GRMAN DESTRUCTION DIABOLICAL AND THOROUGH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16498, 26 March 1917, Page 5

GRMAN DESTRUCTION DIABOLICAL AND THOROUGH.

'!'■■'■."■(•'.■'■■:-■■>.■'.- ' ■ ■ '•,-.! -i.-' ". \ '''-■ ■'; ."■''' '~" :'. ', J:'" 7 " ■ -"■■—' '.;' -'V'- ; PERONfIE A SCENE OF ' EMPTY DESOLATION. '■■■"■■' >■:;•: N.Z. Official War Correspondent's Cabled Message, March 23, %_, - The Germans in their retreat have destroyed, desecrated, and defiled. From village to village one goes from bad'to worse. In Peronne the calculated destruction by the retreating enemy was diaboli- , cal in its thoroughness and vindictiycness. All houses untouched by shell-. fire were blown to pieces by high explosives, and all furniture , and household goods and treasures of tho late inhabitants smashed with £'■■ ~,■';-.''■'-■.■■■ ■ * ■' c ..... ;:■ --. .',.. . : , ,-v-. ■■.. ■% ■■ ■■■■ £ xes, hammers, and picks. Even the handles of the instruments of destruction were then destroyed. The town was a scene of empty deso- ,'- lation. The trees of a beautiful avenue were hacked -way through Bp|?d all the orchards were sawn down. ;. The fires were' still burning . to-day. In other villages woe is added to desolation.'l; 'Only women,' . old men, and children are left. Children, pale-faced and thin, stared |jjl||js one with all their childish merriment gone. - There had been neither meat nor milk in some of. these villages for months.:- ; The people were virtually - held in bondage. . All the cattle and provisions were - quisitioned, and even young girls made to work hard at .wood-chopping. a nd other tasks. Much of the food sent from America and Spain ; to; |p inhabitants was taken. by the army, and children died through lack h\l °f nourishment. "•• : \ ;>>■' . '■">-■'■:. '^^j-'Hw' ;^--- V- ■;■ '■!■ v^'"'-r".''':.; : • • The interesting fact was elicited that German soldiers have 1 been. :j \. . badly fed for the past nix months, but the officers bought food in Bel- . . gium and lived fairly well. Behind one officers' mess there was a pile J ' of between- 1500 and 2000 empty bottles that had held expensive wines f||§pj?d liqueurs. Latterly some soldiers cried when sent forward to the •'."■'' trenches, while others refused to go and were shut in an attic without , : ■..-food for four days. / - . || j The Germans express the bitterest hatred of the British, and \| Realise that they cannot now win. In : private houses they smashed : ilp^osV.mirrors,'pictures, and destroyed libraries, and carried off all i|:';!,be valuables they could lay their hands on. .In the mortuary chapel ' >fA of one chateau they broke open the coffin of the owner, buried ir 1859, | cufc into the lead coffin, and left the body partly revealed. .. They also ;, | .Jfaewed the altar vestments about for.miles. One went through § and.orchards in which scarcely a tree was left standing*