Page:The ways of war - Kettle - 1917.pdf/158

 and panic which the south-east of Belgium now presents, they yielded up their position; then the question, "Are we treating Belgium decently?" has a grave and urgent meaning.

I arrived yesterday from Belgium, knowing nothing of Namur. It seemed to me a clear duty to attempt in a small way to bring home to the people of these islands the appalling price that Belgium has had to pay for holding to the path of honour and courage. Nothing said here is a criticism of the purely military aspects of the prologue now concluded. It was inevitable that in the clash of millions, Belgium and her two hundred thousand soldiers should have been treated as a mere right-wing pawn. But think what the gambit meant to a Belgium patriot. It meant, in any and all circumstances, the devastation of Liége and the country behind it. It meant the surrender not only of the capital, but of the whole country except Antwerp. And the Belgians were under no illusions as to the terrorisation of non-*combatants which is an essential part of the Prussian art of war. I quote from a Belgian journal the following summary of it. It is headed—

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"True strategy consists in hitting your enemy, and hitting him hard. Above all, you must inflict on the inhabitants of invaded towns the max-*