GERMANS UNCHANGED BY WAR.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 29, Issue 42, 1 June 1917, Page 4

GERMANS UNCHANGED BY WAR.

DISGRACEFUL CONDUCT IN BAPAUME AREA.

WELLINGTON, May 29.

Sir James Allen has received from an officer of high rank iji the British Army a personal letter I‘roni which he gives for publication the following extract:—

“I am sure you will be glad to know that my corps had the honour of taking Bapaume, the goal that had been before the eyes of the whole army on the Somme since June last.- We had no very heavy fighting at the last, probably owing to the fact that we had been able to keep up a continuous, unrelenting pressure on the Germans day after day for so long, which finally broke down their resistance. I hope wc threw away no chances, while equally wc were not rushing, so I am thankful to say we had very few casualties. The fact of having driven the Germans out like this, and of keeping them on the run as we are still doing, has hud a most extraordinarily beneficial effect on everyone. My men simply have their tails right over their backs, they are so pleased with themselves, and rightly too, for they have deserved success.

“At the present moment we are seven miles beyond, in lovely rolling country, over which it has been a great pleasure for me to ride to-day, especially after the hateful shell-swept country, with mud to one’s girths, from which ivo were delighted to have escaped. “It is quite impossible to imagine without seeing it the appalling state in which the Germans left Bapaume and the country and villages round it. I fancy they did very much what the Russians did when retiring before Napoleon. Every single thing in the country has been destroyed—houses, sheds, trees, everything. It is really awful to think what the existence of the people over these miles of country must be for years to come. A good deal of the destruction has been absolutely wanton. Bor instance, small fruit trees growing against a wall, ornamental shrubs, monuments, etc., have all been cut down or blown up. The women, we hear, have been treated most disgracefully. In fact, the Germans behaved themselves like real beasts. One almost thought they would have learnt something during the war, but apparently this is not the case.”