TREATMENT OF PRISONERS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19813, 28 December 1929, Page 13

TREATMENT OF PRISONERS.

# ALLEGATIONS AGAINST AUSTRALIANS. REFERENCES IN RECENT WAR BOOK. • jtrrTTtS fS-43 ASSOCIATION—BT ELECT2IC V TELEGRAPH —COPi'EIGHI.) LONDON, December 20. Were the Australians guilty of atrocities against their prisoners in the Great- War? is a question brought to the front coring to statements made j,v the Irish-German poet, Robert grave s - in. his brilliantly-written autobiography* "Good-bye to All That," dealing ien«a_uonally with the war, in which he fought mo ; t gallantly on the British side, and was so badly wounded that he was reported dead. This book, published last month, was immediately criticised by the "Daily Mail" as 'painful and provocative." Mr Graves's words suggested that France and Great Britain plotted and prepared for the war, and _he added that there was neither patriotism nor religion in the trenches. He declared that if the chaplains had shown onetenth of the courage and endurance of the doctors the British Expeditionary Force might have started a religious revival. Mr Graves stated that many of the officers having two years' service in the trenches became dipsomaniacs. gome even worked up to two bottles of whisky daily. He commented on the numerous suicides, and added that executions were frequent, including two privates who confessed that they ihot a company sergeant-major instead ©f their platoon sergeant, whom they hated. A French military officer at Bethnne, at which place they were executed, delivered a speech eulogising how gloriously the British could die. The book also contained many instances of amazing British gallantry, bnt as a foil to these instances were quoted alleged atrocities by Australian and Canadian soldiers, who, Graves asserted, had the worst reputations for violence against prisoners. Messrs Jonathan Cape, the publishers, now deny the reports from Australia that the book had been recalled owing to the paragraph aDeging Australian atrocities. The publishers say they have had no complaints from Australia, and the book u selling freely in England. It is now added that Mr Graves's paragraph referring to the "worst reputation" ftated:— "The only thing to be said was that they were only two generations removed from the days of Ralph Rashleigh and Marcus Clarke," both of whom wrote of convict times. He could not decide how far this reputation was doe to the overseas habit of bragging ■ad leg-pulling. Mr Graves relates a first-hand account of an incident at Morlancourt. where the Australians captured a dozen Germans in a »ellar. made them turn oat their pockets, and return to the cellar, and then threw half-a-dozen Mills bombs among them. The authors reflection on tho Scottish troops has aroused violent protests, and, writing in the "Daily Mail" about the alleged retreat of the Scottish battalions from High Wood. 3fr Graves says he merely recorded what he had been told. He now finds ft untrue, and apologises for reporting a libel. STATEMENT RIDICULED. . OPINIONS OF AUSTRALIAN" OFFICERS. MELBOURNE, Pecember 27. Interviewed regarding Mr Robert Graves's aspersions ©n Australian troops, Lieut.-General Sir John Monash (who commanded the Australian Army Corps in France in 1918), characterised the statements as ridiculous and impossible. The writer evidently had no idea what he was talking about. German prisoners captured by the Australians were handed over immediately to the military police, who escorted them to the corps' cages, where they were handed over to an intelligence officer. Brigadier-General H. W. Lloyd, (who commanded an artillery division, and Baw much service) described the story as "absolute rot." The Australians treated their prisoners too leniently. **l have seen Germans scrambling past men of other divisions to be taken prisoner bv the Australians," he said. Brigadier-General I. G. MacKay and Brigadier-General James Heane (both of whom commanded infantry brigades) ridiculed Mr Graves's allegations. ■ [A review of this book will be found Mi our literary page.]