THE DESPICABLE HUN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16977, 13 April 1917, Page 5

THE DESPICABLE HUN.

WOMEN NO BETTER THAN MEN. TORTURING THE WOUNDED. RED CROSS SHAMELESSLY PROSTITUTED. Australian and N.Z. Cablo Association and Eeuter.

LONDON, April 11. A Berne correspondent gives revelations of systematic brutality by German women to scores of soldiers of all ranks who were released from the German prison camps During their long journey through Germany the common' amusement of these women was to tempt the wounded who were in the last extremity of hunger and thirst, by holding food- and drink before them, and then snatching them away Many were begging for a drink, and had coffee, water, and soup tendered them. At the last moment a gentle nurse would spit into it. Frequently the wounded had their drink defiled with stuff while the women laug'hed'. Another common entertainment was to offer a glass of water and then pour it slowlv on the ground. Oases of physical maltreatment of the wounded by the German nurses were equally common. They not only refused to attend to their wants, but regularly insulted and spat upon the -wounded Tiiev even struck and kicked bandaged limbs in order to increase the pain. The correspondent adds : "The truth is that the German Red Cross is merely a branch of militarism. It has prostituted the sacred sign and shamed its name and forfeited all right to be regarded as an organisation for the good of humanity "