The Allied case against Germany with respect to the conduct of the
Kaiser's troops in Belgium rests mainly on four publications. (1)
"The Report of the Belgian Commission of Inquiry." (2) The Belgian
"_Rapports sur la Violation du Droit des Gens en Belgique_." (3) The
Belgian "Reply to the German White Book." (4) The "Bryce Report." It
was the last of these which mainly influenced British and American
opinion. This famous compilation owed much to the reputation of the
eminent scholar who presided over the Enquiry, and to the names
of Messrs. Fisher, Harold Cox and others who were members of the
Commission. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that our experience
during the storm and stress of the war does not indicate that our
literary and intellectual leaders have as a class shown either greater
fidelity to principle or less susceptibility to the evil influences of
war-fever, than the ordinary man in the street; and now that the more
salient symptoms of this fever are abating and prejudice is slowly
being replaced by reasoned judgment, the Bryce report can no longer
retain unchallenged its claim to present a critical and convincing
record of unquestioned facts. The numerous statements which it embodies
were mainly derived from Belgian refugees who had reached our shores.
Very many of these men and women were naturally in a state of nervous
excitement and full of bitter indignation against the invaders of their
soil. Such mental conditions are never conducive to the presentation
of accurate and veridical evidence. Further it is obvious that
some of these refugees were not eye-witnesses of the outrages they
describe, for they had fled from their homes and merely record their
own inferences as to events which had occurred during their absence.
Another serious weakness in the Report arises from the fact that
the various barristers and others who were sent round to interview
these refugees were with very few exceptions quite unable to converse
fluently in French and wholly ignorant of Flemish. Finally, none of
the evidence was taken on oath. Here then we have an ill-digested mass
of unsworn statements--some merely at second-hand--made by excited and
angry Belgians, and transmitted by interpreters, themselves unsworn,
which is presented to the world as final and conclusive proof of
Germany's guilt, while at the same time the publication in this country
of a plain translation of Germany's official defence against these
charges was forbidden by the Censor. The testimony of the Bryce Report
served its purpose and aroused a volume of indignant and scandalised
opinion which provided one of the sharpest weapons employed against our
chief enemy; but it must be admitted that the methods by which it was
compiled were so lax and uncritical that the results sink far below the
level ordinarily demanded by the serious historian.
The definite and fundamental contention of both the Bryce and the
Belgian Reports is that, with the possible exception of a very few
and very doubtful cases, no civilian attacks were made on the German
troops. This point is strongly and repeatedly emphasised.
"The German Government" says the Bryce Report, page 31, "have sought
to justify their severities on the ground of military necessity and
have excused them as retaliation for cases in which civilians fired
on German troops. There may have been such cases in which such firing
occurred, but no proof has ever been given, or to our knowledge
attempted to be given of such cases, nor of the stories of shocking
outrages perpetrated by Belgian men and women on German soldiers."
The Belgian Reply to the White Book (p. 7) is still more emphatic.
"As a matter of fact the so-called Belgian _francs-tireurs_ were
non-existent.... The theory of an armed resistance on the part of the
Belgian civil population to the German troops is utterly opposed to
the facts." The following statement of Monseigneur Haylen is quoted:
"We declare in concert with the whole Belgian people that the story
of Belgian _francs-tireurs_ is a myth, an invention and a calumny. We
do not hesitate most solemnly to defy the German Government to prove
the existence of a single group of _francs-tireurs_.... We have no
knowledge even of an isolated case of civilians having fired on the
troops.... In no single case was the supposed culprit named."
Such is the position definitely taken up by the official Reports
and adopted by an overwhelming majority of people in Great Britain
and America, to go no further. Nevertheless I have always found it
difficult to accord unquestioning acceptance to the popular belief.
From an _a priori_ point of view it is difficult to believe that
German troops, probably the most sternly disciplined and best educated
soldiers in the world, should have deliberately gone out of their way
to shoot innocent civilians in Belgium and destroy their property
for no apparent reason at all. To embroil themselves wilfully with
the civilian inhabitants at a time when every minute was precious in
their scheme of a rapid advance against the Anglo-French forces was
obviously the last thing the invaders would desire. The supposition
that the Germans indulged in appalling and indiscriminate acts of
terrorism against quite innocent people in order to secure the safety
of their lines of communication is ridiculous on the face of it. In
short, the current view of "Belgian atrocities," admirably as it served
its purpose as valuable propaganda, contains within itself so many
difficulties that no fair-minded historian of the future could accept
it as it stands.
We have seen the evidence adduced to prove Germany's misdeeds in
Belgium. Why have we been prevented from seeing Germany's defence
against these charges? In any civilised society, even the vilest
criminal is allowed to defend himself. What is the use of "defying
Germany" to prove a single case of _franc-tireur_ action and at the
same time depriving the public of all access to the German White Book
with its long list of specific outrages supported by sworn evidence?
Here then is presented for the first time in Great Britain Germany's
official reply to the charges formulated against her troops during
their passage through Belgium. The reader can judge of the evidence
for himself. To refuse it a hearing on the _a priori_ assumption that,
as Mr. Bonar Law declared in the House of Commons, it was "full of
lies," or that nothing that a German states could be true, is scarcely
worthy of a sane and judicial mind. Nor do I hesitate to say in this
respect that any Englishman who knew his Europe in pre-war days would
have regarded the sworn testimony of a German as at least quite as
trustworthy as the unsworn evidence of a Belgian.
But apart from the Bryce and Belgian Reports on the one hand and the
German White Book on the other there exists a mass of evidence hitherto
almost unknown in Great Britain or America--I refer to the evidence
of the Belgian Press in the early days of the invasion. Here are some
extracts from well-known newspapers:--
The _Het Handelsblad_ of Antwerp, August 6th, 1914:--"A furious
struggle without mercy, which roused in a portion of the civilian
population of the Low Countries, disturbed in its peaceful work of
the fields, a veritable and violent desire to defend the natal soil
against the Prussian traitors.... It is incontestable that from the
air-holes of the cellars, loopholes in the roofs made by removing
tiles, from houses, farms and cabins a terrible fire was directed on
the Uhlan and Silesian assailants."
_Nieuwe Gazet_, August 8th:--De Burgerij Schiet Mee Op Den Indringer.
("The citizens also fire on the invaders.") "At Bernot the outposts
had to fight against the civilians who fired like madmen at the
invaders from houses, roofs and windows. Some women even took part
in the struggle. A young girl, eighteen years of age, armed with a
revolver, fired at an officer.... The peasants and inhabitants kept up
a regular fusillade against the Germans."
_Het Handelsblad_, No. 190:--"The peasants seized their sporting guns
and killed the officer who was commanding the detachment and several
men."
_Nouveau Précurseur_, Antwerp, says _à propos_ of the massacre of
Berneau:--"The priest of the village gives the signal to fire with a
sporting gun from the belfry of the village. He was surrounded, forced
to descend and shot." This is given as the account of an eye-witness.
_Matin_, Antwerp, No. 225:--"At Dormael the three brothers Sevenans
who had fired on the Germans were shot; their bodies were pierced by
lance-wounds and their house was burnt down."
_Nouveau Précurseur_, No. 223:--"It is no laughing matter. All the
people, soldiers, Gardes Civiques or armed villagers take their
task seriously.... It is no longer a question of soldiers or of the
regular Gardes Civiques. These are villagers and retired members
of the Garde. The majority are armed with sporting guns, several
have revolvers and a few have sabres in addition." This is followed
by the following advice from an officer of the Belgian Staff to a
civilian correspondent:--"Take care not to fall into the hands of the
Uhlans.... Never abandon your revolver; if you see them, fire at them
but do not stop for a moment, it would mean death."
_Burgerwelzijn_, Bruges, No. 95, gives the following account of the
fighting at Herstael:--"Some 2,000 Germans had penetrated as far as
the National Arms Factory and were received by a hail of bullets. All
the houses, even the smallest, had been transformed into veritable
fortresses. In addition to this, barricades had been erected in the
streets, behind which soldiers and civilians were posted ready to
fire. Women and children brought up the supplies of ammunition. The
resistance lasted until all the men and women were _hors de combat_.
The Germans then penetrated into the village, no longer fighting under
command, but firing independently. They sheltered themselves behind
a few remaining bushes, for the inhabitants had burned and destroyed
everything which could serve as cover. Their trumpets rallied them,
at least those who survived, and they retired on Vivegnies. It was
with real joy that the inhabitants had seen the enemy disappear, when
the sound of a trumpet was suddenly heard. The Uhlans had remounted
and were advancing on the village at a trot while the infantry at the
same time wheeling to the right attacked the village from the flank.
The population allowed the assailants to approach. The attack of the
Uhlans was terrible, no less terrible the resistance of the villagers.
Men, women and children opened such a frightful fire on the enemy that
the first ranks tumbled one on the other. The Germans nevertheless
entered the village streets, cavalry in front, infantry behind, while
the exasperated populace did not cease to overwhelm the enemy with its
fire. The women poured boiling oil and water on the German soldiers
who rolled on the ground howling with the pain. It will be some time
before the people in Germany learn what the assailants of the village
of Herstael went through; one can, in fact, count on five fingers
those who escaped alive from the carnage."
_La Presse_, Antwerp, No. 213:--"Fighting in the streets of Liège":
"Liège is resisting marvellously. The inhabitants uniting with the
Garde Civique are fighting in the streets."
_La Métropole_, Antwerp, August 8th:--"Some of the inhabitants of
Liège broke open the window of a gunsmith's shop, seized guns,
revolvers and cartridges and pursued the Uhlans to the outskirts of
the town."
_Nouveau Précurseur_, No. 225, _apropos_ of the battle of
Haelen:--"Lieutenant Van Doren, 4th Chasseurs-à-cheval, charged with
the defence of the town of Diest, had not a single soldier at his
disposal. He appealed to the volunteer firemen of Diest. These as one
man demanded to march to the firing line.... Three of the firemen were
slightly wounded; their names are Emil Kneuts, Louis Van Attenhoven
and Leandre Segars."