Norwich bulletin., 1918-02-11
GERMANS TREAT ITALIAN
 PRISONERS 5RUTALLY
Fact Verified by British Soldiers Who
 Have Returned From Germany. E

London, Feb. 1o.-Reuters Limited has received copies of carefully veri- fled sworn statements from British soldiers who have returned from Ger man prison camps and hospitals re- garding systematic brutality prac- ticed by the Germans upon Italian prisoners. These reports come from over a dozen different parts of Ger many. They have been confirmed by independent testimony. The reports all are of recent origin. as the sol diers who gave the testimony left Germany only recently, a majority of them having been released from pris- on camps about month ago. 4
 Placed in Separate Camp.
 Regarding the camp at Langensal- ga. Saxony. evidence has been received from more than a dozen independent sourcs. In November about 1000 Ital- ian prisoners were brought in and placed in separate part of the camp behind barbed wire. According to the reports they were unnecessarily knocked about by under officers and guards who struck them with rife butts and scabbards.
 Italians Seemed Famished. The Italians seemed famished and used to rush for their soup. The Germans. however. stabbed them with swords and bayonets, killing or. wounding many of them. Seven or eight Italians were dying from star vation in the camp every day. One Italian testified that he had been if teen days on the journey to the camp and had had only three meals during all that time
 There is a strong feeling among the ' should be done for the Italians who are dying at the rate of six or seven a 1 day through starvation or dysentery. Only Food Was Bread. From the Dulmen. Westphaha, camp there are reports from many inde- pendent witnesses concerning the way the Italian prisoners are treated It is stated that the prisoners were march ed all the way from Italy with nc other food than bread. They were also knocked about and starved and otherwise treated with inhumanfty
 English prisoners gave them their German rations
 1 Beaten With Bayonet.
 One witness said that three or fou1 weeks before he left Dulmen two oi three hundred Italian prisoners ar rived there All of them virtually were starved. T saw a. German sen itl-v draw his bayonet against these lnlen and beat thern," said this wit mess.
 Tn cassel it is reported that the Italians are treated worse than the tBr being rushed about or stficI by German corporals At Mannheim the same brutality is regularly prac- ticed. One witness said the Italians I fr-nvy los of soup. The Italians rushed madly for the food and some of them were
 bayonetted. The Germans, this re-
 port said. were giving them only hal Irations
 At Munster it was testified. the be havfor of the Germans to the Italian. had become much worse since the re- Icent large capture of Italians Tht
 prisoners suffered very much from tn, cold and were wrapping thenlselve.
 in blankets. whenever they could Thi,
 bad conduct and bullying on the par
 Of the Germans set in onlv recently
 One witness said he saw the Italian,
 knocked down freuuently and also hi
 with the butt end of rifles. Tli treatment was not due particularly [,
 bad conduct on the part of the pris
 oners, but simply because they wer,
 Italians. Tbesc men have one ratio, of soup and bread dailv.
 T Fought For Bread. Similar evidence comes from Zerbst Anhalt, where Italian prisoners afte lnve days journey without food wer driven back by the Germans wit drawn swords as thev were going t get their soup allowance. Anothe, witness testified that at the Hemel
 camp the Italians were nearly starve , and fought among themselves for piece of bread thrown to them b
 British prisoners:,
 At Friedrichsfede, province o i Brandenburg. the treatment of tn . Italians was equally barbarous. Her , sentries shot Italians for trying t | fet food from the British prisoners. | Ny revolting stories come fror , Eama1elburgh, Stendal, Softau, Linn