THE ILL-TREATMENT OF BRITISH WOUNDED
I RETURNED from Louvain by military train. This one had had a most
adventurous journey before it reached Louvain. It had left Cambrai in
North France three days before, always going slowly and making long
stops, to spare the seriously wounded at least a little. I estimated
that in my train over 2,000 wounded had been loaded in a long, dismal
procession of wagons. Most of them had not had their bandages renewed
for a fortnight, and were still wearing the first emergency dressing;
all came from the neighbourhood of Arras.
A little to the north of this town many had been lying wounded in the
trenches for over eight days, without being able to get their wounds
bandaged. They had to admit the success of the French field artillery,
which produced a most serious effect.
The Germans all agreed that their right wing lacked artillery. The
German soldiers who fell there were all killed in their trenches by the
falling bombs, there was not sufficient field artillery to answer this
murderous fire efficiently, and they could not do anything with their
rifles against the invisible enemy. The artillery fire of the French
was most serious from the 1st to the 4th of October, and during those
days the German trenches must have been a real hell. On October 4th a
general "sauve qui peut" began from the trenches.
But the shell-fire of the French overtook them then, as they were
retreating, while many others were killed by bombs from French
aeroplanes, which were in action in great numbers. The retreat
had not stopped before the Germans arrived in Cambray, where the
thousands of wounded could at last be put in long trains and sent to
Aix-la-Chapelle. A great many bombs from aeroplanes also hit these
trains and killed a great many; my own train was everywhere pierced by
fragments of those bombs. Within the carriages it was unendurable; the
wounded men and their malodorous bandages had occupied them such a long
time that the atmosphere was simply insupportable. Happily there was
a corridor, where I stood all the time, with the little girl, in the
company of some German military men who were sent home, not on account
of wounds, but because of internal complaints.
Very slowly the huge monster sauntered along, stopping and waiting
everywhere to allow long trains with fresh troops to pass. These came
straight from Germany, with the youngest levies and volunteers who had
just finished their drill. These had decorated their trains all over
with green boughs and outside painted all sorts of caricatures, from
which especially King George had to suffer much. Then one read "To
Paris, to England," and similar hopeful devices.
When their train approached ours they looked out of the windows, or
opened the doors, and waved and greeted and shouted at the top of their
voices.
But as soon as these "tender-foots" came alongside our train and
were not met with the same impetuous enthusiasm as they displayed
themselves, but, on the contrary, saw sick, discouraged, exhausted
faces gazing at them distressedly, their boisterousness suddenly
extinguished, and a nervous, terrified expression pursed up their
mouths. And the trains were already at some distance from each other
before the young soldiers remembered that they ought to shout and to
wave to those who had already done so much for the Fatherland.
We arrived at Landen, a place between Tirlemont and Waremme, where
we had a stop of forty minutes, in order to feed the wounded. Soup
was served from large washing-tubs, and I and my small companion were
also offered some of this soldiers' food. When I had finished my meal,
and walked up and down the platform in order to stretch my legs, my
attention was drawn to an uproar in front of one of the last wagons. I
went there, and shall not forget what I saw as long as I live; I wish
that I had never seen it.
Amongst some Frenchmen, three British soldiers, seriously wounded,
were lying on some straw. They looked distressed, and I thought that
their condition was critical. I was told that these men had not had
any food for five days, and now there stood in front of the open wagon
doors two to three hundred German soldiers, partly slightly wounded,
who were well able to walk, partly German soldiers of the Landen
garrison, who had been told off for distributing the soup. These two to
three hundred men raged and jeered at those three unfortunate, heavily
wounded British soldiers, who had not eaten for five days, and lay
groaning helplessly on some dirty straw in a cattle-truck. The steaming
tubs with hot soup were shown them, and these Germans shouted at them:
"You want to eat, swine, swine; you ought to be killed! Beat them to
death!--beat them to death! Here, that's what you ought to get!"
As they spoke these last words they aimed their rifles at the
unfortunate, bleeding, helpless, and hungry creatures. Others spat on
their clothes and in their faces, and the enraged Germans foamed at the
mouth.
With weak eyes, eyes telling of approaching death, one of them gazed
at these cruel torturers, or looked hungrily at the steaming soup; the
two others had turned their heads on one side and closed their eyes.
But at last also the third turned off his head and closed his eyes,
sighing and groaning. In the meantime the Germans went on threatening
them, blurting out all sorts of filthy abuse, spitting or threatening
them with their rifles, while others were laughing and enjoying the
helplessness of those three.
I stood still, dumb, aghast, unable to utter a word. Then I went to a
sergeant who was also looking on and laughing; and, trembling all over,
I said:
"What is happening here is frightful; those men are also human beings,
who had to do their duty as much as you!"
I couldn't say more, my voice stuck in my throat.
And what was his answer?
"What? Do their duty? No, they are swine--paid swine; they get money
for their dirty work, the swine!"
I did not answer. I could not. Silently I looked a little longer at
the beastly scene, only sorry that I was not a giant who, with one
strong hand, might restrain the roughs, and refresh with the other the
burning, feverish lips of the wretched men.
What distressed me most was that among those two to three hundred
soldiers in front of that open cattle-truck was not one man who wanted
to take the part of these unfortunate British; no, not one!
When I reported the occurrence in _De Tijd_, I was fully conscious of
the frightful accusation implied by my information; but I am prepared
to confirm with the most sacred oaths that nothing in this accusation
is untrue or exaggerated.
I was not afraid of an inquiry, but asked for it as a matter of fact,
by writing in my report:--
"And if the German authorities intend to institute a serious and
impartial inquiry, then I give them the following particulars:
"It happened at Landen on Friday, October 9th, in the train with
wounded which arrived there from Brussels at about noon, when food
was being distributed."
The German authorities have indeed made inquiries about the matter; I
shall deal with that in the next chapter.
What happened at Landen made a very deep impression upon me; it
shocked me more than all the terrible things which I had seen during
the war and all the dangers which I went through. When the train went
on again, and the soldiers began to speak to me once more, I was unable
to utter a word and sat there musing.
Before I witnessed this terrible event at Landen some Germans in the
train had already told me that they simply killed the British whom they
made prisoners. Others assured me that such a thing did not happen in
their division, but one asserted that by his company alone already
twenty-six had been killed. I did not believe them then, and thought
that they were better than they made themselves out, but after having
witnessed that scene at Landen ...!
One hour before the arrival at Liège the engine of our train dashed
into another, and got so badly damaged that all the water from our
engine ran away. This caused a delay of another two hours, so that we
did not arrive at Liège before dusk, and could not think of reaching
The Netherlands that day.
I took the little Amsterdam girl to my niece in the convent of the
Sisters of Mercy, and went to an hotel myself. A German newspaper,
bought at a bookstall, gave in gigantic type the information that
Antwerp might fall at any moment, and a recently posted bulletin
brought the feared-for news. But the people of Liège could not, and
would not believe it.
I had expected it and believed the reports, but it hurt all the same. I
had had intercourse with German soldiers almost exclusively; but that
gave me a much better opportunity for observing their conduct, which
roused in me a deep sympathy for the poor, oppressed Belgian people.
That was why I was so sorry to hear of the fall of Antwerp, although
I was not discouraged. Right would triumph, and the day come when the
Belgian nation would shake off the foreign yoke of tyranny, and repair
in peace and prosperity, under the sagacious rule of their king, what
barbarians destroyed and pulled down.
The next day I got to The Netherlands with my small protégée, after
a tiring walk from Herstal to Eysden, where we could take the train
to Maastricht. Here the father of the little girl came to meet his
daughter, and took her to Amsterdam, to her "Mummy," of whom she had
been speaking during the whole journey with so much longing.
Only now did I hear what had happened to the village of Lanaeken after
I had seen the German preparations in Tongres for action against the
little Belgian army that was still about in the north-eastern part
of the country. The greater part of Lanaeken had been destroyed by
shelling, and of course a great many innocent victims had fallen in
consequence.
By destroying the life and possessions of peaceful civilians the
Germans--who always boast so much about their military honour--gave
unconscious expression to their awe of the fearless heroes who still
stood their ground to the north of Liège, whilst the Germans were still
besieging Antwerp.
* * * * *
I have mentioned already that the German authorities had ordered a
so-called inquiry about what happened at Landen. As the result of
this inquiry the press of all neutral countries had the following two
official communications wired to them:--
"_Berlin, November 10th._ (E. B.).--A correspondent of _De Tijd_
in Amsterdam has told a number of details about the so-called bad
treatment of British wounded at the station of Landen, according
to which the British had been left without food or drink, had
been spit in their faces, and our soldiers were alleged to have
aimed their rifles at them. The German Government had instituted
a thorough inquiry into this matter and publish the result: 'The
entire allegation of the correspondent is untrue. None of the
details is covered by the facts. The British have not been beaten
nor pushed nor spit at, but on the contrary warm food was offered
them, which was accepted by all except two. Store-inspector Huebner
and the landwehr-soldier Krueger have testified to this."
"_Berlin, November 10th._ (W. B.) Official.--The _Norddeutsche
Allgemeine Zeitung_ writes: 'The daily newspaper, _De Tijd_,
issued at Amsterdam, published on October 16th a report from a
war correspondent at Maastricht, in which he asserted that on
October 9th a train in which more than two thousand wounded were
transported, arrived at the station at Landen in Belgium between
Tirlemont and Waremme. Here it was said that a stop had taken place
of forty minutes in which to provide the wounded with food. Walking
up and down the platform the reporter pretends to have seen two
to three hundred German soldiers, slightly wounded men and men of
the garrison of Landen, furiously abuse three seriously wounded
British, who were lying in one of the last carriages of the train.
They showed mugs full of steaming soup to the hungry British, whom
they left lying there miserable from starvation. They were also
said to have aimed their rifles at them, laughing roughly, and to
have spit on them.
"'These allegations of the reporter of _De Tijd_ caused the
authorities to institute inquiries, and the following is now stated
with regard to the alleged events:
"'On October 9th no train with two thousand wounded arrived at
the station of Landen, but only small transports whose number can
be checked accurately by the lists of wounded. Rioting by two to
three hundred soldiers near a carriage could not take place, as the
station guard was instructed to keep free a path along the train.
There is, moreover, always an officer of the station-guard present,
when a train with wounded leaves. It is impossible that the
soldiers could have aimed their rifles at the British, as the men
who get their food in the dining-hall, as also the serving military
personnel, are always unarmed. Other soldiers are not admitted to
the station. The British have neither been beaten, nor stabbed, nor
spit at; on the contrary plates full of hot soup have been offered
them which were refused by two of them. This has been confirmed by
the declarations of people who were present.'"
Of course I did not withhold my answer, pilloried the hardly serious
inquiry of the Germans, and published immediately an extensive
contradiction in _De Tijd_. I quote the following from it:--
"Only about a month after the publication of my story about what
happened at Landen, the German Government and military authorities
considered that the time had come to contradict it, after ordering
an inquiry which in reality cannot be called an inquiry at all.
From their communiqués it is clear that some soldiers were heard
who probably were privy to the act, and in any case benefited by
a denial of the villainy committed at Landen. That is to say, men
who were counsel in their own cause, and who were believed the
sooner because their declarations were desirable for the support of
German credit. But it does not appear from these communiqués that
the German authorities also examined the wounded who were present,
nor the two Netherlanders who travelled by that train: the young
Miss de Bruin, from Amsterdam, and the present writer, as also
the civilian witnesses at Landen. In opposition to the evidence
of Stores-inspector Huebner and the landwehr-soldier Krueger, of
which evidence it has not been stated that they gave it on oath, I
declare myself prepared and willing, if a complete and impartial
inquiry be instituted, to declare upon oath either to a properly
qualified committee in The Netherlands or in Germany, or to a
thereto-appointed arbiter, the following:
"'1. On Friday, the ninth of October, at noon, I stopped at Landen
about forty minutes after arriving from Louvain in a terribly long
train of passenger carriages and goods vans, with approximately two
thousand wounded. (This estimate may be wrong to the extent of a
couple of hundred, but that does not matter.) During this time the
wounded were fed.
"'I saw how two to three hundred German soldiers, part of them
slightly wounded, who were well able to walk, partly soldiers of
the Landen garrison, who crowded about the open doors of one of the
last wagons, raging and jeering against three seriously wounded
British soldiers, about whom their French fellow-passengers told me
that they had had nothing to eat for five days. The wounded were
called "swine," were spit at, and some rifles were aimed at them.
When I told a sergeant that it was a disgusting scene, he answered:
"These British swine, they get paid for their filthy work." He
alluded to the pay which the British volunteers receive because
they enlist as mercenaries, Britain having no compulsory general
military service. Before I witnessed this awful thing at Landen,
Germans in the train had already told me that they simply killed
any British whom they made prisoners. Others said that such a thing
did not happen in their division, but one man contended that by his
company already twenty-six had been killed. I did not believe them,
and thought that they were better than they pretended to be.
"'2. The soup had been offered to the British, but two refused to
take it, says the German Government. Yes, it was offered these
wretched people, but, as I have said already, the German soldiers
kept the steaming soup before them, shouting at them: "You want to
eat, you swine!--you swine! you ought to be killed! This is what
you may have!" And as they said the latter they aimed their rifles
at the unfortunate men, whilst others who were not armed lifted up
their fists and threatened them, or spat at them.
"'In my report about the occurrence I had not even exposed in all
its harshness the treatment dealt out to the French soldiers. For
they too were not offered plates of soup, but only the mugs were
filled, forming part of their equipment. And there were many who
put out these mugs as if supplicating to have them filled once
more; as that was not done they constantly put the empty mug to
their mouth to try and lick off any remaining drops that might have
stuck to its side. Some Germans said: "Yes, the French may have
something, for they are soldiers, but those three there, well, they
are paid swine."
"'3. I published the facts and insisted upon an impartial inquiry,
in order to prevent, if possible, that only guilty soldiers should
be heard should a complaint about the occurrence be lodged with the
highest military authority.
"'Instead of facing such an impartial inquiry with an examination
of all available witnesses and punishment of the guilty, the German
government finds the courage only to call me, a month after the
event, "a liar," and the whole story a fairy-tale!
"'If the German government had come somewhat earlier with their
contradiction, it might have been possible to cite another witness,
for--I have not reported that at first--among those who were
present there was a civilian, an inhabitant of Landen, who also
looked with anger at the cruel scene, and expressed his indignation
when he could no longer restrain himself. But then there was a
general outcry of:
"'"What is this civilian doing here?" The young man could not
explain his presence satisfactorily, and a couple of soldiers got
hold of him, and, in the literal sense of the word, threw him away.
When he waited at a short distance a little longer, with an angry
face, one of the soldiers ran at him, threatening him with his
bayonet. I might have been able to find that young man at the time,
but now, a month later, this will be much more difficult. There
was also another group of civilians packed as densely as herrings
in a cattle-truck on another line; they must have seen the beastly
occurrence as well.
"'I might quote another small detail. Before the train arrived
at Landen I had had a very pleasant chat in the corridor with a
German soldier, who seemed tolerably humane and civilised, even
in his talk. After the departure from Landen I again got into
conversation with him, and did not fail to express my indignation;
and then he gave me the following reply: "Oh well, one must
think of the position of our soldiers, who have been for days
in the trenches under the murderous fire of the enemy. Later on
they will themselves repent for what has happened." Perhaps the
German government may be able to discover who that soldier is, if
I add that he went home for good because he was suffering from
heart-disease.
"'And then there is something else. The brakesman of the wagon
in which I travelled was a man who had enlisted only a couple of
weeks ago as a volunteer for the service on the railways, and,
if I remember correctly, hailed from Hamburg. He belonged to a
Trades Union which had already once made a trip to Amsterdam and
Rotterdam, and was for instance able to tell me that Krasnapolsky
at Amsterdam was a large hotel. I also spoke to that man about what
had happened, because I thought I had noticed that he was more
human, but he too gave me the cynical answer: "Oh well, the French
may have something to eat, they fight also for their country,
but not those British, they only fight because that is their
profession."
"'4. With regard to the arms of the German soldiers, it is true
that the wounded men had none with them, but I have distinctly
stated that the crowd consisted of soldiers who belonged to the
lightly wounded and of soldiers belonging to the Landen garrison.
These latter had been told off to guard the station and the
platforms and maintain order. It is possible that they had also to
prevent the wounded from moving about on the platforms, but in that
case they did not stick to their task, because everybody was free
to go where he liked, and I myself did the same. That these guards
did not guard anything at all at the moment is proved by the fact
that the above-mentioned civilian was able to come near the riot,
although he had to pass a number of platforms. That the soldiers
belonged to the Landen garrison and had to do sentry-go is proved
by the fact that they had their bayonets on their rifles.
"'Finally, the contention that no riot could have taken place
because the soldiers were fed in the dining-hall is entirely
incorrect. That dining-hall was nothing but a shed entirely open
at the front, in which there were a few seats. There the slightly
wounded soldiers were fed first, and when they had supplied
those, food was taken to the seriously wounded, who had to stop
in the train, as also to myself and my little companion. The
slightly wounded and the soldiers of the guard walked off with
the distributors of the soup along the train in order to have a
chat with their comrades in it. In that way they also came to the
British when the wagon-door had been opened. It will be evident
that I observed closely and retained in my memory all that had
happened there and in the neighbourhood.
"'5. My pertinent declarations are now opposed by the German
official contradiction; but how weak is the argument! I have
already pointed out that only comrades of the accused men have
been heard, but not the accuser, nor, as is evident, the victims,
nor other witnesses. There is more: "Crowding of two to three
hundred soldiers near a wagon cannot occur"--thus says the
communiqué--"because the station-guard's duty is to keep free the
path along the train." Does anyone understand the weakness of this
contradiction? It is as if one should say: "It is impossible that
anything has been stolen in a town because it is the duty of the
police to guard it." "Moreover there is also always an officer of
the station-guard present at the departure of a train of wounded,"
the communiqué proceeds. But again I ask: What does this prove? It
is a fact that this officer, if he was present, did not prevent
what happened. "It is impossible that the soldiers aimed their
rifles at the British, because the men who get their food in the
dining-hall, and those of the military who distribute it, are
always unarmed; no other soldiers are admitted to the station."
I see that the German government simply quote the military
regulations, and from them determine the facts. They cannot realise
that it might be possible for their regulations not to be obeyed
always.
"'6. I am convinced that on the whole the treatment of the wounded
was generous and exemplary. But it is also a fact that the terrible
hatred of the Germans against the British, encouraged by their
military authorities (one has to think of the proclamation of
Prince Rupert of Bavaria) and their scandalous comic papers, which
disgust even decent Germans, induce to extravagances such as I
witnessed at Landen. Did not a German officer explain to an editor
of the _Algemeen Handelsolad_ (evening issue of October 18th): "The
unwritten order is to make everywhere as many French and as few
English prisoners as possible; we don't try to wound, but to kill
the British."'"
I think that my answer left nothing to be desired for plainness,
and Germany cannot have derived much pleasure from its official
contradiction. Moreover, the editor of _De Tijd_ had also made
inquiries from the little girl whom I escorted from Louvain on the day
of the occurrence at Landen, and although I admit at once that not too
great a value can be attached to the evidence of a girl of nine, I
insert here what the editor wrote about that interview:--
"Our editor has moreover interviewed young Miss Antoinette de
Bruijn here, whom our correspondent brought from Louvain to
Maastricht. In the presence of her mother she told how she had
been in a train full of wounded, that there were armed soldiers on
the platform, and that some wounded soldiers had been teased by
offering them steaming soup which was not given to them. The father
of this girl, Mr. de Bruijn, also assured us that when he met his
daughter at Maastricht, our correspondent, Mr. Mokveld, was still
very much under the impression of what he had witnessed."
My contradiction became known in Germany, and it was an eye-opener to a
great many people there. The editor of _De Tijd_ received many letters
from that country, and printed some of them with the name of the writer
added. From these it seems that even there it was acknowledged in some
circles that the German inquiry had been extremely one-sided, and that
it would have been wiser to admit what had happened at Landen, and
punish the culprits.
The only purpose of my publication was to convince everybody of this,
and thereby prevent the repetition of such a scandalous scene.