ENEMY'S DIABOLICAL WORK.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 163, 16 December 1914, Page 6

ENEMY'S DIABOLICAL WORK.

Captain Stewart, R.A.M.C, writing to the rector of Freshwater, Isle of Wight, (the Rev. J. A. Robertson), refers to j the shelling of Red Cross hospitals by j the enemy. He says:— "It was wicked work trying to get the wounded away. Those cases which could possibly walk, had to walk; the other cases were put in the ambulances or carried by ourselves. Several of our fellows were killed by the shrapnel, and some of the wounded received worse wounds while lying helpless. It was not nice at all, seeing first a corner of the building go, then one side, and so on, until it was like a sieve. We had not left five minutes before the oaken roof fell in. It gave our nerves a very sewcre shaking, and the rum issued was appreciated by most of the fellows that I night. j "The Germans arc very fond of the 'white flag' trick, and hundreds of our men have been killed by It.i They show ! the 'white flag,' and come forward in colI minis to give up their arms. When our | men come out of the trenches to take them prisoners, they open out and disclose Maxim-guns, with which they immediately open fire and mow our men down. They have abused the flag so often that now the order is going round, 'No notice, is to be taken of them in the future. Fire is to be kept up just the same.' Five hundred Germans were wiped out the other afternoon by our fellows when hoping to bluff tho troops j as of old," BAYONETING BABIES. Stories of the bayoneting of Belgian infants have from time to time reached London, but have been received with reserve, for it did not seem credible that even drink-inflamed German soldiers would commit a form of outrage from even which savages might be expected to refrain. Unfortunately, an incident, published on the authority of the Times, j lends color to the assumption that at j least some of these stories of the wanton j 'massacre of infants arc true. A band of German soldiers and Uhlans, riding bicyales, boarded a train in a little wayside station in the north of France, and insisted that the next train should convey them to their destination. At a station called Hazebrouck, two Uhlans leapt out on to the platform and at once bayoneted the only two porters that were in sight. The drivers of the train, anxious for the safety of the passengers, seized the first opportunity to leave Hazebrouck and the Uhlans well behind them. Not content with the wanton slaughter of the men, the Uhlans turned their attentions in other directions, and one of their number, without protest from his companions, thrust his bayonet through a little baby girl which was sleeping in its mother's arms. The mother, sobbing over her dead child, was left lying in the roadway with a gaping wound in her thigh. Then, apparently satisfied with their evening's work, the party left the station and struck out across country. These Uhlans were, however, laid by the ; heels before the night was over. A I number of them were killed by a de- ; tachment of French troOpß, and" fifteen were taken prisoners. All their bicycles were captured. BATTLEFIELD FRIENDSHIP. Some of the most pathetic stories of the war deal with the efforts of the wounded,on the battle field to help one another. The pathoß Is added to when men who were in opposing armies, seeing each other's suffering, respond to the call of humanity, and do their best to help one another, although unable, owing to the difference in language to indicate their needs or express their thanks. After a fierce engagement in the Vosges, in which many French and Germans fell, a German soldier, who luid been wounded in the thigh, found himself unable to move, because a dead soldier had fallen across him. Twenty | j'ards away a Frencli chasseur was sitting up and trying vainly to put a bandage round his right arm, which was bleeding profusely. The German called "Kamerad," and the similarity of the French word "Camarade," enabled ;the French to understand. The Frenclunan went to the aid of the German and dragged the corpse off him. The German bandaged his wound in the thigh, and then helped the chasseur to bandage his arm ana put it in a sling for him. Night had fallen by the time this was finished, and the two helped one another towards the high road. The Frenchman carried the German on his back, and the .German brushed aside branches to protect the Frenchman's wounded arm. When they (reached the road, the Frenchman put the German down, and after telling him something which the German could not went away. After several hours, a cart laden with hay, on which some wounded were lying, came along the road. It stopped before the German, and the chasseur jumped down and helped his German "camarade" to climb into the cart.