MURDERED PRISONERS

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 226, 10 June 1915, Page 7

MURDERED PRISONERS

GERMAN VENGEANCE ON BELGIANS The fierce fighting of a month ago at Driegrachten (south of Dixmude) has inflamed Belgo-German hatred to the highest degree. A frightful example of German vengeance has been reported. The Belgians, who had crossed to the right bank of the Yser, were surprised at night, and one regiment —- the Ist Chasseurs—suffered heavily in killed, wounded and prisoners. A tremendous effort was thereupon made by King Albert's army, and finally the Germans were driven back to their old lines, leaving 600 dead on the field of battle. Taught by experience, the Belgians organised a system of night patrols to guard against surprises. One of these patrols fell upon some German sentries, and killed them all. It was a regular and characteristic episode of the nocturnal warfare that goes on every night along the whole line of trenches from Switzerland to the sea; such incidents of course afford no shadow of excuse for reprisals. Yet one has to reckon wtih the German mentality and the unconquerable fear that the Kaiser's soldiers have for cold steel in any form, whether it is the bayonet or the dagger. When next morning the relief party found their comrades lying dead at the foot of their trench parapets, and ■ with plain evidence of their having been killed by cold steel, their fury and panic was hardly to be described, and the German commanders determined to make an example that might prevent sentries from being dealt with in the same fashion in future. Using some incident or other as a pretext they had a certain number of Belgian prisoners put to death who had been. captured in the fighting at Driegrachten. The number of these "executed"' was far greater than that of the sentries who had been surprised by the Belgians according to all the rules of war. The news of this new outrage against the rights of nations, interna-, tional law, and common humanity, was brought into the Belgian lines by a soldier who had succeeded in escapnig. All the prisoners of war that have been killed belonged to the Ist Chasseurs.