Milford chronicle., 1942-09-11
Milford, Friday, September II, 1912

FOR SHEER planned brutality
the Axis leaders have proven them
selves comparable to the barbar
ians of ancient history. In WorlC
War l. there was much talk 5o
atrocities. But many of the afro.
city stories were made up out Of
whole cloth for purposes of prop
aganda. Real atrocities were scat
tered and relatively rare, and they
were not done as a matter of gov
ernmental policy. In World War IL
to the contrary, murder and rape
and devastation are pursued by the
Germans and the Japanese almost
as a matter of routine-and the
fact has been completely substan-
tiated by reputable eye-witnesses.
1t makes little difference to the
Gestapo whether a man is innocent
or guilty, as the mass executions
of hostages abundantly testifies.
The Axis radio, at times, actually
boasts of the wanton slaughter of
non-combatants.
4 President Roosevelt, during the
course of a recent warning to Axis
officials that retribution would
come when the war ends, said, "The
practice of executing scores of in
nocent hostages in. reprisal for iso-
lated attacks on Germans in coun-
tries temporarily under the Nazi
heel, reYolts a world already Injured
to suffering and brutality. e.
Civilized people long ago adopted
the basic principle that no man
should be punished for the deed of
another" That principle has been
entirely abandoned by the Axis.
= The Axis is deliberately extermi-
mating entire populations. Hitler
himself has said that the Poles
must be liquidated-and, according
to reports which have seeped out
sof. Warsaw, the death rate has rs
sumed incredible proportions, es-
pecially in the. Jewish areas. Star
vation is rampant in Greece, and
some authorities believe that with
in two years, under present condi-.
tons, the Greek people will vir-
tually disappear. Men who have
escaped from Jap concentration
camps in Hong Kong and else
where, say that the Japanese are
pursuing an almost identical pol
icy. Captured soldiers and civil
ians alike are given. almost no food.
They are denied all medical sup
plies and attention. Sanitary con-
ditions are literally horrible. And
these people, as a result, are dying
like flies.
One of the latest Axis innova-
tions has been to raze entire viii
lagos, shoot every male resident,
and send the women and children to
forced labor within Germany. For
every attack made on Axis Off
cials, major or minor, dozens of
innocents are executed. When a
really important Axis official is
killed, such as "Hangman" Hey
drick of the Gestapo, the toll of
slaughter runs far into the hun
dreds.
When the war ends, as the Presi-
dent has said, the men responsible
for this will be brought to justice.
And a long list of Quislings within
the occupied nations who are work.
ing, hand in glove with the Axis
will also have to face judges ap-
pointed by the people in whose
ruin and torture they have collabo-
rated. In the meantime, Hitler's
barbarous tactics have not broken
the spirit of the conquered nations.
TO the contrary. the flame of revolt
burns ever higher. Sabotage goes
on. Germans are found dead in the
towns and countryside of France.
Greece, Holland. the Netherlands.
the Balkans. etc. And in all of the
occupied nations, mazingly we'll
developed "undergrounds" exist.
The men who belong to these un-
dergrounds are unknown. The
names of many of them will never
be known. Theirs is the most risky
and desperate of undertakings. Ev-
cry second of the day they must
face the specter of death by tor
ture. This is the highest kind of
human courage. Life recently ran
an article on the French under
ground wich is especially effective.
The leaders quietly and continually
organize sabotage of the Nazi war
effort in French factories. They
print little newspapers which are
widely circulated and which bring
to the enslaved French people news
Of the free world outside their bor-
ders. AS part of this work, the
French Underground has compiled
an interesting blacklist" of men
and women who are marked for
assassination. All of the names on