BASE CHARGES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 41, 16 August 1941, Page 6

BASE CHARGES

♦— GERMAN LEAFLETS

"REPRISALS" THREAT

Cruel "reprisals" against men or women for allegedly inhuman treatment of German troops during the hostilities in Crete, were promised in leaflets dropped by German aircraft] soon after the battle commenced. One j :of these leaflets, dropped over Suda j Bay, was shown to a "Post"' reporter, j and it reads as follows: — ' j | "To the population and the military i I forces on Crete. | "It has been brought to the notice !of the German Supreme Command that | German soldiers who fell into the j ! hands of the enemy on the island of Crete have been ill-treated and even mutilated in a most infamous and in-j human manner. "As a punishment and reprisal, there- i fore, it fs announced as follows: j "1. Whosoever commits such crimes against international laws on German I prisoners of war will be punished in the manner of his own cruel action, no matter be he or she a man or a woman. "2. Localities near which such crimes have been perpetrated will be burned down. The population wiH be held responsible. ' "3. Beyond those measures further and sharper reprisals will be held in store "The German Supreme Command." In return for one onion a year, Mrs N. L. Lawrence, of Rhyl. granted the use of a field to the Rhyl Allotments Association for the duration of the w,ar,