Langeviller, Aug. 22.--Village destroyed by the Eleventh
Battalion of Pioneers. Three women hanged to trees; the first
dead I have seen.
Who can these three women be?--criminals undoubtedly--guilty of having
fired upon German troops, unless, indeed, they may have been "in
communication by telephone" with the enemy; and the Eleventh Pioneers
unquestionably meted out to them just punishment. But, at all events,
they expiated their guilt, and the Eleventh Pioneers has passed on. The
crime these women committed is unknown to the troops which are to
follow. Among these new troops will there be found no chief, no
Christian, to order the ropes cut and allow these dangling bodies to
rest on the earth?
[Illustration: Figure 5.]
No, the regiment passes under the gibbets and their flags brush against
the hanging corpses; they pass on, Colonel and officers--gentlemen
all--Kulturträger. And they do this knowingly; these corpses must hang
there as an example, not for the other women of the village, for these
doubtless already understand, but as an example to the regiment and to
the other regiments that will follow, and who must be attuned to war,
who must be taught their stern duty to kill women when occasion offers.
The teaching will be effective, unquestionably. Shall we look for proof
of it? The young soldier, who tells us above that these corpses were the
first dead he had ever seen, adds a week later, on the tenth and last
page of his notebook, the following, (Fig. 6:)
In this way we destroyed eight dwellings and their
inhabitants. In one of the houses we bayoneted two men, with
their wives and a young girl 18 years old. The young: one
almost unmanned me, her look was so innocent! But we could not
master the excited troop, for at such times they are no longer
men--they are beasts.
[Illustration: Figure 6.]
Let me add a few texts which will attest that these assassinations of
women and children are customary tasks set to German soldiers:
(a) The writer in a notebook, unsigned, reports that at Orchies (Nord)
"a woman was shot for not having obeyed the command to halt!" whereupon
he adds, "the whole locality was set on fire." (Fig. 7.)
[Illustration: Figure 7.]
(b) The officer of the 178th Saxon Regiment, mentioned above, reports
that in the vicinity of Lisognes (Belgian Ardennes) "the Chasseur of
Marburg, having placed three women in line, killed them all with one
shot."
(c) A few lines more, taken from the notebook of the Reservist Schlauter
(Third Battery, Fourth Regiment, Field Artillery of the Guard,) (Fig.
8:)
Aug. 25, (in Belgium.)--We shot 300 of the inhabitants of the
town. Those that survived the salvo were requisitioned as
grave diggers. You should have seen the women at that time!
But it was impossible to do otherwise. In our march upon Wilot
things went better; the inhabitants who wished to leave were
allowed to do so. But whoever fired was shot. Upon our leaving
Owele the rifles rang out, and with that, flames, women, and
all the rest.
[Illustration: Figure 8.]