In the evening, with prayers of
thanksgiving on our lips, we go to sleep." Are these mere boastings of
crimes? No. The article was submitted to the Captain of the Company who
certified it as correct and counter-signed it. The N.C.O., the Captain,
the Silesian public, the whole German nation were delighted to see this
abominable story of murder and shame appear in the paper under the
heading, "A Day of Honour for our Regiment."[16]
FOOTNOTES:
[13] Report of the French Commission, vol. iii.
[14] He adds that certain orderlies--Lorrainers, belonging to the German
Army--supplied them with food on the sly.
[15] French chivalry could hardly believe that a doctor would amputate a
wounded enemy's limb without absolute necessity and in mere revenge, but
such cases are, alas, not rare. See the awful tales of torture in the
"Journal d'un Grand Blesse en Allemagne," by Charles Hennebois (pp. 137,
146), and the statement of a German doctor (p. 87), "Your doctors in
France perform amputations as they please on our wounded. The order has
therefore been given to amputate without hesitation, as reprisals, every
damaged limb."
[16] Let us quote, to show the mental "make-up" of certain Germans, the
conditions in which Captain Coustre of the 108th and Captain Lesourd of
the 50th met their deaths. They were wandering over the battle-field
where the enemy had been repulsed. They heard a cry for help. There was
a soldier in one place and an officer in another who asked for a drink.
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