PITILESS METHODS OF THE GERMAN ARMY.
OFFICERS COMMAND THEIR MEN WITH REVOLVERS. WOUNDED SHOT ON THE BATTLEFIELD, (Aeceived November 13, 8.10 p.m.) London, November 12. The correspondent of the Daily Telegraph at Paris states that interviews with the German wounded reveal that the following method of beginning the trenches under fire is common in the German Army. First, an officer selects a man, and orders him to divest himself of his rifle and heavy pack and take a spade and march from cover some paces to the front. If he hesitates the officer puts his revolver to the man's head and covers him until he has turned the first sod. The man seldom survives. A second is then sent out, followed by a third and a fourth, until the beginning of the trench is deep enough to cover a man, when another is sent forward with an armour plate shield, which is set up in the hole previously made. This enables the rest of the work to be carried on in comparative safety. On an average, 15 men are shot down before the beginning of a trench is effected. Many German wounded were brought to the French hospitals naked, their comrades having stripped them and sent their clothes to Germany for fresh drafts. One of the wounded said that the German Red Cross had orders to pick up officers only, unless there was ample room for the men. Several times he saw a severely wounded man shot as he lay on the field, and the dead stripped of uniforms and accoutrements before their bodies were cold.
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New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15766, 14 November 1914, Page 7
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266PITILESS METHODS OF THE GERMAN ARMY. New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15766, 14 November 1914, Page 7
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