Article XXV.: “The attack or bombardment, by whatever means, of
towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings which are undefended, is
prohibited.”
Article XXVI.: “The officer in command of an attacking force must,
before commencing a bombardment, except in cases of assault, do all
in his power to warn the authority.”
Article XXVII.: “In sieges and bombardments all necessary steps
must be taken to spare as far as possible buildings dedicated to
religion, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic monuments,
hospitals, and places where the sick and wounded are collected,
provided they are not being used at the time for military purposes.
It is the duty of the besieged to indicate the presence of such
buildings or places by distinctive and visible signs which shall be
notified to the enemy beforehand.”
In other further Articles it was laid down that a belligerent is
forbidden to force the inhabitants of territory occupied by him to
furnish information about the army of the other belligerent, or about
its means of defence. It was forbidden to confiscate private property,
and also laid down that family honour and rights, the lives of persons,
and private property, as well as religious convictions and practice,
must be respected. Pillage was forbidden, and prisoners must be humanely
treated.
Uncivilized Warfare.
Stories of German brutality and ruthless disregard of these rules of
civilized warfare as set out above were, from the opening of the war,
continually reaching England. At first the public were sceptical about
such tales of horror. Unfortunately, however, it was too clearly seen
that the Germans made war in a manner which was very far from being
civilized. Atrocities were being committed with a definite object--an
object which was self-revealed, not only by the effacement of Louvain,
“a shameless holocaust of irreparable treasures lit up by blind
barbarian vengeance,” but by the disgraceful admissions sent forth from
the German wireless station which I have already quoted.
The character of the warfare of these modern Huns was to terrorize the
inhabitants of a hostile country, so that the invader might proceed on
his way without fear of molestation. Therefore, the unspeakable crimes
of the Kaiser’s forces have not even the excuse of being outbursts of
national savagery. The shameful record contained in these pages are the
cold and calculated brutalities of a nation who boasted of its
“culture,” whose prayerful Emperor held up his hands to his Maker
invoking success for his horde of ruthless barbarians, but who has shown
that in war he respects no law of God, and regards the solemn treaties
of nations as “scraps of paper.”
“We can only pray for a hastening of the day when all that is best
in the German people will reassert itself as of old, and when the
long reign of an arrogant and ruthless military caste will be
looked back to by the countrymen of Schiller and Goethe as a
nightmare that never can return.”
--From the American _Nation_.