THE SHOT CIVILIANS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2515, 17 July 1915, Page 12

THE SHOT CIVILIANS

GERMANS* LAME EXCUSE FOR ATROCITIES r REPLY TO BRYCE COMMISSION The German White <Book on fcho conduct of tho civil population in Belgium during tlio German invasion, wliicli is summarised in the "Norddeutsche Allgerneino Zeitung," is intended as an answer to the ".Report of tho Bryee Commission. It declares that after the outbreak of the war the German troops wero faccd ivith a ficrco outbreak on iho part of the Belgian people, which had to bo suppressed with the soverest measures. Tho civil population opposed the Germans, particularly at Aerschot, Andenne, Dinant, and Louvain,. according to tho White Book, and it was at these places,, it will be remembered, that wholesale massacres took place. At theso places, says the German official report, men of different classes, such as artisans, factory-owners, doctors, teachers, and priests, and even women and children, were found with arms in their hands, and after tho Belgian army had retired' tlio German troops wero fired at from houses, gardens, roofs, and cellars, and from fields and woods, The report also charges the Belgians with, firing on the lied Cross and Killing tl» wounded, and burning them alive. Damaging Admissions. This, then, says an American writer, is the justification which the German military authorities plead for the shooting of a large number of people. No evidence is given beyond the unsupported stories of soldiers who, as we luiow, frequently fired on one another, and woro often too drunk to know what was nappening. What interests us is tho admission that men, women, and children were shot after drum-head courtmartials or no trial at all: — "Persons who fought against the German troops had to be disposed of; those who were taken wero not prisoners of war according to the laws of war, but-hod to be treated as murderers according to the usages, of war. However, as far as the necessities of war would allow, the procedure of justice was preserved. Those taken, when circumstances' permitted, were only shot after it regular hearing, or after trial by courtmartial. | Old men, women, and children, even ■ when they were most suspected, wero given ■ the widest latitude (in weitestem; Umfang geschorit) indeed', the German soldiers, altnough their patience was put to thes. severest test by these knavish attacks, looked after such people, so far as possible, in tho most self-sacrificing manner, while they took helpless wanderers under their' protection/ shared their bread with them and cared for the sick and thti weak.'.' It will be seen from this passage that it is not denied that old men, women, and children were shot, or the claim would not he made that tl.ey were generally spared. Moreover, it is clear that the least suspicion was sufficient to send a. man to his doom, for a. Gorman courtmartial, acting under tho belief that it had to deal with an uprising-of the whole civil population, would not 6top to make-many inquiries, and it is admitted that a trial was not always possible. What the White Book Ignores. It is possible that Belgian civilians, goaded into fury by the invaders, who destroyed their homes and .committed rapine and robbery, did 1 on some .occasions fire in self-defence. But this did not justify tho wholesale, shootings _ of civilians who',Were found with sporting rifles or revolvers in their houses, or who appeared to bo in any way connected. with tho affrays tlmt took place. _ A very circumstantial account is given of the rising 'of the Belgian civil population in Louvain. The White Book asserts'that the signal for the rising was given by ro6k6ts, ; and that the civilian population continued to fire for several days. 011 tho German troops. There is no proof at all'that, anything of the kind took place, arid there is good: reason to believe that the German soldiers fired on ,one another. What the White Book ignores is the evidence for tho atrocities that took place'that was found in the diaries and letters of German soldiers. This is conveni&itly' ignored, for it is tho most damning indictment against German methods m Belgium) and; pannot bo disproved.