PRISONERS TORTURED.

Taihape Daily Times, 2 December 1918, Page 3

PRISONERS TORTURED.

o THE WAYS OF THE GERMAN. 0 AUSTRALIANS’ NARRATIVES. The prevailing note at the Prisoners 4 of War Luncheon of the Millions Club < in Sydney, a fortnight ago was “Lest . We Forget.” ( Private Potter, who was a prisoner < ■ in Germany for IS months, said that in Dolman Camp, in Germany, 'the rats ' 4 ran under the floor of the huts. The 4 Australian prisoners caught them, and .< whenever possible cooked and ate them < The men were practically starved, and , ho had seen the bones almost coming • through their skin. One form of punishment was to make the prisoners stand still in the snow, perished with 1 the cold. If any fell down they were * prodded with bayonets or kicked. In < the summer they were made to stand , out and face the sun iand follow it round with their eyes. If they drop- / ped their eyes when the strain became too great, and the guards noticed it, 4 they smashed the helpless men under 4 the jaw with their fists. The speaker 1 said his fact and that of the others J with him had been black through being , frost-bitten, and they would have died if one of the Russian prisoners had not shown them how to rub the snow over the frost-bitten parts. 4 BODIES PILED IN HEAPS. « "I have seen them take the Austin- , liians, ” said Private Potter, ‘ ‘ and < string them up by the hands to a tree, with their feet just touching the ground. They wore swung to and fro 4 with the wind until the pain became 4 too great and they lapsed into uncon- < seiousness. I have seen them swing- < ing like this for about two hours. , “I have /also seen the bodies of the Australians and the other prisoners in heaps piled just, the same way as at a sawmill or like sleepers along 4 the railway line, These' were the men < who through working behind the lines < without proper food became too ex- J hausted and. were then brought back to the camp to die like dogs. The men went out to dig the graves of the ( fellows who had died the day before. 4 knowing in many eases that some- J body else would dig their graves pos- < sibly before the week or the month < was out. ; - - J 1 ‘ They dressed our wounds’' 1 once * every 10 days, and used paper band- '

ages. The only thing that kept us alive was the parcels tve 'through the Eed Cross.-” TREATMENT OF WOUNDED Private E. Wallach, who' also had experience as a prisoner of war in Germany, said that he was ‘one of a batch of wounded who were five days in a train without medical Attention. Most of the wounds mortified. “We were fed twice a day,” he said “on thin soup, bread and a jam made of rhubarb, which was very acid. Owing to mortification setting in, amputations were necessary. The . men who performed the operations ’ whre not surgeons, and there was little chloroform. Not. one of the wounded was put right oil when the operation was being performed. The Eed Cross parcels kept us alive. ” ~• 1 • , Mr. Justice Ferguson moved: — “That, after having heard v first-hand infomation concerning brutalities of the Germans to our men, this gathering urges that the persons guilty of these atrocities and the instigators thereof shall be handed over to the custody of the Allies in order that they' receive adequate punishment.” “And when the investigations into the things the Germans have dpne are ■ completed,” continued Mr; Justice, Ferguson, “I hope that no,,;guilty• head will be too high for the halter.,” The motion was carried with enthusiasm. ” i. ■: a