Russia

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 95, 18 November 1916, Page 5

Russia

TREATMENT OF RUSSIAN PRS’ SOMERS. STARTLING TALES OF HORROR. Petrograd, November 16. Released prisoners relate startling stories of the horrors of the Austrian war prison regime. A lieutenant, whose aeroplane 101 l in the Ausriian lines, was compelled to march to ta© Wishenberg camp, where the food and treatment were so terrible that me lieutenant has returned to Petrograd semi-starved and in an advanced stage of tuberculosis. This officer states that the unfortunate soldiers in the camp are starving, the bread being composed of a mixture of maize, potatoes, acorns, and mixed with chopped straw and bran. Many have died of hunger and exhaustion. Prisoners are treated most brutally, hanging being quite an ordinary punishment. One man’s feet and hands were tied-, and ho was then strung up to a polo for two hours, when he became unconscious. Other prisoners were made to lie in a coffin, the bottom of which had a sharp edge, the lid being wired down and only an opening left for the head. A Russian who refused to spy on his comrades was condemned to a coffin, hut no opening was -left for ventilation, and he was found dead in the morning. The camp is surrounded by barbed wire, hacked by searchlights, police dogs, and many guards. There wore many attempts to escape, hut the men were mostly recaptured and transferred to a prison in Vienna.