WORSE EVEN THAN GERMANS!

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLVI, Issue 12998, 10 November 1916, Page 4

WORSE EVEN THAN GERMANS!

"(By Claude Askew.) 4t this particular,.juncture —_ when Serbs and Bulgars ace once more .in .con- £ flict—l should; Mk-e to bntfg - certain facts home-to the vast number of Englishmen a and Endishwomeu who still labour under n the delusion that the Bulgarians, are not n reallv the foes of Serbia but have been T forced into the war by' their xuler and \ Ministers. This is not the case; the Bui- (, ears hate, the Serbs with a ..ferocity a that has for its aim the extermination of s the Serbian nation, .and they have commit- j ted deeds of the most' intense brutality in s Serbia. This unfortunate country, has" been ravished and rent and washed in ] innocent blood during the la_st six months, and fear broods over Serbia to-day the terrible fear o'f what the enemy may yet do before the soldier's of Serbia win home to - their women and their -children, for the helpless civil population are. tragically 5 aware th/it they are in the hands of a ruthless, unscrupulous, and vindictive Quite Tecently ■ the Serbian; authorities issued a pamphlet 1 dealing with, atrocities committed by the Bulgai-s in the course of last year's fighting, and it is well .that the . hideous facts should be made known; The crimes that Bulgaria? : has ■ committed-must be paid for when the day of reckoning comes round, paid lor heavily, for they were not perpetrated; in the heat of battle,, but- deliberately, in. cold blood, and nearly always under oihcers' orders. , ' ' One fact" stands out in. ghastly, prominence in this record, of horrors.. It is the disposition, not only to slay but to annihilate a race. This was pacticu- . lurly the case in IVliicfHlonin. tho territory which the BulganTclaim. as their own, and . we know now that the work be<mn last year/is still being carried 'i'lie pamphlet issued from Serbian Headquarters contains thirtyrthree - authenticated gases of gross brutality, so. fully proved that they are beyond dispute. The majority deal, not with outrages against isolated individuals—a ie--1 cord of these, cases will have to be dealt ' with later—but relate the massacre, un- ! der revolting of'large numbers ! of helpless, people—by the hundred at a • .time.- In one case 500 victims are-tnen- • tioned, in another 196. ' '• I ' Details-the merciless carnage: have " been given me, but they are of - such a revolting character that I dare not pve 1. them .to the British pvltic. , I It was especially , in. the. ■•vOlages. last , i -year that the worst atrocities . weie.com--3 mitted, and it.is still the-villages that suffer most from the enemy .occupation. _ It 3 is easy to understand why this is so. oerl bian villages are isolated', and so, under s p-resent. conditions, .crimes — : -not. : only f against men, but against helpless women - and children—may be . committed' With the utmost impunity. • - . , I What charges will have to. be* brought f up against Bulgaria! -These charges, f -apart from the minor 1 qnes of robbery, - . maladministration,' and cruelty in various , forms, are essentially that wholesale mas- } sacres .of Serbian prisoners were earned out under-official orders, and- {hat, in-cer-tain quarters, wholfe villages have been destroyed and' their,. inha.bita.nts .exterminated, tho_ object, being to do away, with, ' or at any-rate to diminish, the.. Serbian - elenlerit. - ', /- , . .v - -

As to; outrages . against women.. young j girls, and childreji, the ictoid. is black | enough. I was surprised.. I i-ejneinber,>] \yhcn I left- pirot in the. wdkc of the 2nd Army last, October, by the panic ,of the •women folk avlilii they realised that, the Bulgarians 'were dose 011 the town... ..I am. not surprised new. . _ I marvelled then to . lIkS \ llJuge women crowding .-into PiroL >\eeping, ashy-Faced women! I saw_ withered -old grandmothers carrying chairs and tables on their backs—young girls, swaying under the load of heavy bundles of household gear—wild-eyed.-expectant mothers staggering panttngiy alon^—and I thought it "foolish of these simple, harmless folk to •leave their hoir.es to wander God knows where. I imagined their terror to be an exaggeration. Heaven forgive me, though. The womeii£,were wiser than T'was. They knew what cruel mercy would be dealt out to "them,, so they fled in their hundreds, their children with them, poor souls, their bundles upon their backs.'*,' The agony of Serbia! Do we really appreciate, here in England, in our island home, girded and guarded by the sea, what'is going, 011' in that stricken little country that may soon become a mere graveyard, for the agony of Serbia is not over yet, the campaign starting anew in' the Balkans is bound to plunge Serbia once more in the crimson wave of war. She will be the battlefield for the GreatPowers —men will fight for mastery in the Balkans over her bleeding body. She must suffer—suffer terribly during the next few [ months—the inevitable suffering that a conquered nation has to endur-3 before her soldiers can-win her back by their swords. Think of Serbia during the days that lie ahead, pray for her men fighting for her, and for her women and children in cruel, bondage, pray for her Iftroic, unconquered soul. . '