The massacres described above were a part of the German system of
frightfulness. Another feature of this system was the use of civilians
as hostages and for screens.
In discussing the use of hostages the _German War Book_ (_Kriegsbrauch
im Landkriege_) says:
[Sidenote: Views of the German General Staff.]
"By hostages are understood those persons who, as security or bail for
the fulfillment of treaties, promises, or other claims, are taken or
detained by the opposing State or its army. Their provision has been
less usual in recent wars, as a result of which some professors of the
law of nations have wrongly decided that the taking of hostages has
disappeared from the practice of civilized nations. * * *
"A new application of 'hostage right' was practiced by the German
Staff in the war of 1870, when it compelled leading citizens from
French towns and villages to accompany trains and locomotives in order
to protect the railway communications which were threatened by the
people. Since the lives of peaceable inhabitants were, without any
fault on their part, thereby exposed to grave danger, every writer
outside Germany has stigmatised this measure as contrary to the law of
nations and as unjustified towards the inhabitants of the country."
Although their deeds in the Franco-Prussian war had been universally
condemned, as they themselves admitted, the leaders did not intend
to abandon such a useful measure of frightfulness. In _L'Interprète
Militaire_ the forms were provided for such acts in the next war. Both
in Belgium and in France the Germans have constantly used hostages. The
evidence is contained in the proclamations of the governing authorities
and also in the diaries of the German soldiers. A few examples from
these will illustrate the system which was employed.
A specimen of the arbitrariness and cruelty is furnished by the
proclamation of Maj. Dieckmann, from which the following sections are
presented: