Disciplined brutality

From ‘The Crimes of Germany’, The Spectator, 29 January 1916: It would be a relief, a partial solution, if only one could say that the Germans broke loose from their officers and their habits in a lust of blood and violence. But the terrible fact is that throughout the war we have heard no word of any German regiment being out of hand, or doing otherwise than their officers or the highest authorities desired. They have been a perfectly disciplined army — disciplined to spread red ruin, to oppress, and to bully with a mechanical docility.