GERMAN CRUELTY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15821, 19 January 1915, Page 8

GERMAN CRUELTY.

STORY OF A SURGEON.

SCENES IN NIGHT RAID

During a dark and stormy night a company of Germans succeeded in passing right through Dixmude after killing, amid dead silence, the mitrailleuse guard at the head of the bridge leading to the town. The surgeon in charge of the field hospital was awakened by the. sound of the Germans marching past. In the room were two wounded men. He told them to keep quiet, as Germans were in the town, and then went to the staff to give information He volunteered to bring up reserves, and set off in the pitch dark with his two wounded on stretchers.

Walking along the dark road unsuspecting, he suddenly ran into the Germans, who were in ditches and along the road. "Haiti" He thought these were Belgians, and joked, calling out at them for not seeing his Red Cross band, und replied to their challenge innocently. " Medecin Beige.''

" Hands up," brutally enforced, brought him to his senses. He and his stretcher bearers were nfade to descend into the ditch, where thev found other prisoners. 15 in all. Wounded Men Killed. The two wounded men were killed—and the surgeon would have been shot also, only the officers interceded for him with the major. jEliey had a wounded German officer with them, and asked if he would tend him. He said, "Yes," and tended the wounded German. The major asked him if he knew anything of the position of the troops, and he replied that he had been in hospital all day. Finally they all advanced along the road, but it was soon evident that it was no good going on deeper into the allies' lines. The Germans then boldly placed their wounded in a Belgian ambulance cart and sent it straight back to the town bridge.

Ono can imagine the surgeon's perplexity. Was the town wholly German? Otherwise it seemed too daring an act. The Germans decided to attempt to reach their own lines by a roundabout route. Over ditches, hedges, etc., they went traight ahead. Remarkable discipline was manifest-d. The men waded deep in water without a word. Over the roughest country went the daring band, prisoners in advance, without any sound save whispered words and stern orders. The Germans lost their way as dawn was coming up, and then they stumbled on the Belgian trenches. Rifles rang out. a German soldier fell. The surgeon rushed to help him, seeing also a way of escape, but "Vorwarts." came the order from the

"r. and the wounded man was left, holding up supplicating hands after his comrades, abandoned !

Surgeon Makes His Escape.

The band had previously passed close behind a Belgian battery, the surgeon whispering to hie fellow prisoners not to call attention to it. The Germans might have done much damage, as there were no infantry immediately near. As it turned out, the battery" commander had trained two pieces loaded with shrapnel on the band, and was about to fire when they passed on. The Belgians remained in their trenches, and the Germans pushed on, falling out of the frying pan into the fire, for the French trenches were before them. The surgeon, seeing a chance in the disorder, lagged behind, and, coming to a ditch, threw himself into it. One ambulance man and a French prisoner followed his example, and on all fours they crawled 50yds, and then witnessed the final phase of the adventure.

Finding themselves trapped, the Germans started to kill their prisoners. Five were mercilessly shot, including a French marine officer and interpreter, who had been sent to them the previous day with a flag of truce to discuss some question. Another prisoner had been billed previously, and was found later, his legs bound with wire, and 10 bullets in his breast.

Tho brutal major met his fate. A ! prisoner lushed toward the French, caught | up a wounded man's nile and charged back I towards the Germans. He was within a yard of the major, bayonet ready to ! strike, when the latter saw him and I turned, his sword still raised in command. 1 The bayonet drove home : a. gurgling shout j of " Vorwarts '" came fro'r. the stricken [officer, and all his brutalifwti had been | paid for. i Four Men Shot. The French took the rest of the comI pony prisoners, and wanted to shoot them jail. They would have bec-n justified in I doing so. but only the four were shot wlo had li on marked out as '.he most I brutal.

They met their fate in a very different manner from the major. One", a trumpeter, an elderly man, was frankly half u.ad with terror. He held out supplicating aims and screamed out about his family. his wife and children. His cries for nicrcv and shrieks of appeal were cut short by the sound of the volley from the firing Jj&rty. obedient to the fall of the officer's sword, and the unfortunate; wretch just f.iiudde.ied into a nondes-J-ipt heap at the foot of the Avail. Another met his death proudly, his head erect, his eye defiant. He also shuddered down the" wall in d.ath A third sprang to' meet his fate with a cry of "Hoch:" for his Kaiser. The fourth man had received every one of the bull -ts :'n the n<*ck, showing "excellent marksmanship. All the three refused to he blindfolded, and so in the- morning glow they passed

The. Red Cross cart with the wounded German, which had attempted to pass back through the tow.' ,-nd over the bridge, was held up. " Halte 'm'/' Tho uuttural reply came: ''Rouge Croix!" Down they all were brought and disarmed. The surgeon was able to put in a kindly word for those who had been good to him.