GERMAN BARBARISMS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 748, 24 February 1915, Page 6

GERMAN BARBARISMS.

»„* THRILLING* STORY OF THE SHELL FIELD HOSPITAL. R.A.M.C. The lollowing vivid account of how a British field hoHpital waH shelled by the Germans is given in a letter from a CHptuin in the Royal Army Medical Service to hie brother in England:— "We had got a school with a private dwelling house neSt door rigged up as a hospital at . We had about 48 cases in hospital at the time —all Berious. About 10 a.m. a tremendous explosion occurred about 100 yards away. Almost immediately afterwards Beveral mure explosionß took place above the hospital, and a wounded officer told us that the Germans had got our range with a battery of siege guns similar to those used at Liege. A moment later a Bhell struck the far-end of the building, killing a patient and severely wounding the two nursing orderlies who were attending him. The room was wrecked, the wall blown in and the whole building shaken. The place now rapidly filled with men who had been wounded in the vicinity of the hospital. These wounds are terrible. The fragments of Bhell are burning hot, and they tear and crush. Even the doctors, with their trained eyes, can hardly see the™ without a sensation of shrinking. I was trying to stop the bleeding of a man whose leg had been shattered close to the groin, when a shell burst outside the window and threw the tables, aressing cases, and stretchers to the ground, filling the room with smoke. The orderly who was helping mo was struck on the arm, and in his fall knocked me down. There was a little confusion, but order wan quickly restored and the dressing of the wounded continue! Captain successfully performed a tracheotomy on a gunner wounded in the throut. Shells were now bursting regularly about every three minuteß. The rush of a shell through the air can be heard lor about three seconds before it bursts, and this gives one just time to take what cover is available. The thin walla of the building were a good protection againt the flying fragments of the shells, but of no more avail than tissue paper against the Bhell itself. About 11.00 a shell went through the roof without bursting, and almost at the same time one wrecked the kitchen, wounding two more men. Two shells fell into the garden, digging a pit into which you could stand up to your waist. We had finished dressing the wounded and I was able to look round. Everybody was in his proper place; the officers were reassuring the wounded, the orderlies tidying up and removing soiled dressings. Captain composedly cleaned his instruments. It was now 12, and to our relief the shelling suddenly stopped. , After an anxious interval we began to reorganise the hospital. The debris of bricks and masonry wbb cleared away, the matreHSes brought out of the wrecked ward and another ward established, and then the patientß were fed. "At 1 o'clock ehelling commenced, and again was for some time directed over our heads, but about 2 o'clock Bhells were again bursting all around the hospital. The noise was deafening, and the rattle of falling,plaster and brickwork and the groana of the wounded wero now mingled with a swish of heavy rain and a strong wind. At 3 o'clock a shell struck the firat house used aH a hospital, bringing down the roof and large blocks of masonry with a terrifying crash. I went in with Captain to see what we could do. The wounded had crawled from their mattresses'towards the door and begged us piteously to remove them. One man, both of whose legs had been shattered, had just died aa ho reached the middle lof the room. The most shelter was j afforded by the back end of the build-i-jng, which was still standing, and there we took them, trying to reassure them. Shortly after thiß the shelling became even more terrible. The roof was split open from end to end, and the front garden wall 10 yards away disappeared. An ambulance wagon inside was shattered: four horHes were killed—all this with one shell. The mortuary—a large outbuilding at tho back—waß completely wrecked, and another small outbuilding disappeared entirely, leaving nothing but the foundations. We four officers held a little council of war to decide what had best be done. The Germans generally stop shelling at nightfall. We had no orders to move; we had done what we could and go we waited. Tho rooms were in semi-darkness, for we had closed the wooden shutters outside aa some feeble protection againta the flying fragments. The shelling during the last hour was terrific A curious incident happened when a fragment of shell coming in at a window took the chair on which an Army Serv.co corps diivcr was sitting clean from under him without hurting him m any way. Shells were now bursting regularly every minute. We looked I longingly at the clock, but it had 1 seemed to have stoppad going. During the last hour we sat waiting for the shell which was to finish us At 520 it seemed to have come. There w'a3 a deafening crash immediately behind the hospital, all the shutters instantly opened outwards, and tho house was filled with smoke. The rattle of falling masonry continued for two or three minutes, and tho house trembled from end to end. Then everything became Btrangely quiet. , ~, "We looked at each other with one question in our face, but no more shells came. We began to talk to each other again all very quiet and subdued. After a little time food was served out to the patients. , Then the dead were collected and removed. An Army Service corps driver was in a corner crying. All his noraee nad been killed. After the dead had been removed from the hospital arrangements were made to evacuate it aa soon as possible."