DUM-DUM BULLETS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2352, 7 January 1915, Page 6

DUM-DUM BULLETS

USED BY GERMANS CHARGE BY BRITISH WAR OFFICE The following statement has Been published in the English papers at the request of the War Office: — The International Law respecting the projectiles that can properly be used in case of war between civilised nations is to be found in' the Regulations annexed to Tho Hague Convention of 1907 respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, and in two International Declarations, one signed at St. Petersburg in 1868 on the subject of _ explosive projectiles and the other with regard to expanding bullets, signed at The Hague in 1899. The Hague Regulations vaguely prohibit the use of "projectiles calculated to cause unnecessary suffering." The Declarations are more explicit. That signed at The. Hague in 1899 is an agreement to abstain from the use of bullets which expand or flatten easily in tho human body, "suoh as bullets with a hard envelope which does not entirely cover the core or is pierced with incisions." The St. Petersburg Declaration is an engagement to renounce the employment of "any projectile of a weight below_ 400 grammes, which is either explosive or charged with' fulminating or inflammable substances." The British service ammunition is known technically as Mark VII, .303 S.A. Ammunition. The length of the bullet is 1.28 inches, and its weight is 174 grains. The muzzle velocity is 2440 feet per second. The bullet is a pointed one,"with an envelope of cupronickel, which completely covers the core, except, of course, at the base, through which the core is inserted. The ordinary German service ammunition is very similar. The length of the bullet is 1.105 inches, and its weight 154 grains.. The muzzle velocity is 2970 feet per second. The German bullet is also a pointed one, with a steel envelope coated with cupro-nickel covering the core, except at the base. Both bullets carry out the provisions of The Hague Convention, and it will be .observed that Sir Victor Horsley [whose report is attached to the memorandum] considers the modern pointed nickel-sheathed bullet "probably tho most humane projectile yet_ devised," and that "the long solid point consisting almost, entirely of tho hard nickel sheath precludes as far as possible any tendency to deformation of shape, while, the strength of the sheath prevents the bullet breaking up into fragments except in very exceptional circumstances, i.e., after a ricochet, etc." So far, therefore, as their ordinary rifle ammunition is concerned, both G-reat Britain and Germany have conformed to the principles of International Law Expanding Bullets Found. There is, however, clear evidence that Germany has not confined herself solely to the use of this unobjectionable ammunition. Her troops both in Togoland and in Franco have been proved to have used buUets with a soft core and hard thin envelope, not entirely covering the core, which type of . bullet is expanding and therefore expressly prohibited by the Hague Convention. • Such bullets of no fewer than three types were found on the bodies of dead native--soldiers serving with' the German' armed forced against British troops in Togoland in August, and on the persons of German European and native armed troops captured by us in that colony. All the British wounded treated in the' British hospitals during the operations in Togoland were wound,ed by soft-nosed bullets of large calibre, and the injury which these projectiles inflicted, in marked contrast to ' tho'so treated by the British medical staff among the German wounded, "were extremely severe, bones being shattered and the tissues so extensively damaged that amputation had to be performed. . Again,, at Gundelu, in France, • on September 19, 1914, soft-nosed bullets (i.e., those in which tho,l6ad core is exposed and protrudes at the nose) were found on the dead bodies of German soldiers of the Laudwehr, and on the persons of soldiers of the Landwehr mado prisoners of war by the British troops.. ' - • . . The British Bullets. There have appeared from time to time in the German -Press official or semi-official statements to the effect that "dum-dum" bullets _ had been found on numerous occasions on the bodies of dead British soldiers and on the persons of British officers and soldiers made prisoners of war. | These allegations were made in terms so vague as to be incapable of disproof. It was not even ctaar what was meant by the term "dum-dum bullet." Lately, however, specific reference has been made in the Gorman semiofficial organ,.the "Lokal-Anzeiger,;' to certain flat-nosed revolver ammunition found in the possession of the British officers made prisoners of war by tho Germans! . Wr This can only refer to the Marks lv and V patterns revolver ' ammunition. The Germans publish statements alleging that British officers had' admitted that they, themselves had doubts as to whether tbe use of this ammunition was in accordance ; with International Law,' and tho Gorman commentators declare that such bullets can have no other purpose, than to cause the most horrible wounds possible. Fortunately it can be proved conclusively on irrefutable evidence that these bullets aro as humane as any bullet can be, and do not in any way contravene the Law of Nations. The International Law on this subject has already been quoted. The Marks IV and V patterns have a flat fore-end instead of the usual conical fore-end. The bullet is solid, and of homogeneous material. It is not, therefore, a bullet with a "hard envelope" or "soft core." It cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, bo described ! as "soft-nosed." Is it, however, a bullet which "expands or flattens easily in the human body?" This question, again, can be readily answered. Since t'-ie shape was novel; the most careful experiments were made by the War Office to ascertain whether tho bullet, on _ striking, was subject to moro deformation than bullets with the usual conical end. It is well known that the wounding effect of a projectile depends on the possible increase in its diameter by deformation. In the case of. the Marks IV and V bullet*, such expansion by deformation is notably small, and less than that of tho bullet with tho conical fore-end to which exception has never been nor could be taken. • s The Government advisers had, therefore. no hesitation in recommending the adoption of tho flat-i;osed revolvej bullet, and the report by Sir Victor Horsley proves, from an independent source, tliat the bullet is as humane as the ordinary conical bullet, does not expand or flatten easily in the human body, and is not "calculated to cause unnecessary suffering." In short, it <in no sense conflicts with tho of the Haguo Declaration or Convention. ' It is considered improbable that the British officers held as prisoneis of war could have made the . statements' attributed to them.' If'they did,_ they must have done so in complete ignorance both of tho letter and tho spirit of the Haguo Convention. Tho German official and other statements that Britisli troops, aro employing'projectiles' prohibited by tho Hague Convention is, therefore, not only untrue. but would appear to liavo been made for the sole purpose of justifying tho previous issue to, and use by, the German troops of projectiles, lyhich do most undoubtedly coutravone tho Hague