The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1919-01-03

That the Germans never for one
moment let up on their inhuman treat
ment of allied prisoners. not even
when they saw that the end was near,
is evidenced by dispatch from Brit
ish headquarters in France telling of
the arrival Of the first batch Of re-
leased British prisoners.
Men who had been In the prime Of
life when they were taken prisoner
only last March were scarcely able to
stagger across the allied lines, and
numbers of them dropped dead on the
journey from sheer exhaustion. The
story Of their narrowing condition has
just been described by an eye-wit-
ness.
A PitifuI Procession.
"Along the roads that lead to the
allied lines from territory that is
still in German hands there pass to-
day pitiful professions Of broken,
starving men--prisoners newly re-
leased from prison camps In Belgium.
The sight Of them makes ones heart
ache. They are mere shadows of men
In rags and tatters, stumbling along
rough stone roads, their sunken eyes
strained for the first glimpse Of the
allied. khaki.
"The Germans opened the door Of
their cages on Thursday morning and
told them they could go. They walked
into free air like men In a dream,
and were set upon highways that
would take them to outposts Of the
halted allied armies. Empty-handed,
without great coats to protect them
from bitter air. some Of them indeed
with nothing but fragment of old
tunic pinned across their wounded bod
les, they have walked the weary road
toward home scarcely able to keep
upright.
"Some Of them died upon the way,
and their bodies lie In rough graves
where they fell. Others barely kept
body and soul together until they
came at last into the hands Of their
comrades within the lines.
zone such procession passed the
outposts east Of Courtrai very re-
Gently. The men who composed 1t
bore little resemblance to British SOL
diers. They wore German caps and
the horrible prison uniforms which
made them look like German soldiers,
and at first troops who received them
could not believe they were their own
people.
In Shocking Condition.
"They came from prison camps at
Halle, west of Brussels. where they
had been employed in loading ammu-
milton, chiefly bombs for airplanes
which attacked towns behind the al
lied lines. All of them were taken
prisoners during the fighting around
Givenchy, Festubert, and the Lys
last March and April. These prison
ers had only two baths in eight
months.
"They were herded like cattle and
fed far less. One boy Of twenty
might have been a lad of ten, so
shrunken was his body from syste-
matte starving. Many of them were
disfgured by untrimmed boards and
ragged hair, and their faces and bod
les were covered with sores. 1t is i'm
possible to give an adequate picture
of their shocking condition.
'The little column was taken first
to divisional rest camp and when
the men had been medically exam
ined they were sent to the nearest
baths and then fed and given fresh
clothing. There are said to be sew
eral thousand allied prisoners re-
leased from camps In Belgium now on
their way into our lines at various
points. Kindly inhabitants are feed
ing them on their journey and doing
what they can to alleviate their suf-
ferings."