gation 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 ki