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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Clinton New Era, 1915-03-11, Page 3Thursday, 'Mareh lith, 1911. PAGE T19PF,R ' Thousands risoners of War. ConstituteKnotty Problem a11 Although Well Defined Rules Govern Their Treatment, the Term "Prisoners of War" is Still Vague Owing to Germany's Stand —They Must be Paid For Work Performed the event of the aeroplane having to make a forced landing a winch is pro- vided so that the cable may be wound up out of the way. If there is not time to do this before the machine touches the earth, the wire is severed by means of an aerial cutter fitted to Among the many military problems the side of the winch, and it falls clear of the aeroplane and does not t. r the fitse- for r out+' li Shat will be worked WIRELESS 'catch in trees or entangle, the p AEROPLANES AND the • nfor now raging Is ' _ eller, The keyboard by means of itlme in - _ that of caring for prisoners of war,which messages are sent from an problem because of its Wireless teleraphy for communieat- aeroplane -in flight. is generally, strap- This is a new magnitude, In the :Russo-Japanese ing between an aeroplane in flight ped on the knee : of the aviator, so War the Jape had not more than and its headquarters is now adopted' that he can manipulate it easily with 1u0,000 prisoners; and the Russians for urgent reports. A light apparatus his free hand. bad comparatively few. So, thorough weighing 80 pounds is carried on the . It is very difficult to send a mes- was the Japanese organization_ that machine for this purpose, and the sage to an.eeroplane whenin mid-air, the Jape were able to treat thea necessary electric current is provided not that the wireless waves fail to prisoners quite as well as their owe by a small petrol motor which de- reach the.maehlne, but that the noise soldiers and as the war was not a velops 2�horsepower. The aerial of the engine is so terrific that it Y ver long214P onethe question of one- Suite by means of which messages are makes the faint signals inaudible. <luate]y' feeding and shelteringthe sent from the aeroplane is unwound Aviators flytn„ many hundreds of Peet. captives was not insoluble. In lithe from a reel situated beneath the land in, the air find it a comparatively' present war, however, there are hun. ing chassis. It trailsfor a length of simple matter, however, to keep up dreds of thousands of 'prisoners, and sixty to a hundred yards; and a weight communication with obserers on earth the problem constitutedby the great is attached to the end of 'he copper by means of wireless, and in this way armies of ortroners will be one of the cable so that it hangs vertically be messages have been sent over a die - first magnitude. low the machine when in flight. In lance of • one hundred miles. It seems likely that all the powers involved will regret that they did not accept the solution proffered at The Hague a few years ago, which has the effect bat all prisoners of war slould be returned to their respective coup. tries, which would be pledged to de- tain them n masse until the war was over. The idea of detaining them en masse is to prevent them rejoining their regiments by stealth, but in the light of a certain famous remark about a "scrap of paper," psobabty Britain and her allies are justified in supposing that Germany at least herself bound to � would not consider h abide by any agreement untered into previous to the war. There is a general international a_ree:nent, that while prisoners' of war may be eet to work be their cap- tors, they :Hunt be paid for their sea vices, and they must not be employed in any hazardous or humiliating occu• pation. Nevertheless, reports have been received of captured French soldiers in uniform being forced to clean the streets of iltettgart and other German cities. Who Are Military Prisoners? The international understanding as to the treatment of prisoners was arrived at in 1907 by The Hague Peace Conference. All civilized powers then pledged themselves to a certain course of treatment of prisoners of war, but it was due 'to the action of Germany that no definition of what con- stitutes a prisoner of war was arrived at. Germany's Policy on this subject was made clear at a conference held at Brussels in 1874, and indeed was illustrated a thousand times in• he course of the Franco-Prussian War, At this conference practically all he other powers, at of th . French representative, wished to have citizens who took arms in de- f ence e•fence of their homes treated as recog- nized belligerents, and accorded the same treatment when captured as soldiers in uniform. Geimany ob- jected then, as she objected in 1907, and so an agreement was made im- possible. The point is that Germany has only one theory of war. That is a war of invasion. She has always calculated to do her fighting on the enemy's soil, and therefore she calculated that any armed citizens would be her enemies,. not her countrymen. Any particular. consideration extended to these fight- ers was consideration to an ane . , and that is why she stoutly refused to recognize them. To have done so would have been to admit that the thousands of armed French citizens not in uniform whom she hail taken prisoners and shot or hanged in and 1871 had been practically mur- dered. , France's Humana Stand In 1894 France, without regard to the action of any other nation, passed a series of laws which recognized the armed citizen not to uniform as .a belligerent, and entitled to all the consideration extended to any bel- ligerent. The regulations then adopt- ed by France were the basis of the regulations subsequently approved by the Peace Conference, but Germany's action, as stated, prevented the adop- tion of any definition of a prisoner` of war.2 At best the fate of a prisoner of war is an unhappy one, especially if he an officer. At the close of the war,. when be returns home, an investiga- tion is held to ascertain. all the facts as to his capture. If he happens to. le wounded be is given back pay, re- tains his rank, and may even be pro- moted. But if he is not wounded he is called upon to explain how he was captured, and if the court thinks that 'he was neglectful of duty or cowardly lie may be punished. To captured unwounded, therefore, is hardly better than to be wounded or even killed on the field, and this may explain the desperation with which officers will fight to the last to avoid falling unwounded into the hands of the enemy. ASTOUNDING STORIES FROM BERLIN The most amazing untruths con- cerning Great Britain are daily cir- culated in ,Berlin for the purpose of deceiving the German public' into the belief that England is in a state of panic. Here are a few of these gems, which make up in humor what they lack in veracity:' "Sir John Jellicoe is to be tried for incapacity." "The immediate resignation of Mr. Winston Churchill is expected." "The organ of the Labor Party demands the whole Cabinet shall be impeached .r for participation in the Presence of Territorials Tonic For Tired Troops Britain's Volunteers do Their Work Like Veterans—"As Fine Fighters as One Could Meet," Says Expert I have had many opportunities of r and men in the -i s talking with office i regular army who have fought side by side with members of the Terri- torial Force, writes a Lonooa corres- pondent, and 1 have seen the Terri- torials themselves when they have out of action, and everything I have seen and heard has led to but one conclusion—that the well-trained Brit- ish Territorial is as fine a tighter as one could wish to meet. When I speak of the well-trained Territorial I draw no distinctions between the various war regiments in the field, for, with- out exception, the men who volun- teered'for service in France end Bel- gium ar well up to the standard which une has cone to expect from the British soldier, That is saying naval, for this war, if it has shown seythfng at all, has shown that the British soldier, true to his re,utation of being one of the best fighters in bits hod a Id has ants great the world, r 1 personal ascendency over his oppon- ent. In that ascendency the British Territorial eheres, It would be uhdesirable to give any indication of the number of Territor- ials in the field, but it 1s certainly much larger than any people in Eng- land might suppose. It would be a mistake, let me add, to assume hat the work with which they have been entrusted has given them little scope for action. That their work could not be better done is proved by the tri- butes which are paid them by the men who have made the art of war their business in life. These tributes are as sincere as they are flattering. For example, two soldiers from one, of our best regi- ments, whom I met—men, who, for some weeks, had been fighting shoul- der to shoulder with Territorials, who happen to come from Wales—stated without reserve of any sort that their comrades at arms were as wood fight- ers as any. They shot well, they lasted well, and when their turn came they did well. But these two men, like all others I have talked to, took special care to emphasize the Magni- ficent spirit with welch the Terri- torials fight, their high daring, and their fine Ithusiasm. The presence of the Territorials, both of them agreed, is the finest hither and thither like scared mice because their battalions of football krctsing louts are melting away before the fire of German artillery. "Instead of blowing their victims from tbe mouths of then guns as they did in the Tndian Mutiny, the British now employ the truly 'humane and gently acting dum-dum 3ullets, with the approval of Lord Kitchener." "The French- Government pays for the support o", the British troops, so that each man draws on a day on which there is no fighting four trance, while on each fighting day he is' -en- titled to eight francs. The British are also completely clothed and fed by the French." "The deeds of the German fleet are already causing the Lorsis of the Ad- miralty sleepless nights,;' while on board' he British thips fearful appre- hension lurks in every corner." "Come into the Army,' says the British recruiting -sergeant to the youths. 'You shall have a villa' in Rome, . a bungalow on the Mediter- ranean, and in two months you shall be Icing of the Belgians.'" "The, Indian troops in France were told before leaving India that they were being taken to Europe for ex- hibition purposes." "Half of London i$ burned down, and Zeppelins are always hovering over it. Plymouth has also been de- stroyed by fire caused by bombs from the air." 1 "Mr. Asquith has :fled from Eng- land, end is hiding in Ireland." "The citizens of London now hurry tonic in the world for trench weari- ness.I heard from sources tbat when going o in under fire for the first time the Territorials, without excep- tion, acted with a restraint and self- possession which surprised the sea- soned veteran, and gained and Aid his warm respect. With the bayonet, experience h .s shown that the Ter- ritorial has little to learn from any- body, and certainly nothing' at all from the German soldier. Altogether, therefore, it may be said that the Territorial has justified himself, and more than justified himself. LIFE AT ALDERSHOT ww,iv� Lots of Drill and Early Rising But Highlander Enjoys It In a letter from Aldershot, Tom Smalley, lance -corporal in utile 'Sea - forth Highlanders, and formerly fourth assistant clerk at the e B'ack- burn Union Offices, said: "I am writ- ing this letter with water swilling round my feet, having been rained off morning drill. I think we will be go- ing to the front in a very short time. With regard to work here I will try to give you an idea of a day with the colors -4.30 a.m., rise, wash and shave; 5 a.m., early breakfast, con- sisting of tea and a biscuit; 5.30 to 8.30, parade pith full equipment for inspection, platoon drill, and march- ing drill; 8.45, breakfast, tea, quarter - loaf of bread and brawn; 9.30 a.m. to 12.30, physical drill and platoon drill; 1 o'clock, dinner, one potato and three or four pieces of meat; 2.30 to 4.30 rifle drill and target prac- tice; 5 p.m., tea, same as breakfast; 6.30 to 8.30 night marching. "As we have to be in camp and lights out at 9.15 p.m., you will see that it means stealing a few minutes after meals to write letters, + am beginning to enjoy this life. We have been drilling in gymnasium singlets, with the arms and the neck turned in, and the result is we look like a troop of Indians. I ''eel in tbe best of health, and as strong as a young lion. It will be hard work to settle down to pen -pushing . when I come back after such a wild life; but. I suppose I shall come to like it just as well as when.I get into it." recording to the latest figures, the five principal armies engaged in the war possess something like 630,400, motor vehicles. At the beginning of the war Ger- many had 45,414,000 acres under culti- vation. Deorte ueeP •iAtKWO '1.130111:cux3 WE$ _ 1Et.a. wan Aia4T •Sc , ,eoaouale' Scsaeoaoucn WAS I( MUCH eerras. RAID The CUOtisve — _0 5.na weaaN''r ANY Y 0MeN o0• C,,,LDR.EN KiU.i0 AT- Cu%HAVEN , 1/ w r• fir e�arar- SMUTS PROV[D WYAIJY TO THE BRTS1 CROWN Minister of Militia in South Afri- ca a Man of Remarkable. At- tainments --- ttainments'— Was in Earnest When He Swore Fealty to Britain. It is said that the strongest man in South Africa is not the Premier, General Botha, but General Jan. Christian Smuts, .his Minister of Finance and Militia: and his close personal friend. General Smuts has proved himself a devoted and loyal British subject, and has won the ad- miration and respect of the. English- speaking Afrikanders quite as much as has General Botha. Indeed, it was. Smut's voice that was first heard in South Africa after war had been declared. General Beyers, commaa- der-in-chief of the defence forces of South Africa, had resigned rather than take the offensive against the Germans, aiid the letter in which Smuts received his resignation will be remembered as long as there is a history of South Africa to be re- membered. He lashed the traitor with words of scorn, and remarked that if Beyers had been in Germany he would have been shot for his action. In the Boer V ar Smuts proved him- self a military genius ,hardly second to De Wet himself, thus endearing himself to theburghers, and when he entered the .sotha Government alter the war he consolidated himself in their affections. It is true that be was responsible for the deportation of the labor leaders from South Africa, and thus incurred the enmity of the n union men,but his firm handling of a difficult problem was generally ap- proved by the English-speaking popu- lation, and fly the Boer ?armors every -G Germans inspected the chateau of where. Moreover, his firm ante to the Baroness 48 T.aye at Sezanne, in the Home authorities, 1n which he drew Department of the Marne', which the color line, and declared that South Crown Prince William is accused of country,umust almostbe kept va white man's having pillaged. The committee found was everywhere wel• unmistakeable signs that the chateau had been pillaged. Glass cases, in which Russian jewelry and • gold medals were displayed had been smashed. The room of the Baroness, the committee reports, "must have been occupied by a person of the highest' rank, for on the door was in - ROSE FROM THE RANKS It is not often that a private in the British army rises to the rank of Lieutenant -General, but there are rare exceptions. The case of Sir Hector Macdonald -Fighting Mac—is well known, and the present war has established .another record in this direction. -Thirty years ago a lad, William :.tobertson, accepted the Queen's shilling which admitted him to the 16th Lancers. Young Robertson did not intend to. rest content with his lot. His abili- ties were not lost upon his command- ing officers. In the early days of the Boer War lie was a captain, and with- in the succeeding decade he attained the rank of Brigadier -General. He re- ceived the D.S.O. in 1896, was creates, a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1905 and received the honor of knighthood in 1913. The present war gave Major-General Sir William Robertson, K.C.V.O., another 'oppor- tunity to display his military genius, and his brilliant services in connec- tion with the British retreat from Mons drew forth high encomiums from Sir John Frenbh. Further pro- motion was inevitable, and the an- nouncement that Sir William had been made a Lieutenant -General has brought widespread satisfaction, es- pecially among the "TommieS." BIG WILLIE AS VEt.4RlLOQUIST ENTERTAINER "Clown Prince," like a stuffed doll, echoes what Kaiser says, Only, some- times he makes a bad mistake and lets out something he should have suppressed and annoys Kaiser papa.—By Mr. W. K. Haselden, in The London Daily Mirror, ../...d.,•••••••••••••••••,^ PROVED THE PILLAGE Imperial Officers Looted and Rioted in =tench Chateaus n 'The Preach committee visiting the districts where atrocities were re - 1 Strong Cellar Best Place in Case of ombardment "How to keep safe under shell fire" is the title of a statement given to the press by a pruminent British army officer, for the benefit of coast towns, "The first fact to bear in mind," he said, "is that no buildings in this country, however substantial, offer any protection against bombardment by warships. The biggest guns brought into action by the Germans at Scarborough and Hartlepool were of 12 -inch calibre. These fire a projec- tile weighing about 900 pounds, one of which would be sufficient to lay tea cathedral of St. Paul in ruins. "The other guns, used were 11 -Inch, 8.2 -inch and 9.9 -inch, throwing re- spectively shells weighing 700, 250 and 100 pounds. The lightest of these projectiles would go through the walls of any building as if they were brown paper, dcharge of high explosivewould detonate inside with annihilating effect. "The inside of a house, then, is the very worst place to be during a bom- bardment, for it a shell strikes the building' and the inmates have the luck to escape direct injury from the explosion or the flying splinters they are almost, certain to be buried in falling debris or imprisoned and at the mercy of the fire which usually breaks Out. "The next most unsatisfactory place is the street. Shells bursting on the hard pavements are most destructive; to their own splinters of steel are added fragments of stone, each a deadly missile. The person in the street is also in imminent danger from the falling walls of houses and from bricks r:nd tiles that go hurtling t found? "Where then is safety o be GERMAN FIELD TELEPHONE AT. WORK es and The Germans carry their telephone wires to their outermost trenches, aash in this respect make more use of the system than dither the or French, wino and flag -signalling more satisfactory for many posespur- telephoning. than "1'he Time Lock" comed. The son of a typical Boer farmer who could do little more than read or write young Smuts at school early distinguished himself. file be- came a fine classical scholar and eventually won a scholarship that was to take him to England. Unfortunate- scribed 'in pencil the word K. K. Ho- hoitl' meaning 'Imperial and Royal Highness.' s "No one," continued the committee's report, "was able to inform us of the identity of this 'Imperial and Royal Highness.' A general who lodged with Municipal Councillor Houiller told the latter that the chatea•r had sheltered the Duke of Brunswick and his staff of the Tenth Corps." The Duke of Brunswick, formerly Prince Ernstp1 Cumberland, is the son-in-law of the • Kaiser, having married the Princess Victoria Louise. The committee also reported that the Chateau Beaumont, near Mont- mirial, belonging to tho Duke de Rouchefoucauld, was pillaged and left in a filthy condition. Desks, safes and jewelry boxes were smashed open and the doors were inscribed in pencil with the names of Major von Dibebur and Graf von Waldersee. Go into it the moment bombardment begins and stay until you are quite sure all danger is past. If the build- ing above is supplied with gas turn it off at the meter. If possible, take candles, food and water with you into your subterranean quarters, for the time of your stay is uncertain and your exit inay be blocked by debris: "Apart from such a cellar, the best_ place to be when shells are falling is the open country, well away from hard roadp and trees and buildings. A nice soft ditch, out of sight of the enemy on the reverse slope of rising ground, is the position that I should choose. "Whatever is done, . let It be done without panic. Panic adds immense- ly to the cum of the damage; it means blind rushes in which the weaker ones always suffer, it means also the overlooking of avenues of safety and neglect of many precautions. "Curiosity is one of the strongest impulse in human nature; often it is stronger than the fear of death, and so has fatal results. We had ex- amples of this at Hartlepool and Scar- borough; when the German shells be- gan to fall, people crowded out into the streets, curious to see what was going on. 'And many such were among the kill -rd and wounded." ly, the bank which was administering this trust failed, but Cecil Rhodes stepped in, and sent Smuts to Cam- bridge. Here he won a gold medal 'and headed the list of both parts of the Law Tripes in 1894. On his re- turn to South Africa he became asso- ciated with Rhodes, who intended to piece him in Parliament. Then came the Jamieson Raid, and the friendship between the two men was broken, Smuts becoming one of the most resourceful and determined of the great Empire builder's opponents. In 1897 he was made State Attor- ney by Kruger; It is said that he did his best to persuade Kruger to grant reforms, but, though Oom Paul ap- preciated his unusual gifts, he con- sidered him a mere youth, which in- deed he was, and c.eclined to take his; cdvice upon the questions that were rapidly bringing the Transvaal and the British Empire to a state of war. When war broke out, Smuts took the field as a volunteer but soon showed that he was as able a soldier as he was a lawyer,:was advanced to the rank of General, and when the war was over he was first in command in Cape Colony. Smuts, like Botha, determined to make the best of the new conditions in South Africa and became a loyal British subject. Bey - era, De Wet and others also took the new oath, but the difference between them was that Smuts meant to keep the pledge that he accepted, while the others seized the first opportunity to prove that they had the common Ger- man idea about a ."scrap of paper." In 1907 Smuts was chosen to go to England to.present the famous Culil- nan diamond to `King Edward, and upon that occasion he was given a very warm reception. He is one of the' best debaters and probably the most eloquent and force- ful speaker i i the, public life of South.. Africa. Only 44` years old, it seems plain; that tho highest honors in the gift of the Union will .be' his while he is still a .comparatively young man. Whether he will seek other distincdistinc- tionsis not known, though it is said that both Botha and Smuts have de - dined knighthoods. The Price of a Fowl At Harseet, in Belgium, a patrol of Uhlans descended unexpectedly upon the village. They commenced shoot- ing all the men' they could find, Then, having got rid of them, they dragged out the women and Moulted, tortured, and outraged them, After this they found twenty-two more men, whom they made prison. ere, Passing to the, outskirts of the about. village, two Malang demanded a fowl from a peasant; he told them he had The only place to; be recommended node, but making the man a prisoner. ev n is a cellar, and that must be deep they searched the glade, and eatu• and strongly vaulted. If such a Place ally they found one. And id ev mit is available its use is recommended, jy shot.the peasant. WHO IS "EYE -WITNESS"? Official Despatches Sent From Con- tinent by Col. Swinton Not a few extraordinary stories have gone the rounds as to the identi- ty of "Eye -Witness," the one corres- pondent in the fighting elle,whose graphic descriptions of the great war are only equalled in interest by the despatches of Sir John French. The truth is that this chronicler of military matters—whose articles are Passed so readily by the censor—is Colonel Ernest Dunlop Swinton,D.S.O., of the Royal' Engineers, who holds the -high sounding appointment of Assistant. Secretary and Librarian of the Imperial 'Committee of Defence. Colonel Swinton belongs to a military family Ins brother having been killed in , one of the Indian frontier cam- paigns.•" Another brother is in the Indian Mediesi Service,. while Colonel Swinton himself first entered the army as a• cadet at: •Woolwich. Military Academy, afterwards joining the En- gineers at Chatham. During the South African War Colonel Swinton did some valuable work with the Engineers, and In- cidentally found material for a num- ber of military books 'as thrilling and entertaining as'they are valuable for the information they contain. Under the pseudonym of "Ole Luk -Ole," the secret of which had been kept until quite recently, Colonel Swinton wrote stories and sketches which are re- garded on both sides of the Atlantic as masterpieces of military writing. One of the finest stories he ever wrote—"Full Back"—which tells of deeds in the air, was written some considerable time before the war broke out, and, in view of the mag- nificent work of the army avalators in France, the prophetic instinct die - played by the writer in regard to the conditions of the present war is truly remarkable. Some Curious Wounds There have been a number of cur- ious casualties in the war. One man was struck iy a small splinter of shell, which :passed through his cheek, broke all his teeth, and came out near his jaw without injuring his tongue at all. He escaped with a very swol- len face and a great deal of pain from his teeth. Another soldier was wounded by a large splinter of shell, which struck him absolutely fiat on his chest. The only harm done to him was a gigantic bruise. In the ease of a third a bullet passed through his body just above his heart, avoiding all important vee sets. He was able to march two miles with his knapsack and rifle to hos pital, Oa arrival a nurse gave an antiseptic dressing to kiss wounds, and he was discharged next day cured. Germany is at war with all her bei customers, See Rage (7) Seven