The bombardment of towns, villages, and dwelling-houses is forbidden when these places have no military defence. If they have, bombardment is permitted, but under certain conditions. The commander who carries it on is bound to give notice beforehand to the enemy authorities, or at least to do everything he can to warn them. In the second place, bombardment must spare buildings dedicated1 to religion, science, and philanthropy, and also hospitals and centres for the sick and wounded, provided, of course—
(1) that these buildings have not been used for military purposes;
(2) that they are distinguished2 by some mark besiegers can see.
Consequently, the crimes which an army may commit, so far as bombardment is concerned, are as follows—
(1) bombardment of an undefended town or village.
(2) bombardment of a town or village without previous notice.
(3) bombardment of churches, monuments, scientific and charitable institutions, hospitals, ambulances.
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Undefended Towns bombarded by the Germans
The Germans committed all these crimes simultaneously3, but the least excusable and most cruel of all was the bombardment of towns which the enemy had evacuated5, and to which, therefore, he could render no further aid.
Three French towns and districts, Pont-à-Mousson, Douai, and Lille, met with this fate from artillery6 and aeroplanes.
Bombardment of Pont-à-Mousson
This began on the 11th August, continued the following day, then on the 14th August and finally became intermittent7. The firing on the town was resumed more than a hundred times. It was an open town, however, and the French army were not defending it, further than that the bridge over the Moselle had been put in a state of defence at the outbreak of hostilities8 by the 26th light infantry9 battalion10.
Moreover, the bombardment of Pont-à-Mousson took place without previous warning, and was not preceded by any notice, nor any occupation by the German troops, who did not even show themselves (on the 11th, 12th and 14th August) before the town. The operation was carried out by means of guns placed in concealment11 on the other side of the frontier. The firing was directed by an airship flying over the batteries.
Acts of this kind are the proof of a deliberate and premeditated desire to destroy and to terrorise. In this case destruction is here not the inevitable12 sequence to attack and defence, but an end pursued for its own sake in contravention and defiance13 of established laws.[57] Thanks to the signals given by the airship, the German batteries were able to damage the St. Martin quarter, on the right bank of the Moselle, and the site of the new hospital and the college. The hospital was flying the Red Cross flag, but was struck precisely14 for that very reason: a shell burst near the bed in which a wounded Saxon officer was under treatment. Fortunately, no one in the hospital was wounded, though not less than seventy shells struck the building during the 14th August. In the rest of the town forty people were killed and as many wounded. They were women and children.
Bombardment of Douai
Towards the end of the month of August the town of Douai served as a storehouse for numerous German troops. It was formerly15 occupied on the 1st October. The outrages17 which it suffered from the Germans on the 8th and 12th October were committed against a town which it was, in fact, impossible for the French to defend. On the 8th October a Taube bombarded Douai, throwing two bombs, which did little damage. On the 12th October a second Taube threw another bomb, which burst behind M. Mathieu’s house, in the Rue4 d’Hesdin, and killed a little girl named Briois, aged18 five years, who was closing the windows of a house.
Bombardment of Lille
On the 10th October, when the French were coming up to Lille, the Germans forcibly carried off M. Delesalle, mayor of the town; M. Ducastel, municipal councillor, and several other municipal officials. Then, when they had almost evacuated the town, they directed against it a furious bombardment, which began on the evening[58] of the 10th October and continued, with a short interval19, until the 12th October at 9 o’clock in the morning. The Rue Faidherbe was completely demolished21 and the end of the Rue de l’H?pital Militaire was terribly damaged. Many fires broke out in the Rues22 de Paris, du Mélinel and de Béthune. The town hall, the prefecture, the post office, the Palais des Beaux Arts were injured. The Kulmann and Wallaert works were burnt down. The Times correspondent stated that a bomb thrown by a Taube, near the prefecture, wounded a woman who was walking along, and killed by her side her little son, aged twelve years.
Let us repeat that this bombardment of Lille took place when the French were only coming up to the town and that the latter had not been completely evacuated by the Germans, who were, therefore, guilty of violation23 of the laws of war. It was the same with the bombardment carried on upon the 11th and 12th November. On this occasion also the allied24 troops were only coming up. More than 7000 shells fell on the town during the time the Germans remained there. The presence of the Germans is proved by one abominable25 detail. It is a fact that they had cut the water-pipes in order that the fires kindled26 by the bombardment could not be put out. A little later they were compelled to blow up houses with melinite to stop the fire which was spreading in all directions.
At the beginning of the month of December Lille had a total of 998 burnt houses. During the bombardment the College Saint-Joseph, which was flying a white flag as a signal that it should be spared, was struck by two shells.
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Bombardment of Belgrade
On account of its geographical27 situation the capital of Serbia was evacuated by Serbian troops. Only civilians28 remained and the Red Cross flag was hoisted29. Consequently the town was entitled to think itself immune from outrage16 and bombardment. Nothing of the kind was the case.
Belgrade was bombarded on the 28th and 30th July, then from the 16th to the 18th August, and finally on the 14th and 15th September. Several quarters of the town were burnt; many of the inhabitants were killed, amongst others two mental patients in a private asylum30.
As soon as a fire broke out, the places round the burning building were riddled31 with bullets, so that the residents could neither put out the fire nor localise it.
In the midst of all the turmoil32 the Serbian Government took care to lodge33 its complaint with the Powers, through their representatives.
Bombardments without Notice
We should not forget that the notice of bombardment required by the laws of war was impossible in more cases than one. Moreover, it is admitted that attacking troops are absolved34 from the charge of breach35 of these laws, when they do all they can to give warning. Besides, warning of bombardment is not always required to make an attacked town expect it. We could not, therefore, regard as a contravention of law all bombardments, without exception, which the Germans had made without giving notice. But, this said, can we allow to pass the circumstance that, of all these bombardments, only two, those of Antwerp and Reims, were preceded by the[60] necessary warning? German callousness36 and cruelty stand self-condemned by the fact that the proportion is so small. Add that the bombardment of Reims, started on the pretext37 that two German bearers of a flag of truce38, who had lost their way in the French lines, were not brought back quickly enough, was in itself a sheer outrage.
Towns bombarded behind the Lines
One kind of bombardment for which there is no excuse is that in which German aircraft engaged over towns and villages behind the enemy lines, out of the reach of German guns and sometimes even outside the theatre of war. It is certain that the intention to give oneself up to such acts absolutely precludes39 respect for open towns and for preliminary warnings. It is the proof of an absolute contempt for the laws of war, and of a fixed40 determination to act contrary to ordinary good sense.
The bombing of Paris, Antwerp (25th August to 2nd Sept.), Dunkirk, Warsaw—towns all of which were situated41, when the attack took place, out of the range of German cannon42, is an outrage of a special kind. No military object was in view, but merely a desire to terrorise the civil population. At Paris six people were killed and about thirty wounded: at Antwerp there were twelve people killed and twenty-five wounded; at Dunkirk about fifteen were killed and more than twenty wounded; at Warsaw 106 people were injured. All these victims—except at Warsaw, where among the people struck were nine soldiers—were civilians, for the most part women, children and old men. Hence we understand the indignation aroused among neutrals[61] by these bombardments, and the care which several nations took to protest against them.
The American Committee, founded by the United States ambassador in Paris, and consisting of the most influential44 Americans resident in Paris, was entrusted45 with the duty of keeping an eye upon the conduct of Germans on the outskirts46 of the French capital and above it. They were indignant at the deadly acts of the German aeroplanes in Paris, and dispatched a report on the subject. As for the throwing of bombs on Antwerp, the American newspapers denounced it and emphatically assigned it to its category. The World described this kind of attack as “murder, pure and simple”; “dynamite for children,” said the New York Herald47; the New York Times spoke48 of “crime against humanity”; and the Tribune energetically protested against the repetition of murder so blind, so purposeless and so unpardonable.
Bombardment of Malines and Lierre
When the Belgians took Malines again, on the 25th August, the Germans began to bombard it. This act can only be put down to a thirst for vengeance49. They made violent efforts to demolish20 it quarter by quarter by bursting shells. One shell struck a bakehouse and killed two workmen in it. The cathedral, the museum, the town hall, St. Peter’s Church, the magistrates’ court, and all the buildings round about the “Grand Place” were badly damaged, and the ministers of State of the Triple Entente50, who visited Malines on the 13th September, saw shells smashing in before their eyes the pro-cathedral of Saint-Rombaud, full of miracles of art, where Van Dyck’s “Christ upon the Cross” towered high above the tombs of the archbishops;[62] they witnessed also the destruction of the famous old carillon of the pro-cathedral, and the belfries of churches, convents and seminaries buried beneath the ruins (vide the photograph of one of the chapels52 of “Our Lady of Malines” after the Germans had passed by, in L’Illustration for the 3rd October).
What is left of Malines? A German journalist, war-correspondent of the Berliner Tageblatt, undertook to reply to this question, in a description, entitled Malines the Dead, of the town in the condition in which the German bombardment left it.
“Life has become extinct. The town is dead. The sixty thousand inhabitants have fled. The melancholy54 houses stand open. The streets are empty. German soldiers go up and down. In the Grand Place, the wool-market, the Place d’Egmont, at the railway station, soldiers are working in larger groups, but the ordinary residents are wanting.
“The emptiness and the havoc55 in these venerable-looking streets are so awful and so overwhelming that one’s breath is stopped and one recalls with terror the legend of towns that bore a curse upon them. What no one has ever seen, what Hoffmann and Edgar Poe have never dreamed of in their morbid56 visions, has here become a reality.
“In the midst of the town rises the cathedral, a Gothic building of gigantic size. The tower, 100 metres high, bounds the horizon on the west. At the top, at a height which makes the brain reel, four dials, fourteen metres in diameter, are twisted and riddled with bullets. Shells have hollowed out seven holes in the wall.”
Lierre, a town of 26,000 inhabitants, was, like Malines, pitilessly bombarded towards the end of September.
When the cannonade began the inhabitants concealed[63] themselves in cellars, but shortly afterwards they fled. Several among them took refuge in Antwerp. Many houses in the town were destroyed and a certain number of people were wounded. A shell even struck a hospital and killed nine persons.
Bombardment of Mars-la-Tour
The village of Mars-la-Tour, in Lorraine, was bombarded by the Germans on the 16th August, the anniversary of the battle which took place in 1870. They cannonaded the memorial church, Abbé Faller’s Musée patriotique, and the monument to commemorate57 the battle of 1870. The bombardment lasted a full hour, and took place with mathematical regularity58. Only one house was damaged, which proves that the buildings mentioned were the carefully chosen target of the German guns; two persons, an old mechanic and a woman, were fatally injured. The other inhabitants took refuge in the cellars.
Bombardment of étain
On the 24th August, at one o’clock in the afternoon, the bombardment of étain began. Suspended for some hours, it began again at nearly eleven p.m. and lasted until two a.m. The results were frightful59. The next morning half the town was in ashes; the other half was falling into ruins. The Red Cross hospital in particular was aimed at. The first shell struck down the white flag, while Dr. Proust was operating on the wounded: the latter had to be hidden away in the cellars, whence they were driven to Verdun (Report of Mme. Paul, President of the Committee of the Association des Dames60 Fran?aises at étain).
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Bombardment of Albert
The bombardment of Albert took place on the 30th August. We may judge how violent it was from a photograph of the ruins which appeared in L’Illustration for the 10th October. Whole streets disappeared, and the whole Place d’Armes was demolished: the Germans made a target of Notre Dame61 de Brébières, the basilica which the inhabitants call the Lourdes of the North, and to which so many pilgrimages make their way each year. This church was completely ruined by the sacrilegious fire expressly aimed at it, and the Statue of the Miraculous62 Virgin63 which crowned it is to-day thrown down and lies upon the ground. All around there is nothing but building material that has fallen in, half-burnt beams, charred64 walls, houses without roofs, broken tiles, doors broken in, cut up by grapeshot.
Bombardment of Nancy
The French Commission of Inquiry65, in its report, published in the Journal Officiel of the 8th January, 1914, states that the capital of Lorraine was bombarded “without previous warning during the night of the 9th to 10th September. About sixty shells (continues this report) fell on the central and southern-cemetery66 districts—that is to say, on places where there is no military defence. Three men, a young woman, and a little girl were killed, thirty people were wounded, and serious damage was done.”
“Enemy airmen flew over the town twice. On the 4th September one of them threw two bombs, one of which killed a man and a little girl, and wounded six people on the ‘Place de la Cathédrale.’ On the 13th October three bombs were thrown on the goods station.[65] Four employees of the Eastern Railway Company were wounded.”
First Bombardment of Reims
The story of the first bombardment of Reims was told in the Temps of the 26th October by M. Henriot, who had the opportunity of interviewing an influential resident in the town.
On the 4th September, whilst Zimmer, head of the German Stores Department, was negotiating the terms of a levy67 to be paid by the village, a shell, says M. Henriot, burst hard by.
“What was that explosion?” cried the German. “You know you have no right to destroy anything.” He thought that the French were blowing up some outwork. Another shell disabused68 him. Then he thought the French had begun to fire on the town in order to drive the Germans. The local people undeceived him. One of them ran out to the Place and brought back a fragment of shell, which the commissary was compelled to admit was a German missile. Then he was seen to grow pale, nor could he understand how his own troops should engage in such an attack. The white flag was hoisted on one of the belfries of the cathedral: at the same time Zimmer sent a motor to give the order to cease firing. In the space of three-quarters of an hour there fell upon the town 200 shells, which struck Saint-Remi and Saint-André churches, broke down houses, and killed sixty people. That was the first bombardment of Reims, due, as was then believed, to a misunderstanding. Zimmer expressed his regrets for it, and cried in tones of wonder, “What a fine cathedral you have!”
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Second Bombardment of Reims (18th to 20th September)
The bombardment of the 4th September took place by order of General Bülow, as a reprisal70 for the disappearance71 of two bearers of a flag of truce, MM. Armim and Kimmer, who had been sent by him on the evening before to Reims. On account of these two worthies72, who, without fulfilling their mission, had lost their way in the French lines, the town found that it was threatened with the execution of ten hostages, with bombardment, and with a levy of 100 million francs. The second bombardment took place some days afterwards under circumstances of barbarism which will hold it up to the execration73 of the ages. In the past history of Europe there is nothing to compare with the destruction of the Cathedral of Reims, save that of the Acropolis of Athens by the Venetians. This cathedral was pitilessly bombarded for two days (18th to 20th September): the masterpiece of Gothic art, honoured by the coronation of the kings of France, where Jeanne d’Arc put the crown upon Charles VII in 1429, became the target of destructive shells, hurled74 by the Vandals.
The following is a faithful account of this event, telegraphed to the Daily Mail by the special correspondent of that paper—
“By artillery fire deliberately75 aimed at the Cathedral of Reims, the Germans set fire to and burnt the magnificent building, which was not merely the pride of the town, but an historic monument known and admired by the entire world. Of this jewel of architecture there remains76 only an empty shell, burnt and charred walls. The impression left by this act of hideous[67] vandalism will never leave the memory of those who have had an opportunity of seeing these ruins.
“The sight of flames devouring77 a wonder which took not less than 150 years to build, and which was respected throughout numberless wars which took place in this part of France, was one which both alarms and haunts the mind. It seemed as if one were present at an attack by some supernatural power, outside humanity: it was like the vision of a work of hell.
“The fire began between four and five o’clock on Saturday afternoon (19th September). All day shells fell in the town. A whole district of the town, 100 metres in extent, was devoured78 by the fire, and in the majority of streets only blazing houses and buildings were to be seen.
“Even on the evening before (18th September) some shells had accidentally struck the cathedral. On Saturday morning the German batteries of Nogent l’Abbesse, eight kilometres to the east of Reims, started aiming at the cathedral. Shells discharged regularly and without intermission made a breach in it. These huge blocks of stone, which had resisted the storms of several centuries, and might still have braved the assaults of time, sank with a fearful crash like the roll of thunder.
“At 4.30 the scaffolding on a part of the cathedral where repairs were going on took fire. In a moment this mass of woodwork and scaffolding began to blaze like straw. Sparks falling on the roof carried the fire to the old oak beams which support this part of the building. Soon the roofs of the naves80 and the transepts were nothing but a blazing brazier, and the flames darted81 out and licked the towers. One of the burning beams fell on a bed of straw which the Germans, as soon as they[68] occupied the town, had spread inside the cathedral to lay their wounded on. At once the confessionals, the chairs, and everything which happened to be inside the building took fire.
“I had left Paris at midday and I had made a detour82 round Meaux. I did not get as far as Reims until sundown. It was too late to enter the town, but from the hills which surround it, it was possible to get a still more impressive view of the town than what I should have been able to see in the streets themselves.
“From the gaping83 roof rose red fire and black smoke, and the reflection of the flames glanced upon the glasswork. At last the dead of night came on, but it was not undisturbed for long. At two o’clock in the morning the German batteries reopened fire. By day it is the smoke of the shell which calls attention to the explosion. By night the swift red flashes make a still more terrible spectacle.
“The dawn came, grey and gloomy with a cold rain, and when the shadows were dispelled84 and light at length glimmered85 through the dismal86 leaden-coloured clouds, which rose and brought the plain into view again, the sight of the ravaged87 city with its ruined cathedral, the walls of which smouldered among houses still in flames, was a spectacle so dismal that the sun in his course can have seen none more wretched in any quarter of the world.”
Damage to the Cathedral of Reims
According to the report of the Commission of Inquiry, which had as President the French Under-Secretary for Fine Arts, and whose task was to prepare official accounts of the damage done to the Reims Cathedral, the following were the results of the bombardment—
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“The cathedral was struck by about thirty projectiles88 which, by actually striking the building or by explosion, pulverised the stonework, smashed the glass, and set fire to everything inflammable.
“Projectiles, fragments of which struck the whole building, for the most part hit the upper part of the north tower, smashing the corner of a turret89, scraping the face of the tower, and pressing so hard upon the adjoining masonry90 as nearly to displace it; one of them carried away the upper support of a flying buttress91; another smashed the stonework of some bays sloping up to the tower; another broke up a staircase the steps of which had been cut; still another knocked down part of the balustrade of the principal fa?ade under the rose-window.
“The fire kindled by the shells caused the most serious damage; no vestige92 of roof is to be seen over the nave79, the transepts, the choir93, the apse, the aisles94: only some chapels kept their covering; but everything else was reduced to ashes, the woodwork, the slates96 consumed; everywhere lead melted and iron twisted.
“All this debris97 settled down beneath the vaulted98 roofs, which, although they evidently suffered by contact with the fire, were not broken in.
“On the other hand, the stonework close to the great gallery at the top of the walls, and of the circular galleries underneath100 the great glass work, was shattered and charred.
“The belfry was devoured by the flames. The bells, which fell on the lower roof without breaking it in, were partly melted; the louvre-boards were untouched. The flames started by the conflagration101, driven over the surfaces by the wind, completely defaced the stonework, throwing down not only some of the statues which[70] decorated the open entrance underneath this particular tower, but also the copings of the arches which rise above the door, crowned by a gable containing a representation of the Crucifixion. The damage extends to the pinnacles102 that rise above the buttresses104 as high as the gallery of kings.
“The right side of this portal was less damaged; the other portals were struck by fragments of shells.
“In the interior, where German wounded had been laid out on couches of straw, the fire splintered off the moulding at the bases of the pillars in the nave, setting fire to the tympana of the gates and even to the gates themselves. This fire destroyed the statues placed in the niches105 of the inner front, right and left of the door of the south entrance. Finally, all the glasswork was damaged by the explosion of projectiles and of splinters which passed through them; half of the upper rose-window and the open-work parts above the north and south entrances were denuded106 of their stained glass; the rose-window above the central entrance was only riddled.
“To sum up, the cathedral was disfigured in its outlines and in the details of its decoration; if its powerful construction has partly sustained the shock of the projectiles, its wonderful sculptures can never be replaced, and it will bear for ever the imprint107 of a vandalism beyond all imagination.”
“See also photographs of the burning cathedral in L’Illustration (10th October, 1914. These photographs are genuine historic documents. See also M. P. Gsell’s account in the Liberté of the 24th September and Mr. Bartlett’s in the Daily Telegraph, in L’Illustration of the 26th).”
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Other Results of the Second Bombardment of Reims (18th to 20th September)
The cathedral was not the only objective of the second bombardment. Not only were several houses also destroyed and several people killed, amongst others Dr. Jacquin, who lived next door to the mayor, but the Spanish consulate108 was bombarded, with the result that several neutral subjects met their death, a fact which was noted110 in a preceding chapter. The town hall, the musée, the sub-prefecture (historic monuments all of them) were almost wholly demolished. An auxiliary111 hospital of the Société des S?urs de l’Enfant-Jesus was also cannonaded, and five Red Cross nurses were killed and two others wounded at the bedside of the wounded whom they had under their care.
Fresh Bombardments of the Cathedral of Reims (20th to 27th November)
After the 20th September, and in spite of the universal indignation aroused by the outrage which they had committed, the Germans continued the bombardment of Reims without intermission. But it was not until the last days of the month of November that the cathedral suffered fresh damage.
On the 23rd November a shell struck and went right through a bell-turret in the south tower at the top; on the 27th another shell, falling between the south buttresses, burst on the vault99 of the aisle95. A third shell which fell on the vaults112 above the south apse, brought down a great deal of plaster in the church. A huge shell, which fell to the right of the cathedral, a little in front of the fa?ade, damaged three statues over the small entrance to the right which until then had escaped.[72] It was but one of many other calamities113 and one which completed the ruin of an historic monument. After the 20th November other shells destroyed a pinnacle103, a part of the upper gallery in the apse and a part of this gallery beside the Salle des Rois.
Of the archbishop’s palace and the musées there remain, in a word, only the walls.
As for the statues in the cathedral which appear unharmed, they are burnt right through and crumble114 away at the touch. The crime of the barbarians115 is complete.
The Bombardment of the Cathedral of Reims is Inexcusable
In the words of M. Delcassé, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the protest addressed by him to the governments of neutral states on the morning after the first bombardment, the Germans committed this crime “without being able to appeal even to the appearance of military necessity and for the mere43 lust53 of destruction.”
Nevertheless the Germans tried to justify116 it by alleging—
(1) That by means of strong entrenchments the French had made Reims the chief corner-stone of their defence, and thus forced Germans to attack the town by every means.
(2) That by the order of the German higher command, the cathedral was to be spared as long as the enemy did not utilise it to his own advantage; but in spite of the white flag which had been hoisted upon it from the 20th September, the Germans declared that there was on the cathedral towers[73] an observation post which assisted the operations of the French artillery.
(3) That as soon as this post was destroyed the German field artillery ceased firing.
(4) That only the roof of the cathedral was burnt, while the towers and the framework of the building were uninjured. (This statement goes back to the 21st September and emanates117 from the German chief headquarters.)
(5) Finally, that the fire was due to the scaffolding erected118 in front of the cathedral to carry out some repairs, and that when beams which had caught fire had fallen on the roof, the French had done nothing to put out the fire.
These several excuses are worthless—
(1) General Joffre has formally declared that “at no time did the military commandant of Reims place any observation post on the towers of the cathedral.”
(2) It was not on the 20th, but on the 4th September, on the day of the first bombardment of Reims by the Germans, that the white flag was hoisted on the cathedral.
(3) One wants to know to what moment the Germans assign the destruction of the alleged119 observation post on the cathedral. According to them, if this observation post had been destroyed they would have stopped the bombardment. Now, although for a long time every observation post had been made impossible, the fire still continued.
(4) The report, quoted above, of the Commission des Beaux Arts, refutes the German assertion about[74] the seriousness of the damage caused up to the evening of the 21st September.
(5) Do not let us forget to recall the fact that, ten days before the bombardment, the German censorship permitted the Frankfurter Zeitung (of the 8th September) to recommend respect for French cathedrals, “especially that of Reims, which is one of the finest in the world, which, since the Middle Ages, has been especially dear to Germans, since the master of Bamberg was inspired by the statues on its portals to design several of his figures, and which, like the other magnificent churches of France, must be respected and treated with veneration122 by the Germans, as was the case with their fathers in 1870.” However, the censorship did not prevent the appearance of the sinister123 warning, three days previously124, in the Berliner Tageblatt, in these words: “The western group of the Imperial Armies has already passed the second line of forts, except Reims, whose royal splendour, dating from the time of the white lily, will surely and soon crumble in the dust under the strokes of our 420 howitzers.”
The criminal responsibility of the commandant of the German forces has, therefore, been proved in this matter.
Public Opinion throughout the World roused to Indignation by the Bombardment of the Cathedral of Reims
It is difficult to describe the indignation roused throughout all countries of the civilised world by the bombardment of the cathedral of Reims. The newspapers of the whole planet were its living mouthpieces.
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In Italy a number of learned institutions sent protests, either to the French Embassy at Rome or directly to the German authorities.
The Association of Artists, especially, held a reunion, at which the most distinguished critics and artists of Italy were present, and which passed unanimously a resolution of protest.
The Giornale d’Italia, echoing the indignation of its country, declared that “this act destroyed all the ingenious and fertile excuses for Germany’s methods of war,” and that “no act of reparation could wipe out this act of purposeless barbarism, a crazy exhibition of wounded vanity and ruffled125 pride.”
In Greece the newspapers were unanimous in stigmatising German vandalism. Nea Hellas wrote: “In the name of art, in the name of the Parthenon half destroyed by the fire of the Venetian Morosini, Greece, the mother of civilised nations, appeals to belligerents126 to respect treasures of art, and asks the Germans to cease to dishonour127 their country.”
In Spain the destruction of the cathedral of Reims partly destroyed the long preparation of Spanish opinion which had been carried on in favour of Germany. The indignation of Spaniards was faithfully expressed by an article in the Libéral, in which the following words occur: “It seemed that the universal anathema128 heaped upon the Germans after the destruction of Louvain would have restrained their acts of unjustifiable destruction. The Emperor appeared to feel sorry in his letter of apologies addressed to the President of the United States; but his soldiers surpassed themselves, and the appalling129 barbarism of their achievement is unexampled in history.”
Finally, in America not only the general public but the Government were profoundly moved by the news[76] of the bombardment of one of the finest cathedrals in the world. The American Consul109 at Lausanne was instructed by his Government, on the day after the crime, to go to Reims and make an inquiry on the spot. As for American newspapers, the following are extracts from them—
The Tribune said: “The destruction of the fine monument of the Middle Ages is an act of vandalism which puts German military methods on a level with those of the Goths and the Huns. The crime of destroying this venerable pile was committed by a nation which claims that its mission is to impose its civilisation130 on the rest of the world. By violating the laws of war, Germany is encouraging other nations to do the same.”
The World said: “Prussian militarism has outdone everything previously seen in the category of vandalism. Throughout the centuries, since the destruction of the Parthenon, the world has known no such act.”
The Sun said: “In spite of the regrets which Germany pretends to express, we cannot fail to draw the conclusion that the cathedral of Reims was the target of a deliberate attempt to destroy.”
Bombardment of Gerbeviller
The following are other examples of bombardments at this period, which were carried out at places less known, but in which the aim to destroy at any cost, by any means, and in violation of every law stands no less emphatically self-condemned. Of the picturesque131 little village of Gerbeviller there remains only a heap of stones, dust and ashes. The Germans bombarded it mercilessly in the month of August. Possibly this[77] bombardment was due to necessity, but the precise aim of the German guns, posted in the outskirts of the village, reveals the criminal design at work. The village church was the chief object aimed at: it was burnt down by shell fire, the pretty palatine chapel51 demolished, and the chateau132 completely wiped out.
Bombardment of Dompierre-aux-Bois
On the 22nd September the Germans forced a way into Dompierre-aux-Bois. They entered each house with fixed bayonets, made all the men come out, and then shut them up in the church. On the following day it was the women’s and children’s turn, and so these poor people found they were compelled to face the fire of the German artillery which was let loose in the village. Men, women, children and old folk were, for five long days without ceasing, exposed to a rain of bombs and shells.
On the 27th September the Germans lay in ambush133 in the country behind Troyon so as to be able to fire on the fort from which the French were bombarding them. During the artillery duel134 which followed, the Germans thought it well not to forget the wretched people of Dompierre-aux-Bois, who were still shut up in the church. About five p.m. they fired at the church and a shell fell upon it. Forty persons were killed or wounded by the hand of the same people who forced them to stay in this spot, and who, from being their gaolers, made themselves their executioners.
Bombardment of Recquignies
According to the evidence of Dr. Barbey (Echo de Paris of the 20th January), the first German shells[78] fired at Recquignies, in the beginning of the month of September, were aimed at the brewery135, which the Red Cross flag upon it plainly marked as a refuge for the wounded. Four inhabitants were killed and two others were wounded.
Bombardment of Soissons
The town of Soissons was bombarded from the 13th to the 17th September almost without intermission. The post office and the Grand Seminaire are in ruins. The cemetery quarter of the town was set on fire. Happily the cathedral suffered little. But the Germans deliberately and with precise aim fired at the hospital. This bombardment was without any reason that could be admitted, for the town ought to have been protected from artillery, as the Germans occupied the hills to the north of the town when the French troops had taken a position to the south-east and did not discharge a single shell at it.
From the month of September the bombardment of Soissons was interrupted: it began again in the month of January. The Germans aimed their fire on the hospitals, the ambulances, and especially on all places where the wounded were gathered. During the bombardment, which was carried on almost every day in the month of January, the cathedral suffered a great deal; it was reckoned that in eight hours seventy-five shells of large calibre were fired at the building. The entrance, the pulpit, and one of the columns of the spire121 were ruined, and one of the bells broken. On the 15th January a young girl was killed in the Rue de la Barde, and many children fell victims to German barbarism.
[79]
Bombardment of Sampigny
On the 15th September and the 8th October the Germans, with the desire to wreak136 revenge, bombarded the private residence of M. Poincaré, the President of the French Republic. The second bombardment, in the course of which forty-eight shells were discharged at this residence, brought about its complete destruction.
It is well to note that this destruction was nevertheless denied by the Wolff agency, which declared that the story was a myth, and added that if the site upon which this residence stood had been burned, it could only have been done by the French artillery itself.
Bombardment of Arras
The town of Arras was included, during the month of October, in the theatre of military operations. The Germans found a pretext for destroying it by two bombardments, one on the 6th, the other on the 20th and 21st October, which sowed destruction and death in this town.
The first bombardment of Arras, which may be compared to that at Reims, was meant to destroy the town hall, a miracle of Flemish art, built at the beginning of the seventeenth century, one of the finest ornaments137 of northern France.
“On the 6th October, at six a.m.,” said the Liberté of the 16th October, “the first shells fell near the railway station. A little afterwards a bomb fell on the roof of the town hall. All day long the guns belched138 forth139 death, destruction and terror. The inhabitants took refuge in the cellars, and even the wretched wounded also had to be brought down into[80] them, for, disregarding the Red Cross, the Germans plied140 with machine-guns all the streets round the town hall, in which there were several hospitals and ambulances.
“The H?pital St. Jean was the scene of a frightful accident. A whole storey collapsed141 under the shells. A nun142 and some wounded happened to be in the storey below, and were buried underneath the ruins. It was not possible to recover their bodies until the evening, when the assassins of the Kaiser had ceased bombardment.
“The musée, the cathedral, the Church of St. John the Baptiste, the old Convent of the Holy Sacrament, with its seventeenth-century campanile, and the Ursuline belfry (a reproduction of the old reliquary of the Holy Candle) were damaged. The shells fired at the cathedral pierced its roof in two places and laid bare the vault.”
The town hall alone was struck by nine-tenths of the explosive shells thrown at Arras. Finally, the two old towers, so stately and so peculiar143 in appearance, which were all that was left of the old abbey founded by Saint Eloi, in the village of that name near Arras, were demolished by the Germans, who bombarded them without any excuse, for the mere pleasure of destruction.
The Germans cannot pretend that they did not know the site of all these monuments, nor that of the hospitals of Arras, for they had occupied the town one day in the beginning of September. No more can they allege120 that the French had made use of the quarter destroyed by them for attack or for self-defence, for this part of the town is in a hollow, which an army would never try to utilise.
[81]
As for the second bombardment of Arras (20th to 21st October), it was aimed at the belfry, the incomparable monument of the town which alone remained standing69 above the centre of the town hall. The building fell on the 21st, at eleven a.m., having been cut off close from the ancient roof of the structure round about it.
The Outrage on Notre-Dame of Paris
German aeroplanes made frequent moves towards Paris, of which we have already spoken. The outrage of the 11th October, 1914, deserves special mention, for this time the machine aimed at the cathedral. An incendiary bomb was dropped on Notre-Dame. This bomb set fire to one of the inner beams of the roof, smashed six of the stays of the north transept, and riddled with grapeshot the glass frame of the clock in the same transept.
This outrage, coming after that at Reims, roused fresh protests from neutral countries. The Messagero of Rome (13th October) declared, and with reason, that “the murder of peaceful citizens and the crime of throwing bombs on Notre-Dame need no comment.” These acts, the paper added, are a fresh crime against humanity and against art for which the civilised world will demand an account from the German people.
Bombardment of Hazebrouck
About the middle of November Hazebrouck suffered bombardment by a German aeroplane: a bomb killed a railway worker named Georges Demonvaux, and wounded two other people. The aviator144 came a second time, an hour afterwards, and threw three[82] more bombs, aiming at the English and French Red Cross hospitals, which, fortunately, were only slightly injured.
Finally, to bring to an end the list of cruel bombardments, let us put on record that of Houplines (15th December), where fifty civilians were killed and St. Paul’s Church was destroyed; those of Dunkirk (24th December and 22nd January), where, besides the murder of many civilians, the United States Consul was wounded, and the consulates145 of the United States, Norway and Uruguay were damaged. The hospital was also struck by bombs. Finally, let us note the bombardment of Béthune, which was carried on almost without intermission, which caused the death of ten people, and which was aimed at the hospital, in the court of which a shell had fallen and burst.
The bombardment of Libau (in Courlande) is to be added to the foregoing. On the 28th March a German aeroplane caused the death of several persons and wounded a little girl. Let us add also that of Calais, where, quite recently, a Zeppelin damaged Notre-Dame Church. A chapel of the latter, dedicated to the Sacred Heart, had its vault broken in and its stained-glass windows shattered. These were of great artistic146 merit and represented scenes of the Crucifixion.
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1
dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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5
evacuated
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| 撤退者的 | |
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artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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8
hostilities
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| n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事 | |
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infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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15
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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outrages
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| 引起…的义愤，激怒( outrage的第三人称单数 ) | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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demolish
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| v.拆毁(建筑物等)，推翻(计划、制度等) | |
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demolished
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| v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光 | |
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rues
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| v.对…感到后悔( rue的第三人称单数 ) | |
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violation
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| n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯 | |
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allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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geographical
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| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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civilians
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| 平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓 | |
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hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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riddled
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| adj.布满的；充斥的；泛滥的v.解谜，出谜题(riddle的过去分词形式) | |
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32
turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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absolved
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| 宣告…无罪，赦免…的罪行，宽恕…的罪行( absolve的过去式和过去分词 )； 不受责难，免除责任 [义务] ,开脱（罪责） | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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callousness
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pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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truce
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| n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束 | |
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precludes
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| v.阻止( preclude的第三人称单数 )；排除；妨碍；使…行不通 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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43
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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influential
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| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
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45
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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herald
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| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
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48
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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49
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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50
entente
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| n.协定；有协定关系的各国 | |
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51
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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chapels
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| n.小教堂， （医院、监狱等的）附属礼拜堂( chapel的名词复数 )；（在小教堂和附属礼拜堂举行的）礼拜仪式 | |
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53
lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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54
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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55
havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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56
morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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57
commemorate
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| vt.纪念，庆祝 | |
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58
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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60
dames
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| n.（在英国）夫人（一种封号），夫人（爵士妻子的称号）( dame的名词复数 )；女人 | |
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dame
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| n.女士 | |
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62
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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64
charred
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| v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦 | |
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65
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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66
cemetery
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| n.坟墓，墓地，坟场 | |
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levy
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| n.征收税或其他款项，征收额 | |
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68
disabused
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| v.去除…的错误想法( disabuse的过去式和过去分词 )；使醒悟 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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reprisal
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| n.报复，报仇，报复性劫掠 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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72
worthies
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| 应得某事物( worthy的名词复数 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征 | |
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73
execration
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| n.诅咒，念咒，憎恶 | |
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74
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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76
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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77
devouring
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| 吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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78
devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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nave
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| n.教堂的中部；本堂 | |
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naves
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| n.教堂正厅( nave的名词复数 )；本堂；中央部；车轮的中心部 | |
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81
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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82
detour
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| n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道 | |
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83
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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84
dispelled
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| v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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glimmered
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| v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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86
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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87
ravaged
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| 毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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88
projectiles
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| n.抛射体( projectile的名词复数 )；（炮弹、子弹等）射弹，（火箭等）自动推进的武器 | |
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turret
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| n.塔楼，角塔 | |
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masonry
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| n.砖土建筑；砖石 | |
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buttress
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| n.支撑物；v.支持 | |
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vestige
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| n.痕迹，遗迹，残余 | |
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choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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94
aisles
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| n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊 | |
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aisle
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| n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道 | |
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96
slates
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| （旧时学生用以写字的）石板( slate的名词复数 )； 板岩； 石板瓦； 石板色 | |
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debris
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| n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片 | |
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vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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101
conflagration
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| n.建筑物或森林大火 | |
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102
pinnacles
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| 顶峰( pinnacle的名词复数 )； 顶点； 尖顶； 小尖塔 | |
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103
pinnacle
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| n.尖塔，尖顶，山峰；(喻)顶峰 | |
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104
buttresses
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| n.扶壁，扶垛( buttress的名词复数 )v.用扶壁支撑，加固( buttress的第三人称单数 ) | |
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niches
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| 壁龛( niche的名词复数 )； 合适的位置[工作等]； （产品的）商机； 生态位（一个生物所占据的生境的最小单位） | |
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106
denuded
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| adj.[医]变光的，裸露的v.使赤裸( denude的过去式和过去分词 )；剥光覆盖物 | |
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107
imprint
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| n.印痕，痕迹；深刻的印象；vt.压印，牢记 | |
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consulate
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| n.领事馆 | |
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consul
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| n.领事；执政官 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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auxiliary
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| adj.辅助的，备用的 | |
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vaults
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| n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 )；地下室；撑物跳高；墓穴 | |
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113
calamities
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| n.灾祸，灾难( calamity的名词复数 )；不幸之事 | |
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114
crumble
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| vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁 | |
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115
barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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116
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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117
emanates
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| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的第三人称单数 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
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118
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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allege
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| vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言 | |
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spire
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| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
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122
veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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124
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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125
ruffled
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| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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126
belligerents
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| n.交战的一方（指国家、集团或个人）( belligerent的名词复数 ) | |
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127
dishonour
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| n./vt.拒付（支票、汇票、票据等）；vt.凌辱，使丢脸；n.不名誉，耻辱，不光彩 | |
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anathema
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| n.诅咒；被诅咒的人(物)，十分讨厌的人(物) | |
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appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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chateau
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| n.城堡，别墅 | |
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ambush
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| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
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134
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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135
brewery
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| n.啤酒厂 | |
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136
wreak
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| v.发泄；报复 | |
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137
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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138
belched
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| v.打嗝( belch的过去式和过去分词 )；喷出，吐出；打（嗝）；嗳（气） | |
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139
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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140
plied
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的过去式和过去分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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141
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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142
nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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143
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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144
aviator
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| n.飞行家，飞行员 | |
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145
consulates
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| n.领事馆( consulate的名词复数 ) | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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