«The inhabitants fled through the village. It was horrible. Blood was plastered on all the houses, and as for the faces of the dead, they were hideous. They were all buried at once, to the number of sixty. Among them many old men and women, and one woman about to be delivered. It was a ghastly sight. There were three children who had huddled close to one another and had died together. The altar and the ceiling of the church had fallen in. They had been telephoning to the enemy. And this morning, 2 September, all the survivors were driven out and I saw four little boys carrying on two poles a cradle in which was a child of 5 to 6 months old. All this was horrible to see. A blow for a blow. Thunder for thunder. Everything was pillaged. And I also saw a mother with her two little ones: and one had a large wound in the head, and had lost an eye.»[2] [Illustration: _Plate 2._] «They had been telephoning to the Enemy» says this soldier, the punishment was deserved. Let us remember the terms of Art. 50 of the Hague Convention of 1907 signed in the name of the German Emperor by a gentleman, Baron Marschall von Bieberstein. «No collective punishment, pecuniary or other, can be inflicted upon a community for individual acts for which they cannot be held responsible as a body.» What tribunal, during this night of horrors took the trouble to make sure of the guilt of the community at large? II In an unsigned note-book of a soldier belonging to the 32^{nd} Infantry (IV Reserve Corps) we come across the following statement. «3^{rd} September. _Creil._ The iron bridge has been blown up. Consequently we burnt the streets and shot the civilians.»[3] The regular French troops alone--the Engineers--had blown up the iron bridge at Creil; the civilians had nothing to do with it. To excuse these massacres, when they condescend to make any excuse these note-books usually say: "_civilians_" and "_sharpshooters_" had fired on our men. But the Convention of 1907, that "scrap of paper", signed by Germany, stipulates that by its first Article the laws, rights, and duties of war apply, not only to the army, but also to the militia and volunteer corps, adding certain conditions, the chief one of which is the bearing of arms openly and in Art. 2. "The population of unoccupied territory, who, at the approach of the enemy, spontaneously take up arms against the invading forces without having had time to organize according to the conditions of Art. 1, shall be considered as belligerent, if the population bears arms openly and respects the laws and customs of war." Read in the light of this text the savage stories which follow will take their true proportions: _a_) _Diary of P^{te} Hassemer_ VIII Corps. «3. 9. 1914. Sommepy (Marne). Horrible massacre. The village burnt to the ground, the French thrown into houses in flames, civilians and all burnt together.»[4]