From first to last
some hundreds of people have lost their lives on this tract of sea, some
of them harmless British trawlers, but the greater number sailors of
Danish and Dutch vessels pursuing their commerce as they had every right
to do. It was the first move in a consistent policy of murder.
Leaving the sea, let us turn to the air. Can any possible term save a
policy of murder be applied to the use of aircraft by the Germans? It
has always been a principle of warfare that unfortified towns should not
be bombarded. So closely has it been followed by the British that one of
our aviators, flying over Cologne in search of a Zeppelin shed,
refrained from dropping a bomb in an uncertain light, even though
Cologne is a fortress, lest the innocent should suffer. What is to be
said, then, for the continual use of bombs by the Germans which have
usually been wasted in the destruction of cats or dogs, but which have
occasionally torn to pieces some woman or child? If bombs were dropped
on the forts of Paris as part of a scheme for reducing the place, then
nothing could be said in objection, but how are we to describe the
action of men who fly over a crowded city dropping bombs promiscuously
which can have no military effect whatever, and are entirely aimed at
the destruction of innocent civilians? These men have been obliging
enough to drop their cards as well as their bombs on several occasions.
Pages:
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390