n 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, August 29th, and the reign
of terror was over.

"The Germans used men, women and children of Belgium as screens for
advancing infantry, as is shown in the following: 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
August 22d, 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 of this incident, and
their story is confirmed by a Flemish witness in a side street."

The French Government also appointed a commission, heade