Rehearsals: The German Army in Belgium, August 1914

[Ken S.]

As far as I can tell this book has not been discussed on GWF, let alone mentioned, so I would be interested in knowing if any other members have read or are reading it. At the moment I'm just going through the chapter on Andenne, but unfortunately it appears that the author's understanding of the German units involved is not very good, and his very pronounced, sometimes hyperbolic, bias has resulted in a reconstruction of the events that is neither balanced or all that well structured. I guess it provides a fair starting point for anyone interested in the subject, but work is not as reliable as I had hoped.

[sjustice]

Hi Ken,

Looks like you may be one of the first. What examples of bias or misrepresentation have you found so far?

Cheers,

Simon

[cdr]

Lipkes book has some problems (he does not say why he describes only the so called "martyr cities" and contrary to the Kramer and Horne book does not use German sources) but is still a good read. I also would like to know where is the bias and misrepresentation ?

Carl

[Ken S.]

One of the problems that first struck me is his comparison of what occurred in Belgium as foreshadowing what the Nazis did in Soviet Union during the Second World War.

On page 14, he claims: "About one and a half million Belgians fled the county, 20% of the population. The suffering was without precedent in modern Europe. For over two hundred fifty years civilians had not fled en masse before invading armies. As in the 1940s..."

On page 19 he compared Bethmann Hollweg to Goebbels, and then states: "However, a predisposition to force and fraud and a contempt for the rights of civilians and for due process characterized German policy decades before the Nazi era." The bases for this he attributes to a passing statement made by Bethmann Hollweg on August 4, that in translation reads: "Necessity knows no bounds". Of course the Germans were the evil violators of Belgian neutrality, even though Britain was prepared to do the same. Somehow the Germans were particularly brutal, proto-Nazi occupiers, even though what they did in Belgium pales in comparison to what other European nations or Russia had done as occupiers.

In regards to Andenne, he refers to the Garde-Reserve-Korps three times, each with a varying name, and the four regiments that he claims were in this corps is incorrect. Nowhere in his notes on this chapter do I see a reference to a German source, anything indicating that he understood the movements of the German units prior to and on the days in question. Hence, he does not provide an analysis of the differing reports about the events in question.

Interestingly, in one of his notes, he elaborates on one of the regimental commanders he actually names in his text, Major Bronsart von Schellendorf (although he apparently doesn't know that he was commander of the Garde-Reserve-Schutzen-Bataillon--he doesn't list it as one of the regiments that was in the GRK):

"I have [not surprisingly] not been able to determine the relationship between Major Bronsart von Schellendorf[f] and the Prussian War Minister of the 1880s, Paul Bronsart von Schellendorf[f], or the German Chief of the Turkish General Staff (implicated in the Armenian massacres [emphasis added]) and future Nazi Friedrich Bronsart von Schellendorf[f] [how is this relevant?]. The former famously predicted that "there will be many atrocities in the next war." (SN, 68, n. 1) The family also produced the composer Hans Bronsart von Schellendorf[f]." (p 724, n. 56)

[cdr]

On page 14, he claims: "About one and a half million Belgians fled the county, 20% of the population. The suffering was without precedent in modern Europe. For over two hundred fifty years civilians had not fled en masse before invading armies. As in the 1940s..."

Of course the Germans were the evil violators of Belgian neutrality, even though Britain was prepared to do the same. (do you have any evidence for this)Somehow the Germans were particularly brutal, proto-Nazi occupiers, even though what they did in Belgium pales in comparison to what other European nations or Russia had done as occupiers. (are you really saying that if you commit a crime , it makes it alright because somebody else also commits (maybe even worse) crimes)

In regards to Adenne, he refers to the Garde-Reserve-Korps three times, each with a varying name, and the four regiments that he claims were in this corps is incorrect. Nowhere in his notes on this chapter do I see a reference to a German source, anything indicating that he understood the movements of the German units prior to and on the days in question. Hence, he does not provide an analysis of the differing reports about the events in question. (I read this work through a library so i cannot check now if he meant ANDENNE instead of Adenne)

Lipkes' book has the invasion of Belgium as a precursor of Nazi policies as is central theme. He seems to think that that ther is a " German " predisposition to the violence and attitudes as shown in world war two. I do not agree with this

Carl

[Ken S.]

(are you really saying that if you commit a crime , it makes it alright because somebody else also commits (maybe even worse) crimes)

No. The only reason I can think of why you would make such a ridiculous comment is because you don't want a reasoned discussion on this issue.

[cdr]

No. The only reason I can think of why you would make such a ridiculous comment is because you don't want a reasoned discussion on this issue.

So ' dear Ken ' returns to his default position of never bothering to give any base for his statements. You complain that Lipkes makes comparisons with world war II. But if you make comparisons then it is of course ok .

Carl