GERMANS AND NATIVES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3352, 12 June 1918, Page 54

GERMANS AND NATIVES.

ATROCIOUS CONDUCT IX THE CAMEROONS. (Passed by the Press Bureau.—Per favour secretary Royal Colonial' Institute.) The conduct of the Germans towards natives during the Cameroons campaign was barbarous in the extreme, and more in keeping with the traditions of some savage tribe than the customs of a great European Power. The evidence collected from natives by the French and British during their advance, and in many instances corroborated by photographs, shows that the Germans indulged in wholesale bloodshed, accompanied by deeds of the most callous cruelty. The following are but a few instances of their methods : A native named Andreas Jengelli, who had fled from the Germans at Mbonjo, made the following report to Captain Cwynne Howell, of the British General Staff at Duala:—"There are about 10 Germans with 100 native soldiers ,in Mbonjo. They are shooting natives and burning the countryside. They have killed about 30 native men and women. They say that the British may conquer the country, but they will find no inhabitants left." This 'threat, so typical of the modern German, our enemy did his best to make good, with the result that the native ran into the bush whenever German troops approached, but sought protection from the British and French, whom they recognised as friends. General Dobell, who was in command of the Allied forces, makes the following comment upon the conduct of the Germans. "On some occasions it is • said that no Europeans were present during the enactment of the brutalities described, but sufficient evidence is here available to show that German Europeans encouraged such acts by personally cutting the throats of wounded British soldiers with knives, firing on peaceful inhabitants to terrorise them, and shooting natives without trial. In such circumstances as these it is extremely difficult to obtain the names of the Germans concerned, especially as the natives, as a rule, do not know or take an interest in the names of the Europeans whom they see on these occasions." In this connection Mr K. V. Elphinstonc, M.A., of the Nigerian Civil Government, Chief Political Officer with the British forces with the Cameroons, writes:—"ltshould bo borne in mind that the civilians killed by the Germans .are the natives of a country under their protection, whom they had ruled for manj r years. The murders were not committed by an invading army; in fact, owing to the treatment meted out it was to the invading army the wretched natives fled for protection. They very soon summed up the difference of treatment by the Germans and the Allied forces."

The headman of Bwelelo, reported: "Some people came running into my town from Ngori, shouting that a white man had killed two men. All the people began to run away. I remained in my house looking out. I saw some German soldiers come; they came up to about u.) yards. I then saw a white man coming on a horse behind. I know him; his name is Meinhardt. He shouted in German for the headman. I got out of the window and hid in the bush. During tho night I saw the houses burning, and I heard shots when I first ran out. Next morning I went to Bonaberi and reported to the officer. I went back to the village the same day, then I found a great many houses burnt. We found Lobe Penda still alive, shot in the right upper arm (he died the same day when we were taking him to Bonaberi). We found Ndia Njanga with his throat cut; he had been tied by the body, arms, and forehead to a plantain. We found Ekwe Wanga shot dead outside his burnt house. Kolo Sofo was shot in the foot; he is alive wow." Elong Ntoko, of Bonberi Ba Susa, reported :—Bony, a Malimba man, came and told us all to go to Susa, as the Germans were coming. We started away at once. Before we got away we saw many German soldiers coming. They began firing at us. We all ran away.

We came to Susa Railway Station and lay down behind the English troop.?. The Germans came, but wer? driver, oil'. In the evening I went but and found the bodv of m : brother behind a house in the village." He hid been shot in the hack."

This is the experience of Ngoio Ngeki, of Kake : —"lt happened when there was a big fight at Susa. I was living at Susa. 1 went with my brother to Kake to get food. We had got inside Kake by my brother's house. He was picking plantains ; I was quite cloie. Suddenly he called cut, 'Nglo, I am caught!' I saw two German soldiers kill him with a bayonet. I ran away to Susa. The English came out and fought the Germans at Kake. I buried my brother the same day as the Germans ran away." Captain M. J. Parker, Sierra Leone Battalion, West African Frontier Force, was wounded in action and taken prisoner by the Germans. When he recovered consciousness he found a German native soldier puliing his broken leg, three others pointing their rifles within a few inches of his face, while another held a bayonet over his left shoulder, and a sixth stripped him of lm equipment. A European then approached, and, drawing a small operating knife about 6in long, said, "Do yon want to live or die? It is quite easy to relieve people's sufferings with this." Captain Parker said he had only a broken leg, and did not wish to die. One of the soldiers then addressed the European, saying, "Why do you not kill this white man; you killed the other white men?" A German dispenser then came up and made arrangements to set the broken leg; meanwhile the other European moved over to where a couple of British native soldiers were lying wounded. The European bent down and stabbed both men in the throat, one after another, killing them on the spot. He then came round in front of Captain Parker and cleaned his knife on his puttee.

Such are the crimes that disgraced German arm 3 throughout the Cameroons campaign, and they go far to explain why the Germans have failed so consistently as colonists. The instanceso here quoted form but a small portion of German crimes committed in the Cameroons. — Ajax.