THE HEEL OF THE HUN

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 234, 21 June 1918, Page 6

THE HEEL OF THE HUN

HOW THE GERMANS PRESERVE ORDER, The latest reports from Russia showthat the Uerniau troops m that unhappy couutry are luilulgmg iu precisely tuu saiuo =ort Of outrage as that wuicU drew the pixy ot the world upon Uelgiuni m the eany days of the war. Ihe uxplanatiou of those.atrocities usually was that, the Germans wisned to ensure, the saiety their communications by stnuing' terror into the heart of every citizen in. .Belgium, and to that end deliberately, liiaue a. ferocious display of ruthlessuess. . It is not so easy to sec why they should adopt the samo brutal measures m Russia a country with which they are now supposed io be at peace, 'the onlyplausible explanation is that they know; themselves to be universally loathed, and are determined that they, shall at any rate be equally universally dreaded. The only other possible reason for thw conduct is motiveless malignity, but. though that may well inspire such 01 the Germany Army as yet remains iu tho East/ it would hardly be allowed free play unless German discipline has grown remarkably bad. , „.,,., Here are two incidents of the kind referred to, both the subject of complaints from the Moscow Government to Uerhu. In the neighbourhood of the town ot Lend (between Vilna' and Smolensk) ij. band of guerrillas had been operating and causing not a little inconvenience to tho German troops who had taken upon themselves to "preserve order" m those parts. The German is a devout believer in the old doctrine of an eye for an eye, but unfortunately the ' guerrillas themselves were not to bo laid hold oi. Iho Germans, however, were not to be baulked of their revenge by such a trifle. They gave out that an absentee member ot a certain familv iu Lepel was one of tha band, seized all the alleged culprits relatives, old men, women and children, and slew them without more ado. On another occasion a German olhcer ran short of oats for his horse. He discovered that certain inhabitants of Hie ( village of Novosselki, in the government ■ of Jlohilev, had a small quantity, but as they needed them for their own use they were unwilling to part with them. The German ofiicer, therefore, accompanied by two soldiers of the 316 th Regiment, seized the oats and walked oft with them without making any payment. The owner and his friends thereupon at- . tacked the robbers, killed their lender, and the other two lied. But a German officer, even if he be a'robber, may not be killed with impunity. German troops ' were dispatched, who surrounded tho village and covered all the exits with machine-guns. Were the culprits arrested ■ and tried? Not a bit of it. The village ■ 'was fired, and as tho luckless inhabitants tried to escape'from their burning homes ', they wore shot down, the entire pqpula-. tiou being exterminated. Even the German authorities seemed to consider this exploit not quite comme il faut, although quite prepared to uphold this method of administering Gorman "justice." Po they sent a note In the Russian military authorities next day, saving that, on account of the murder'of'an officer Ihe inhabitants of tlw ; villnze of Novo-'selki had been "evacu- ! aled" and the village set on fire. Thero • is nothing like machine-guns for cvacu--1 atine a village!