German Atrocities from German EvidenceBédier, Joseph
History
German Atrocities from German Evidence
Bédier, Joseph
World War, 1914-1918 -- Atrocities
[Illustration: _Plate 13._]
Are we to understand from this that these dead bodies had been
mutilated in fair fight torn to pieces for example by shells? It
may be; but this would be a kindly interpretation which the documents
(_Plates 14 and 15_) disprove:
Here is a fac simile on a reduced scale from a newspaper picked up
in the German trenches, the _Jauersches Tageblatt_ of the 18^{th}
October 1914. Jauer is a town in Silesia, about 50 kilometres west of
Breslau; two battalions of the 154th regiment of the Saxon Infantry are
stationed there. One Sunday (_Sonntag, den 18 Oktober_) no doubt at
the hour when the inhabitants with their women and children were going
to church, this local newspaper was distributed in the peaceful little
town and in the hamlets and villages of the district, bearing these
headlines.
EIN TAG DER EHRE FÜR UNSER REGIMENT.
24 SEPTEMBER 1914.
(_A day of honour for our Regiment.
24^{th} September 1914._)
It is the title of an article of two hundred lines, sent from the front
by a soldier of the regiment. Non-commissioned-officer Klemt. 1. Komp.
Infanterie Reg^t 154.
Klemt tells how on the 24^{th} of September his regiment which had
left Hannonville in the morning and supported on the march by Austrian
batteries was suddenly received by a double fire from artillery and
infantry. The losses were enormous. And yet the enemy was invisible.
At last, however, it was seen that the firing came from above, from
trees where French soldiers were posted. From now on I shall no longer
summarise, but quote. (_Plate 16_).
We brought them down like squirrels, and gave them a warm reception,
with blows of the butt and the bayonet: they no longer need doctors;
we are no longer fighting loyal enemies, but treacherous brigands.[28]
[Illustration: _Plate 14._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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