FRIGHTFUL ATROCITIES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 6307, 3 November 1915, Page 4

FRIGHTFUL ATROCITIES.

FRENCH WOUNDED KILLED. HAY STACK FURNACES. incidence of frightful atrocities by th» Jriuns 011 1 ( i cncli wounded, is given in the .official report presented to 11. ' lviani, the Premier, by the commission appointed to varify the acts in violation ol public law committed by the ouemy. Jhe report is signed by M. George® j'l) el It, .president of the Cour dv Compt; M. Armnnd Mollard, Plenipotentiary .Minister; M. Georges Malinger. Counsellor of. the Cour de Cassation'. Ihe commission confined its in- \ estigation solely to acte of disloyalty or barbarism, of which tne combatants, as well as the medical personnel of tlie J'jeiich armies, wer© victims last August. °

Oil August 26 General Stengel, comiMcindmg the 58th Brigade, signed <ui Order of the Day to the troops that they wore not to take any more prisoners. which meant that they were to nias•s:u re everyone falling into their hands oven if they wore already wounded and unable to 'bear arms. From that day none of the soldiors or civilians were allowed to remain behind Stengel and his troops. Big groups of prisoners were put against the : wall and 6hot with the refinement of cruelty. A WONDERFUL ESCAPE.

iJio report relates the wonderful Ovjcap© of tli e French military doctor ~ , e dillotj who, /after the 'battle at Utile, had stalled a .hospital on which j\as flying a Ked Cross flag in some nouses and' a barn at Gomery. liho next morning village wias invacled by Ge.rman troops. A lieutenant commadiug 25 men. visited the hospital, aud after seeing all the soldiers of the medical corps the lieutenant left! i»)e place, saving that everything was» all right. The men became very excited and menacing, yelling, "Es ist r ' reL S d^ 6 "Tocls und Kuge] in \°? 1 is the war of the dead and or bullets in the head). A few minutes later another German ' twicer pushed into the place and shot j a l Dr Sedillofc, who luckily put up v tho | aim of his assailant aud received the bullet in the shoulder. In ia. fit of exasperation the officer fired two more I uulets at the doctor, these hitting l , him m the right calf and left arm. He ; then ordered his mew "Feuer, Feuerl" [ An indescribable scene of carnage fo' - jowed and the Germans set fire to the hospitals and obliged the medical students and civilians who lhad escaped the bullets and who "were feigning death by ■ymg on the floor to run into the furnace, pushing them into the flames with their bayonets while they brought more haj; to keep the fir© alive. Inside the hospital were between 60 and 80 most of them being unable to }\alk. lhose who /tried to escape by •lumping from the windows were immediately shot. q V-m 1 fl ll this terrible time Dr kedulot, who had regained consciousmpss saw the scenes 'of carnage and heard the desperate appeals of his coinpatriots, the Germans meanwhile • a S shouting, ' 'Noch ein, noch j ( . 1 ? (Another, another 1) as they shot. I > .norwards they began to search the dead bodies, stealing all the valuables they could lay their hands on. F 1 * t was finally able to jump out ot the window, breaking a leg in 1 his tall, and crawled to a cellar. The next day he was taken prisoner with three other soldiers. Passing through the village they saw numerous bcd:»?s or other soldiers who had been «h»»t. Ur Sedillot was treated at two different hospitals and wias then taken to Ingolstadt, where 'he was imprisoned from -September 16 to March 21. He nas finally sent N t<) France through Switzerland, maimed by wounds. He is certain 'between 100 and 120 soldiers wore thus murdered, being either 6hot or- burned to death.

I MURDER AND ROBBERY. j Ihe report relates numerous similar 1 crimes, all of which are proved by the | descriptions of eye-,witnesses. Ail the | German troops had orders to massacre in ench wounded, and thousands of ; them were assassinated after 'being rob- ! bed ot all their belongings. ; The Germans even stole the identifii v ß in. order to render the i bodies unrecognisable. Several soldiers who were lucky enough to escape made sworn affidavits to the members ol the committee to the effect that they perw,n.al> Witnessed scenes of ctonage in which French, soldiers were horribly mutilated or tortured % the Germane, and-that they saw wounded piled up on haystacks and burnt to death. The instances of disregard; to the l^wg

of the Geneva Convention are too numerous to relate. 'l'iic Germans constantly took prisoners members of the Medical Corps and shot them and systematically shelled hospitals and sanitary convoys. On August 22 numerous wovxideJ were taken to a Cißrniaii field uospital under the command of Professor bulpuis, of Heidelberg University. Befoto sending them to the German hospitals the professor told the wounded that they must give him all their money an 1 vidua bles, which he kept. Insowioes are also given of the wounded dying from total lack of attention. Some died of hunger and exhaustion, but iht majority of blood-,poisoning.—Ex hau<{«>.