For this reason I shall avoid
resting the case upon Belgian or French statements, though I know them
to be true. My purpose has been to bring forward such testimony that no
man living, be he even a German, should be privileged to cast a doubt
upon it. German crimes will be established by German documents.
These will be taken mainly from the "War Diaries," which Article 75 of
the German Army Regulations for Field Service enjoins upon soldiers to
keep during their marches, and which were seized by the French upon the
persons of their prisoners, as military papers, as authorized by Article
4 of The Hague Convention of 1907. The number of these is daily
increasing, and I trust that some day, for the edification of all, the
complete collection may be lodged in the Germanic section of manuscripts
in the National Library. Meantime, the Marquis de Dampierre,
paleographer and archivist, graduate of the Ecole des Chartes, is
preparing, and will shortly publish, a volume in which the greater part
of these notebooks will be minutely described, transcribed, and
clarified. Personally, I have only examined about forty of them, but
they will answer my purpose, by presenting relevant extracts, furnishing
the name, rank, and regiment of the author, with indications of time and
place.
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