Reasons For Killing German Soldiers

The German soldiers killed the Belgian civilians for a myriad of reasons. Three most prominent reasons were the spread falsehoods, such as claiming they had poisoned the wells. “We heard later on that the priest had to pay for it with his death, as the military authorities “knew” that the water in all the wells of that village was poisoned and that the soldiers had only been saved by a lucky accident.” The second most prominent reason is that the Belgians fought back against the soldiers, injuring and killing a few German Soldiers, an example of which being, “We had marched past some more houses when all at once shots rang out; they had been shooting from some house, and four of our soldiers had been wounded.” The last prime example would

be the general emotional feeling of the soldiers and the reasoning behind their actions as they most clearly stated with, “The bitter feeling was general, but we would not and could not commit any imprudent action. We had learned enough in those few days of the war to know that war brutalizes and that brutal force can no longer distinguish right from wrong; and with that force we had to reckon.” Inevitably the three were born from the general state of war and the distrust born from those whose hearts slowly become blackened and hardened due to the atrocities they witness.