The crimes of Germany under this head have been literally innumerable.
Judging by German, French, Belgian and English evidence, it seems as if
German soldiers have slaughtered probably 100,000 defenseless prisoners
and wounded men. Prof. J.H. Morgan states that von der Goltz, the evil
genius of Turkey, "predicted some years ago that the next war would be
one of inconceivable violence"; and he declares that "the Germans have
no sense of honor in the field." He was hideously correct.
German prisoner murder began before Antwerp on October 6, 1914, when
the Captain of the 85th Regt. IXth Corps, 4th Company, said to his men:
"=I do not want to see any Englishmen prisoners in the hands of this
company!=" To which the company cried, "=Bravo!=" And Richard Gerhold,
71st Regiment Reserve, 4th Army Corps (killed in September, 1914),
wrote in his precious diary thus: "Great atrocities are =of course=
committed upon Englishmen and Belgians. =Every one of them is now
knocked on the head without mercy.="
The famous Stenger order of August 26, 1914, brings us to a capital
case. A German Brigadier-General, Stenger by name, issued this written
order to his brigade:
"=To date from this day, no prisoners will be made any longer. All the
prisoners will be executed. The wounded, whether armed or defenseless,
will be executed. Prisoners, even in large and compact formations, will
be executed. Not a man will be left alive behind us.="
The instances of the murder of helpless prisoners by Germans are far
too numerous to be cited in detail. Beyond reasonable doubt, a hundred
thousand soldiers were murdered on the Stenger basis.
And after the war is over, if we resume friendly "relations" with
Germany, we may see Stenger in Washington as Military Attaché to his
Excellency the German Ambassador, shaking hands with the President of
the United States.