FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122  
123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   >>   >|  
They had thrown themselves upon their knees, and with raised hands were weeping and beseeching that their lives might be spared. "The villagers are exceedingly ignorant, and when their land is in danger, believe themselves justified in seizing any old shot-gun or revolver which lies at hand. Probably some of the more prudent are aware that it is a mad enterprise, but the instinct of self-defence is so innate in the simple country people that advice does not help in the least." (Von Bethmann-Hollweg and von Tirpitz justify the use of gas, the sinking of merchant vessels containing women and children, the dropping of bombs on open towns, etc., etc., by the plea of self-defence.--Author.) "But it is otherwise with regard to the atrocities on our wounded; these are a stain on Belgium's national honour which will not easily be wiped out. A German would never perpetrate such monstrous crimes,[112] and that we can say without any overweening opinion of ourselves."[113] [Footnote 112: This is hypocrisy or ignorance.--Author.] [Footnote 113: Ibid., pp. 18-19.] Herr Knutz offers no proof of the alleged atrocities; he has heard of them, believes and repeats the story. I have some fifty German books describing the war in Belgium, and in all of them similar legends are mentioned, but in no single instance is a case proved and nailed down. No victim is named, and the scene of the alleged atrocity is never given, hence it seems to be the usual German artifice to make _Stimmung_, _i.e._, to raise feeling. One thumb-nail picture from the teacher's diary shows that the Germans created only too well a _Stimmung_ of abject terror among the Belgians. "This morning, August 19th, we searched a small wood for Belgians, but found none. On leaving the wood a touching picture met our eyes. Several families were fleeing with their children, and the barest necessaries of life, into a neighbouring village. An old woman on crutches was trying in vain to keep up; a young mother with a sucking child was sobbing and pressing the babe to her bosom. The boys were weeping bitterly and holding their hands high to prove that they were harmless. We passed by the ruins of Roosbeck, where civilians had shot on the 20th Artillery Regiment, for which reason it was burnt down."[114] [Footnote 114: Ibid., p. 27.] Among the various interesting pictures of the Fatherland sketched by German authors perhaps the following is the most naive: "English, F
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122  
123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

German

 

Footnote

 
defence
 

Author

 

atrocities

 
Belgium
 

Belgians

 
children
 
picture
 

weeping


Stimmung
 

alleged

 

searched

 

victim

 

atrocity

 

nailed

 

August

 

leaving

 

teacher

 
Germans

feeling
 

touching

 

created

 
artifice
 
terror
 

abject

 

morning

 
civilians
 

Artillery

 

Regiment


reason
 

Roosbeck

 

harmless

 
passed
 

English

 

authors

 

sketched

 

interesting

 

pictures

 
Fatherland

holding

 
neighbouring
 

village

 
crutches
 
proved
 

necessaries

 
Several
 

families

 

fleeing

 
barest