Newspapers and television are replete with stories of Iraqi bombings these days. No doubt most of the stories are well-researched although I am sure a few slip through that are not verified. During World War I there were also stories of war atrocities committed by the Germans against the French civilian population - stories of rape and murder; stories of badly bombed towns and historically significant buildings. When The Stars and Stripes decided to do an article on war atrocities in 1918, editor Guy T. Viskniskki insisted upon verification of the events.

German War Atrocities from Unsung Patriot

Guy did take one suggestion to the general staff to heart. The idea was to publish authenticated German war atrocities. By doing so it was thought that it would help the morale of the American soldiers. Comiing from their own newspaper it would give the soldiers another reason to be in France fighting the Germans. The one caveat was that the stories had to be authenticated.

Since the Americans did not know of any authenticated war atrocities, Guy contacted the French government. After a number of meetings with various officials, he was given a stack of papers that proved an atrocity. French fruit trees had been cut down by the Germans!

When Guy explained that wasn't quite the type of atrocity he had in mind, the French officials explained how important it was to the French population. With each family owning a small plot of land, it was important to get the most out of the area. With the fruit trees cut down, much of the production of the land was diminished. Therefore, to the French it was a war atrocity. The officials even explained that the rape and deaths of French women were to be expected when their country was occupied. That could be accepted. But the destruction of the fruit trees was a true atrocity.

When Guy suggested that Americans regarded death and rape as heinous crimes and therefore war atrocities, the French officials explained that death and rape were contemplated as a result of being invaded. Women, they said, would survive and those who did not were casualties of war and patriots of France. But cutting down fruit trees that had taken a hundred years to nurture and mature was truly an atrocity.

The article was never published.

While visiting the British front during the summer of 1918, Guy and Mark Watson made a wrong turn and came upon the town of Amiens. It was deserted except for a few French troops guarding the cathedral. Both men had read about the heavy damage doen to the cathedral by the German bombardment and had seen French pictures of the roof with great gaping shell holes in it. The two men were amazed to find only one hole in the roof and no other observable damage to the cathedral.

Just another example of a war atrocity story that really wasn't.

Virginia G. Vassallo
www.krazyduck.com
www.unsungpatriot.com