From ‘German outrages in Belgium‘, The Spectator, 15 May 1915:
TOWARDS the end of last year the Prime Minister appointed a Committee to inquire into the outrages committed by German troops during the present war, and the Report of the Committee was issued on Wednesday.
As the Committee indicate, the inference to be drawn is that the German military authorities made up their minds that it was desirable to terrorize the Belgian people in order to overcome Belgium’s resistance to the German Army, and in order to maintain the German communications without having to devote too large a force to protect them. In other words, the military interests of Germany were held to justify any kind of cruelty that might con- ceivably contribute to the success of German arms. There is, as the Committee point out, abundant German evidence that this view of the nature of war and the means of warfare is held by German military authorities :—
“The spirit of war is deified; obedience to the State and its war lord loaves no room for any other duty or feeling ; cruelty becomes legitimate when it promises victory.
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