German Barbarism: A Neutral's Indictment — John Shaqi
German Barbarism: A Neutral's IndictmentMaccas, Léon
History
German Barbarism: A Neutral's Indictment
Maccas, Léon
World War, 1914-1918 -- Atrocities
This protest points out that “on the 10th August, 1914, after an
engagement between French and German troops, a surgeon-major sent to the
general in command of the Infantry Brigade” a case found on the road
to Munster “close to the German Custom-House,” which contained five
cartridges primed with cylindro-conical bullets cut at the end, the
nickel cover of which was incomplete and left bare the upper portion of
the lead slug.
This was not the only instance. On the 14th September, Dr. Chas.
Lavielle, superintendent of the auxiliary hospital of Baignots-à-Dax,
sent to the sub-prefect of the department of Landes a report on the
operations which had been performed on patients, and declared that four
of them had been struck by expanding bullets. Photographs were appended
to the report.
Doctor Napieralski, physician-in-chief of the 7th auxiliary hospital of
the third French army corps à Pont Audemer, noted the case of a foot
soldier wounded in the shoulder with a huge scar as big as an open hand.
It was not an ordinary wound.
The wounded man’s name was Adrien Bousquet, the foreman of some
electricity works at Verdalles. He related (said the report) that on the
2nd November, in a battle to the East of Ypres, he found himself cut off
with his section from the rest of his company.
For three days his comrades and he fired from a trench, but at last,
on the 5th November, they were outnumbered. The majority surrendered.
Bousquet, however, not wishing to be made prisoner, tried to escape
towards the main body of his troop. He was fired at from different sides.
All at once he felt in his shoulder so violent a concussion that it
actually turned him round. Still, it was only a bullet which had struck
him.
Dr. Napieralski noted that there could be no question of a wound caused
by a bursting shell, for the wound showed no trace of powder nor any
blackish stain of metallic oxide.
As the wounded man was carrying his knapsack on his back, Dr. Napieralski
adds that the explosive force of the bullet was increased by the pressure
of the knapsack. The result was that the sinews were torn over a wide
surface and the bone formation of the shoulder-blade was shattered.
The depositions of the other wounded men who took part in the battle in
which Bousquet was wounded confirm all his statements. On that day, at
this point on the front, no artillery battle took place, and the Germans
made use of many explosive bullets; no mistake is possible on this point,
for it is easy to recognise them because as soon as they touch the
ground, or any obstacle whatever, they burst with a dry, crackling noise.
All the wounded who were questioned quote typical examples of deaths and
wounds caused by these bullets; they also mention numerous witnesses,
soldiers, their own comrades, whose evidence it is easy to collect and
who will confirm their statements (_Temps_, 29th December).
USE OF THE SAME KIND OF BULLETS IN THE COLONIES
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