Evening star., 1915-12-10
GERMANS SCRU|C|F|ED
CANADIAN, THEySAY
Il.
Major Tells Story of Outrage
j. l.. in Fighting Around
o. Ypres.
AWFUL REVENGE TAKEN
: ON CAPTURED TEUT0NS
Men Crazed When They Saw Ser
rn'
= geant. Their Friend, Nailed
e.
l.. to Shed Door.
BY HERBERT COREY.
Copyright. 1851

~ Copyright 1851
. PARIS, December 2-"1 saw him my
self, said the major of Canadians.
"Crucifed on the door of a sort of n
shed. They had jabbed holes through
lehis hands and feet with their bayonets
snd then thrust wooden plugs through
them to sustain his weight. We all
saw it, | tell you. We went mad"
This story of the sergeant of Cana
dians who was crucif1ed at Ypres has
been told more than once. Not many
people hereabouts have believed it. 1t,
was repeatedly printed because it IS
The sort of thing that ardent parti-
sans wished other people to believe of
IS the Germans, but one very rarely heard
an alluson to it in conversation. 1t
IS bit too inhuman. that story. Too
hellish. AS this nonchalant ma jor of
Canadians told it, it is glimpse into
he internal pi:.
We had been under fire for four
days" said the major. 1T was the first
time any of us had seen our dead"
Green Troops Most Brutal.
In that fact lies the explanation of
the part the Canadians played in the
majors story. Writers upon war have
often noted that green troops some
times go to greater extremes than do
their seasoned comrades. The veteran
kills or burns or loots with certain
phlegm. He takes revenge, but he
does not lose his self-possession. oThe
man who has never killed before is
made drunk by the scent of blood. He
IS maddened by the cries of the wound
ed and by the act of killing, and by
the never ending thump of the great
IT a fbpuRb they 10
war drums of savage tribe. The
pounding rhythm gets inside him. 1t
carries him away He is exalted and
crazed.
1T may also be that it never hap
pened," said the other man who heard
the majors story.
The story of the crucifxion came as
. q climax to rather prosaic narration.
t1ike every good officer the major is
convinced that his troops are the very
best troops that live. They are as
we'll disciplined as the English, he says,
but they are disciplined differently. The
English officer. the major said, has
an idea that the chief thing that mat
ters in this war is that all the men in
trench rise to the salute when he
Enters at one end. The Canadian
bheory is that he has come to war to
Hill as many Germans as possible.
:. Were Always Killing En-
s"We're always killing 'em." said the
IhdJof. c never let ell rest Hdt y
why after we take trench the Eng
tfsh move US out of it and to the rear
s.-zIter two or three days We're too
j. likely. It's war on our front all the
:. time. After the English get in you
!. won't hear a shot for days, some
!. times"
: The major said the Germans are
: nightly afraid of the Canadians. They
:: don't mind the English or the French.
:. he said. Not particularly. that is. Jack
:: is as good as his master as between
:. these folk. But the Canadians-that's
:: The Canadians have put. the fear of
: hot hereafter in the Boche soul
!. Why, said the major, let me tell
!. you. You know. when We fight. we go
g TO IT in our shirt sleeves. These mill
= tary tunics bind our shoulders, you
:: know. We've got to be free to swing
:: ourselves. You never see a Canadian
:. regiment in action except in shirt
!: sleeves When the boys get their coats
Z off. clear the track, because there's no
:; holding 'em."
:. One day the Canadians had shelled
:. and shot and bayoneted the Boches out
:. Of the first line trench. When it was
Z all over the German officers were
z rounded up in the G. O's dugout. The
= very hungry. the Germans were. Their
- supplies had been kept back by shell
- fire for days. After they had comforted
:. themselves elves with SANDWICHES and tea
:. jolly together. the major said. Both
!. eides were glad the days fight was
:. over.
= Crucified on a Door.
:: 1T began 10 get chilly In the coloners
-ctugout." said the major, "and some of
gus slipped on our coats Wed been sit
::ting there in our shirt sleeves. you
--Enow. The moment the Germans saw
-the Canadian emblems on our coats
-fhey began to shiver They were
frightened TO death. 7 saw 'en, I tell
::.ou. Their hands shook. Yet they
chad been lighting as bravely as any
Syner could nave an hour before
!. Why are the Germans SO afraid of
--fhe Canadians" the other man asked
. They're afraid wen cut 'em in little
cYteces, said the major 1T all dates
.fack TO Ypres"
/. He told the rest of the story in the
,-Snost commonplace manner possible He
E.Gfd NOT attempt to explain or defend
ranythine that had happened He gave
s.the Impression Of a man who was tell
:-3ay what he had seen. and whose sensi-
Utilities had been SO blunted by the
.1hings he has seen in war that he is
..ugite blind 70 the milder civilian point
.-6f view,
: we had been under FIRE for four
t-fays." said he. and we had lost very
.-feavily. Part of the time we had been
ersithout food or water. We had been
Spassed badly. We fought over that
.-Fround like SO many blind lunatics
:1sometirnes we were IN possession of
"Trip of land and then the Germans
would be. Many OF US had lost our
tense of location completely. what with
climbing in and out of trenches and
t3acing this way and that. We came to
ISihis shed where we had been before
2 nd which the Germans had taken from
o."
= sergeant had been wounded there
.Snd left behind. the major said. He
-Joes not know the name OF this man
-5ie heard II. he said. but It has passed
:Lut Of his mind. When the Canadians