Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-11-28
HORRORS IN
HUN PRISONS
ARE RELATED
Released Captives Say That
Worst Atrocities Were
Inflicted on British.

London, Nov. 28.-Pitable condi-
tions among British prisoners of war
who have been liberated by the Ger
mans since the signing of the armi-
stice are described by the Reuter-
correspondent at French headQuar-
ters. Thousands of these men, most
ly British, are entering France daily.
The correspondent writes:
II have never seen human beings
in such a state of raggedness, hunger
and misery. When the camp at For
bach, thirty EIGHT miles east Of Metz.
as we'll as those elsewhere, was brok-
en- up, the prisoners, most Of whom
were captured during the March Of
fensive, were told to clear out and
seek help from their Allies They
started to walk the fifty or sixty miles
to the Allied lines but were given no
food and had no h-oney. They were
in shameful rags, the soles dropping
off their boots. Some wore clogs and
no socks.
"They left the prison camps in
droves of hundreds in charge of Ger
man officers and soldiers who had de-
serted. The weather was very cold,
and many died by the roadside within
few miles from friends. When the
survivors entered the French lines.
French soldiers who were hardened
war heroes we're Mortified to see men
in such plight. It is not~doubted
that this suffering was Intentionally
imposed upon the British. Prisoners
Of other nationalities are agreed that
the British were treated worse than
the others at all German camps"
A further report of Sir Robert
Younger's communique dealing with
the treatment of British prisoners in
the coal and salt mines Of Germany,
gives narrowing details of brutal
treatment by the Germans. This re-
port says:
"From testimony scarcely month
old it is evident that there is no sign
Of improvement whatever in the
treatment of prisoners in Germany.
This disgrace is open and flagrant ana
the only possible inference is that
Berlin deliberately approved of 1t.
There is no doubt that work in the
mines is inflicted as punishment.
Here is an extract from letter dated
May 20 last from a British private
soldier:
"'We have had little to eat since
we left Hamelin. Two of our number
have gone to the hospital with broken
ing from cuts on their heads and
bruises as the result of floggings they
received at the last place. l fell IN a
faint, unable to work any longer, last
Saturday, and the man in charge,
civilian, kicked me back into my
senses and kept me down in the mine
sixteen hours after all my gang had
gone up. If you could only see the
boys here! They all look like dead
men. They are worked to death.
Tortures in German Salt Mines.
The record of daily promiscuous
violence might be- much further Illus
trated. To scores Of men who have
given evidence concerning the mining
camps, kicks, blows and insults be
came q part of the normal routine.
Here is an example from the testl-
mony Of a man who had been at one
of the Hamelin salt mines:
"In January, 1918, I refused to
complete my task, as it was physical
impossibility. was taken out OF the
mine dressed only in shirt and draw
ers-it is too hot in the mine to wear
anything else-and put for the nlent
in a hut which was not weatherprool:
In the morning it was half full OF
snow. The next day I was taken to
the mine, and again beaten until l
had finished my task. l received
nothing to eat from the time went
down into the mine on the first morn
ing until o'clock the next after
noon."
It is impossible to say how many
prisoners lives were sacrificed, for
until more evidence is given by men
who have been set free. the exact
onditions must remain in obscurity.