The purpose of this book is to remind English-speaking people all over
the Empire and our Allies in America of the wanton destruction and
unspeakable terror which have overwhelmed the regions of France and
Belgium occupied by the Boche, and also to quicken a true perception of
the reparation and punishment due when peace is made with the enemy. In
many minds time has dimmed the horrors of August and September 1914.
When war weariness is apt to sap resolution and the possibility of a
patched up peace is furtively canvassed, the great world of the
English-speaking race should call to remembrance the inhuman and barely
credible acts of brutality and bestiality committed in cold blood by the
German race.
No apology is made for this book. It is a translation of a document
which has created a profound impression in France. It is an
authoritative record of German crimes committed on the people of Belgium
and Northern France, attested by the Mayors of twenty-six French towns.
Some time ago permission was obtained from the French Committee of
Publication (the Prefect of Meurthe-and-Moselle, and the Mayors of Nancy
and Luneville) to produce an English version on condition that the
translation be an "exact and literal translation." This has been
completed and the Editor, the Rev. J. Esslemont Adams, an Assistant
Principal Chaplain with the British Expeditionary Force in France, is
indebted to the friends who have assisted in producing the work.