On the 18th of October a Silesian newspaper published an article sent from the front by a N.C.O., in which he says, “Men who are particularly tender-hearted give the French wounded the ‘coup de grace’ with a bullet, but the others cut and thrust as much as possible.  Our enemies fought bravely ... whether they are slightly or badly wounded our brave Fusiliers spare the Fatherland as far as possible the expensive trouble of looking after numerous enemies.  In the evening, with prayers of thanksgiving on our lips, we go to sleep.”  Are these mere boastings of crimes?  No.  The article was submitted to the Captain of the Company who certified it as correct and counter-signed it.  The N.C.O., the Captain, the Silesian public, the whole German nation were delighted to see this abominable story of murder and shame appear in the paper under the heading, “A Day of Honour for our Regiment."[16]

FOOTNOTES: 

[13] Report of the French Commission, vol. iii.

[14] He adds that certain orderlies—­Lorrainers, belonging to the German Army—­supplied them with food on the sly.

[15] French chivalry could hardly believe that a doctor would amputate a wounded enemy’s limb without absolute necessity and in mere revenge, but such cases are, alas, not rare.  See the awful tales of torture in the “Journal d’un Grand Blesse en Allemagne,” by Charles Hennebois (pp. 137, 146), and the statement of a German doctor (p. 87), “Your doctors in France perform amputations as they please on our wounded.  The order has therefore been given to amputate without hesitation, as reprisals, every damaged limb.”

[16] Let us quote, to show the mental “make-up” of certain Germans, the conditions in which Captain Coustre of the 108th and Captain Lesourd of the 50th met their deaths.  They were wandering over the battle-field where the enemy had been repulsed.  They heard a cry for help.  There was a soldier in one place and an officer in another who asked for a drink.  They stopped and leant over them to give them a drink from their flasks when the wounded men blew their brains out.

SHELTERING BEHIND WOMEN

Let us call to mind the innumerable instances when the Boches put up their hands, or waved a white flag, and cried, “Kamerad,” pretending to surrender:  thus drawing our unsuspecting men towards them and then suddenly moving aside, to leave the field open to a party of riflemen or a machine-gun hidden away behind them.  These are the tricks of cowards, which were constantly employed at the beginning of the war, and our men (at the cost of many victims) learned at last to guard against them.  But they have done even more cowardly things than this.  There was the German officer who, to protect himself from danger while taking observations, put three children round him.  At Nery, twenty-five persons, women and children, were compelled to walk at the side of