GERMAN DESECRATION IN ABANDONED AREA.
..VAULTS tffiOKEN OPEN AID GRAVES PILLAGED. ZINC AND 1 LEAD LININGS OF COFFINS . TAKEN. ;;; Router. i (Received 7 p.m.) LONDON, March 38. ■/ A correspondent-at,. French headquarters writes?—" The full atrociousness of the conduct ,of the Germans is only now appearing. ; They not only broke open the vaults in the churchyards and used them as machine-gun shields, but they systematically pillaged graves for the zinc and lead linings of coffins, and for possible ornaments and jewels. ' Cemeteries were torn up, coffins broken, the remains of the dead scattered, and rubbish and filth thrown into the graves. The Germans show an almost exaggerated respect for their own dead. Their trim and gaudy cemeteries abound with pompous epitaphs to the fallen, characteristically inscribed on tombstones stolen from neighbouring French cemeteries."
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16502, 30 March 1917, Page 5
Word Count
132GERMAN DESECRATION IN ABANDONED AREA. New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16502, 30 March 1917, Page 5
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