Current History, A Monthly Magazine

N >> New York Times >> Current History, A Monthly Magazine

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27

At Hartennes-et-Taux, in the Arrondissement of Soissons, the Germans,
as everywhere else, pillaged the houses. At the hamlet of Taux they
set fire to the straw with which they had stopped up the openings of
an isolated cellar in which were three of the inhabitants whom they
had taken for soldiers. The three men were suffocated by the smoke.

ACTS OF A MILITARY NATURE.

Acts committed in the violation of the laws of war and affecting
combatants, murder of wounded or prisoners, stratagems forbidden by
international conventions, attacks on doctors and stretcher bearers,
have been innumerable in all the places in which there has been
fighting. We have not been able to verify the majority of them because
the witnesses are for the most part soldiers, who are obliged to move
from place to place continually. Besides, these acts have been set
forth in reports addressed by corps leaders to the military
authorities, who may add them to the documents of our inquiry if they
think fit to do so. Many are also attested by evidence collected by
magistrates in hospitals, and we are engaged at this moment in
analyzing them with a view to drawing up a supplementary report. A
certain number, however, have been laid before us in the course of our
investigation.

At Bar-le-Duc M. Ferry, the head surgeon, gave us a report of
depositions made to him in the course of his duties. Sergt. Lemerre of
the --th Infantry Regiment told him that on the 6th of September, when
he was wounded in the leg at Rembercourt by a fragment of a shell, he
had been left on the battlefield eight days by the German Red Cross
people although they knew quite well that he was there. On the fourth
day this non-commissioned officer received a further wound by a
soldier, who fired at him on the order of an officer who was going
over the scene of action with his revolver in his hand. Moreover, he
repeatedly saw near him German stretcher bearers firing on our
wounded.

The soldier Dreyfus of the --th Infantry Regiment related the
following story to Dr. Ferry:

"On the 10th of September at Somaine, as he was leaving the
battlefield, wounded, he met three Germans. He told them in German
that he had just been wounded, but these men answered that this was no
reason why he should not receive another bullet, and they thereupon
shot him point blank in the eye."

At Vaubecourt an infantry sergeant and two soldiers were shot by the
enemy. They alleged that one of the latter was found on the church
tower in the village, from which he would have been able to exchange
signals with our troops.

On the 22d of August a detachment of Germans arrived in the vicinity
of Bouvillers in the Department of Meurthe-et-Moselle at the farm of
La Petite Rochelle, where the owner, M. Houillon, had lodged some
French wounded soldiers. The officer in command ordered four of his
men to go and finish off nine wounded who were lying in the barn. Each
one was shot in the ear. Mme. Houillon begged mercy for them, and the
officer, placing the barrel of his revolver to her breast, told her to
be silent.

On the 25th of August the Abbe Denis, cure of Remereville, tended in
the evening Lieut. Toussaint, who last July headed the list of
candidates who left the School of Forestry. As he fell wounded on the
battlefield this young officer was struck with bayonets by all the
Germans who passed near him. His body was covered with wounds from
head to foot.

At the hospital at Nancy we saw the soldier Voyer of the --th Infantry
Regiment, who still bore traces of German barbarity, having been badly
wounded in the backbone outside the Forest of Champenoux on the 24th
of August, and paralyzed in both legs as the result of his wound. He
was lying on his face when a German soldier turned him over brutally
with his gun and hit him three times on the head with the butt of his
rifle. Other soldiers passing by kicked him and hit him also with the
butts of their guns. Finally one of them with a single blow caused a
wound of about three or four centimeters under each eye with what Dr.
Weiss, head doctor and Professor of Faculty at Nancy, thinks must have
been a pair of scissors.

A hussar who was treated by the same doctor relates that, having
fractured his leg falling off his horse, and being unable to extricate
himself, he was assaulted by Uhlans, who stole his watch and chain
after having taken his carbine and shot him in the eye with it.

Seven French soldiers, also treated by Dr. Weiss, told him that they
had seen the enemy finish off the wounded on the battlefield. As they
had feigned death to escape massacre, the Germans belabored them with
the butts of their guns to see if they were still alive.

In the same hospital a German soldier wounded in the stomach told Dr.
Rohmer that his wound had been caused by a revolver shot fired by his
own officer because he had refused to finish off a French wounded
soldier. Again, another German, wounded in the back, the result of a
shot fired point-blank, told Dr. Weiss that a soldier had fired at him
by order of an officer to punish him for having carried into a village
near the battlefield several French wounded soldiers.

On the 25th of August, at Einvaux, the Germans fired at a distance of
300 yards at Dr. Millet, army doctor, belonging to the --th Colonial
Regiment, just as, together with two stretcher bearers, he was
attending to a man lying on a stretcher. As his left side was turned
toward them, the enemy could perfectly see his brassard. And,
furthermore, they could not mistake the nature of the work upon which
these three men were engaged.

On the same day Capt. Perraud of the same regiment, having noticed
that the soldiers of a section of men upon whom his mitrailleuses were
firing were wearing red trousers, ordered the firing to cease.
Immediately this section fired on him and on his men. They were
Germans in disguise.

Believe us, &c.,

G. PAYELLE, President.
ARMAND MOLLARD.
G. MARINGER.
PAILLOT, Rapporteur.

Paris, Dec. 17, 1914.

A FRENCH MAYOR'S PUNISHMENT.

[By The Associated Press.]

Nancy, (via Paris,) Jan. 30.--The Mayor of a large township in the
vicinity of Nancy has been suspended from office for a fortnight for
shooting at a German aeroplane as it was flying over his town.

In taking this measure the authorities of Nancy held that a civilian
had no right to act as a combatant, as by so doing he only brought
upon the heads of the civilian population severe reprisals.

We Will Fight to the End

By Premier Viviani of France.

_Premier Viviani recently delivered to Parliament an address upon the
war which attracted worldwide attention. Viviani served notice on
Germany and Austria that France will not lay down her arms until she
and her allies have won such a victory that they can dictate terms.
Premier Viviani's speech was delivered by himself in the Chamber of
Deputies on Dec. 22, while on the same day the speech was read in the
Senate by M. Briand, Minister of Justice. It is as follows:_

Gentlemen: This is not the usual communication in which a Government
presenting itself for the first time before Parliament sets forth its
policy. Just now there is only one policy--a relentless fight until we
attain definite freedom for Europe by gaining a victory which shall
guarantee peace.

Gentlemen, that was the cry uttered by all when, in the sitting of
Aug. 4, a sacred union arose, as the President of the Republic has so
well said, which will throughout history remain an honor to the
country. It is the cry which all Frenchmen will repeat after having
put an end to the disagreements that have so often embittered our
hearts and which a blind enemy took for irremediable division. It is
the cry that rises from the glorious trenches into which France has
thrown all her youth, all her manhood.

Before this unexpected uprising of national feeling, Germany has been
troubled in the intoxication of her dream of victory. On the first day
of the conflict she denied right, appealed to force, flouted history,
and, in order to violate the neutrality of Belgium and to invade
France, invoked the law of self-interest alone.

Since then her Government, learning that it had to reckon with the
opinion of the world, has recently attempted to put her conduct in a
better light by trying to throw the responsibility for the war upon
the Allies. But through all the gross falsehoods, which fail to
deceive even the most credulous, the truth has become apparent.

All the documents published by the nations interested, and the
remarkable speech made the other day at Rome by one of the most
illustrious representatives of the noble Italian Nation, demonstrate
that for a long time our enemy has intended a coup de force. If it
were necessary, a single one of these documents would suffice to
enlighten the world.

When, on July 31, 1914, at the suggestion of the English Government
all the nations concerned were asked to suspend their military
preparations and enter into negotiations in London, France and Russia
adhered to this proposal. But Germany precipitated matters. She
declared war on Russia on Aug. 1, and made an appeal to arms
inevitable. And if Germany by her diplomacy killed the germ of peace
it is because for more than forty years she had untiringly pursued her
aim, which was to crush France in order to achieve the enslavement of
the world.

All the revelations are brought before the tribunal of history, where
corruption has no place, and as France and her allies, despite their
attachment to peace, have been obliged to endure war they will pursue
it to the uttermost.

Faithful to the signature which she attached to the treaty of Sept. 4,
1914, and by which she engaged her honor, that is to say, her life,
France, in accord with her allies, will not lay down her arms until
she has avenged outraged right and regained forever the provinces
which were torn from her by force, restored heroic Belgium to the
fullness of her material prosperity and political independence, and
broken Prussian militarism so that the Allies may eventually
reconstruct a regenerated Europe founded upon justice and right.

We are not inspired, gentlemen, in this plan of war and of peace by
any presumptuous hope, for we have the certainty of success. We owe
this certitude to our army of all ranks and to our sailors, who,
joined to the British Navy, secure for us the control of the seas, and
to the troops who have repulsed in Morocco incessant aggressions.

We owe it also to the soldiers who defend our flag in those far-off
French colonies, who from the very first outbreak of the war hastened
back with their tender solicitude for the mother country.

We owe it to our army, whose heroism has been guided by incomparable
leaders throughout the victory of the Marne, the victory of Flanders,
and in many fights, and we owe it to the nation, which has equaled
this heroism by a corresponding demonstration of silence and serenity
during the critical hours through which the country has passed.

Thus we have shown to the world that an organized democracy can serve
by its vigorous action the ideal of liberty and equality which
constitute its greatness. Thus we have shown to the world, to use the
words of our Commander in Chief, who is both a great soldier and a
noble citizen, that "the republic may well be proud of the army that
she has prepared." And thus, this impious war has brought out all the
virtues of our race, both those with which we were credited--of
initiative, elan, bravery, and fearlessness--and those which we were
not supposed to possess--endurance, patience, and stoicism.

Let us do honor to all these heroes. Glory to those who have fallen
before the victory, and to those also who through it will avenge them
tomorrow! A nation which can arouse such enthusiasm can never perish.

Sheltered by this heroism the nation has lived and labored, accepting
all the consequences of the war, and domestic tranquillity has never
been troubled.

The Minister of Finance has laid before you in a masterly statement
the financial situation and has explained the resources that we have
obtained from the issue of Treasury bonds and advances from the Bank
of France, which have enabled us to bear the expenditure imposed by
the war, so that we have not had any need to resort to a loan. The
Bank of France is in a position, thanks to its excellent condition, to
furnish resources to the Treasury and to aid in the resumption of the
economic life of the country.

Everything serves to demonstrate the vitality of France, the security
of her credit, the confidence which she inspires in all, despite the
war which is shaking and impoverishing the world. The state of her
finances is such that she can continue the war until the day when the
necessary reparation has been obtained.

Gentlemen, it is not sufficient for us to salute the victims who have
fallen on the field of battle. We must uncover also before the civil
non-combatants and innocent victims who up to now have been protected
by the laws of war, but whom, in order to terrify a nation which is
and will ever remain unshaken, the enemy either captured or massacred.
The Government has done its duty toward their families, but the debt
of the country is not yet discharged.

Under the force of invasion, departments have been occupied and the
ruins in them have accumulated. The Government solemnly undertakes
before you--it has already partly carried it out, and has asked for a
first credit of $70,000,000--that France will rebuild again those
ruins, and the carrying out of this work will certainly be borne in
mind in the indemnities which we shall exact.

The day of a definite victory has not yet come. Our task until then
will be heavy, and it may be long. Let us bring all our strength to
bear in the carrying out of this task. Our allies know that we will do
so, as well as the neutral nations, and it is in vain that a wild
campaign of false news has been set on foot. If Germany at the outset
pretended to have any doubt as to the attitude of France, she no
longer doubts.

Let Germany bear witness now that when the French Parliament reopened
after over four months of war, it has renewed before the world the
spectacle it offered on the day when, in the name of the nation, it
took up the challenge.

To conquer, heroism at the frontier will not suffice. It is necessary
also to have internal union. Let us continue to preserve this sacred
union from any blemish today, as in the past, and in the future. Let
us keep before our minds the one cry of victory, the vision of our
motherland, and the ideal of right.

That is what we are fighting for and what Belgium is still fighting
for, Belgium, who is giving to this ideal all the blood in her veins,
and what also unshakable England is fighting for, as also faithful
Russia, intrepid Servia, and the audacious Japanese Navy.

Nothing more sublime has ever presented itself before the eyes of men
than this struggle against barbarism and despotism, against a system
of provocation and continual threats, which Germany called peace,
against a system of murders and collective pillage, which Germany
called war, against the insolent hegemony of a military caste. France
with her allies has let loose the scourge of war against all these.
France the emancipator and avenger has sprung up at one bound.

That is the issue at stake. It goes beyond the life of the present
generation. Let us continue to have but one soul and one mind, and
tomorrow, when peace is restored and when our opinions, now
voluntarily enthralled, are again given their liberty, we will recall
with pride these tragic days, for they have tended to make us more
valiant and better men.

NUITS BLANCHES

By H.S. HASKINS.

_The diminishing of lights in Paris houses as a precaution
against a raid by the enemy's aeroplanes is the new
rule.--Cable Dispatch._

The gaslights cast a saffron glow,
The ghostly tapers sputter low,
The lampwicks smolder, dimly red.
(Beware the gray shapes overhead!)
Lock tight the windows, bar the door!
Have done with laughter, sing no more,
For fear lays hand upon the throat.
(Beneath the stars the airmen float.)
Hush, hush, my babe, lest fiends that fly
Shall come to still your hunger cry.
Let grief not speak its tale aloud!
(Black death is racing with a cloud.)
Through heav'n's eternal window panes,
Far, far above the swift air lanes,
God's starlight shines forever more.
(How restless glide the ships of war!)

Unconquered France

Story of Two Months' Combat with 2,000,000 Invaders.

[From the Bulletin Francais.]

Two million men were engaged on the German side in October
and November when the Kaiser's forces hammered at the
Allies' lines in an attempt to break through to Dunkirk and
Calais. Around Ypres alone the invaders' losses were more
than 120,000 men. These statements are made in a
semi-official account of the fighting in Flanders, which
takes up three pages of the Bulletin Francais, copies of
which reached THE NEW YORK TIMES on Jan. 11, 1915. As
translated, the article in the December Bulletin appears
below.

The hour has arrived when the balance of these last weeks can be
established and the results clearly seen. The formidable attempt by
the Germans, first to turn the left of ourselves and our allies, and
then, that having been prevented, to break through, has entirely
failed. By the effort the enemy tried to repair the defeats of the
Marne, and they have only added another check to the failure of
September.

Meanwhile, in order to invade our territory, according to their old
plans the Germans have neglected nothing. On the front that extends
from Lys to the sea they massed, in the beginning of October, fifteen
army corps, including four divisions of cavalry. Their army heads, the
Crown Prince of Bavaria, Gen. Deemling, the Duke of Wuerttemburg, have
multiplied their exhortations and appeals to the troops in the effort
to maintain the morale of their men.

We have found their orders on dead officers and prisoners, and always
they are the same. It is a question of "a decisive action against the
French left" or a question of "piercing the line at Dupres or Ypres,"
for, as one of these orders stated, "the decisive coup remains to be
struck, and to accomplish this the allied line must be pierced." This,
the orders stated, had to be accomplished at any price and in all
haste. They wanted a decision in the western theatre of war before
turning to the east.

Then the Emperor himself was with his troops, hoping to animate the
German soldiers with his presence. He announced to them that he would
be at Ypres on Nov. 1, and that was the date fixed for the annexation
of Belgium. In fact, everything had been taken into account, except,
of course, the victorious resistance of the allied armies.

To make possible this effective resistance it was necessary for the
Allies to oppose the enemy with a force which if not equal to theirs
was nevertheless sufficient for the purpose in view.

What was the situation at the beginning of Oct. 1? The Belgian Army
came out of Antwerp intact, but too exhausted to participate in the
actions then pending. The English Army had left the Aisne to operate
in the north. The army of Gen. de Castelnau did not extend on its left
south of Arras. The army of Gen. Maudhuy stretched out from that point
to the south of Lille. Further on were the territorial cavalry and the
marines. This was not a sufficient force to meet the German advance.

Gen. Joffre, the Commander in Chief, ordered Gen. Foch to the command
of the armies of the north. Reinforcements were sent him in the
ensuing three weeks, and during that period the rail and automobile
services operated day and night, hurrying up reinforcements. They
arrived on time by divisions and by corps, every man being animated by
an admirable spirit.

About Oct. 20 our battle line was from Nieuport to Dixmude, between
which places one of our divisions and the marines held the railroad.
Meanwhile, just back of them, the Belgian Army was being reorganized.
South of Dixmude, and along the canal, our line stretched to the east,
forming before Ypres a vast half circle occupied by four French and
one British army corps. The line then descended toward the south of
Messines to Armientieres, forming two sections, the first held by the
English and the second by the French.

The German attack had as its object the seizure of Dunkirk, which was
necessary if Calais and Boulogne were to be reached. The purpose was
to envelop us and cut the British lines of communication to the sea.
All the heavy artillery was brought up from Antwerp and made ready for
use against the Allies. What happened?

On Nov. 3 the attack was made and repulsed, crushing the enemy, who
had managed to gain the left bank of the river. We then pushed the
German rear guard into the water, and to this day German cannon and
the carcasses of their animals can be seen half buried in the water
and mud.

Finding it impossible to turn our left, the enemy tried to break
through our lines. This was the battle of Ypres, a furious and savage
struggle, with the German commanders hurling their organizations in
enormous masses, regardless of the life of their men, sacrificing all
for the end they hoped to attain.

This end was not attained. During the following three weeks we
suffered and withstood their repeated and frantic attacks. All these
attacks were repulsed, and this despite the fact that our front, with
its circular form, was not easy to maintain.

In these actions about Ypres the armies of France and England worked
in the closest union, and this union, in which co-operation was so
splendidly maintained, is worthy to be recorded on the brightest pages
of military history.

On Nov. 12 the Germans were successful to the north of Ypres and
crossed the canal in two places. A day passed and they were thrown
back to the other side. On the 12th also they gained a little ground
south of Ypres, but this loss was quickly regained, and by the 15th
their attacks had become fewer and our position by then was
practically impregnable.

Subsequent actions by the Germans were likewise repulsed, and in these
encounters we were brilliantly supported by our Allies. These actions
have sealed the fraternity of the allied troops, and the energy of our
resistance has likewise encouraged and strengthened the confidence of
the Belgians.

The losses of the Germans certainly exceed 120,000 men. In certain
trenches of 1,200 meters length as many as 2,000 bodies have been
found, and this is impressive when we take into consideration that the
Germans take advantage of every opportunity to remove their dead from
the fields of battle. These great losses explain the recent formation
of new army corps in Germany.

The numerous artillery commands that we have put in action south of
Ypres have opened great chasms in the German masses. All this marks
the importance of our successes, and significance is added by the fact
that the Germans have always regarded the taking of Ypres as one of
the decisive features of the campaign.

If Dunkirk, Calais, and Boulogne had been taken, England would have
found her lines of communication with her armies in France gravely
endangered. In maintaining her lines from the sea to Arras we have
obtained at the same time the best guarantee against the return of the
enemy to Paris.

To measure the extent of the allied successes we must compare the line
occupied by our left and the German right at the beginning of
September and since the middle of November. When we consider this, it
is plain that our successes were not temporary, but have been a
constant progress, rendering vain the attacks of the Germans.

It has been demonstrated by facts that Gen. Joffre has read the plans
of the German commanders and is ready for them everywhere and always.
As for the allied troops, they have gained the qualities they perhaps
lacked most in the beginning, particularly as regards rapid
organization for the defensive and the digging of trenches. Today our
troops are as expert in trench work as are the soldiers of the enemy.

France remains unconquered. Since Sept. 6 she has registered only
successes, in spite of the massing against her of fifty German army
corps. These fifty German corps, it must be said, and said again, for
such is the truth, are still facing us. Fifteen German army corps and
the whole of the Austrian force are facing Russia. Yet the formidable
mass which assails us has not made us flinch in any part of our line,
and in many cases our enemy has drawn back under the weight of the
Allies' efforts.

Four Months of War

[From the Official Bulletin des Armees, Dec. 6, 1914.]

The Bulletin des Armees, the newspaper published by the
French Government for the soldiers at the front, in the
issue of Dec. 6, 1914, contains an article bearing the
title, "Four Months of War," which is a summary account of
the events that have taken place since the outbreak of
hostilities. This document estimates as fifty-two army corps
and ten cavalry divisions the military forces which Germany
hurled against France. In a chapter entitled "Our Reverses
in August," it sums up the events that preceded the battle
of the Marne, as presented below.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27