ATROCITIES IN SERBIA.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 39, 16 February 1916, Page 3

ATROCITIES IN SERBIA.

EXTERMINATING THE NATION. A letter lias been sent to the Press over the signature B. Ponovitch, 44, Stanhope Gardens, Queen's Gate, S.W., on the subject of enemy atrocities in Serbia. The letter runs: At this critical period in the history of my country I take the liberty of drawing your attention to the enclosed evidence of the atrocities which are' now being committed in Serbia.

The enclosure referred to reads as follows:—

GERMANS' DOINGS.

The ournal Le Journal de Geneve of November 4 publishes the following correspondent at Nish, in which reference is made to the atrocities committed by German troops in Serbia: — "At Luceia, a small town "south of Pozarpvne, the German troops massacred the civilian population en masse, shooting men, women, and children wit-bout distinction. Witnesses state that the German soldiers seem to have lost their head, and that they slaughtered the people without themselves knowing the reason.

"At Yplana, on the Belgrade-Nish railway line, they horribly mutilated six wonu'n. and seven children, their cruelty being so extreme that they cu< the bodies of their victims into pieces. At" Salevne. 17 miles south of Semendria, there was a general massacre of the civilian population.

"At Palanka, 22 miles south of Semendria. twelve sick and feeble old men were taken from their houses to P public place and shot in the' presence of the population. The audience present at the execution was composed of relations of the victims, and their cries of horror provoked by this art of cruelty were heartrending.

"At Sopot, 24 mirofc .south-east of Belgrade, the German soldiers entered the houses of the civilian inhabitants, and killed old men, women, and children with the bayonet. They subsequently burned the houses, and . whenever a Serbian attempted to escape from the fire the Germans killed him. "The Germans say that these civilians fired upon them from their houses, arid from certain hiding places. This is absolutely false, for the Serbian authorities had advised the population not to seek to escape, and not to have firearms in their possession. Further, the Serbian population, having already tasted of the horrors of the Austrian invasion of last year, were sufficiently terrified to remain entirely tranquil." |