Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-11-14
I's SYST VIOLATION
o. RULES OF WARFARE
Huns; Forced French Prisoners e.
Z Worl: in First-Linc
sE-s ltS Trenches.
MANY ARE KILLED By SHELL S
Germany at War Breaks Every Rule
Ss9 OF Hague Convention to Which Its
GoHernmcnt Had SoIcmnly Affixed
Its.., Official Signature.
BY FELIX PuY0T.


~ PRISONERS OF war must be humancly
treated. The state may employ the
lnborIof prisoners Of war, other than
: officers. according to their rank and
4 capacity. The work should not be ex-
cessive and shall have no connection
y with the Hague 'Conven-
y toni!
So PARIS. November 1.-THE Hague
and Geneva conventions are not the
least tpf the scraps of paper which
& ments since she violated Belgium on
the first day of war.
S5..f The Hague conventions arc intcrna-
3 tional "a agreements, having as their aim
& tho mitigation Of the horrors of war.
\ Peacefloving nations realized in the
s intervals between wars that war was
ut beSt terrible business. but they
shoped that by solemn undertakings
they could provide against the worst
shorrors of barbarian warfare. These
o %erG afreGS do by
ssof the world.
YETI. though Germany sent her rep
representatives. and affixed her signature
Sit was not with the approval of the
general staff, of the German army 10
whom the humanitarian waginS OF war
seemed mere "sentimentnlism and
B f1abby .cmotion." Such movements. de-
clare the official authors of the Ger
man War Book, were in Fundamental!
\ contraaiction With the nature and OBJ
3ject OF war itself
4
BLOOD, FORGErS PLEDGES
INTERPRETATIONS that head this article
ARE taken from chapter ii. OF annex TO
the conv ton, signed at The Hague
ratified by Twenty-Five states, includ-
ing Germany. her allies and her OPP
pone3ts. The preamble to this conrcn-
tion affrmS as follows
The high contracting parties deem
it opportune TO declare that the
y belligerents remain under the protcc-
to- M "a lN.e n
the law of nations, derived from the
usages established among civilized pco-
pies, from the laws Of humanity and
from the dictates OF public conscience
\ What value did Germany at war at
tach TO the pledges of Germany at
concerning her treatment of prisoners.
Recently, evidence has been forthcon-
ing. at first hand of the manner IN
which she is employing prisoners on
military operations In the fire zone:
in fiat defiance OF the pledge cited
above. The following extract is from
French sous-ofiicer, wnow. safely re-
moved from the clutches Of the enemy
! Oils testimony name and regiment
and whan the times comes will be
published in full to tho world:
-. 49, At pnrms,adt We We're col
lected 10 the number OF 1000 and divid-
cd into four groups, My Group
left Darmstad, on February Sth. 1911,
without knownE our 1es'ina atiroa the he
that we should be sent TO Il camp in
Bavaria, where our rarcels and let
tiers await%d ~; At last sdtGr tn,riS
X Charcncy tMcusc), where VIC slept in
\ hutments already occupied by Rus
nothing Is eat except about 400 gram
at Dafms,ad,. rho ncSi day we left
,charency at ) O'Clock aud finally. after
m a
s2ttwenty-two milcs) We arrived at
& Flabas, n little village. seventeen kilo-
meters, lten and c-half miles, from
Verdun. There We were shut W in
4 two unfinished huts, open TO all winds
and carpetcd with snow which had not
even been cleared away before tScy
were built
SENT. OUT TO WORK.
-n4. IN FRONT LINE
"At daybrcak we were sent out. un-
fed, in ANAL groups to cut down trees
sssTe were given a little soup made with
s}frozen turnips ana little so-callcd
s @e worked at Du ahoS IN" Kit %SGs
s fthrce miles from the front. repairing
8 the roads On the eighth day We
: were sent 70 work in the first line and
IS from the 'front.' who came 10 fetch us
in the MORNINGS and look us back at
s night The first time was in the region
dered to dig trench which had been
{ previously traced out.
AT r, first We refused to work hut
being doubtless siEnalled in thc rrcnch
\ lines as"encmy workers. which luckily
n hit no one. AS soon as tho fring
ceased, we set 10 work To dig the
trench. In order to secure shelter for
ourselves. On the second day We re-
: turned Ia. the same place . and suf-
Tered no Casualties. Eut the NEXT day
we were not SO fortunate Hardly
had we reached The SPOT before "A salvo
,ls % Avoid and Relieve Influenza