FRANCS-TIREURS?
I THINK that there is no better occasion to deal with the question whether there was a franc-tireur-guerilla in Belgium than after the chapter on the destruction of Visé.
My opinion on the matter is still the same as when I first wrote about it to De Tijd, and in Vrij Belgi?; and from my own personal knowledge and after mixing with the people I consider the allegation that the Belgians acted as francs-tireurs an absolute lie.
Some uphold the accusation1 on the ground of expressions in Belgian newspapers, collected in a German pamphlet. In my opinion these quotations2 have not the slightest value. Everyone will understand this who thinks of the excitement of journalists, whose country was suddenly and quite unexpectedly involved in a terrible war, and who felt now that as journalists they had to perform a great, patriotic3 duty. In their nervous, over-excited condition they sat at their desk and listened to the gossip of refugees about civilians4 taking part in the struggle. In their imagination they saw hordes5 of barbarians6 overrun their native soil, saw man and man, woman88 and woman, shoulder to shoulder, resisting the invader7 without regard for their own life. The thoughts of such journalists, whose very own country had been at war now for a few days, were not on severe logical lines; they found a certain beauty in that picture, and I can quite understand how some came to believe in it as a reality, and gloried in it.
That is not evidence however, for how did they get the information? From my own experience I make bold to say with the greatest confidence that these reports came from German sources only, whereas there was not any ground for them.
I have witnessed all the people during the very earliest days of the war. I came to Liège, passing between the forts, as described already. I was in Lixhe when the pontoon bridge was wrecked9 repeatedly by Fort Pontisse; I stayed at Visé three times before the destruction began, and I was there when the charming townlet was wrecked by fire; and in Louvain I have been dragged from my bed by six soldiers and arrested, when the whole town was still ablaze10.
Very well, I have:
1. Never seen anything of a franc-tireur-guerilla.
2. Never seen anyone who was arrested as a franc-tireur.
3. Never heard any German soldier, of whatever rank, assert that he himself had witnessed any action by a franc-tireur, although I questioned such soldiers times without number. They always mentioned others, who had left days ago, and were said to have gone through the miserable11 experience!
89 4. Never heard the name of any franc-tireur in answer to my questions.
But they were always German officers and no others who talked about francs-tireurs, and at Visé, Liège, Dinant, Bilsen, and particularly at Louvain, they constantly pressed me and tried to make me promise that I should write to De Tijd about francs-tireurs and justify12 the devastations. These stories emanated13 from the officers and permeated14 the rank and file; and the men grew fearfully angry with the Belgians, whom they cursed and abused. It also made the soldiers terribly afraid of francs-tireurs, and I noticed many a time that some loud sound from a falling wall, for example, made a whole troop of soldiers jump up, lay hold of their rifles, and hide themselves in an absolute "blue funk." The mere16 noise made them curse and rage and talk of nothing but burning houses.
In the end these stories of the soldiers convinced even the inhabitants that there had been francs-tireurs, but never in the place where they lived, always somewhere else. They could not believe that the Germans could be so cruel and wreck8 so much property if nothing at all had happened; and when at length the time came that they themselves were obliged to fly, many of them believed that their compatriots who elsewhere acted as francs-tireurs were to blame for all the dire17 calamities18. But if they had had my opportunity to go "elsewhere" and gather information there, they would have been convinced of the untruth, and probably would have heard the name of their own village as90 the scene of the occurrence. That was how rumours19 and reports got about.
Many soldiers, probably most of them, were undoubtedly20 of good faith, and believed what they related; but the damnable notion had been put into their heads by their superiors. That is why I do not consider it impossible that some places were wrecked on account of alleged21 acts by francs-tireurs.
I have explained already in the chapter "Round about Liège" that I myself was duped occasionally, for example, by the story of the three hundred civilians who had been shot. To my mind these violent acts at the beginning of the war were part and parcel of the system of frightfulness22, by which the Germans tried to scare the population and indirectly23 the hostile armies, at the same time rousing their own soldiers to anger and fury.
That mad fury was also intensified24 considerably25 by the accusations26 about gruesome mutilations committed on German soldiers by Belgians, who were said to have cut off the noses, ears, genitals, and so on of their enemies. These rumours were so persistent27 that in the end it was generally believed in neutral countries that these things had happened frequently.
No little astonishment28 was therefore created by an interview which I published with Dr. van der Goot of The Hague, who did so much excellent work in the Red Cross Hospital at Maastricht. He also had come to believe all these stories, and as everybody always mentioned a large hospital in Aix-la-Chapelle, which was said to be full of similarly mutilated soldiers, Dr. van der Goot went to that91 town to see for himself. The chief medical officer of that hospital in a conversation stated that not one single case of that sort had been treated in his institution nor in any of the other local hospitals where he was a visiting physician. At a meeting of the medical circle just lately held he had not heard one word, nor had any one colleague, about the treatment of similar cases.
In Louvain I was myself arrested, because a more than half-drunk soldier had accused me of spying and arson29! There too I had to listen to all sorts of abuse because I was a franc-tireur. And in spite of all this they tried to extract a promise from me to write against the francs-tireurs!
The history of the destruction of Visé affords also interesting support to my opinion, as previously30 expressed, that the violent actions of the Germans took place according to a fully15 thought-out design.
During the early days of the war the papers published a report, of German origin, that Visé had been destroyed because francs-tireurs had appeared. I was therefore not a little amazed when, arriving there on August 8th, I found the townlet entirely31 undamaged, and even the German military admitted that they had not heard a word about francs-tireurs.
But the inhabitants were treated even then in a most vexatious manner, and on August 14th (the destruction came about on the 16th) I wrote to De Tijd (No. 20457):—
"Visé is under a real reign32 of terror. The day before yesterday the town-crier walked the streets with his bell, and announced that within twenty-four hours everyone had to deliver his bicycle at the bridge. Anyone in whose house92 a bicycle should be found would be shot and his house set on fire. Yesterday morning the Germans announced once more that all arms, including those that were old or damaged or taken to pieces, should be handed in at the town-hall within an hour. If any arms should be found anywhere after that, they would shoot the inhabitants and burn down the town. Eatables and drinkables were requisitioned continuously under threats of firing the town, and the inhabitants are afraid of nothing so much as of the possibility that something may be required some day or other that cannot be produced."
Even before that, on August 11th I sent a communication, by post or cable (De Tijd, No. 20353), in which the following is found:—
"In and round about Visé people sleep in their cellars, as they are threatened frequently that the town will be set on fire."
Anyone who, like myself, has been able to see in what frame of mind the people were during the first days of the German occupation, cannot believe it possible that they would even think of taking up arms. They lived in an unending terror, tried to forestall33 the invader's demands, and, if anything was requisitioned, they searched each other's houses to see whether anything was kept back and all the demanded bottles of gin or claret were forthcoming. There was not one who did not keep his door open as widely as possible to prove his complete submissiveness, and to let the Germans enter his house at any time to check what was to be found there. Every moment I saw men or women run into the street offering cigars to the soldiers from open boxes, smiling nervously34 and desperately35, trying to behave as unconcernedly as possible. During those early93 days payment for refreshments36 was accepted hardly anywhere, and people often refused to accept money from me, because they mistook me for a German.
Men and young women in the prime of life sat whole days in a chair, or lay abed, because in the most literal sense of the word they were unable to stand on their feet for fear and terror, caused by the incessant37 menaces.
And during these first days of the war I had not met a single person who was able to settle down quietly in the existing circumstances, not a single person in whom anger and fury subdued38 fear and terror.
Is it thinkable that persons in that frame of mind would take up arms and invite the enemy's revenge upon themselves and those near and dear to them, a revenge of which they were so mortally afraid?
And supposing for a moment that the allegations made by the Germans were true, that there had been shooting at Visé for example, then one might perhaps consider the revenge justifiable39, but should also expect that they would punish with a heavy heart, conscious that they were inflicting40 a necessary evil.
Of a heavy heart, however, there was not a trace. In the previous chapter I described how beastly they behaved during the destruction of Visé; how the soldiers drank immoderate quantities of alcohol, and then jeered41 at the wretched refugees; how they indulged in unmitigated vandalism, and wrecked by hand things of which they knew that by and by would be destroyed by fire.
Children and old people perished in consequence94 of the cruel heartlessness of the Germans, and in St. Hadelin College they robbed their own wounded of medical help and surgical42 appliances.
This happened not only at Visé, but also at other places which I visited, more especially at Louvain. And those who read the following chapters carefully will find sufficient support for my opinion, that Belgium is innocent of the base charges and allegations uttered by Germany, which country soiled its conscience still worse, first by plunging43 the little kingdom into the direst misery44, and then by accusing it falsely of crimes which it never committed.
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1
accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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quotations
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| n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价 | |
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patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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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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hordes
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| n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落 | |
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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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7
invader
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| n.侵略者，侵犯者，入侵者 | |
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wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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11
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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12
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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13
emanated
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| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的过去式和过去分词 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
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permeated
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| 弥漫( permeate的过去式和过去分词 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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16
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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dire
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| adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的 | |
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calamities
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| n.灾祸，灾难( calamity的名词复数 )；不幸之事 | |
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rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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frightfulness
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| 可怕； 丑恶； 讨厌； 恐怖政策 | |
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indirectly
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| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
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24
intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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accusations
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| n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名 | |
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persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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29
arson
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| n.纵火，放火 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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forestall
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| vt.抢在…之前采取行动；预先阻止 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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refreshments
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| n.点心,便餐;(会议后的)简单茶点招 待 | |
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incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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justifiable
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| adj.有理由的，无可非议的 | |
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40
inflicting
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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41
jeered
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| v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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surgical
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| adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的 | |
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43
plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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44
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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