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).

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 Gué-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]

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 Bülow posted up at Liège 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 Grivegnée on the 8^th of September 1914:

“Everyone who does not at once obey