HUNS.

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 3337, 5 September 1917, Page 1

HUNS.

THOUSANDS OF MEN AND WOMEN DEPORTED.

Amsterdam. The Kaiser has broken his pledged word that the Belgian deportationrf should ceaso. A document which has fallen into my hands proves this beyond the possibility of denial, and proves also that the resumed slavedriving is being accompanied by more cruelty even than .before. In order to carry out theso new raids with the greater secrecy the Germans placed the slave-driving areas under a strict military regime, and thereby isolated them from the rest of the district. In the course of the last four weeks the- district of Belgian Luxembtrrg, especially around Arlon and Virton, have been placed under thi s new military Jaw, which suspends any kind of intercourse cither by travel, mail, or otherwise, with other Belgian districts. The result is that in Arlon, whereformer deportations only requisitioned seventeen slaves, the present requisition jjsked forty, and this proportion has been maintained all over the deportation areas, announcements being placarded on the walls of the unfortunate cities that on this or that day, at this or that hour, "German time," so many 'hundred Belgians have to present themselves for work, and should n/ovido themselves with food and clothes. Several thousands have already been deported from the new military-ruled territory in the province of Luxemburg, Nainur, and Hainaut. UNDER FIRE. The Germans also discovered during the first deportations that it was it mistake to allow Belgian workers to wor kin Germany, because so many managed to escape into Holland and Switzerland, where they fold the tragic story of their experiences. It lias now been arranged that the new levy of slaves shall work in the. second line trenches —sometimes even in the first line—digging, sapping, or otherwise relieving German soldiers. In this work hundreds of Belgians have been killed or wounded by shell lire, especially in Champagne and around the Lens battlefields. The Germans are also encompassing the deportation of all the Belgian women whom Hinder)burg needs at the- rear of the western battle line. Several hundred women have already been <l«xioi-ted there, being chosen from among the middle-aged and unmarried, and are now working near Cambrai, Sedan, and Charleville, either washing, the German soldiers' linen or making sandbags for 'the German army. Protests on the part of the Belgian authorities have been of no avail, because the fact that the regions are placed under military authority a\itomatically brings the local civilian administration to an end. The Germans are so pleased with the success of their new policy that they talk of extending it northwards by a slow, progressive policy, thus showing their intention to deport the people wholesale. LETTER TO A WIFE. < ■One of the documents which have reached me is a letter from one of the Belgian workmen to his wife, written seven days ago from a little Belgian city close behind the German lines. He says: "I can only write one IJne. Heaven knows whether it will ever reach you. We are working hero by hundreds, often under fire. We are ordered to demolish the whole forest here, as the Germans need wood for saps. The forest where I am working has been fenced with electrified barb wire, and escape is impossible. German centries watch us continually, and are ordered to fire if one of us gives the slightest sign of escape or rebellion. We work under atrocious conditions ten and twelve hours daily. The food is rotten, and we never have an evenin gmeal. We simply drop asleep when evening comes, and are all very weak. I cannot go on much longer, but still the forest has to be brought down by July 5. Death would be much preferable if it was not for thinking of you all." My informant says it is high time this new infamy was denounced, and the Daily Express can do the Belgians and luimanity another great service by doing so- : : ■ -I