_" ("It is war.")
For the blackened ruins of Senlis, for that charming city of Louvain,
razed to the ground in one night as completely as if the scourge of
God had passed through it; for Andenne, assassinated in cold blood
with not one of its houses being granted mercy by the assassins; for
Termonde, where General Sommerfeld, seated in a chair in the midst of
the Grande Place, gave the order that it be burned and replied to the
entreaties of the mayor:
"No. Burn it to the ground!"
Five other words sufficed to explain everything:
"Civilians fired on our troops."
Not one village in flames, not one desecrated monument, not one
organized killing, not one tortured city that does not fall under the
scope of one or the other of those justifications, "War is war," or
"Civilians fired on our troops."
Doctors, savants, officers, Bavarians, Saxons, and Prussians have
adopted the double excuse with a marvelous unity: they advance it in a
certain tone of voice. It is firmly embedded in what is left of their
consciences as firmly as the iron cross is riveted on their necks.
Besides, it was all planned, wished for, arranged in advance. German
frightfulness formed a part of the plan of campaign. It is enough to
read the manual called "Kriegesgebrauch in Landkriege" (Military
Usage in Landwarfare) to be very much edified.
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