IN THE WEST

Taranaki Daily News, 19 August 1915, Page 5

IN THE WEST

HUNNISH BRUTALITY. AMERICAN OORRiESPONDENTS EXPERIENCE. Received August 18, 9.30 pjn. London, August 18. (Mr. Burke, correspondent of the New York World, who was resident in Lille when the Germans occupied it, says he was treated like an ordinary prisoner and sent to Langesalza. He passed the night in agony, lying in mud. The commandant of the camp practised the most extreme brutality, and Burke discovered that he was formerly in business at Nottingham. Belgians, French, English, Poles, Arabs, and negroes were twice daily subjected to drill in the German language and manners, with a view to civilising them, and backward students were ouffed and kicked, the Russians particularly suffering. One of them dropped dead. The English were singled out for consistent maltreatment, and were driven to desperation because retaliation involved certain death. French, men were also victims of senseless fury, and were knocked down and beaten unmercifully. Not five minutes pased without a repetition of brutalities. The English were mostly a battered crew. They were dressed in rags, and he was unable to distinguish the regiments to which they belonged. While one was waiting in a queue at the canteen a sentry swiped him across the legs with a rifle and deliberately stabbed hip in the buttock. Complaint was useless. Two emaciated Englishmen, who were lingering in the hospital between life and death, were kicked out by a new doctor. Botli were half-crazy, and they wertf clad in cotton shirts. While trying to assist each other they fell, and neither was aMe to rise. A (French doctor ordered them milk, but the Germans refused it. Smoking was prohibited, and offenders were punched in the face and tied to posts for hours, even by soldiers who had sold the cigarettes, and the victims, after being in the biting cold, fell helpless when released. Burke petitions Washington to demand redress for his sufferings. FRENCH REPORT/ Received August IS, 10.10 p.m. Paris, August 18. Official: We victoriously .bombarded .enemy positions in the Linge district at Reichak Kerokopf, and the ridge between Sandernach and Landerabach', where our infantry gained a footing on the ridge.. We repelled the enemy's counter-attack. SHOCKING SCENES AT HOO3-E. Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, August 17. ■ The Daiyl Mail says that the German trenches at Hooge were in an undescribable condition. No trouble was taken to tory the dead from former fights. The floors of the trenches were full of Germans stamped into the earth, In one place hoots were protruding from the sandbags, which showed that bodies had been* used for building up the parapet. The British found the dead piled up in heaps on the remains oi their comtades, making a "truly horrible spectacle. SOCIALIST PAPERS SUSPENDED. Paris, August 17. The Govvemment has suspended the 'papers Le Homme Enchaine, La Guerre Sociale, and Le Rappcl for publishing 'articles forbidden by the censor. THE ARGONNE CAMPAIGN. Paris, August 17. j A communique on the fighting in the Argonne states that the Germans at | Haute-Chevauchee emerged from the i trenches and attempted to attack yesterday evening. Our artillery forced them bnck. SOWING SEEDS OF DISLOYAI.TY. London, August 17. A French doctor, after internment in Germany, states that an English-speak-ing German priest endeavored on behalf of the military to sow disloyaltv among 2000 Irish prisoners at Limburg. Then a proclamation was circulated urging them to fight as a German Irish brigade under the Irish fi:tg for Ireland's independence. Three succum'bej to the appeal and were removed to Berlin after they had been attacked by their comrades. Later they returned as missionaries with flowing accounts of the German treatment. When the doctor left fifteen others had enlisted.