parts of Belgium deliberate and
systematically organized massacres of the civil population,
accompanied by many isolated murders and other outrages.

(ii.) That in the conduct of the war generally innocent
civilians, both men and women, were murdered in large numbers,
women violated, and children murdered.

(iii.) That looting, house burning, and the wanton destruction
of property were ordered and countenanced by the officers of
the German Army, that elaborate provision had been made for
systematic incendiarism at the very outbreak of the war, and
that the burnings and destruction were frequent where no
military necessity could be alleged, being indeed part of a
system of general terrorization.

(iv.) That the rules and usages of war were frequently broken,
particularly by the using of civilians, including women and
children, as a shield for advancing forces exposed to fire, to
a less degree by killing the wounded and prisoners, and in the
frequent abuse of the Red Cross and the white flag.

Sensible as they are of the gravity of these conclusions the committee conceive that they would be doing less than their duty if they failed to record them as fully established by the evidence. Murder, lust, and pillage prevailed over many parts of Belgium on a scale unparalleled in any war between civilized nations during the last three centuries.

Our function is ended when we have stated what the evidence establishes, but we may be permitted to express our belief that these disclosures will not have been made in vain if they touch and rouse the conscience of mankind, and we venture to hope that as soon as the present war is over the nations of the world in council will consider what means can be provided and sanctions devised to prevent the recurrence of such horrors as our generation is now witnessing.

We are, &c.,

BRYCE, F. POLLOCK, EDWARD CLARKE, KENELM E. DIGBY, ALFRED HOPKINSON, H.A.L. FISHER, HAROLD COX.

SCRIABIN'S LAST WORDS.

[From The London Times, May 1, 1915.]

M. Briantchaninov, an intimate friend of Scriabin, telegraphed the news of the composer's death to a friend in England. He stated that Scriabin died of the disease of the lip from which he was suffering when in England last year, and that he had just finished the "wonderful poetical text" of the prologue to his "Mystery." When Scriabin was suffering terrible pain just before his death he clenched his hands and his last words were: "I must be self-possessed, like Englishmen."

M. Briantchaninov is collecting a fund for Scriabin's children, and he suggests that possibly "some English friends and admirers" may care to contribute.

Chronology of the War

Showing Progress of Campaigns on All Fronts and Collateral Events From March 31, 1915, Up to and Including April 30, 1915

[Continued from the May number.]

CAMPAIGN IN EASTERN EUROPE

April 1--Russians take up lively offensive in Central Poland, seeking to prevent reinforcements being sent to the Carpathians; they halt a raid from Bukowina; Austrians drive back Russians near Inowlodz, on the Pilica River; Germans check night attempt of Russians to cross the Rawka River; German bombardment of Ossowetz has been abandoned; cold weather is favoring German operations in East Prussia; German Headquarters Staff reports that in March the German Eastern army took 55,800 Russian prisoners, 9 cannon, and 61 machine guns.

April 2--Russians take the offensive along their whole front from the Baltic Sea to Rumanian border; they are reported to be concentrating an enormous force on the coast of Finland to prevent any attempt at a German landing; Germans in Poland are being pushed back to the East Prussian border; Russians capture another strongly fortified ridge in the Carpathians, scaling ice-covered hills to do it; vast bodies of Russian cavalry are held in readiness for a sweep across the plains of Hungary; main Austrian Army in Bukowina is falling back; Russians now stand upon last heights of the main chain of Beskid Mountains; Austrians repulse Russian attacks east of Beskid Pass; Russians drive back Germans to the east of Pilwiszka; Austrians repulse Russian attacks between the Pruth and Dniester Rivers.

April 3--Fighting in the Carpathians continues night and day along a forty-mile front; Russians are making gains and pressing Austrians hard; Germans are pouring reinforcements into Hungary to support Austrians; Austrians gain in Bukowina; Austrians are trying to cut off Montenegro from all communication with the outside world and starve her into submission.

April 4--Austrians retreat from the Beskid region after Russian success; Austrians make progress in the Laborcza Valley; fighting has been going on for twenty-four continuous hours on both sides of the Dukla Pass; Germans repulse Russian attacks near Augustowo.

April 5--Russians continue to make steady progress in the Carpathians; they are now on the Hungarian side of both the Dukla and Lupkow Passes and are making advances on the heights which dominate Uzsok Pass; Russians gain in Bukowina and in North Poland.

April 6--Russians continue their great offensive in the Carpathians; Austrians are retreating at some points and burning their bridges behind them; Russians make progress in direction of Rostok Pass; German reinforcements are being rushed from Flanders to Austria via Munich; Austrian and German troops take strong Russian positions east of Laborcza Valley; Russians have been repulsed in an attempt to cross to the left bank of the Dniester River southwest of Uscie-Diekupie; Austrian artillery is bombarding Serbian towns on the Danube and the Save.

April 7--Russians continue offensive between the River Toplia and the Uzsok Pass region; Austrians take guns and war material on the heights east of the Laborcza Valley; Austrians bombard Belgrade; Austrians win ground along the River Pruth; Austrians are reported to have passed the Dniester and to be advancing on Kamenitz Podolsky, in Russian territory.

April 8--Russian advance in the Carpathians cuts one Austrian army in two; Russians capture Smolnik, east of Lupkow Pass; fierce fighting is going on in the mountain passes.

April 9--The whole southern slope of the Carpathians has been strongly fortified by the Austrians; twenty-four Austrian and six German army corps are stated to be now facing the Russians.

April 10--Russians begin attack on German forces which hold the hills from Uzsok Pass eastward to Beskid Pass; Russians make gains in the direction of Rostok; the general Russian offensive continues on the Niznia-Destuszica-Volestate-Bukowecz line; in places in the Carpathians the Russians are progressing through seven feet of snow; Austro-German forces repulse a strong Russian attack in the Opor Valley.

April 11--All the main ridges of the Carpathians are now in the hands of the Russians, who hold the eighty-mile front Uzsok-Mezo-Laborcza-Bartfeld, with the head sections of five main railways; at some points the Russians are descending the southern slopes and are approaching the Uzsok Valley.

April 12--Germans repulse Russian attack near Kaziouwka, Russians losing heavily; artillery duels are in progress near Ossowetz and in the region of Edvabno; German attack on village of Szafranki is repulsed; Austro-Germans still hold the Uzsok Pass; they repulse Russian attacks east of there.

April 13--Large German reinforcements are being sent to the Austrians; 280,000 Germans, comprising seven army corps, are co-operating with the Austrians in a formidable attack on the left wing of the Russian army which is invading Hungary; Austrian Embassy at Washington gives out an official bulletin from Vienna saying the Russian advance in the Carpathians is halted; heavy fighting is in progress in the Bartfeld-Stryi region; Russians advance on both banks of the Ondawa, and gain success in direction of Uzsok, capturing certain heights; Austro-German forces strongly attack the heights south of Koziouwa, but are repulsed; Russians repel German attacks on the front west of the Niemen; Ossowetz is again bombarded by the Germans; fierce fighting is on in Bukowina.

April 14--After a twelve-hour battle the Austrians retreat precipitately from a strong position at Mezo Laborcz, on Hungarian side of the East Beskid Mountains; the whole main front in this district is in Russian hands; Austro-German forces are contesting stubbornly every foot of the German advance along the front from Bartfeld to Stryi; Austrians are trying to penetrate into Russian territory from Bukowina; Germans are active in Poland; Germans attack the town of Chafranka, on the Skwa River, near Ostrolenka; it is stated at Petrograd that 4,000,000 combatants, including both sides, are now engaged along the Carpathians.

April 15--Russians crush fierce counter-attack against their left wing in the Carpathians made by picked Bavarian infantry; Russians repulse an attack by Austrians on the extreme east; Austrians defeat Russians near Oiezkowice, on the Biala.

April 16--War correspondents at Austrian headquarters, in summing up the result of the fighting in the Carpathians, say that the Russian loss has been 500,000, and that the backbone of the invading army is broken; Germans prepare to attack along an 800-mile Russian front.

April 17--The melting of the snow in the Carpathians, resulting in overflowing streams and rivers and in seas of mud, is stopping various intended movements on both sides; artillery engagements are in progress in Southeast Galicia and Bukowina; Russians repulse attacks in the direction of Stryi; Russian Emperor leaves for the front.

April 18--In a review of the Carpathian campaign issued by Russian General Headquarters it is stated that since the beginning of March Russian troops have carried by storm 75 miles of the principal chain of the Carpathians, have taken 70,000 prisoners, 30 field guns, and 200 machine guns; fighting in the Carpathians on main line of Russian advance is now concentrated on the narrow section between the villages of Telepoche and Zuella; Russians gain on the heights of Telepotch; artillery duels continue in Southeast Galicia.

April 20--Russians repulse vigorous German attack east of Telepotch and Polen; severe fighting for the height near Oravozil is in progress, the Russians reoccupying it by a desperate assault after losing it earlier in the day; 600,000 Austro-German troops are now engaged over an irregular line between the Lupkow and Uzsok Passes.