chapter xv

the ill-treatment of british wounded

i returned from louvain by military train. this one had had a most adventurous journey before it reached louvain. it had left cambrai in north france three days before, always going slowly and making long stops, to spare the seriously wounded at least a little. i estimated that in my train over 2,000 wounded had been loaded in a long, dismal procession of wagons. most of them had not had their bandages renewed for a fortnight, and were still wearing the first emergency dressing; all came from the neighbourhood of arras.

a little to the north of this town many had been lying wounded in the trenches for over eight days, without being able to get their wounds bandaged. they had to admit the success of the french field artillery, which produced a most serious effect.

the germans all agreed that their right wing lacked artillery. the german soldiers who fell there were all killed in their trenches by the falling bombs, there was not sufficient field artillery to answer this murderous fire efficiently, and they could not do anything with their rifles against the218 invisible enemy. the artillery fire of the french was most serious from the 1st to the 4th of october, and during those days the german trenches must have been a real hell. on october 4th a general "sauve qui peut" began from the trenches.

but the shell-fire of the french overtook them then, as they were retreating, while many others were killed by bombs from french aeroplanes, which were in action in great numbers. the retreat had not stopped before the germans arrived in cambray, where the thousands of wounded could at last be put in long trains and sent to aix-la-chapelle. a great many bombs from aeroplanes also hit these trains and killed a great many; my own train was everywhere pierced by fragments of those bombs. within the carriages it was unendurable; the wounded men and their malodorous bandages had occupied them such a long time that the atmosphere was simply insupportable. happily there was a corridor, where i stood all the time, with the little girl, in the company of some german military men who were sent home, not on account of wounds, but because of internal complaints.

very slowly the huge monster sauntered along, stopping and waiting everywhere to allow long trains with fresh troops to pass. these came straight from germany, with the youngest levies and volunteers who had just finished their drill. these had decorated their trains all over with green boughs and outside painted all sorts of caricatures, from which especially king george had to suffer much. then one read "to paris, to england," and similar hopeful devices.

219

when their train approached ours they looked out of the windows, or opened the doors, and waved and greeted and shouted at the top of their voices.

but as soon as these "tender-foots" came alongside our train and were not met with the same impetuous enthusiasm as they displayed themselves, but, on the contrary, saw sick, discouraged, exhausted faces gazing at them distressedly, their boisterousness suddenly extinguished, and a nervous, terrified expression pursed up their mouths. and the trains were already at some distance from each other before the young soldiers remembered that they ought to shout and to wave to those who had already done so much for the fatherland.

we arrived at landen, a place between tirlemont and waremme, where we had a stop of forty minutes, in order to feed the wounded. soup was served from large washing-tubs, and i and my small companion were also offered some of this soldiers' food. when i had finished my meal, and walked up and down the platform in order to stretch my legs, my attention was drawn to an uproar in front of one of the last wagons. i went there, and shall not forget what i saw as long as i live; i wish that i had never seen it.

amongst some frenchmen, three british soldiers, seriously wounded, were lying on some straw. they looked distressed, and i thought that their condition was critical. i was told that these men had not had any food for five days, and now there stood in front of the open wagon doors two to three hundred german soldiers, partly slightly wounded, who were well able to walk, partly german soldiers of the220 landen garrison, who had been told off for distributing the soup. these two to three hundred men raged and jeered at those three unfortunate, heavily wounded british soldiers, who had not eaten for five days, and lay groaning helplessly on some dirty straw in a cattle-truck. the steaming tubs with hot soup were shown them, and these germans shouted at them: "you want to eat, swine, swine; you ought to be killed! beat them to death!—beat them to death! here, that's what you ought to get!"

as they spoke these last words they aimed their rifles at the unfortunate, bleeding, helpless, and hungry creatures. others spat on their clothes and in their faces, and the enraged germans foamed at the mouth.

with weak eyes, eyes telling of approaching death, one of them gazed at these cruel torturers, or looked hungrily at the steaming soup; the two others had turned their heads on one side and closed their eyes. but at last also the third turned off his head and closed his eyes, sighing and groaning. in the meantime the germans went on threatening them, blurting out all sorts of filthy abuse, spitting or threatening them with their rifles, while others were laughing and enjoying the helplessness of those three.

i stood still, dumb, aghast, unable to utter a word. then i went to a sergeant who was also looking on and laughing; and, trembling all over, i said:

"what is happening here is frightful; those men are also human beings, who had to do their duty as much as you!"

221

i couldn't say more, my voice stuck in my throat.

and what was his answer?

"what? do their duty? no, they are swine—paid swine; they get money for their dirty work, the swine!"

i did not answer. i could not. silently i looked a little longer at the beastly scene, only sorry that i was not a giant who, with one strong hand, might restrain the roughs, and refresh with the other the burning, feverish lips of the wretched men.

what distressed me most was that among those two to three hundred soldiers in front of that open cattle-truck was not one man who wanted to take the part of these unfortunate british; no, not one!

when i reported the occurrence in de tijd, i was fully conscious of the frightful accusation implied by my information; but i am prepared to confirm with the most sacred oaths that nothing in this accusation is untrue or exaggerated.

i was not afraid of an inquiry, but asked for it as a matter of fact, by writing in my report:—

"and if the german authorities intend to institute a serious and impartial inquiry, then i give them the following particulars:

"it happened at landen on friday, october 9th, in the train with wounded which arrived there from brussels at about noon, when food was being distributed."

the german authorities have indeed made inquiries about the matter; i shall deal with that in the next chapter.

what happened at landen made a very deep222 impression upon me; it shocked me more than all the terrible things which i had seen during the war and all the dangers which i went through. when the train went on again, and the soldiers began to speak to me once more, i was unable to utter a word and sat there musing.

before i witnessed this terrible event at landen some germans in the train had already told me that they simply killed the british whom they made prisoners. others assured me that such a thing did not happen in their division, but one asserted that by his company alone already twenty-six had been killed. i did not believe them then, and thought that they were better than they made themselves out, but after having witnessed that scene at landen ...!

one hour before the arrival at liège the engine of our train dashed into another, and got so badly damaged that all the water from our engine ran away. this caused a delay of another two hours, so that we did not arrive at liège before dusk, and could not think of reaching the netherlands that day.

i took the little amsterdam girl to my niece in the convent of the sisters of mercy, and went to an hotel myself. a german newspaper, bought at a bookstall, gave in gigantic type the information that antwerp might fall at any moment, and a recently posted bulletin brought the feared-for news. but the people of liège could not, and would not believe it.

i had expected it and believed the reports, but it hurt all the same. i had had intercourse with german soldiers almost exclusively; but that gave223 me a much better opportunity for observing their conduct, which roused in me a deep sympathy for the poor, oppressed belgian people. that was why i was so sorry to hear of the fall of antwerp, although i was not discouraged. right would triumph, and the day come when the belgian nation would shake off the foreign yoke of tyranny, and repair in peace and prosperity, under the sagacious rule of their king, what barbarians destroyed and pulled down.

the next day i got to the netherlands with my small protégée, after a tiring walk from herstal to eysden, where we could take the train to maastricht. here the father of the little girl came to meet his daughter, and took her to amsterdam, to her "mummy," of whom she had been speaking during the whole journey with so much longing.

only now did i hear what had happened to the village of lanaeken after i had seen the german preparations in tongres for action against the little belgian army that was still about in the north-eastern part of the country. the greater part of lanaeken had been destroyed by shelling, and of course a great many innocent victims had fallen in consequence.

by destroying the life and possessions of peaceful civilians the germans—who always boast so much about their military honour—gave unconscious expression to their awe of the fearless heroes who still stood their ground to the north of liège, whilst the germans were still besieging antwerp.

i have mentioned already that the german autho224rities had ordered a so-called inquiry about what happened at landen. as the result of this inquiry the press of all neutral countries had the following two official communications wired to them:—

"berlin, november 10th. (e. b.).—a correspondent of de tijd in amsterdam has told a number of details about the so-called bad treatment of british wounded at the station of landen, according to which the british had been left without food or drink, had been spit in their faces, and our soldiers were alleged to have aimed their rifles at them. the german government had instituted a thorough inquiry into this matter and publish the result: 'the entire allegation of the correspondent is untrue. none of the details is covered by the facts. the british have not been beaten nor pushed nor spit at, but on the contrary warm food was offered them, which was accepted by all except two. store-inspector huebner and the landwehr-soldier krueger have testified to this."

"berlin, november 10th. (w. b.) official.—the norddeutsche allgemeine zeitung writes: 'the daily newspaper, de tijd, issued at amsterdam, published on october 16th a report from a war correspondent at maastricht, in which he asserted that on october 9th a train in which more than two thousand wounded were transported, arrived at the station at landen in belgium between tirlemont and waremme. here it was said that a stop had taken place of forty minutes in which to provide the wounded with food. walking up and down the platform the reporter pretends to have seen two to three hundred german soldiers, slightly wounded men and men of the garrison of landen, furiously abuse three seriously wounded british, who were lying in one of the last carriages of the train. they showed mugs full of steaming soup to the hungry british, whom they left lying there miserable from starvation. they were also said to have aimed their rifles at them, laughing roughly, and to have spit on them.

"'these allegations of the reporter of de tijd caused the authorities to institute inquiries, and the following is now stated with regard to the alleged events:

225

"'on october 9th no train with two thousand wounded arrived at the station of landen, but only small transports whose number can be checked accurately by the lists of wounded. rioting by two to three hundred soldiers near a carriage could not take place, as the station guard was instructed to keep free a path along the train. there is, moreover, always an officer of the station-guard present, when a train with wounded leaves. it is impossible that the soldiers could have aimed their rifles at the british, as the men who get their food in the dining-hall, as also the serving military personnel, are always unarmed. other soldiers are not admitted to the station. the british have neither been beaten, nor stabbed, nor spit at; on the contrary plates full of hot soup have been offered them which were refused by two of them. this has been confirmed by the declarations of people who were present.'"

of course i did not withhold my answer, pilloried the hardly serious inquiry of the germans, and published immediately an extensive contradiction in de tijd. i quote the following from it:—

"only about a month after the publication of my story about what happened at landen, the german government and military authorities considered that the time had come to contradict it, after ordering an inquiry which in reality cannot be called an inquiry at all. from their communiqués it is clear that some soldiers were heard who probably were privy to the act, and in any case benefited by a denial of the villainy committed at landen. that is to say, men who were counsel in their own cause, and who were believed the sooner because their declarations were desirable for the support of german credit. but it does not appear from these communiqués that the german authorities also examined the wounded who were present, nor the two netherlanders who travelled by that train: the young miss de bruin, from amsterdam, and the present writer, as also the civilian witnesses at landen. in opposition to the evidence of stores-inspector huebner and the landwehr-soldier krueger, of226 which evidence it has not been stated that they gave it on oath, i declare myself prepared and willing, if a complete and impartial inquiry be instituted, to declare upon oath either to a properly qualified committee in the netherlands or in germany, or to a thereto-appointed arbiter, the following:

"'1. on friday, the ninth of october, at noon, i stopped at landen about forty minutes after arriving from louvain in a terribly long train of passenger carriages and goods vans, with approximately two thousand wounded. (this estimate may be wrong to the extent of a couple of hundred, but that does not matter.) during this time the wounded were fed.

"'i saw how two to three hundred german soldiers, part of them slightly wounded, who were well able to walk, partly soldiers of the landen garrison, who crowded about the open doors of one of the last wagons, raging and jeering against three seriously wounded british soldiers, about whom their french fellow-passengers told me that they had had nothing to eat for five days. the wounded were called "swine," were spit at, and some rifles were aimed at them. when i told a sergeant that it was a disgusting scene, he answered: "these british swine, they get paid for their filthy work." he alluded to the pay which the british volunteers receive because they enlist as mercenaries, britain having no compulsory general military service. before i witnessed this awful thing at landen, germans in the train had already told me that they simply killed any british whom they made prisoners. others said that such a thing did not happen in their division, but one man contended that by his company already twenty-six had been killed. i did not believe them, and thought that they were better than they pretended to be.

"'2. the soup had been offered to the british, but two refused to take it, says the german government. yes, it was offered these wretched people, but, as i have said already, the german soldiers kept the steaming soup before them, shouting at them: "you want to eat, you swine!—you swine! you ought to be killed! this is what you may have!" and as they said the latter they aimed their rifles at the unfortunate men, whilst others who were not armed lifted up their fists and threatened them, or spat at them.

227

"'in my report about the occurrence i had not even exposed in all its harshness the treatment dealt out to the french soldiers. for they too were not offered plates of soup, but only the mugs were filled, forming part of their equipment. and there were many who put out these mugs as if supplicating to have them filled once more; as that was not done they constantly put the empty mug to their mouth to try and lick off any remaining drops that might have stuck to its side. some germans said: "yes, the french may have something, for they are soldiers, but those three there, well, they are paid swine."

"'3. i published the facts and insisted upon an impartial inquiry, in order to prevent, if possible, that only guilty soldiers should be heard should a complaint about the occurrence be lodged with the highest military authority.

"'instead of facing such an impartial inquiry with an examination of all available witnesses and punishment of the guilty, the german government finds the courage only to call me, a month after the event, "a liar," and the whole story a fairy-tale!

"'if the german government had come somewhat earlier with their contradiction, it might have been possible to cite another witness, for—i have not reported that at first—among those who were present there was a civilian, an inhabitant of landen, who also looked with anger at the cruel scene, and expressed his indignation when he could no longer restrain himself. but then there was a general outcry of:

"'"what is this civilian doing here?" the young man could not explain his presence satisfactorily, and a couple of soldiers got hold of him, and, in the literal sense of the word, threw him away. when he waited at a short distance a little longer, with an angry face, one of the soldiers ran at him, threatening him with his bayonet. i might have been able to find that young man at the time, but now, a month later, this will be much more difficult. there was also another group of civilians packed as densely as herrings in a cattle-truck on another line; they must have seen the beastly occurrence as well.

"'i might quote another small detail. before the train228 arrived at landen i had had a very pleasant chat in the corridor with a german soldier, who seemed tolerably humane and civilised, even in his talk. after the departure from landen i again got into conversation with him, and did not fail to express my indignation; and then he gave me the following reply: "oh well, one must think of the position of our soldiers, who have been for days in the trenches under the murderous fire of the enemy. later on they will themselves repent for what has happened." perhaps the german government may be able to discover who that soldier is, if i add that he went home for good because he was suffering from heart-disease.

"'and then there is something else. the brakesman of the wagon in which i travelled was a man who had enlisted only a couple of weeks ago as a volunteer for the service on the railways, and, if i remember correctly, hailed from hamburg. he belonged to a trades union which had already once made a trip to amsterdam and rotterdam, and was for instance able to tell me that krasnapolsky at amsterdam was a large hotel. i also spoke to that man about what had happened, because i thought i had noticed that he was more human, but he too gave me the cynical answer: "oh well, the french may have something to eat, they fight also for their country, but not those british, they only fight because that is their profession."

"'4. with regard to the arms of the german soldiers, it is true that the wounded men had none with them, but i have distinctly stated that the crowd consisted of soldiers who belonged to the lightly wounded and of soldiers belonging to the landen garrison. these latter had been told off to guard the station and the platforms and maintain order. it is possible that they had also to prevent the wounded from moving about on the platforms, but in that case they did not stick to their task, because everybody was free to go where he liked, and i myself did the same. that these guards did not guard anything at all at the moment is proved by the fact that the above-mentioned civilian was able to come near the riot, although he had to pass a number of platforms. that the soldiers belonged to the landen garrison229 and had to do sentry-go is proved by the fact that they had their bayonets on their rifles.

"'finally, the contention that no riot could have taken place because the soldiers were fed in the dining-hall is entirely incorrect. that dining-hall was nothing but a shed entirely open at the front, in which there were a few seats. there the slightly wounded soldiers were fed first, and when they had supplied those, food was taken to the seriously wounded, who had to stop in the train, as also to myself and my little companion. the slightly wounded and the soldiers of the guard walked off with the distributors of the soup along the train in order to have a chat with their comrades in it. in that way they also came to the british when the wagon-door had been opened. it will be evident that i observed closely and retained in my memory all that had happened there and in the neighbourhood.

"'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.

230

"'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:—

"our editor has moreover interviewed young miss antoinette de bruijn here, whom our correspondent brought from louvain to maastricht. in the presence of her mother she told how she had been in a train full of wounded, that there were armed soldiers on the platform, and that some wounded soldiers had been teased by offering them steaming soup which was not given to them. the father of this girl, mr. de bruijn, also assured us that when he met his daughter at maastricht, our correspondent, mr. mokveld, was still very much under the impression of what he had witnessed."

my contradiction became known in germany, and it was an eye-opener to a great many people231 there. the editor of de tijd received many letters from that country, and printed some of them with the name of the writer added. from these it seems that even there it was acknowledged in some circles that the german inquiry had been extremely one-sided, and that it would have been wiser to admit what had happened at landen, and punish the culprits.

the only purpose of my publication was to convince everybody of this, and thereby prevent the repetition of such a scandalous scene.