The writer, by holding
this, and working under the Prime Minister's son, became
stretcher-bearer in the Belgian Army.]
The apologists of the widespread reign of frightfulness say that war is
always "like that," that individual drunken soldiers have always broken
loose and committed terrible acts. This defense does not meet the
facts. It meets neither the official orders, nor the cold method, nor
the immense number of proved murders. The German policy was ordered from
the top. It was carried out by officers and men systematically, under
discipline. The German War Book, issued by the General Staff, and used
by officers, cleverly justifies these acts. They are recorded by the
German soldiers themselves in their diaries, of which photographic
reproductions are obtainable in any large library. The diaries were
found on the persons of dead and wounded Germans. The name of the man
and his company are given.
On Sunday, September 27, I was present at the battle of Alost, where
peasants came running into our lines from the German side of the canal.
In spite of shell, shrapnel, rifle, and machine fire, these peasants
crossed to us. The reason they had for running into fire was that the
Germans were torturing their neighbors with the bayonet. One peasant, on
the other side of the canal, hurried toward us under the fire, with a
little girl on his right shoulder.
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