The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-07-09
TREAT PRISONERS CRUELTY.
Letters from British in Germany
Hands Tell of Suferings.

Copies of London newspapers recent
~ received here contain letters from
British prisoners of war in Germany,
showing how the Germans executed re-
prisals based upon allegations that their
enemies were working German prisoners
i'll the war zone on the western front.
On June I an official communication is
sued in Berlin said that both sides had
finally removed the prisoners to a dis
tance of at least thirty kilometers back
of the front. One of the letters printed
IN the London papers was written by
Private Barlow Of the First West York
shire Regiment, and read as follows:
= told Won in my last letter that we
were going to be removed, and SO we
have to worse place than we have
ever been in. We have been moved right
| up henlnd the firing line, and where
we 90 to work is right III the fire zone,
where the shells are dropping, and it is
Very dangerous. The work we do is dig
ging trenches and telling trees;
also carrying them, which IS very hard.
/ I'VE live in a tent, which is partly
heated, but it is very cold. When we
wake up in the morning our boots are
frozen. The reason Why we have been
sent there is that they say our govern
iiitHl HdS otIfidH t4IlSbHtIS dbliS SIii
liar work, and that they have sent them
behind the firing line. and the sooner
they move their men to a better place
the sooner we shall he removed.
so will you please show this letter
to somebody Of higher rank in order that
something can be done, because if this
goes on much longer the sooner bullet
or she'll puts us ont of our troubles
H. iat n -,
me and my mates, Of which there are
500 Of us; all of which are the lads who
came out with the first British Expedi-
tionary Force, and since we have been
prisoners what We have had to 20
through. nobody knows but ourselves.
Eve are behind the Russian and Ger
man firing lines, aud if you have any
idea Of what a Russian winter is like you
, will know how things are with us. II
, is about a fortnight since we came here
and that is fortnight toe long. Goo
help rs if We have to stop here mucf
longer. {Sentenee here crossed out By
. CENSOR account Of frost bites, so got
i will see how keen it is.
! The houre we work are VERY long, but
the worst Of it is we are not allowed t
j smoke, and that is awful, so please II,
] and do Nouu best, because we can't sticl
. this out much longer, as We are all get
/ ting weaker every day.
! Commenting upon this letter, tn
i London Times of June remarked tina
. since it had been written, Private Bar
low and sixteen of his mates had die
i as the result of the abuse TO which the
i had been subjected by the German mil
e tary authorities Another letter from
!, British prisoner on the Russian from
> read
- tJust a few lines hoping you are wei
r | wrote YOU O little while ago i'll answc
= to your letter, but this one Is a dif1erer
IN affair altogether. When | wrote to 20
- last | was at Libau Since then an
400 other Engishmen have been SCI
IN lup to the Russian frontier, where we al
- scompelled to work for the Germans sue
i as carrying trees, digging trenches, &
! The weather is very cold up here "
-. had a thirty six kiometer march from
i station, with ohr blankets on our bacl
~ and other smaller gear and M chu
- brought a decent sized box along Wi
at us. BY the time we had done half Il
ba journey the men were getting fagge
at After that good many men dropped I
~ the march, all through snow, sometim
Ia past our knees in depth. We had L
A. lans TO keep us company, and they Ike
'as Eus moving, too, with their lances.
on When we got to our destinatio
nj which was a very miserable -looki
hy place, we had to put up in tent, whe
al we are staying, three or four kilomett
he off the firing line. We have abo
Tor twelve small stoves in the tent. y
ae- are not allowed to have our kit bal
nd which contain our clothing, &c. We ca
pe not have our parcels now like we did
,nt Libau. We are not allowed to smoke
NV play cards. We do not know what to
with ourselves here.
her