ms, or being without means of defense,
has surrendered unconditionally. (d) To declare that no quarter shall be
given."
Have the German armies respected these covenants? Throughout Belgian and
French reports depositions such as the following abound. This is taken
from a French Captain of the 288th Infantry:
On the 22d, in the evening, I learned that in the woods, about
one hundred and fifty meters north of the square formed by the
intersection of the great Calonne trench with the road from
Vaux-les-Palameis to Saint-Remy, there were corpses of French
soldiers shot by the Germans. I went to the spot and found the
bodies of about thirty soldiers within a small space, most of
them prone, but several still kneeling, and _all having a
precisely similar wound_--a bullet through the ear. One only,
seriously wounded in his lower parts, could still speak, and
told me that the Germans before leaving had ordered them to
lie down and that then had them shot through the head; that
he, already wounded had secured indulgence by stating that he
was the father of three small children. The skulls of these
unfortunates were scattered; the guns, broken at the stock,
were scattered here and there; and the blood had besprinkled
the bushes to such an extent that in coming out of the woods
my cape was spattered with it; it was a veritable shambles.
I quote this testimony, not to base any accusations upon it, but simply
to give precision to our indictment. I will not lay stress upon it as
evidence, for I wish to keep to the rule which I have laid down--to have
records of nothing but German sources of information.
I will quote here the text of an order of the day addressed by General
Stenger, in command of the Fifty-eighth German Brigade, on the 26th of
August, to the troops under his orders:
From this day forward no further prisoners will be taken. All
prisoners will be massacred. The wounded, whether in arms or
not in arms, shall be massacred. Even the prisoners already
gathered in convoys will be massacred. No living enemy must
remain behind us.
Signed--First Lieutenant in Command of the Company, Stoy;
Colonel Commanding the Regiment, Neubauer; General in Command
of the Brigade, Stenger.
About thirty soldiers of Stenger's Brigade (112th and 142d Regiments of
Baden Infantry) were questioned. I have read
|