Note 55 — Chapter II · THE MEANS OF CONDUCTING WAR

Thus General von Falckenstein in 1870, in order to check the prevalent escaping of French officers, commanded that for every escape ten officers whose names were to be determined by drawing lots should be sent off, with the loss of all privileges of rank, to close confinement in a Prussian fortress, a measure which was, indeed, often condemned but against which nothing can be said on the score of the law of nations.