GERMAN BARBARITY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 27 May 1915, Page 2

GERMAN BARBARITY.

RUSSIAN OFFICER TORTURED

In the initial stages.of the war, Russians hesitated to believe reports of German, barbarities, but the "evidence is now overwhelming that they are not isolated cases, but an integral iiart cf the policy of "frightfulness." During the fighting on the Niemen, •an officer and two men, while on a scouting expedition, encouniered some Germans, and the two tK)ld;ers. were killed, while the officer was seriously wounded, but managed to draw himself to a hut, where the Germans discovered him. They dragged him out by the feet, brutally beat him, broke his arms, and poured some liquid down his throat. The officer managed to rise to his feet, and rushed hither and thither like a madman, while the Germans encircled him, slashing him with swords and daggers, till he finally fell. This ' affair was witnessed through glassas by a brother officer on the opposite side of the' river, and was con-, firmed by a medical examination of the body. which was exhumed when the Germans retired.