ost, he had to have a soldier
shot on finding in his knapsack some fingers covered with rings: the
man, on being questioned, admitted that he had cut them off the bodies
of the German dead."[25]

In exceptional cases an enquiry is held; and in every such instance the
truth is discovered and massacre prevented.

At the end of August, Liebknecht,[26] a member of the Reichstag, set out
in his car for Louvain. He came to a village where there was
considerable excitement going on. The Germans had just found three of
their men lying dead on the road, and accused the peasants of being
responsible for the deed. Liebknecht examined them, and was not long in
obtaining proof that the Germans had been killed by Belgian riflemen. At
Huy there were shots in the night; two soldiers wounded; the populace
accused; the mayor arrested and condemned to death; but he knew that
there were no Allied troops in the neighbourhood, and also that his own
people had not fired a shot. "Shoot me, if you like," he said calmly,
"but not before extracting the bullets from the wounded." The officer,
less of a brute than some, gave his consent to this. The bullets in the
wounds were German bullets. But the Germans do not even require a
pretext to take action. Their first crime, to our knowledge, was on
August 4th. Some officers dashed up to Herve in a car, challenged two
civilians while crossing the bridge and, without giving them time to
answer, shot them down with revolvers.

In their private diaries they accuse one another, each throwing on his
neighbour the responsibility for crimes committed. A cavalryman writes:
"It is unfortunately true that the worst elements of our Army feel
themselves authorised to commit any sort of infamy. This charge applies
particularly to the A.S.C." A bombing officer: "_Rethel_, September 2nd.
Discipline becoming lax. Brandy. Looting. The blame lies with the
_infantry_." An infantry officer: "Discipline in our company
excellent--a contrast with the rest. The _Pioneers_ are not worth much.
As for the _Artillery_, they are a band of brigands." A final extract
seems to be the only one that gives the truth: "Brin ... _troops of all
arms_ are engaged in looting."

It has been possible sometimes to prove premeditation. On the 17th
August, a German officer was billeted with a Belgian magistrate. Their
talk turned on Dinant. "Dinant," said the officer, "is a condemned
town!" M. X ..., of Dinant, happening to be in another town