CRUELTY IN THE GERMAN ARMY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXVI, Issue 72, 29 March 1892, Page 3

CRUELTY IN THE GERMAN ARMY.

The Vernarti, tho organ of the Socialists, publishes what purports to bo a confidential circular issued by Prince George of SaxoDy, commander ol the 12th Army Corps, to the oolonels of regiments under his orderf. The document bears internal evidence of being genuine, and ib accepted aa suoh by tho entire press. Its publication will produce a deep impreßsion throughout Germany, and, diaagreeable as it may be at first to the military authorities, it will strengthen tho hand ol ihoae commandcts who, like tho German Emperor, are anxious to introduce humane methods in the general treatment of eoldiers. The ciroular,' whioh is dated from the headquarters of the 12th Army Corps nt Dresden on Bth June, 1891, calls tho attention of colonels to several abominable caßes of stupid cruelty praotised by non-eommis-sloned officers on their men. Thcso aots, as Prince George remarks, were not prompted by out breaks of anger more or leas excusable, but were committed with cold and deliberate callousness. There wero cases iv which soldiers had bean subjected daily, and for weeks or months in succession, to blows with cancß or belts which had often amounted to as many as 50 iv a day, and many other caees in which they had been made to go through the exercises of punishment drill until they dropped from exhaustion, .The Prince then specifies Bomo oi the worst examples. Sergeant Zwahr ordered recruits to perform the whole' oi the Manual rifle exeioiea again and again during the time allotted them for breakfast, until they fainted from fatigue and hunger, and beoamo utterly incapacitated for their regulation parades and drills. On a certain occasion, as ho lay in bed, be commanded a reoruit to raise over his head and lower a can of boiling coffee 500 times, til), tho wretohod man's musolea giving -war, the hot coffee streamed all ever his faoe and bib uniform, Artillleiy-Bergeant Weyeo caused a boinbar die; Darned Lorenz to be laid over the " horse " in the gymnasium, and administered to him GO blows with a belt, Lorenz refusing to submit to further punishment, was held down and flogged again, and kioked so that ho had to bs admitted into hospital suffering from injuries whioh resulted in a disease ot the bladder. Lance-corporal Hoffmonn, repeatedly flegged Bomhftrdier Dombart with bis sword belt, and on reveral occasions caused 150 blows to be inflicted upon him with the upper leather of a riding hoot, For a small dereliction oi duty Bombardier Dombart was made to present arms 188? times to Hoffmann until he fainted from exhaustion, Sergeant Zehme caused some men under his orders to get up in the middle of a January night in 1800, and, clothed simply in nighf shirts and helmets, to perform drills in the open air during half an hour at the double. As a refinement of cruelty this man ordered his soldiers to light cigatß while ! thoy were at tbe double during tho time in which he could count 80, aud tho exorcises continued until the cigars W6re snicked cut. It is needless to point out that the cruelty of obliging men praptioally unclothed to jmoke while breathless from running in winter weather amounts to real torture. This same Sergeant Zehrne, being ono even* log at supper, forced some reoruits to bend the knee 1800 times before him, until, as Prince George says, " the floor of tho barrack room was black with their perspiration," and several of thews fainted, ftergt Zehmo is further said by his commander to have systematically ouffed ""and kicked 'his men, to have arbitrarily stopped their pay aud to havo levied blackmail from them. Sergeant Pflug forced Lis recruits to ohow their dirty socks ia his presence till they turned siok, Hia other amenities consisted in knocking their heads against walls, smearing his muddy boots over their faces, and teaching them the parade maroh by striking them violently over the k'ueoa with phaips till they yelled with pain, Prince George of Saxony cites four other instances, but they coDtain little moro than has been ohronieled in tho foregoing disgusting cases, The non-commissioned officers whoee names havo been mentioned were all tried by court-martial, degraded to the ranks, and sentenced to tenuis of im* pri^onment varying from two to five years. Tha Prince, however, in concluding bis kindly and able-worded oireular, appeals to his colonels for the honour of the army to purge regiments "from suoh inhuman instructors." Remarking that Hocialinm is rampant in Germany, he says that the cruelties whioh he ha» denounced are calculated "to shake all loyalty to tho thrcue of the Fatherland." The Vorxoartt also states that orders similar to those issued by the commander of the 12th Army Corps have been sent out "from tho highest quarters '* to the colonels of the Prussian and Bavarian armiea.