MASSACRE AT TRIPOLI.

Otago Witness, Issue 3015, 27 December 1911, Page 7

MASSACRE AT TRIPOLI.

INDISCRIMINATE SLAUGHTER.

EXTERMINATED IN THOUSANDS.

u ■ Our Own Correspondent.* LONDON, November 1. Accounts which have now come through uncensored sources show that the Italians have been employing all the rigour and brutality which is usually associated with South American and African warfare. It was a tactical blunder, apparently, on the part of th© commander-in-chief which permitted the Arab population of an extensive residential section of the city, Bituated in a great oasis somewhat detached from the commercial town of Tripoli to remain in their quarters and in possession of their arms. Though it was known that the Turks had issued 10 ; 000 stands of up-to-date arms before retiring into the desert, and only 3000 stand were surrendered when the Italians issued their proclamations; and though, moreover, no word of honour had been taken from the Arabs in the oasis that they would not join in the fighting, th© Italians trusted to their goodwill, and threw out their own outposts beyond the oasis where they engaged th© Turks and Arabs in their attack from the desert. The Italian lines were only 100 yards in advance of the oasis, and during the severe attack of Monday last all the reserves were pushed forward' to the firing line, leaving an unprotected rear towards the town of Tripoli. The Arabs in the oasis, seeing their chance, rushed for' their arms and made a roar attack on th© Italians, who for a moment wore caught between two fires and in grave danger of stampeding. According to all reports, they stood their ground remarkably well, th© courage of the young troops being especially commended. As rapidly as possible the reserves were withdrawn from the front towards the enemy, and brought into action against the oasis." The Italians had more than 100 casualties in the course of half an hour, while many were killed while passing through the oasis on their way to the At this time the inhabitants of the_ town itself were in revolt, and the position of the Italian occupying army was desperate. . The 83rd Regiment and the Bersaglieri bore the brunt of the cross attack, and the Correspondents who were there bear testimony to the cheerfulness with which they faced the double danger. OUT FOR REVENGE. But no sooner had the position been a-e----lieved thiin the Italians lost all control, and broke out into a welter of vengeance. Rushing into the oasis they scoured the quarter on all sides for Arabs, and presently appeared bringing little groups of wretched end deiected prisoners, bounded hand and foot. Old men and young, women, and even young children were taken indiscriminately, and goaded along with trumpery cruelties when they were unable to walk fast enough to satisfy the impatient lust for revenge. "They were of all ages," says a correspondent. " Some were boys, some old men so infirm that they could scarcely walk. It was difficult to believe that men so feeble and old had taken part in euch a desperate enterprise. Some of them were in the sackcloth tatters of the town beggars. " The Italians, who had been quite cheerful while the fighting was going on, became furious with anger when they saw the prisoners, all of whom, old and young, they declared had been concerned in the treacherous attacks, and must for the purpose of it have concealed their rifles. The thought that these men had been preparing all along to stab them in the back made tli© Italian soldiers mad, and they could not restrain their desire for vengeance." DRAGGED TO DEATH. Mr Frank Magee, a photographer of the Daily Mirror, was caught in the cross fire of the two attacks, and had to spend the whole day in the zone; but he got much important information as to the manner in which the Italians wreaked their vengeance on the Arabs. " I saw one group of about 40 Arabs inarched across the graveyard. Some could barely limp along. Some were wounded and others dead beat. The soldiers prodded them along. I saw an officer strike oneman who was brought up with his wrists bound together a savage blow with the Scabbard of his sword in the lower part of the man's abdomen. I saw a soldier strike another man a savage blow with his fist in th© face. I saw an officer spur his horse forward with a heavy sjambok upraised in his hand to strike an old prisoner who could not drag himself along fast enough. I saw a soldier snatch a stick from the hand of a wounded prisoner who could only hobble painfully along and throw it away into the sand. The other soldiers laughed with gle© at that. " The group of 40 prisoners as they cam© towards me suddenly broke through the guard of soldiers and made a dash for liberty. Some of them came in my direction, thinking, perhaps, that the soldiers would not fire for fear of killing me. I crawled through the cactus hedge to avoid them. All th© men were chased and recaptured. WALKING THE PLANK. " In the afternoon at about 3 o'clock three prisoners were brought to the court- j yard of the house where I was roped to-

gether by the wrists. A .soldier holding the lose end of the rope that bound them led them along with a. click of his palnte as if they were led animals. The other soldiers laughed at the insult. Two of the men were very old and very poor. The third was a tall, fine-looking young Arab in a white linen robe. . They were bundled into the courtyard. The two old men sank down on the ground, weary, but resigned. The young one wildly protested his innocence, and then, when his protestations were jeered at, raised his bound Jiands and prayed incessantly. After an hour the end of this drama came. The three were brought out of the courtyard. The soldier loosed the rope that bound them, and an officer, pointing to the desert, gave them a prod and spoke the word ' Bourra,' which means, ' Get along.' NO QUESTIONS ASKED.

; " It was a ghastly comedy. • The men i wonderingly Interpreted it as meaning that they were ordered to march out into the foodless, waterless desert. The young Arab again protested that he had don© nothing to deserve this punishment; hut they were prodded again and told to. go forward. Very eowly they walked away beyond the trench into the burning Sand. " They had not gone 10 yards before the sound of a dozen rifle bolts shooting home showed them the point of the comedy. i The young Arab looked round and shrieked, the rifles rang out, and the three lay in a J huddled heap on the ground.. Another I volley was poured into them as they lay. ! One ©till moved," and a soldier, drawing | his bayonet, plunged it into the man's heart." ] Mr Mage© was not allowed to photgraph | the execution, but he got a plat© of the i bodies as. they lay oh the ground. One j was still alive, and he pointed this out to an officer, who ordered a soldier to despatch the wretch at close range. THREE DAYS' MASSACRE. That night orders were given by the authorities to exterminate all Arabs found in the oasis. And" next morning the soldiers set in with glee and unbridled lust. Reuter'© special says that for three days there was a house-to-house search in the oasis for arms. " Parties of soldiers penetrated throughout every portion of the oasis, shooting indiscriminately all whom they met, without trial, without appeal. For three days- the popping of rifles marked the progress of the troops. Innocent and guilty were wiped out. Many of these . killed were quite young, and women also j perished in the confusion. It is impossible j to state the numbers of the persons thus shot, but scarcely any ©soaped. The search for Arabs still continues, and summary executions are not at an end. Nothing more deplorable than, the scenes in Tripoli has been witnessed in war for many a day. The town seems to have lost a great portion of its population. At night no one moves abroad except Europeans with passes.- Over 2000 refugees have left the town for Tunis and Malta." The Italians had hard wo: k attacking isolated sroups who held out in . the oasis and fired on the lines j from the rear during the night. " It is estimated that 4000 Arabs were killed j in the fighting or subsequently shot bej tween the 23rd and the 27th, the majority I in the oasis." j This account is born© out by the correspondent of The Times, who says: "The severity with which the Italian army .has exacted retribution upon the suburban Arabs might justly bo described as indis- ! oriminate slaughter. The two quarters from which the Arabs assailed the Rersag- | lieri have been turned into human abati toirs- It hag been a (miserable business, | but, in the circumstances, I presume the ■ general staff had no alternative but to give ; this horrid lesson. Although I cannot commend the ruthless measures employed, yet I cannot deny the necessity of a drastio quelling of the insurrection. The Italians having set themselves to cow the Arabs,, the flood-gates- of blood and lust were opened, and in many instances' the men got beyond control and the innocent suffered' with the guilty. The tale of retribution has been shockingly heavy, but nothing to what the indiscriminate oarnago would have been if the rising had not been premature. War is merciless-. I have witnessed one of its most merciless phases!" NO ATTEMPT TO PALLIATE. There has been no attempt so far to make apologies for the Italian excesses. Here is the Italian press view: " Corriere d'ltalia," All the Arabs in the oasis have been exterminated (sterminati). When justice was done dead silence reigned amid the palms." The " Stampa." The oasis is empty; there is. not an Arab left. Th© bodies are very, very numerous (numerosiscimi) ; in streets and gardens the reek of putrefaction has begun." Public opinion her© has been remarkably well contained since the first flush of indignation against the outbreak of hostilities. Now it is beginning to assert itself again in an outcry against the Italian excesses. What is felt here may best be understood by the fact that the 'p r °test in The Times is led by such a staunch friend and admirer of the Italians as Mr O. K. Trevelyan, the historian of the liberation. "Some of us wish," he says, "for the sake of our friends the Italians, that the Italian state had continued to rest on the stronger, nobler, and more economical basis of a free national union of a single race. If the Italians begin to treat the Arabs who are fighting for their country in the same way as 'the Austrians treated Brescia, it is ad-

missiblo to remind our Italian friends that . the Arabs have much more legal right to resist them than the Italians had- to resist the Austrians. The English love of Italy rests much on sentiment—a sentiment of affection for a people who won freedom at a price and have hitherto not abused it at the expense of others Of the effect on English opinion of a policy of cruel repression is begun and persisted in by the Italians, I can speak with a knowledge of my countrymen." ■-GERMAN INTERPRETER EXECUTED. ; During the fighting in the streets a Jewish lad killed a soldier with a dagger. I Another soldier lay insensible on the I ground, whereupon a fanatic named Hussein, a domestic at the German Consulate, said to his brother, " I will finish him. No one will suspect me." He plunged his poignard twice into the soldier's rib®. Hussein was apprehended and tried by court-martial in the- public street before the castle. Sarbinieri and Ber■sa.glieri held the street, and the ' swarthy culprit stood, the only unperturbed figure in the throng. He was evidently a fanatic, impervious even to the fascination of the cinematograph machines for which the officers composing the court were continuously posing. Ten minutes after the court dispersed the murderer was placed seated on a bale of hay with his back to a firing party of seven rifles. Ho was quite unconcerned. The first volley missed him altogether, though fired at only 10 yards range. He sat fixed and motionless as a, statue. Next round only one ball struck him in the loin. He tumbled off his seat on to his side, and the platoon continued independent firing for a while. When the sergeant and doctor found him still alive, two _ shots were fired within a few inches of his head to complete the execution. ITALIAN PREPARATIONS. The Italians fully realise that they cannot yet see the end of their campaign. The Minister of War and the Premier, have steadfastly refused to listen to the objections that the force detailed for the occupation of Tripoli is too large for the purpose, and they are making every preparation for a prolonged and determined campaign. It is understood General Caneva will resort to the chains of blockhouses or forts which were so effective in the Transvaal, and a vast horde of transport-carriers, numbering, it is said, 10,000, is being imported from the Italian Red Soa colonies and Abyssinia. Fie/ld-marshal Fuad Pasha, the veteran" Turkish soldier, states that Italy herself has made the war a holy one, and the Mussulman world can only regard it in that light. "Should Italy," he says, ■•formally announce the annexation of Tripoli, every Mussulman, old and young, would rise and fight. Their religion allows and enjoins • every male between the age 3 of eight and 80 years to take part in the defence of his country. ; "I am over 70, but I shall rise and, if need be, die as a soldier in the holy war for my fatherland. Tripoli will become Italy's tomb." ITALY'S DENIAL TRAVERSED. CORRESPONDENTS REITERATE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, November 3. Italy's explanation or denial, with regard to the supposed outrages on the Arab population of Tripoli, has generally been accepted as mitigating the story which was told by j the correspondents; but the impression is still held by the press that the severity was rather more than was necessary in the in- i t©rests of military safety. I Signor Giolitte's statement to the Powers is as follows : j On October 23 a sudden rising of the j Arabs who had made their submission to Italy occurred in Tripoli, and more par- | ticularly in the oasis of Tripoli. These ; Arabs armed themselves with rifles con- j cealed in their houses, notwithstanding i the rigorous ordinance of disarmament, j and -attacked our troops in the rear at ' the same time as other Arabs, joined with ; Turks, were assailing them in front. Evi- j dently that was the outcome of a plan of pre-concerted treachery. j Our troops, although some detachments incurred severe losses, offered resistance on both fronts, an el the double attack was repulsed. It became, in consequence, an imperative necessity to purge the oasis of the traitors and to punish those of them who had committed some special criminal acts. Those who during the fighting or immediately afterwards were found with arms in hand were shot. Those who were, after regular trial, found guilty of murder or of other criminal acts of the kinel lve'o shot. Other Arabs arrested, to the number of 2200, because they hael connived at the treachery or because they had contravened the order of the Governor for the surrender of all arms, l were transported to Italians islands. O'n the days following the 23rd some j fresh partial outbreaks of revolt occurred, ! and were repressed in the same way. • Therefore there was no systematic slaughter of unarmed people, of women, or I children. There was no indiscriminate re- j pression. As the attacks on the rear of our rd- ' vanced posts did not cease, all the walls, ! gardens, plantations, and everything which in the oasis might offer a shelter to rebels was, as I nave already telegraphed, to be demolished; but this was

not done until all inoffensive Arabs, women, and children had been removed from tho oasis and brought in towards Tripoli. On the other hand, the reports of our wounded show that the enemy _ perpetrated upon them acts of atrocious infamy, as is proved by figures. Two companies of Bersaglieri, of about 400 men, lest more than 300 killed, and had only 14- wounded. This happened on the spot where we know that the attack on the rear took place. And if one considers that on the 23rd and 26th our troops loot altogether 374- killed and a little more than 150 wounded, it will be evident that such a result would have been impossible unless our wounded had been massacred in the unfair combat. CHARGES REAFFIRMED.

I In reply to this it is reaffirmed that the narrative*? of the killing came from reputable and unbiassed sources, from British and German correspondents who managed to get their " stuff " through without being overlooked by the censor. The Frankfurter Zeitung's correspondent says the troops "were ordered to shoot women and children," and that up to Thursday night at least 3000 natives had been "fusilladed or shot down on the spot," a like number being taken prisoners. This correspondent himself witnessed measures of " unspeakable cruelty." The Lokal Anzeiger says some o{ the Italian soldiery completely lost their heads, and in a number of. cases inoffensive, women and children were shot down at random. ; CENSORING THE TRUTH. M is idle to suggest, of course, that the military censorship, the prime object of which is that nothing shall be divulged to the hindrance of the military campaign, should be relaxed to enable the real truth of the matter to be sent through, and therefore such a paper as the Daily Telegraph, which has Mr Bennett Burleigh at the front in a properly-accredited capacity, is more or less impotent. His news goes through the official sources, and is carefully deprived of just the sort of details which England is anxious to get. The only reports of the massacres have been received through uncensored sources, generally sent by hand to Malta <nd telegraphed thence. The Turkish statements, so far, are even less reliable than the censored material of the correspondents. It is chiefly compiled in Constantinople and London from a concatenation of rumours and known facts. There seems, therefore, little hope for the impartial account of the killing for which the Telegraph is endeavouring to get a permit from the military authorities. ITALY INDIGNANT. In face of the difficulties put in the way of getting proper news, the indignation of Italy is a little out of place. Signer Giolitti says if Italy can be reproached with anything it is with having carried her humanitarian scruples too far. "What is certain," he Bjfcm, "is that our soldiers, trained in a school of loyalty and acustomed to the uprightness of theAbysoinians, who are either open enemies or steadfast friends, did not expect that the Arabs, after they had sworn fealty and received barley, wheat, flour, and other gifts, would break their oaths and treacherously point their awns against those who had benefited them arxl were about to reorganise the country in their interest. When the Arabs shot our troops in the back while they were courageously fighting the Turks, our soldiers attacked the oasis, routed the traitors, killing those caught firing, and capturing others. The prisoners taken have, I for safety, been transported, to the islands of Tremiti and Ustica, where they admit that, apart from the curtailment of their liberty, they are better treated and more comfortable than they have been in Tripoli. In no report has General C::neva made the least allusion to women and children having even been wounchd, much less killed. There is, on the other hand, proof of unheard-of cruelty havinsr been shown to our wounded. Many of them were barbarously knifed and killed while lying wounded and unable to defend themselves or to attack others." Signor Giolitti points out that while the wounded are usually twice as numerous as the killed and the Turks acually lost 2CCO killed and 4000 wounded, the Italian losses wero 374 killed and onlv 150 wounded, i He says the trouble has been largely caused by the incursion- for the date season of i about 15,000 Bedouins, whose houses were I like powder magazines. i