instances have set fire to farmhouses and farm buildings. Here, however, the plea of military necessity can more safely be alleged. A farmhouse may afford convenient shelter to an enemy, and where such use is probable it may be urged that the destruction of the buildings is justifiable. It is clearly, however, the duty of the soldiers who destroy the buildings to give reasonable warning to the occupants so that they may escape. Doubtless this was in many cases done by the German commanders, but there is testimony that in some cases the burning of the farmhouse was accompanied by the murder of the inhabitants.

The same fact stands out clearly in the more extensive burning of houses in towns and villages. In some cases, indeed, as a prelude to the burning, inhabitants were cleared out of their houses and driven along the streets, often with much accompanying brutality-some to a place of execution, others to prolonged detention in a church or other public buildings. In other cases witnesses assert that they saw German soldiers forcing back into the flames men, women, and children who were trying to escape from the burning houses. There is also evidence that soldiers deliberately shot down civilians as they fled from the fire.

The general conclusion is that the burning and destruction of property which took place was only in a very small minority of cases justified by military necessity, and that even then the destruction was seldom accompanied by that care for the lives of noncombatants which has hitherto been expected from a military commander belonging to a civilized nation. On the contrary, it is plain that in many cases German officers and soldiers deliberately added to the sufferings of the unfortunate people whose property they were destroying. OFFENSES AGAINST COMBATANTS.

(a) The Killing of the Wounded and of Prisoners.

In dealing with the treatment of the wounded and of prisoners and the cases in which the former appear to have been killed when helpless, and the latter at,

or after, the moment of capture, we are met by some peculiar difficulties, because such acts may not in all cases be deliberate and cold-blooded violations of the usages of war. Soldiers who are advancing over a spot where the wounded have fallen may conceivably think that some of these lying prostrate are shamming dead, or, at any rate, are so slightly wounded as to be able to attack or to fire from behind when the advancing force has passed, and thus they may be led into killing those whom they would otherwise have spared. There will also be instances in which men intoxicated with the frenzy of battle slay even those whom on reflection they might have seen to be incapable of further harming them. The same kind of fury may vent itself on persons who are already surrendering, and even a soldier who is usually self-controlled or humane may, in the heat of the moment, go on killing, especially in a general mêlée, those who were offering to surrender. This is most likely to happen when such a soldier has been incensed by an act of treachery or is stirred to revenge by the death of a comrade to whom he is attached. Some cases of this kind appear in the evidence. Such things happen in a'l wars as isolated instances, and the circumstances may be pleaded in extenuation of acts otherwise shocking. We have made due allowance for these considerations and have rejected those cases in which there is a reasonable doubt as to whether those who killed the wounded knew that the latter were completely disabled. Nevertheless, after making all allowances, there remain certain instances in which it is clear that quarter was refused to persons desiring to surrender when it ought to have been given, or that persons already so wounded as to be incapable of fighting further were wantonly shot or bayoneted.

The cases to which references are given all present features generally similar, and in several of them men who had been left wounded in the trenches when a trench was carried by the enemy were found, when their comrades subsequently retook the trench, to have been slaughtered, although evidently helpless, or else

they would have escaped with the rest of the retreating force. For instance, a witness says:

"About Sept. 20 our regiment took part in an engagement with the Germans. After we had retired into our trenches, a few minutes after we got back into them, the Germans retired into their trenches. The distance between the trenches of the opposing forces was about 400 yards. I should say about fifty or sixty of our men had been left lying on the field from our trenches. After we got back to them I distinctly saw German soldiers come out of their trenches, go over the spots where our men were lying, and bayonet them. Some of our men were lying nearly half way between the trenches.'

Another says:

"The Germans advanced over the trenches of the headquarters trench, where I had been on guard for three days. When the Germans reached our wounded I saw their officer using his sword to cut them down."

Another witness says:

"Outside Ypres we were in trenches and were attacked, and had to retire until reinforced by other companies of the Royal Fusiliers. Then we took the trenches and found the wounded, between twenty and thirty, lying in the trenches with bayonet wounds, and some shot. Most of them, say three-quarters, had their throats cut."

In one case, given very circumstantially, a witness tells how a party of wounded British soldiers were left in a chalk pit, all very badly hurt, and quite unable to make resistance. One of them, an officer, held up his handkerchief as a white flag, and this

One

"attracted the attention of a party of about eight Germans. The Germans came to the edge of the pit. It was getting dusk, but the light was still good, and everything clearly discernible. of them, who appeared to be carrying no arms and who, at any rate, had no rifle, came a few feet down the slope into the chalk pit, within eight or ten yards of some of the wounded men.'

He looked at the men, laughed, and said something in German to the Germans who were waiting on the edge of the pit. Immediately one of them fired at the officer, then three or four of these ten soldiers were shot, then another officer, and the witness, and the rest of them.

"After an interval of some time I sat up and found that I was the only man of the ten who were living when the Germans came into the pit remaining alive and that all the rest were dead."

Another witness describes a painful case in which five soldiers, two Belgians and three French, were tied to trees by German soldiers apparently drunk, who stuck knives in their faces, pricked them with their bayonets, and ultimately shot them.

We have no evidence to show whether and in what cases orders proceeded from the officer in command to give no quarter, but there are some instances in which persons obviously desiring to surrender were, nevertheless, killed. (b) Firing on Hospitals or on the Red Cross Ambulances or Stretcher Bearers.

This subject may conveniently be divided into three subdivisions, namely, firing on

(1) Hospital buildings and other Red Cross establishments.

(2) Ambulances.

(3) Stretcher bearers.

Under the first and second categories there is obvious difficulty in proving intention, especially under the conditions of modern long-range artillery fire. A commanding officer's duty is to give strict orders to respect hospitals, ambulances, &c., and also to place Red Cross units as far away as possible from any legitimate line of fire. But with all care some accidents must happen, and many reported cases will be ambiguous. At the same time, when military observers have formed a distinct opinion that buildings and persons under the recognizable protection of the Red Cross were willfully fired upon, such opinions cannot be disregarded.

Between thirty and forty of the depositions submitted related to this offense. This number does not in itself seem so great as to be inconsistent with the possibility of accident.

In one case a Red Cross depôt was shelled on most days throughout the week. This is hardly reconcilable with the enemy's gunners having taken any care to avoid it.

There are other cases of conspicuous

hospitals being shelled, in the witnesses' opinion, purposely.

In one of these the witness, a Sergeant Major, makes a suggestion which appears plausible, namely, that the German gunners use any conspicuous building as a mark to verify their ranges rather than for the purpose of destruction. It would be quite according to the modern system of what German writers call Kriegsräson to hold that the convenience of range-finding is a sufficient military necessity to justify disregarding any immunity conferred on a building by the Red Cross or otherwise. In any case, artillery fire on a hospital at such a moderate range as about 1,000 yards can hardly be thought accidental.

(2) As to firing on ambulances, the evidence is more explicit.

In one case the witness is quite clear that the ambulances were aimed at.

In another case of firing at an ambulance train the range was quite short.

In another a Belgian Red Cross party is stated to have been ambushed.

On the whole we do not find proof of a general or systematic firing on hospitals or ambulances; but it is not possible to believe that much care was taken to avoid this.

(3) As to firing on stretcher bearers in the course of trench warfare, the testimony is abundant, and the facts do not seem explicable by accident. It may be that sometimes the bearers were suspected of seeing too much; and it is plain from the general military policy of the German armies that very slight suspicion would be acted on in case of doubt.

(c) Abuse of the Red Cross and of the White Flag.

THE RED CROSS.

Cases of the Red Cross being abused are much more definite.

There are several accounts of fire being opened, sometimes at very short range, by machine guns which had been disguised in a German Red Cross ambulance or car. This was aggravated in one case near Tirlemont by the German soldiers wearing Belgian uniforms.

Witness speaks also of a stretcher

party with the Red Cross being used to cover an attack and of a German Red Cross man working a machine gun.

There is also a well-attested case of a Red Cross motor car being used to carry ammunition under command of officers.

Unless all these statements are willfully false, which the committee sees no reason to believe, these acts must have been deliberate, and it does not seem possible that a Red Cross car could be equipped with a machine gun by soldiers acting without orders. There is also one case of firing from a cottage where the Red Cross flag was flying, and this could not be accidental.

On the whole, there is distinct evidence of the Red Cross having been deliberately misused for offensive purposes, and seemingly under orders, on some, though not many, occasions.

It

ABUSE OF THE WHITE FLAG. Cases of this kind are numerous. is possible that a small group of men may show a white flag without authority from any proper officer, in which case their action is, of course, not binding on the rest of the platoon or other unit. But this will not apply to the case of a whole unit advancing as if to surrender, or letting the other side advance to receive the pretended surrender, and then opening fire. Under this head we find many depositions by British soldiers and several by officers. In some cases the firing was from a machine gun brought up under cover of the white flag.

The depositions taken by Professor Morgan in France strongly corroborate the evidence collected in this country.

The case numbered h 70 may be noted as very clearly stated. The Germans, who had "put up a white flag on a lance and ceased fire," and thereby induced a company to advance in order to take them prisoners, "dropped the white flag and opened fire at a distance of 100 yards.' This was near Nesle, on Sept. 6, 1914. It seems clearly proved that in some divisions at least of the German Army this practice is very common. The incidents as reported cannot

be explained by unauthorized surrenders of small groups.

There is, in our opinion, sufficient evidence that these offenses have been frequent, deliberate, and in many cases committed by whole units under orders. All the acts mentioned in this part of the report are in contravention of The Hague Convention, signed by the great powers, including France, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States, in 1907, as may be seen by a reference to Appendix D, in which the provisions of that convention relating to the conduct of war on land are set forth.

deed part of a system of general terrorization.

(iv.) That the rules and usages of war were frequently broken, particularly by the using of civilians, including women and children, as a shield for advancing forces exposed to fire, to a less degree by killing the wounded and prisoners, and in the frequent abuse of the Red Cross and the white flag.

Sensible as they are of the gravity of these conclusions the committee conceive that they would be doing less than their duty if they failed to record them as fully established by the evidence. Murder, lust, and pillage prevailed over many parts of Belgium on a scale unparalleled in any war between civilized nations during the last three centuries.

Our function is ended when we have stated what the evidence establishes, but we may be permitted to express our belief that these disclosures will not have been made in vain if they touch and rouse the conscience of mankind, and we venture to hope that as soon as the present war is over the nations of the world in council will consider what means can be provided and sanctions devised to prevent the recurrence of such horrors as our generation is now witnessing.

We are, &c.,

BRYCE,

F. POLLOCK,

EDWARD CLARKE,
KENELM E. DIGBY,
ALFRED HOPKINSON,
H. A. L. FISHER,
HAROLD COX.

April 1-Russians take up lively offensive in Central Poland, seeking to prevent reinforcements being sent to the Carpathians; they halt a raid from Bukowina; Austrians drive back Russians near Inowlodz, on the Pilica River; Germans check night attempt of Russians to cross the Rawka River; German bombardment of Ossowetz has been abandoned; cold weather is favoring German operations in East Prussia; German Headquarters Staff reports that in March the German Eastern army took 55,800 Russian prisoners, 9 cannon, and 61 machine guns. April 2-Russians take the offensive along their whole front from the Baltic Sea to Rumanian border; they are reported to be concentrating an enormous force on the coast of Finland to prevent any attempt at a German landing; Germans in Poland are being pushed back to the East Prussian border; Russians capture another strongly fortified ridge in the Carpathians, scaling ice-covered hills to do it; vast bodies of Russian cavalry are held in readiness for a sweep across the plains of Hungary; main Austrian Army in Bukowina is falling back; Russians now stand upon last heights of the main chain of Beskid Mountains; Austrians repulse Russian attacks east of Beskid Pass; Russians drive back Germans to the east of Pilwiszka; Austrians repulse Russian attacks between the Pruth and Dniester Rivers.

are

April 3 Fighting in the Carpathians continues night and day along a forty-mile front; Russians are making gains and pressing Austrians hard; Germans pouring reinforcements into Hungary to support Austrians; Austrians gain in Bukowina; Austrians are trying to cut off Montenegro from all communication with the outside world and starve her into submission.

April 4-Austrians retreat from the Beskid region after Russian success; Austrians make progress in the Laborcza Valley; fighting has been going on for twentyfour continuous hours on both sides of the Dukla Pass; Germans repulse Russian attacks near Augustowo.

April 5-Russians continue to make steady progress in the Carpathians; they are now on the Hungarian side of both the Dukla and Lupkow Passes and are making advances on the heights which dominate Uzsok Pass; Russians gain in Bukowina and in North Poland.

April 6-Russians continue their great offensive in the Carpathians; Austrians are retreating at some points and burning their bridges behind them; Russians make progress in direction of Rostok Pass; German reinforcements are being rushed from Flanders to Austria via Munich; Austrian and German troops take strong Russian positions east of Laborcza Valley; Russians have been repulsed in an attempt to cross to the left bank of the Dniester River southwest of Uscie-Diekupie; Austrian artillery is bombarding Serbian towns on the Danube and the Save.

April 7-Russians continue offensive between the the River Toplia and Uzsok Pass region; Austrians take guns and war material on the heights east of the Laborcza Valley; Austrians bombard Belgrade: Austrians win ground along the River Pruth; Austrians are reported to have passed the Dniester and to be advancing on Kamenitz Podolsky, in Russian territory.

April -Russian advance in the Carpathians cuts one Austrian army in two; Russians capture Smolnik, east of Lupkow Pass; fierce fighting is going on in the mountain passes.

April 9 The whole southern slope of the Carpathians has been strongly fortified by the Austrians; twenty-four Austrian and six German army corps are stated to be now facing the Russians.

April 10-Russians begin attack on German forces which hold the hills from Uzsok Pass eastward to Beskid Pass; Russians make gains in the direction of Rostok; the general Russian offensive continues on the Niznia Destuszica - Volestate-Bukowecz line; in places in the Carpathians the Russians are progressing through seven feet of snow; Austro-German forces repulse a strong Russian attack in the Opor Valley.