GERMANY'S WAR GUILT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19714, 13 August 1927, Page 12

GERMANY'S WAR GUILT.

WEAKNESS OF THE DENIAL. ACCUSATION AGAINST BELGIUM. REFUTED BY GERMAN RECORDS. [by telegraph. —OWN correspondent ] YVEI,LINGTON, Pridy The .conclusions of the Commission of Inquiry appointed by the German Reichstag to investigate the question of German war guilt were cabled to the Dominion a few weeks ago. One of the principal points of the conclusions was the report of Professor Bredt, a member of the Reichstag, who accused Belgium of not ha\ ing been neutral before the war and of having established a perfect understanding with the enemies of Germany. The foundation of..this accusation was the Belgian establishment of heavy fortifications upon the River Meuse, especially at Liege. A reply to this statement has been made to the Belgian Chamber of Deputies by M. Emil Yandervelde, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and a copy has been received by Mr. Armaud Nihotte, Consul for Belgium. The report quotes a note published in the German review, Die Kriegschuldfrage ("the question of German war guilt") in June, 1926, which stated that up to that time it had been impossible to prove that a military convention had existed between Belgium and Britain as well as between Belgium and France. Reports of the German military attache at Brussels in 1352 arc also quoted. Letters addressed to him reveal that both Prussia and Germany were anxious to see the construction of the fortifications. In 1852 the Prussian attache, von Olberg, urged the Belgian Government to fortify the Mouse instead of commencing to fortify Antwerp. Von Moltke asked in 1858 wltether it would not be possible to induce the Bel gian Government to concentrate its army on (he Mouse and not at Antwerp. In 1875 Major Sommerfeld, secretary of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Namur and Liege must be put in a state of defence, and in 1877 Count von Brandebourg impressed King Leopold 11. that Germany, wished, to see the Meuse fortified as it woiikl. be an. obstacle to French attack. In 1886 the Meuse fortifications were started in earnest and Count von Br.-jnde-bourg expressed satisfaction that Belgium was sheltering herself against aggression, while Bismarck and the Kaiser congratulated the Belgian Minister in Germany on the fact that his country was taking steps to.-ensure the respect of her neutrality. In 1889 General Verdu Du Vernois, the German War Minister, told the Belgian Foreign Minister that Belgium was wise to fortify the Meuse, and William I. wrote to King Leopold expressing his satisfaction at the step.