MORE FRIGHTFULNESS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17279, 21 September 1916, Page 3

MORE FRIGHTFULNESS.

HUN ATROCI'CTES IN AFRICA. NATIVES MASSACRED. [From Our Correspondent.] LONDUa, August 10. VTo ore still to learn tlie iuil measuro of Germany’s " fnglitiulness ” exoroised at tno expense of the civilian elements in the jxu-roponn lands overrun by her troops, and at the expense of the help.ess native population in Her fast v&msumg African possessions. 'lhis week has seen tho addition of some further blood-chilling chapters to the long talo of Hun barbarities in the shape of a batch ct papers relating to German atrocities and breaches of the rules of war in Africa. At this time of day there is notmng surprising in these records, aitnough they disclose scores of acts of w.r.ncn and calculated savagery, of which prior to this war hardly any section of humanity would have hern deemed capable. The outrages described in the documents were committed in the course or the campaigns in the Camoroons, East Africa, and South-west Alrica, and may bo roughly classified under the lollowing heads: — Wholesale murder of natives suspected of favouring the Allies. Killing and maiming wounded soldiers. Uso of poisoned arrows by native troops against the Allies. Use of expanding bullets. Poisoning of wells. Gross ill-treatment of British prisoners of war. Many pages are devoted to the record of brutalities committed by German officers and their native subordinates in the C-nmcroons. the accounts consisting of the carefully sifted evidence of victims and eye-witnesses. The course pursued bv the German authorities against their own subjects is frankly explained in the following captured message, dated October 7. 1914, written to a brother officer by Lieutenant ven Engelbrechtcn, formerly private secretary to tho Government of the Cameroon?: — COLD-BLOODED MURDERS. “Several cases of Dualas attacking my soldiers and who openly help the English in taking over from thensafety and outpost service, show them tho roads, and communicate with eacJi other by call, horn and flag signals, enforce oh me the safety of -my movements. i.e., to treat the Dunln natives and their intertrading compatriots on the Mungo, Abo and Dibombe Rivers eg combatants in the war, and, m special cases, to treat them as rebels and traitors. I have ordered the destruction of all Duala villages. All Dualas met on the roads carrying weapons (matches, bows and arrows, spears and also rifles) are to be shot. Prisoners will only be made when thoy are caught red-handed and can bo legally tried and condemned to death.” General Dobell, commanding the Allied forces, declares that, though our troops from time to'time found themselves compelled to employ native guides, the Allies never used them for tho other services indicated by von Engelbrechtcn. Eut that worthy? oolicv.anpoars to have been carried out with' tho 11 thoroughness” that has ever marked the German application o! the gosoel of frigMfnlness. In forwarding. at the end'of the year, correspondence which had passed between himself and Colonel Mayer, commanding tho French troons, General Dobell informed tho Colonial Secretary that “ tho victims are in very many cases women and children, and tho injuries have been inflicted in the most brutal manner. There can be little doubt that the Germans themselves, if not actually taking part in these enormities, arc cognisant of thorn, and in most cases must instigate them.” A TERRIBLE INDICTMENT.

General Dobell proves out of the German commanders own mouth, so to speak, that the Huns employed natives to fight whose most deadly weapon was the poisoned arrow. In December last General Dobell sent a formal protest to the German Governor against tho barbarous manner in which German tvoops were carrying on warfare, am. therein remarked: — “ I am unable to believe that such acts could be perpetrated without the sanet’on of your military authorities a”d in some cases I have reason to think that Europeans wero actually directing operations. In the name ohumanity 1 request your Excellency to put an instant stop to such proceedings. Should they continue 1 Bhall be obliged to give directions that any German soldier captured and found guilty ol taking part in these atrocities shall be deemed to have forfeited his right to be regarded as a prisoner of war, and will be dealt with accordingly.” That this protest was without effect is evident from the mass of testimony relating to innumerable atrocities which General Dobell sent home in January last. It consisted of ovidcnce of natives of released prisoners of war, and of French medical officers and others. The whole constitutes a terrible indictment. Binds of armed savages roamed from village to village, shooting indiscriminately men, women and children. Natives were dragged from their dwellings and shot or bayoneted, or wero fired on at their own doors; in other cases they wero hacked to pieces with hatchets and loft to dio.

HUNS CUT PRISONERS’ THROATS Several cases were cited by British medical officers of tho use of expanding bullets, and of firing on the Red Cross. The killing of wounded British soldiers is also recorded. General Dobell remarks lit his filial, dispatch : “On some occasions it is said that no Europe .ms were present during tin enactment of the brutalities described, but sufficient evidence is available to show that German Europeans encouraged such nets by personally cutting tm throats of wounded British soldiers with knives, firing on peaceful inhabitants to terrorise them, and shooting natives without trial.”

Ho adds that the principal massacres appear to have taken place among the Du ala people: “ Before our occupation of Duala a great number of Duala took no part ;n tho operations, but the Germans appear to consider that thc-y favoured the British, and required to be treated accordingly.” WELLS POISONED.

Amongst documents relating to ihe campaign in South-West Africa are the letttTs which passed between General Botha and Colonel. Franke, the German commander, on the subject of ine poisoning of the wells. On the occupation of Swakopmund bv the Union forces, it was discovered that six wells from which water was to he drawn for human consumption had been poisoned by means of arsenic. In sonic instances hags full of the poison were found in the wells. General Botha immediately protested against this flagrant violation of Tho.ii.aguo Convention, and announced that if the practice were persisted in he would employ such measures of reprisal as might seem to be advisable. Uolonol Franke replied that his troops had orders, if they could possibly prevent it, not to allow anv water supplios to fall into the hands of the enemy in a form which allows such supplies to be used by either men or beasts. “ Accordingly the officer who was in charge when Swakopmund was evacuated had several sacks of cooking salt thrown into the wells. Those are your ‘ bags qf poison.’ Thereafter we tried koppor dip, and we found that by using this material any enemy occupying the town woidd have for some days to rely on water brought from elsewhere.” In renly to a further protest by General Botha, the German commandei

wrote: “What has been done with my permission, and will continue to be done, is merely effecting a change in tho natural conditions of tho water in order to deprive the enemy of the use of this means of existence, under whicli South African conditions can only be replaced with difficulty. If your officers fail to pay attention to notice boards measuring 25 by 50 centimetres, you must order that your troons in future are only to use water in Gorman South-west Africa after it has been chemicallv examined.” Thereafter General Botha made representations to Dr Seitz, Governor of the colonv, hut that official, while denying the use of poison, endorsed the action of the military.