The German Fury in Belgium: Experiences of a Netherland Journalist during four months with the German Army in BelgiumMokveld, L. (Lambertus)
History
The German Fury in Belgium: Experiences of a Netherland Journalist during four months with the German Army in Belgium
Mokveld, L. (Lambertus)
Belgium -- History -- German occupation, 1914-1918; World War, 1914-1918 -- Atrocities
"'5. My pertinent declarations are now opposed by the German
official contradiction; but how weak is the argument! I have
already pointed out that only comrades of the accused men have
been heard, but not the accuser, nor, as is evident, the victims,
nor other witnesses. There is more: "Crowding of two to three
hundred soldiers near a wagon cannot occur"--thus says the
communiqué--"because the station-guard's duty is to keep free the
path along the train." Does anyone understand the weakness of this
contradiction? It is as if one should say: "It is impossible that
anything has been stolen in a town because it is the duty of the
police to guard it." "Moreover there is also always an officer of
the station-guard present at the departure of a train of wounded,"
the communiqué proceeds. But again I ask: What does this prove? It
is a fact that this officer, if he was present, did not prevent
what happened. "It is impossible that the soldiers aimed their
rifles at the British, because the men who get their food in the
dining-hall, and those of the military who distribute it, are
always unarmed; no other soldiers are admitted to the station."
I see that the German government simply quote the military
regulations, and from them determine the facts. They cannot realise
that it might be possible for their regulations not to be obeyed
always.
"'6. I am convinced that on the whole the treatment of the wounded
was generous and exemplary. But it is also a fact that the terrible
hatred of the Germans against the British, encouraged by their
military authorities (one has to think of the proclamation of
Prince Rupert of Bavaria) and their scandalous comic papers, which
disgust even decent Germans, induce to extravagances such as I
witnessed at Landen. Did not a German officer explain to an editor
of the _Algemeen Handelsolad_ (evening issue of October 18th): "The
unwritten order is to make everywhere as many French and as few
English prisoners as possible; we don't try to wound, but to kill
the British."'"
I think that my answer left nothing to be desired for plainness,
and Germany cannot have derived much pleasure from its official
contradiction. Moreover, the editor of _De Tijd_ had also made
inquiries from the little girl whom I escorted from Louvain on the day
of the occurrence at Landen, and although I admit at once that not too
great a value can be attached to the evidence of a girl of nine, I
insert here what the editor wrote about that interview:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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