GERMAN BRUTALITY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 25 October 1941, Page 6

GERMAN BRUTALITY

SHOOTING OF HOSTAGES 100 MORE IN FRANCE KILLING OF GERMAN OFFICERS (Rec. 10.48 a.m.) Rugby, Oct. 24. : The toll of German brutality in 1 occupied countries was greatly increased to-day by the reported shooting of 100 French hostages, bringing the total revenge executions for two slain Nazi officers to 150 with a threat of a further 50 if no arrests are made by Sunday midnight for the officer slain at Bordeaux. That the murder of hostages is now the settled policy of the Nazi leaders—- , a clear indication of the bankruptcy of the policy of organising the “new order” in collaboration with Vichy—is clearly indicated by the publication of a Brussels paper of a decree signed by the military commander for Belgium and Northern France, which runs: “In cases of acts of violence committed against members of the German army or the German police when the guilty person or persons cannot be found a ] number of hostages chosen according t< the seriousness of the act—at least live if the attack involves death —will : be shot. From now on all political internees in Belgium are considered to be hostages.”—U.P.A.