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                         German Atrocities
                       from German evidence




                  STUDIES AND DOCUMENTS ON THE WAR


                        German Atrocities
                       from German evidence

                               by

                         JOSEPH BEDIER

               Professor at the "College de France"

                         _Translated
                               by
                       BERNHARD HARRISON_

                         [Illustration]

                     LIBRAIRIE ARMAND COLIN
            103, Boulevard Saint-Michel, PARIS, 5^e.

                              1915




German Atrocities

from German evidence

                                        _Pudor inde et miseratio._
                                                      Tacitus.


I intend to prove that the German armies cannot wholly escape from the
reproach of sometimes violating the law of nations, and I mean to prove
my case according to French custom from absolutely trust worthy sources.

I shall make use only of documents most rigorously examined, and I
have taken care to criticize their text as minutely as if in times
of peace I were questioning the authority of some old chronicle or
the genuineness of some old chart. And I shall do so perhaps from
professional habit, perhaps impelled by an inward longing to get at
the truth, in any case for the good of the case I am pleading: for
these pages are intended for every one; for the casual reader, for the
indifferent, and indeed for the enemy of my country. I wish that the
casual reader who may by chance open this pamphlet in an idle moment
should be struck by the genuineness of the documents, if he has eyes to
see, just as their sordid character will touch his heart, if he has a
heart that feels.

My aim has been that these documents whose authenticity is obvious
should carry an equally obvious authority. It is easy to make
accusations difficult to prove them! No belligerent has ever been at
a loss to bring against his enemy a heap of evidence, true or false.
But though the evidence may be collected in accordance the most solemn
forms of justice by the highest magistrates, it will unfortunately long
remain useless, so long as the adversary has not had an opportunity
of disputing it, everyone is entitled to consider statements as lies,
or at least as open to refutation. That is why, I shall abstain here,
from quoting French or Belgian testimony true though I know it to be.
I have preferred that the evidence which I shall call shall be of such
a nature that no living man, not even in Germany shall attempt to
refute it. German atrocities shall be proved by German documents.

I shall take the evidence chiefly from those war diaries, which Article
75 of the _Rules for Field service of the German Army_ advises soldiers
to keep on the march, which we have confiscated from prisoners[1],
as being military papers. It goes without saying that their number
increases daily. I should like some day the complete collection to be
deposited in the collection of German manuscripts in the Bibliotheque
Nationale for everyone's instruction. In the meantime, the Marquis of
Dampierre, a former student of the Ecole des Chartes, archivist and
paleographer, is preparing and will shortly bring out a book in which
the greater part of these roadside journals will be minutely described,
copied, and brought into the full light of day. For my part I have
examined but forty. They will suffice for my task. I shall make some
extracts from them, taking care that each quotation bears sufficient
proof of its genuineness.

In what order shall I arrange them? For many reasons, but chiefly
because some of these documents only ten lines long contain proof of
crimes of many kinds, I shall not attempt to adopt any rigid order
of classification. I shall dip haphazard into the heap; certain
associations of ideas or pictures, and a certain similarity in the
texts will alone enable me to group them.


I

[Illustration: _Plate 1._]

I open haphazard the Diary of a soldier of the Prussian Guard,
Gefreiter Paul Spielmann (I Kompagnie, Ersatz-Bataillon, I
Garde-Infanterie-Brigade). Here is his account of a night alarm in a
village near Blamont on the 1^{st} September. At the bugle call, the
Guard wakes, and the massacre begins (_Plates 1 and 2_.)

  "The inhabitants fled through the village. It was horrible. Blood
  was plastered on all the houses, and as for the faces of the dead,
  they were hideous. They were all buried at once, to the number of
  sixty. Among them many old men and women, and one woman about to be
  delivered. It was a ghastly sight. There were three children who had
  huddled close to one another and had died together. The altar and the
  ceiling of the church had fallen in. They had been telephoning to the
  enemy. And this morning, 2 September, all the survivors were driven
  out and I saw four little boys carrying on two poles a cradle in
  which was a child of 5 to 6 months old. All this was horrible to see.
  A blow for a blow. Thunder for thunder. Everything was pillaged. And
  I also saw a mother with her two little ones: and one had a large
  wound in the head, and had lost an eye."[2]

[Illustration: _Plate 2._]

"They had been telephoning to the Enemy" says this soldier, the
punishment was deserved. Let us remember the terms of Art. 50 of the
Hague Convention of 1907 signed in the name of the German Emperor by a
gentleman, Baron Marschall von Bieberstein. "No collective punishment,
pecuniary or other, can be inflicted upon a community for individual
acts for which they cannot be held responsible as a body." What
tribunal, during this night of horrors took the trouble to make sure of
the guilt of the community at large?


II

In an unsigned note-book of a soldier belonging to the 32^{nd} Infantry
(IV Reserve Corps) we come across the following statement.

  "3^{rd} September. _Creil._ The iron bridge has been blown up.
  Consequently we burnt the streets and shot the civilians."[3]

The regular French troops alone--the Engineers--had blown up the
iron bridge at Creil; the civilians had nothing to do with it. To
excuse these massacres, when they condescend to make any excuse these
note-books usually say: "_civilians_" and "_sharpshooters_" had fired
on our men. But the Convention of 1907, that "scrap of paper", signed
by Germany, stipulates that by its first Article the laws, rights, and
duties of war apply, not only to the army, but also to the militia
and volunteer corps, adding certain conditions, the chief one of
which is the bearing of arms openly and in Art. 2. "The population of
unoccupied territory, who, at the approach of the enemy, spontaneously
take up arms against the invading forces without having had time to
organize according to the conditions of Art. 1, shall be considered as
belligerent, if the population bears arms openly and respects the laws
and customs of war." Read in the light of this text the savage stories
which follow will take their true proportions:

_a_) _Diary of P^{te} Hassemer_ VIII Corps.

  "3. 9. 1914. Sommepy (Marne). Horrible massacre. The village burnt to
  the ground, the French thrown into houses in flames, civilians and
  all burnt together."[4]

_b_) _Diary of Lt Kietzmann_ (2^{nd} Company, 1^{st} Battalion of the
49^{th} Reg^t of Infantry), dated 18^{th} August (_Plate 3_).

[Illustration: _Plate 3._]

  "A little in front of Diest[5] lies the village of Schaffen. About 50
  civilians had hidden in the church tower and had fired on our men
  with a machine-gun. All the civilians were shot."[6]

_c_) _Diary of a Saxon officer_ (_unsigned_) (178^{th} Reg^t XII Army
Corps, I Saxon Corps).

  "26^{th} August. The pretty village of Gue-d'Hossus in the Ardennes
  has been burnt, although innocent of any crime, it seemed to me.
  I was told a cyclist had fallen off his machine, and that in doing so
  his gun had gone off: so they fired in his direction. Thereupon, the
  male inhabitants were simply consigned to the flames. It is to be
  hoped that such atrocities will not be repeated."[7]

The Saxon officer however had already seen such "atrocities" the
previous day, 25^{th} August, at Villers en Fagne (Belgian Ardennes).
"Where some Grenadiers of the Guard had been found dead or wounded", he
had seen the priest and other villagers shot; and three days earlier
the 23^{rd} August, in the village of Bouvignes to the north of Dinant,
he had seen things which he describes as follows:

  "We got into the property of a well-to-do inhabitant, by a breach
  effected in the rear, and we occupied the house. Through a maze of
  rooms we reached the threshold. There was the body of the owner
  on the floor. Inside our men destroyed everything, like Vandals.
  Every corner was searched. Outside in the country, the sight of the
  villagers who had been shot defies all description. The volley had
  almost decapitated some of them.

  "Every house had been searched to the smallest corner, and the
  inhabitants dragged from their hiding-places. The men were shot; the
  women and children shut up in a convent, from which some shots were
  fired. Consequently, the convent is to be burnt. It can be ransomed
  however on the surrender of the guilty and on payment of 15.000
  francs."[8]

Sometimes, as we shall see, the diaries supplement one another.

_d_) _Diary of Private Philipp._ (Kamenz, Saxony. 1^{st} Company.
1^{st} Battalion of the 178^{th} Regt.) The same day 23^{rd} August,
a soldier of the same regiment saw a similar scene to that described
above, probably the same, but the point of view is a different one
(_Plate 4_).

  "In the evening, at 10 o'clock the first battalion of the 178^{th}
  Regt went down to the village that had been burnt to the north of
  Dinant. A sad and beautiful sight, and one that made you shudder. At
  the entrance of the village there lay about 50 dead bodies strewn
  on the road. They had been shot for having fired on our troops from
  ambush. In the course of the night, many others were shot in the same
  way, so that we could count more than two hundred. The women and
  children, lamp in hand, were obliged to watch the horrible scene. We
  then ate our rice, in the midst of the corpses, for we had not tasted
  food since morning."[9]

[Illustration: _Plate 4._]

A fine military subject indeed, and worthy to compete at the Dresden
Academy of Fine Arts. One passage in the text however is obscure, and
might embarrass the competitors. "The women and children lamp in hand
were obliged to watch the horrible scene."

What scene? The shooting, or the counting of the corpses? Painters,
who wish to elucidate this point need only consult the colonel of the
178^{th} Regt. What a gallant soldier!

He did, that night, but carry out the spirit of his superiors and
comrades in arms. He who wishes to be convinced need but read in the
Sixth Report of the Belgian Enquiry Commission on the violation of the
laws of nations (Le Havre, 10 Nov. 1914) the base proclamations which
the Germans placarded in Belgium. Three short excerpts will suffice.

Extract from a Proclamation of General von Buelow posted up at Liege on
the 22^{nd} of August 1914:

  "The inhabitants of the town of Andenne, after having protested
  their peaceful intentions, treacherously surprised our troops. It is
  with my full consent that the general in command had the whole place
  burnt, and about a hundred people were shot."[10]

Extract from a Proclamation of Major Commander Dieckmann[11] posted up
at Grivegnee on the 8^{th} of September 1914:

  "Everyone who does not at once obey the word of command "Hands up!"
  is guilty (_sic_) of the penalty of death."

Extract from a Proclamation of Marshall, Baron von der Goltz posted up
in Brussels on the 5^{th} of October 1914:

  "In future, all places near the spot where such acts have taken
  place (destruction of railway lines or telegraph wires)--_no matter
  whether guilty or not_--shall be punished without mercy. With this
  end in view, hostages have been brought from all places near railway
  lines exposed to such attacks, and at the first attempt to destroy
  railway lines, telegraph or telephone lines, they will be immediately
  shot."[12]


III

[Illustration: _Plate 5._]

This (_Plate 5_) is the first page of an unsigned note-book:

  "_Langeviller_, 22 August. Village destroyed by the 11^{th} Battalion
  of the Pioneers. Three women hanged on trees: the first dead I have
  seen."[13]

Who are these three women? Criminals surely, guilty no doubt of having
fired on the German troops, unless they had been telephoning to the
enemy; and the 11^{th} Pioneers had no doubt punished them justly. But
they have expiated their crime now, and the 11^{th} Pioneers have gone
by, and of their crime, the newly advancing troops know nothing. Among
these new troops will there be a commander, a Christian, to order the
cords to be cut and to release these dead women. No, the regiment will
march by under the gibbets, and the flags will brush by these corpses;
they will pass along Colonel and officers, gentlemen and _Kulturtraeger_.

[Illustration: _Plate 6_.]

And they know full well what they are doing: these dead women must
remain these, as an example; as an example, not for the other women in
the village--these had already no doubt understood--, but as an example
for the regiment, and for other regiments who were to come afterwards.
These must be made warlike, they must be taught their duty, that is to
shoot women when the opportunity occurs. The lesson bore fruit indeed.
Here is sufficient proof: the young soldier who had that day seen and
told us of "dead for the first time" makes the following note on the
10{th} and last page of his diary (_Plate 6_).

[Illustration: _Plate 7_.]

  "In this way we destroyed 8 houses with their inmates. In one of them
  two men with their wives and a girl of eighteen were bayonetted. The
  little one almost unnerved me so innocent was her expression. But it
  was impossible to check the crowd, so excited were they, for in such
  moments you are no longer men, but wild beasts."[14]

And to prove that this murder of women and children is all in the days
work of the German soldier, here is further evidence.

_a_) The author of an unsigned note-book (_Plate 7_) relates that at
Orchies (Nord) a woman was shot for not having stopped at the word of
command _Halt!_ Thereupon, he adds, the whole place was burnt.[15]

_b_) The officer already mentioned of the 178^{th} Saxon Regt reports
that in the outskirts of Lisognes (Belgian Ardennes) "a scout from
Marburg having placed three women one behind the other brought them all
down with one shot".

[Illustration: _Plate 8._]

_c_) Let us now quote a few lines from the diary of a reservist a
certain Schlauter (3^{rd} Battery of the 4^{th} Regt, Field Artillery
of the Guard, _Plate 8_):

  25^{th} August (in Belgium): Three hundred of the inhabitants
  were shot and the survivors were requisitioned as grave-diggers.
  You should have seen the women at this moment! But you can't do
  otherwise. During our march on Wilot, things went better: the
  inhabitants who wished to leave could do so and go where they
  liked.[16] But anyone who fired was shot. When we left Owele, shots
  were fired: but there, women and everything were fired on[17]....


IV

Often when German troops wish to carry a position, they place
civilians, men, women and children before them, and take shelter behind
this shield of living flesh. As the stratagem consists essentially in
speculating upon the noblemindedness of the adversary, of saying to
him: "You will not fire upon these unhappy people, I know, and I hold
you at my mercy, disarmed, because I know you are less cowardly than
I", as it implies a homage to the enemy, and humiliation of oneself,
it is almost inconceivable that soldiers can resort to it, and that is
why it represents a new invention in the long list of human cruelties,
and the most fearful _Penitentiels_ (_Summae peccatorum_) of the middle
ages have not recorded it. And it is also why, in presence of accounts,
French, English or Belgian accusing the Germans of such practices I
for a long time doubted, I admit if not the truth of the evidence, at
least its importance: such acts must, it seemed to me, prove only the
unavowed crimes of officers, individual acts which do not dishonour a
nation, for a nation on learning them would repudiate them. But now
can we doubt that the German nation accepts such ruffianly exploits as
worthy of her, that she recognizes and acquiesces in them, when the
following narrative, signed by a Bavarian officer, Lt. A. Eberlein
is laid before us in one of the best known newspapers in Germany, in
the issue of 7^{th} Oct. 1914 (n^o 513 _Vorabendblatt_ p. 2 of the
_Muenchner Neueste Nachrichten_)? Lt Eberlein describes the occupation
of St Die at the end of August. After entering the town at the head
of a column, he was obliged to barricade himself inside a house until
reinforcements came up (_Plate 9_):

[Illustration: _Plate 9._]

  We had arrested three civilians, and suddenly a good idea struck me.
  We placed them on chairs and made them understand that they must go
  and sit on them in the middle of the street. On one side entreaties,
  on the other blows from the butt-end of a gun. One gets terribly
  hardened after a while. At last they were seated outside in the
  street. I do not know how many prayers of anguish they said; but they
  kept their hands tightly clasped all the time. I pitied them; but
  the devise worked immediately. The shooting at us from the house at
  the side stopped at once; we were able to occupy the house in front,
  and became masters of the principal street. Every one after that who
  showed himself in the street was shot. The artillery, too did good
  work during this, and when towards seven in the evening, the brigade
  advanced to free us, I was able to report that "St Die is free of the
  enemy".

  As I learnt later on, the ... regiment of reserve which had entered
  St Die more from the north had had similar experiences to ours. The
  four civilians that had been made to sit in the street had been
  killed by French bullets. I saw them myself, stretched out in the
  middle of the street, near the Hospital.


V

Article 28 of the Hague Convention of 1907, signed by Germany, runs
thus "It is forbidden to pillage a town or locality even when taken
by assault." Article 47 runs: "(In occupied territory), pillage is
forbidden".

This is how the armies of Germany interpret these articles.

Private Handschuhmacher (of the 11 battalion of Jaegers, reserve) writes
in his diary:

  "8^{th} August 1914. _Gouvy_, (Belgium). There as the Belgians had
  fired on German soldiers we at once pillaged the Goods Station. Some
  cases, eggs, shirts and all eatables were seized. The safe was gutted
  and the money divided among the men. All securities were torn up."[18]

This took place on the fourth day of the war and enables us to
understand why in a technical article on the Military Treasury (_der
Zahlmeister im Felde_) the _Berliner Tageblatt_ of the 26^{th} Nov.
1914 (1 Supplement) notices as a mere incident an economic phenomenon
which is however curious: "As it is a fact that far more money orders
are sent from the theatre of operations to the interior of the country
than vice versa ..." "_Da nun aber erfahrungsgemaess viel mehr Geld vom
Kriegsschauplatz nach der Heimat gesandt wird_ ...".

But as, according to the common practice of the German armies, pillage
is but the prelude to incendiarism, non-commissioned-officer Hermann
Levith (of the 160^{th} Regt. VIII^{th} Army Corps) writes:

  "The enemy had occupied the village of Bievre and the skirts of the
  wood. The 3^{rd} Company advanced in first line. We carried the
  village and pillaged and burnt nearly all the houses."[19]

And P^{te} Schiller (133 Inf. XIX^{th} Corps) writes:

  "It was at Haybes (Ardennes) on the 24^{th} of August that we had
  our first battle. The 2^{nd} Battalion entered the village, searched
  the houses sacked them and burnt all those from which shots had been
  fired."[20]

Private Seb. Reishaupt (3 Bavarian Inf. 1^{st} Bavarian Corps) writes:

  "Parux (Meurthe-et-Moselle) is the first village we burnt; then the
  dance began: villages one after the other; by field and meadow on
  bicycle to the ditches by the roadside, there we ate cherries."[21]

They vie with one another in stealing, they steal everything and
anything, and they keep a record of their loot: "_Schnaps, Wein,
Marmelade, Zigarren_" so writes this plain soldier; and the smart
officer of the 178^{th} Saxon, who at first was indignant at the
"Vandalismus" of his men, confesses in his turn, that the 1^{st} of
September at Rethel, he stole "in a house near the _Hotel Moderne_,
a splendid mackintosh and a camera for Felix". Without distinction
of grade, nor of arms, nor of Corps, they steal, and even in the
ambulances the doctors steal. Here is an example from the diary of
Private Johannes Thode (4. Reserve-Ersatz Regiment):

  "Brussels 5. 10. 14. A motor arrives at the hospital with booty, a
  piano, two sewing machines, a lot of albums and all sorts of other
  things."[22]

Two sewing machines, as "booty" (_Kriegsbeute_). Stolen from whom? No
doubt from two humble Belgian women. And for whom?


VI

I must admit that out of the forty diaries I have examined, there
are six or seven that tell of no exactions, either from hypocritical
reticence or because certain regiments wage war less vilely. And I even
know of three diaries, whose authors, as they narrate sordid details,
are astonished, moved to indignation, saddened. I shall withhold their
names, because they deserve our consideration, and to spare them the
risk of being one day blamed or punished. The first, P^{te} X ..., who
belongs to the 65^{th} Inf. of the Landwehr, says of some of his fellow
comrades (_Plate 10_):

  "They do not behave like soldiers, but like common thieves,
  highwaymen and robbers, and are a disgrace to our regiment and our
  army."[23]

The second, Lt Y ..., of the 77^{th} Inf. Reserve, says:

  "No discipline ... The Pioneers are not worth much; as for the
  artillerymen they are a gang of robbers."[24]

[Illustration: _Plate 10._]

And the third, Private Z ..., 12^{th} Inf. Reserve (1 Corps Reserves)
writes (_Plate 11_):

  "Unfortunately, I am obliged to mention something which ought never
  to have happened; but there are even in our army ruffians who are no
  longer men, swine to whom nothing is sacred. One of them entered a
  sacristy that was locked, in which was the blessed sacrament. Out of
  respect a _protestant_ avoided sleeping there; he polluted the place
  with his excrements. How can there be such beings! Last night, a man
  of the Landwehr, a man of thirty-five, and a married man, tried to
  rape the daughter of a man in whose house he had been quartered, she
  was a child; and as the father tried to interpose he kept the point
  of his bayonet on the man's breast."[25]

[Illustration: _Plate 11._]

With the exception of these soldiers, who are worthy of the name, the
thirty other writers are the same, and the same soul, if the word be
allowed, seems to animate them all, uncontrolled and low. They are
all alike, yet with some shades of difference. There are some who
make distinctions, like subtle lawyers, sometimes blaming, sometimes
disapproving: "_Dort war ein Exempel am Platze_". And there are some
who sneer: "_Krieg ist Krieg_"; or in French, by preference to add
to their scorn "_Ja, ja, c'est la guerre_"; and there are some who
having done their ugly work, open their Hymn Book, and sing psalms: for
instance the Saxon officer Rieslang, who relates how one day he left
a feast to go to "Gottesdienst", but was obliged to leave hurriedly,
having eaten and drunk too much; or again Private Moritz Grosse of
the 177^{th} Inf. who after describing the sack of St Vieth (22^{nd}
August) and that of Dinant (23^{rd} August) writes this sentence
(_Plate 12_):

  Throwing of bombs in the houses. In the evening, military chorale:
  _Nun danket alle Gott_ (Now, thank ye all God).[26]

They are all alike. Now, if we consider that I could substitute for
the preceding examples others similar and no less cynical, taken for
instance from the diary of the reservist Lautenschlager, of the 1^{st}
Battalion of the 66^{th} Inf. Reg^t, or from the diary of P^{te} Eduard
Hohl of the VIII Corps, or from the diary of non-commissioned officer
Rheinhold Koehn, of the 2^{nd} Battalion of Pomeranian Pioneers, or
from the diary of the non-commissioned officer Otto Brandt of the
2^{nd} section of the ambulance corps (reserves) or from the diary of
the Reservist Martin Muller, of the 100^{th} Saxon Reserves, or from
the diary of Lt Karl Zimmer, of the 55^{th} Inf. or from the diary of
P^{te} Erich Pressler of the 100^{th} Grenadiers, 1^{st} Saxon Corps,
etc.; and if we notice, that among the extracts already given, there
are very few isolated cases of brutality (as can be and are found, alas
in the most noble minded of armies) and that I have scarcely noted
here any crime that was not done by order, any crime that does not
implicate and dishonour not only the individual soldier, but the whole
regiment, the officer, the very nation; and if we consider that these
thirty diaries, whether they be Bavarian or Saxon, Baden or Rhenish,
Pomeranian or from Brandenburg, taken haphazard must represent hundreds
and thousands of similar ones, all of a fearful monotony, we shall be
obliged to allow, I think, that, M. Rene Viviani in no way overstated
the case when from the French tribune he spoke of "this system of
collective murder and pillage which Germany calls war".

[Illustration: _Plate 12._]


VII

H. M. the German Emperor, in ratifying the Hague Convention of 1907
agreed (Article 23) "that it is forbidden ... (c) to kill or wound
an enemy, who having laid down his arms and having no means of
self-defence, gives himself up as a prisoner; (d) to declare that no
quarter will be given".

Has the German Army respected these conventions? In the French and
Belgian reports, evidence is plentiful resembling the following which
comes from a Frenchman captain in the 288^{th} Infantry: "On the
evening of the 22^{nd} I learnt that in the wood a hundred and fifty
metres from the cross-roads formed by the intersection of the great
trench at Calonne and the road from Vaux-les-Palameix to St Remy there
were some dead bodies of French soldiers who had been shot by the
Germans.

I went there, and saw some thirty soldiers in a small space, for the
most part lying down, some however on their knees and all having _the
same kind of wound, a gun-shot in the ear_. Only one, very severely
wounded was able to speak. He told me the Germans had, before leaving,
ordered them to lie down, then had killed them by a shot through the
head; that he had been spared on telling them he was the father of
three small children. Their brainpans had been blown some distance
away, the guns broken at the stock were scattered here and there, and
the blood had so bespattered the bushes that as I came out of the
wood the front of my cape was all smeared with blood; it was a real
charnel-house."

I have quoted this man's testimony, not to rely on it as evidence but
merely to make clear the nature of my indictment; as for justifying
it I shall take care not to depart from the rule I have laid down to
resort to German sources of information only.

Here is an order of the day given on the 26^{th} August by General
Stenger commanding the 58^{th} German Brigade to his troops:

  Von heute ab werden keine Gefangene mehr gemacht. Saemtliche
  Gefangene werden niedergemacht. Verwundete ob mit Waffen oder
  Wehrlos niedergemacht. Gefangene auch in groesseren 6 geschlossenen
  Formationen werden niedergemacht. Es bleibe kein Feind lebend hinter
  uns.

  Oberleutnant und Kompagnie-Chef Stoy; Oberst und Regiments-Kommandeur
  Neubauer; General-Major und Brigade-Kommandeur Stenger.

  Translation. After to-day no more prisoners will be taken. All
  prisoners are to be killed. Wounded, with or without arms, are to be
  killed. Even prisoners already grouped in convoys are to be killed.
  Let not a single living enemy remain behind us.

Some thirty soldiers of Stenger's Brigade (112 and 142^{nd} Reg^t of
the Baden Infantry), were examined in our prisoners camps. I have read
their evidence, which they gave upon oath and signed. All confirm the
statement that this order of the day was given them on the 26th August,
in one unit by Major Mosebach, in another by Lt Curtius, etc.; the
majority did not know whether the order was carried out; but three
of them say they saw it done in the forest of Thiaville, where ten
or twelve wounded French soldiers who had already been spared by a
battalion were despatched; two others saw the order carried out on the
Thiaville road, where some wounded found in a ditch by a company were
finished off.

No doubt, I cannot produce the autograph of General Stenger, and it
is not for me to communicate the names of the German prisoners who
gave this evidence. But I have no difficulty in producing here German
autographs in proof of crimes precisely similar.

For example (_Plate 13_), here is an extract from P^{te} Albert
Delfosse's diary (III Inf. Reserve, XIV Reserve Corps):

  "In the forest of St Remy, 4^{th} or 5^{th} September, saw a fine cow
  and calf destroyed and once more corpses of Frenchmen, frightfully
  mutilated."[27]

[Illustration: _Plate 13._]

Are we to understand from this that these dead bodies had been
mutilated in fair fight torn to pieces for example by shells? It
may be; but this would be a kindly interpretation which the documents
(_Plates 14 and 15_) disprove:

Here is a fac simile on a reduced scale from a newspaper picked up
in the German trenches, the _Jauersches Tageblatt_ of the 18^{th}
October 1914. Jauer is a town in Silesia, about 50 kilometres west of
Breslau; two battalions of the 154th regiment of the Saxon Infantry are
stationed there. One Sunday (_Sonntag, den 18 Oktober_) no doubt at
the hour when the inhabitants with their women and children were going
to church, this local newspaper was distributed in the peaceful little
town and in the hamlets and villages of the district, bearing these
headlines.

                EIN TAG DER EHRE FUeR UNSER REGIMENT.

                       24 SEPTEMBER 1914.

                (_A day of honour for our Regiment.
                      24^{th} September 1914._)

It is the title of an article of two hundred lines, sent from the front
by a soldier of the regiment. Non-commissioned-officer Klemt. 1. Komp.
Infanterie Reg^t 154.

Klemt tells how on the 24^{th} of September his regiment which had
left Hannonville in the morning and supported on the march by Austrian
batteries was suddenly received by a double fire from artillery and
infantry. The losses were enormous. And yet the enemy was invisible.
At last, however, it was seen that the firing came from above, from
trees where French soldiers were posted. From now on I shall no longer
summarise, but quote. (_Plate 16_).

  We brought them down like squirrels, and gave them a warm reception,
  with blows of the butt and the bayonet: they no longer need doctors;
  we are no longer fighting loyal enemies, but treacherous brigands.[28]

[Illustration: _Plate 14._]

  "By leaps and bounds we got across the clearing. They were here,
  there, and everywhere hidden in the thicket. Now it is down with
  the enemy! And we will give them no quarter. Every one shoots
  standing, a few, a very few fire kneeling. No one tries to take
  shelter. We reach a little depression in the ground: here the red
  trousers dead or wounded lie on a heap ground. We knock 'down' or
  bayonet the wounded, for we know that those scoundrels fire at our
  backs when we have gone by. There was a Frenchman there stretched
  out, full length, face down, pretending to be dead. A kick from a
  strong fusilier soon taught him that we were there. Turning round,
  he asked for quarter, but we answered: "Is that the way your tools
  work, you,--" and he was nailed to the ground. Close to me I heard
  odd cracking sounds. They were blows from a gun on the bald head
  of a Frenchman which a private of the 154^{th} was dealing out
  vigorously; he was wisely using a French gun so as not to break his
  own. Tenderhearted souls are so kind to the French wounded that they
  finish them with a bullet, but others give them as many thrusts and
  blows as they can.

  "Our adversaries had fought bravely, we had to contend with picked
  men; they let us get within thirty, even ten metres of them--too
  near. Sacks and arms thrown away in quantities showed that they had
  try to run, but at the sight of the "grey phantoms" fear paralyzed
  them, and on the narrow path they had to take, German bullets brought
  them the word of command, _Halt_. At the entry into the screen of
  branches, there they lay groaning and crying for quarter. But whether
  wounded slightly or severely, the brave fusiliers spare their country
  the cost of caring for many enemies."

[Illustration: _Plate 15._]

The narrative goes on, full of literary ornaments. The writer reports
that H. R. H. Prince Oscar of Prussia who had been told of these brave
deeds (perhaps too of others) of the 154^{th} regiment, and of the
regiment of grenadiers who were brigaded with the 154^{th} declared
that they were both worthy of the name of _Koenigsbrigade_, and ends up
with this sentence "When evening came, after a prayer of thanksgiving
we fell asleep in the expectation of the morrow". Then the author
having added as a postscript a few more touches in verse takes his
composition to his lieutenant, who affixes his seal thereupon.

  Certified to be exact
  De Niem, Leutnant und Kompagnie-Fuehrer.

Then he addresses his article to the town of Jauer, where he is sure
that an editor will accept it, compositors will print it, and an entire
population will delight in it.

[Illustration: _Plate 16._

  seelt alle. Schon werden die ersten Franzmaenner entdeckt. Von den
  Baeumen werden sie heruntergeknallt wie Eichhoernchen, unten mit Kolben
  und Seitengewehr "warm" empfangen, brauchen sie keinen Arzt mehr, wir
  kaempfen nicht mehr gegen ehrliche Feinde, sondern gegen tueckische
  Raeuber. Springend geht's ueber die Lichtung hinueber--da! dort! in den
  Hecken stecken sie drin, nun aber drauf, Pardon wird nicht gegeben.
  Stehend, freihaendig, hoechstens knieend wird geschossen, an Deckung
  denkt niemand mehr. Wir kommen an eine Mulde, tote und verwundete
  Rothosen liegen massenhaft umher, die Verwundeten werden erschlagen
  oder erstochen, denn schon wissen wir, dass diese Lumpen, wenn wir
  vorbei sind, uns im Ruecken befeuern.

  $Mit der groessten Erbitterung wird gekaempft.$

  Dort liegt ein Franzmann lang ausgestreckt, das Gesicht auf dem Boden,
  er stellt sich aber nur tot. Der Fusstritt eines strammen Musketiers
  belehrt ihn, dass wir da sind. Sich umdrehend, ruft er Pardon, aber
  schon ist er mit den Worten: "Siehst du, du B ..., so stechen eure
  Dinger" auf der Erde festgenagelt. Neben mir das unheimliche Krachen
  kommt von den Kolbenschlaegen her, die ein 154er wuchtig auf einen
  franzoesischen Kahlkopf niedersausen laesst. Wohlweislich benutzte er
  zu der Arbeit ein franzoesisches Gewehr, um das seinige nicht zu
  zerschlagen. Leute mit besonders weichem Gemuet geben verwundeten
  Franzosen die Gnadenkugel, die anderen hauen und stechen nach
  Moeglichkeit. Tapfer haben sich die Gegner geschlagen, es waren
  Elitetruppen, die wir vor uns hatten, auf 30-10 Meter liessen sie uns
  herankommen, dann war's allerdings zu spaet. Massenhaft weggeworfene
  Tornister und Waffen zeugen davon, dass sie fliehen wollten, aber das
  Entsetzen beim Anblick der feldgrauen "Unholde" hat ihnen die Fuesse
  gelaehmt und mitten im schmalen Stege hat ihnen die deutsche Kugel ihr
  "Stopp"]

Now, I ask my reader, no matter of what nationality: can he imagine
such an article being printed in his own language, in the town in which
he lives, and read by his wife and children? In what country, except
Germany is such a thing conceivable? Not in France, at least.

Here is still one further convincing proof of how usual it is for the
German army to mutilate the wounded. It is taken (_Plates 17 and 18_)
from the diary of P^{te} Paul Gloede, of the 9^{th} Battalion of the
Pioneers (IX Corps):

  "12^{th} August 1914. In Belgium.--It is easy to imagine the state
  of fury of our soldiers, when you see the villages that have been
  destroyed. There is not one house left undamaged. All eatables are
  requisitioned by the soldiers no longer commanded. We have seen
  heaps of dead men and women who had been executed after trial. But
  the righteous anger of our soldiers goes hand in hand with sheer
  vandalism. In some villages which had already been deserted they "set
  up the red cock" on all the houses (burnt them). The inhabitants
  sadden me. If they use disloyal weapons, after all they are but
  defending their country. The atrocities that these civilians have
  been and are guilty of are avenged in a savage manner. _Mutilation of
  the wounded is the order of the day._"[29]

This was written on the 12^{th} of August, only eight days after
innocent Belgium had been invaded, and the wounded who were tortured
were only defending, against Germany that land, their native land which
Germany had sworn to respect and if necessary to defend. But in many a
country, the Pharisees who having read these lines will calmly go to
their churches or Chapels, their bank-parlours or their chancelleries
murmuring: "In what way do these things concern me? _Ja, Ja_, it is
war".

[Illustration: _Plate 17._]

[Illustration: _Plate 18._]

Yes, it is war, but a war such as was never waged by the soldiers of
Marceau, nor ever will be waged by the soldiers of Joffre, such as
never has been nor ever will be waged by France, "mother of the arts,
of arms and of law". Yes, it is war, but such as even Attila would not
have waged, had he agreed to certain engagements, for, to agree to them
would have been to awake to the conception which _alone_ distinguishes
the civilized man from the barbarian--the nation from the horde--the
respect of the given word.--Yes, it is war, but a war whose insolent
principles could be constructed only by pedantic megalomaniacs, the
Julius von Hartmanns, the Bernhardis, the Treitschkes; principles that
presume to authorize the people elect to blot out from the laws and
customs of war all the humanity that centuries of Christianity and
chivalry have with difficulty introduced; principles of systematic
ferocity, the odious side of which is already obvious enough; but still
more the senseless and ridiculous side. Is it not indeed ridiculous
that they should be already obliged to deny it at least in words,--they
the burners of Louvain, Malines and Reims, they the assassins of women,
children, and wounded men! and that they should have imposed upon
their slavish ninety-three _Kulturtraeger_ the denials which we know
so well: "It is not true, say they, that we wage war contrary to the
laws of nations, and our soldiers do not commit acts of indiscipline
or cruelty[30]", and again: "We will carry on this war to the bitter
end as a civilised people, for this we will answer in our name and on
our honour". Why this pitiful and humble denial? Perhaps because their
theory of war presupposes as a postulate their invincibility, and as at
the first shudder of their defeat on the Marne it collapsed, they now
repudiate it at the first threat of retaliations.

I shall draw no conclusion: the allied armies who are marching on
towards victory will do that.


ADDITIONAL NOTE

General Stenger's order of the day, mentioned on page 29 was
communicated orally by various officers in various units of the
brigade. Consequently the form in which we have received it may
possibly be incomplete or altered. In face of any doubt, the French
government has ordered an enquiry to be made in the prisoners' Camps.
Not one of the prisoners to whom our magistrates presented the order
of the day in the above mentioned form found a word to alter. They one
and all declared that this was the order of the day which had been
orally given in the ranks, repeated from man to man; many added the
names of the officers who had communicated the order to them; some
related in what a vile way it had been carried out under their eyes.
All the evidence of these German soldiers was collected in a legal
manner, under the sanction of an oath, and it is after reading their
depositions that I wrote the order of the day.

The text of all this evidence was transmitted to all the French
embassies and legations in foreign countries on the 24^{th} of Oct.
1914. Every neutral wishing to clear his conscience is at liberty to
obtain it from the representatives of the French Republic who will
certainly respond willingly.

[Illustration]


Imp. de Vaugirard, H.-L. Motti, dir., 12-13, Impasse Ronsin, Paris.


FOOTNOTES

  [1] Seizures foreseen and authorised by art. 4 of the Hague
  Convention of 1907.

  [2] "[Die Einwohner sind gefluechtet im Dorf. Da sa es] graeulich
  aus. Das Blut glebt an alle Baute, und was sa man fuer Gesichter,
  graesslich sa alles aus. Es wurde sofort saemtliche Tote, die Zahl 60,
  sofort beerdigt. Fiele alte Frauen, Vaeter, und eine Frau, welche in
  Entbindung stand, grauenhaft alles anzusehen. 3 Kinder hatten sich
  zusammengefast und sind gestorbe. Altar und Decken sind eingestuerzt.
  Hatte auch Telefon-Verbindung mit dem Feind. Und heut morgen, den
  2. 9., da wurden saemtliche Einwohner hinausgetrieben, so sah ich auch
  4 Knaben, die eine Wiege trugen auf 2 Staeben mit einem kleinen Kinde
  5-6 Monat alt. Schrecklich alles mitanzusehen. Schuss auf Schuss!
  Donner auf Donner! Alles wird gepluendert ... (_on the verso_:) Mutter
  mit ihren beiden Kinder, der eine hatte eine grosse Wunde am Kopf und
  ein Auge verloren."

  [3] "3. 9. 1914. _Creil._ Die Bruecke (eiserne) gesprengt. Dafuer
  Strassen in Brand gesteckt, Civilisten erschossen."

  [4] "3. 9. 1914. Ein schreckliches Blutbad, Dorf abgebrannt, die
  Franzosen in die brennenden Haeuser geworfen, Zivilpersonen alles
  mitverbrandt."

  [5] "Kurz vor Diest liegt das Dorf Schaffen. Hier hatten sich gegen
  50 Civilisten auf dem Kirchturm versteckt und schossen von hier aus
  auf unsere Truppen mit einem Maschinengewehr. Saemtliche Civilisten
  wurden erschossen."

  [6] It may be incidentally mentioned, and merely for greater
  precision, that the _1_^{st} _Report of the Belgian Commission_
  enumerates some of the "civilians" killed at Schaffen on the 18^{th}
  of August. Amongst others "the wife of Francois Luyckz, aged 45 _with
  her daughter aged twelve who were found in a ditch and shot_" and
  "the daughter of one Jean Oogen, _aged nine_ who was shot" and one
  Andre Willem, the sacristan who was tied to a tree and _burnt alive_".

  [7] "26. 8. 1914. Das wunderschoene Dorf Gue-d'Hossus soll ganz
  unschuldig in Flammen gegangen sein. Ein Radfahrer soll gestuerzt sein
  und dabei sein Gewehr losgegangen, gleich ist auf ihn geschossen
  worden. Man hat maennliche Einwohner einfach in die Flammen geworfen.
  Solche Scheusslichkeiten kommen hoffentlich nicht wieder vor."

  [8] "Wir besetzen nach Durchbrechen einer Mauer das Haus eines
  anscheinend wohlsituirten Einwohners vorn an der Maas. Nachdem
  ich durch ein Labyrinth ... (two words illegible) bis in das
  vorderste gedrungen war, traf ich in (?) an der Schwelle auf die
  Leiche des Besitzers. In den Raeumen hatten unsre Leute bereits wie
  die Vandalen gehaust. Alles war durchstoebert worden. Der Anblick
  den die ueberall umherliegender Leichen der Erschossenen Einwohner
  geben spottet jeder Beschreibung. Die Nachschuesse haben meist den
  Schaedel halb weggerissen. Jedes Haus im ganzen Tale ist durchstoebert
  w[orden] u[nd] dabei einige d[er] Einwohner aus den unmoeglichsten
  Schlupfwinkeln hervorgezogen. Maenner erschossen. Frauen und Kinder
  ins Kloster. Aus diesem wurde heraus geschossen: beinahe waere deshalb
  das Kloster in Brand gesteckt w[orden]. Nur durch Auslieferung der
  Schuldigen und Zahl[un]g von 15.000 francs konnte es sich loesen."

  [9] "Gleich am Eingange lagen ca. 50 erschossene Buerger, die
  meuchlings auf unsre Truppen gefeuert hatten. Im Laufe der Nacht
  wurden noch viele erschossen, sodass wir ueber 200 zaehlen konnten.
  Frauen und Kinder, die Lampe in der Hand, mussten dem entsetzlichen
  Schauspiele zusehen. Wir assen dann immitten der Leichen unsern Reis,
  seit Morgen hatten wir nichts gegessen."

  [10] "Les habitants de la ville d'Andenne, apres avoir proteste
  de leurs intentions pacifiques, out fait une surprise traitre sur
  nos troupes. C'est avec mon consentement que le General en chef a
  fait bruler toute la localite et que cent personnes environ ont ete
  fusillees."

  The Belgian Report questions whether the inhabitants of Andenne
  committed any hostile acts against German troops, and adds: "In
  reality, more than 200 persons were shot. Everything almost is
  ravaged. The houses have been burnt over a distance of nine miles."

  [11] "Celui qui n'obtempere pas de suite au commandement "Levez les
  bras!" se rend coupable (_sic_) de la peine de mort."

  [12] "A l'avenir, les localites les plus rapprochees de l'endroit
  ou de pareils faits (destructions de voies ferrees et de lignes
  telegraphiques) se sont passees,--_peu importe qu'elles soient
  complices ou non_--seront punies sans misericorde. A cette fin,
  des otages ont ete emmenes de toutes les localites voisines des
  voies ferrees menacees par de pareilles attaques, et, a la premiere
  tentative de detruire les voies de chemin de fer, les lignes
  telegraphiques ou du telephone, ils seront immediatement fusilles."

  [13] "Langewiller, 22. Dorf durch die 11. Pioniere zerstoert. 3 Frauen
  an den Baeumen erhaengt: hier die ersten Tote gesehen."

  [14] "So haben wir 8 Haeuser mit den Einwohnern vernichtet. Aus einem
  Hause wurden allein 2 Maenner mit ihren Frauen und ein 18 jaehriges
  Maedchen erstochen. Das Maedel konnte mir leid tun, den[n] sie machte
  solch unschuldigen Blick, aber man konnte gegen die aufgeregte Menge
  nicht[s] ausrichten, denn dann sind es keine Menschen, sonder[n]
  Tiere."

  [15] "Saemtliche Civilpersonen werden verhaftet. Eine Frau wurde
  verschossen, weil sie auf "_Halt_" Rufen nicht hielt, sondern
  ausreissen wollte. Hierauf Verbrennen der ganzen Ortschaft."

  [16] "Aus der Stadt wurden 300 erschossen. Die die Salve ueberlebten
  mussten Totengraeber sein. Das war ein Anblick der Weiber, aber
  es geht nicht anders. Auf dem Verfolgungsmarsch nach Wilot ging
  es besser. Die Einwohner, die verziehen wollten, konnten sich
  nach Wunsch ergeben, wo sie wollten. Aber der schoss, der wurde
  erschossen. Als wir aus Owele marschierten, knatterten die Gewehre:
  aber da gab es Feuer, Weiber, und Alles."

  [17] The meaning of this sentence may perhaps be: "but there, fire,
  women and everything."

  [18] "Hier hatten Belgier auf deutsche Soldaten geschossen, und
  gingen wir sofort daran den Gueterbahnhof zu pluendern. Einige Kisten:
  Eier, Hemden, und alles was zum essen war wurde aus den Kisten
  herausgeschlagen ... Der eiserne Geldschrank wurde eingeschlagen und
  das Gold unter die Leute geteilt, Werthpapiere wurden zerrissen."

  [19] "23. 8. 1914. Der Feind hat das Dorf Bievre besetzt und den
  Waldrand dahinter. Die 3. Kompagnie ging in 1. Linie vor. Wir
  stuermten das Dorf, pluenderten und brannten fast saemtliche Haeuser
  nieder."

  [20] "24. 8. 1914. _Haybes._ Hier kamen wir in das erste Gefecht
  (Dorfgefecht). Das 2. Bataillon hinein in das Dorf, die Haeuser
  untersucht, gepluendert, und wo herausgeschossen wurde, abgebrannt."

  [21] "10. 8. 1914. Parie (_sic_) das erste Dorf verbrannt, dann gings
  los: 1 Dorf nach dem andern in Flammen; ueber Feld und Acker mit Rad
  his wir an Strassengraben kamen, wo wir dann Kirschen assen."

  [22] "5. 10. 1914. Ein Auto kommt ins Lazarett und bringt
  Kriegsbeute: 1 Klavier, 2 Naehmaschinen, viele Alben, und allerlei
  sonstige Sachen."

  [23] "Hier hatte gestern die 6. Kompagnie gehaust, nicht als Soldaten
  sondern als gemeine Diebe. Einbrecher und Raeuber, die eine Unehre fuer
  unser Regiment und unser Heer sind. Schon vorher hatten unsre Truppen
  _Champs_ halb zerstoert."

  [24] "Schlimm sind die Pioniere; die Artillerie, eine Raeuberbande."

  [25] "Leider muss ich ein Vorkommnis mitteilen, das nicht haette
  stattfinden sollen und duerfen. Aber es gibt auch in unserm Heere
  entmensch[t]e Kerle, Schweinhunde, denen nichts heilig ist. Ein
  solcher hat in die mit dem Schluessel verschlossene Sakristei, in
  der das Allerheiligste stand und in welcher ein _Protestant_ aus
  Ehrfurcht vor demselben sich nicht schlafen legte, einen grossen
  Kaktus gesetzt. Wie kann es solche Menschen geben? In der vorigen
  Nacht hat ein mehr als 35jaehriger Landwehrmann, verheiratet, die noch
  junge Tochter seines Quartierwirtes vergewaltigen wollen; dem Vater,
  der dazu kam setzte er das Bayonett auf die Brust."

  [26] "Einschlagen von Granaten in die Haeuser. Abends Feldgesang:
  _Nun danket alle Gott_."

  [27] "Im Wald, eine sehr schoene Kuh nebst Kalb angeschossen gefunden:
  und wieder franz. Leichen schrecklich verstuemmelt."

  [28] Is there any need to remark that it is no more "treacherous"
  than it is lawful to shoot from the bows of a tree than from a
  window or from the bottom of a trench? On the contrary, the rest of
  the narrative will moreover prove it, it is as courageous as it is
  dangerous.

  [29] "[Von der Wut der Soldaten kann man sich ein Bild machen, wenn
  man die zerstoerten] Doerfer sieht. Kein Hans ist mehr ganz. Alles
  essbare wird von einzelnen Soldaten requiriert. Mehrere Haufen
  Menschen sah man, die standrechtlich erschossen wurden. Kleine
  Schweinchen liefen umher und suchten ihre Mutter. Hunde lagen an
  der Kette und hatten nichts zu fressen und zu saufen und ueber ihnen
  brannten die Haeuser.

  "Neben der gerechten Wut der Soldaten schreitet aber auch purer
  Vandalismus. In ganz leeren Doerfer setzen sie den roten Hahn ganz
  willkuerlich auf die Haeuser. Mir tun [die] Leute leit. [Wenn] sie auch
  unfaire Waffen gebrauchen, so verteidigen sie doch nur ihr Vaterland.
  Die Grausamkeiten die veruebt wurden und noch werden von seiten der
  Buerger werden wuest geraecht.

  "_Verstuemmelungen der Verwundeten sind an Tagesordnung._"

  [30] The pamphlet entitled "_Appel aux nations civilisees_" which
  the German government spread abroad, says: "_Il n'est pas vrai que
  nous fassions la guerre au mepris du droit des gens. Nos soldats ne
  commettent ni actes d'indiscipline ni cruautes._" This is the text
  of our translation. The German text published under the title "_An
  die Kulturwelt_" says: "_Es ist nicht wahr dass unsre Kriegsfuehrung
  die Gesetze des Voelkerrechts missachtet. Sie kennt keine zuchtlose
  Grausamkeit_". There is, as will be seen, a nuance between these two
  versions, both equally official. The German version seems to admit
  as legitimate "_die zuchtmaessige Grausamkeit_" "cruelty exercised on
  service".




  +------------------------------------------------------------------+
  | Transcriber's Notes                                              |
  |                                                                  |
  | The following inconsistencies were kept:                         |
  |                                                                  |
  | Langewiller -- Langeviller                                       |
  | Regt. -- Reg^t                                                   |
  |                                                                  |
  | Mistakes in German cites were not corrected unless there         |
  | was a plate available showing the German text, or it looked      |
  | like wrong reading of handwritten text.                          |
  |                                                                  |
  | The following changes have been made:                            |
  |                                                                  |
  | p.  5  ";" inserted.                                             |
  | p.  6  "prisonners" changed to "prisoners".                      |
  | p.  6  "Ecole" changed to "Ecole".                               |
  | p.  6  "document" changed to "documents".                        |
  | p.  8  "telephoningto" changed to "telephoning to".              |
  | p.  8  "Stabe" changed to "Staeben" (footnote).                   |
  | p.  8  "eingestuertz" changed to "eingestuerzt" (footnote).        |
  | p.  9  "Art. I" changed to "Art. 1".                             |
  | p.  9  "customes" changed to "customs".                          |
  | p.  9  " inserted.                                               |
  | p. 10  """ inserted.                                             |
  | p. 10  "and" changed to "und" (footnote).                        |
  | p. 11  """ inserted.                                             |
  | p. 11  "," changed to ".".                                       |
  | p. 11  "23" changed to "23^{rd}".                                |
  | p. 11  "gestuertz" changed to "gestuerzt" (footnote).              |
  | p. 12  First paragraph's style changed from blockquote to        |
  |        normal text.                                              |
  | p. 12  "surrunder" changed to "surrender".                       |
  | p. 12  "troups" changed to "troops".                             |
  | p. 12  "regt" changed to "Regt".                                 |
  | p. 12  "embarass" changed to "embarrass".                        |
  | p. 12  "Aublick" changed to "Anblick" (footnote).                |
  | p. 12  "umherliegender" changed to "umherliegenden" (footnote).  |
  | p. 12  "Schadel halbweggerissen" changed to "Schaedel halb        |
  |        weggerissen" (footnote).                                  |
  | p. 12  "Schluppwinkeln" changed to "Schlupfwinkeln" (footnote).  |
  | p. 12  "losen" changed to "loesen" (footnote).                    |
  | p. 12  "entzetzlichen" changed to "entsetzlichen" (footnote).    |
  | p. 12  "immitten" changed to "inmitten" (footnote).              |
  | p. 14  "Liege" changed to "Liege".                               |
  | p. 14  "troups" changed to "troops".                             |
  | p. 14  "Andennes" changed to "Andenne" (footnote).               |
  | p. 15  "they" changed to "the".                                  |
  | p. 15  "Pionniere" changed to "Pioniere" (footnote).             |
  | p. 16  "christian" changed to "Christian".                       |
  | p. 18  "Halte!" changed to "Halt!".                              |
  | p. 18  "(" replaced by ",".                                      |
  | p. 19  "." removed (before "doubted").                           |
  | p. 20  "." removed (after "7th").                                |
  | p. 21  "Erfahrungsgemaess" changed to "erfahrungsgemaess".         |
  | p. 21  "entiered" changed to "entered".                          |
  | p. 21  """ inserted (footnote).                                  |
  | p. 21  "sofor" changed to "sofort" (footnote).                   |
  | p. 22  "." changed to ":".                                       |
  | p. 22  ")" removed.                                              |
  | p. 22  "besetz" changed to "besetzt" (footnote).                 |
  | p. 23  "." removed (footnote).                                   |
  | p. 23  "gestoert" changed to "zerstoert" (footnote).               |
  | p. 24  "Plate 11" changed to "Plate 10".                         |
  | p. 24  "Pionniere" changed to "Pioniere" (footnote).             |
  | p. 24  "in" changed to "ein" (footnote).                         |
  | p. 26  "o" changed to "of".                                      |
  | p. 26  "Reg^t" changed to "Reg^t".                               |
  | p. 26  "1^{ts}" changed to "1^{st}".                             |
  | p. 26  "preceeding" changed to "preceding".                      |
  | p. 28  "whe" changed to "who".                                   |
  | p. 28  "Vaulx-les-Palameix" changed to "Vaux-les-Palameix".      |
  | p. 28  "," inserted after "away".                                |
  | p. 28  " inserted.                                               |
  | p. 29  "Oberlieutenant" changed to "Oberleutnant".               |
  | p. 29  "Regiments Kommandeur" changed to "Regiments-Kommandeur". |
  | p. 29  "pirees" changed to "pieces".                             |
  | p. 29  "In" changed to "Im" (footnote).                          |
  | p. 29  "ein" removed (footnote).                                 |
  | p. 29  "eingeschossen" changed to "angeschossen" (footnote).     |
  | p. 31  "a" changed to "at".                                      |
  | p. 31  "FUR" changed to "FUeR".                                   |
  | p. 31  "is" inserted (footnote).                                 |
  | p. 33  "in a heap" changed to "on a heap".                       |
  | p. 34  "Kompagnie Fuehrer" changed to "Kompagnie-Fuehrer".         |
  | p. 34  " inserted.                                               |
  | p. 38  "megalomaniaes" changed to "megalomaniacs".               |
  | p. 38  "," inserted.                                             |
  | p. 38  "chivalvy" changed to "chivalry".                         |
  | p. 39  "." changed to ":".                                       |
  | p. 39  "german" changed to "German" (footnote).                  |
  | p. 40  "reprensatatives" changed to "representatives".           |
  |                                                                  |
  +------------------------------------------------------------------+





End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of German Atrocities from German Evidence, by
Joseph Bedier

*** 