St. John's daily star, 1915-04-28

              the st john's daily star new found land volmrie 1 wednesday april 28 1915 no 10 allies effectively check the attempt of germans to break thru their lines germans have been guilty of barbarous savagery declares earl kitchener they have stooped to acts which will stain their mili tary history and which in barbarity vie with deeds of the dervishes of the soudan secretary of war has ample proof cruel treatment of british soldiers germans have discriminated against our men held in detention camps and have even offered indignities to our officers / london april 28.—kitchener's speech in the house of lords in which as a soldier he said he lamented what he was convinced was inhumanity toward british soldiers was the most notable expression of the day there were however equally striking notes in both houses notably by lord landsdowne leader of the opposition and lord cromer who expressed the regret of the lords that the british admiralty had seen fit to segregate cap tured german submarine crews and by premier asquith in the commons who declared that at the end of the war british people would exact reparation nothing definite decided no definite course of action concern ing the treatment of prisoners was ag reed on by either house earl kitchener said that as a sol dier he hitherto had always held the officers of the german army in respect but the constant testimony that has come in not only from our own escaped prisoners but from french russian belgian and american sources has brought it home to all who have sifted the evidence that inhumanity is display ed by german authorities toward brit ish prisoners especially is beyond doubt broke laws of war the war secretary quoted articles from the convention adopted at the hague relating to the treatment of prisoners of war and assered that they had been disregarded flagrantly by the german officers artd he added i think it only fair and tight to say that ger man hospitals should be excepted from any charges of deliberate inhumanity there has been indication of a lament able lack of medical skill and individual cases of neglect and indifference to suf fering on the part of hospital order lies on the other hand there are statements from prisoners who have been released as incapacitated that their experience in hospitals did not form any ground for special complaint treatment varied the treatment of prisoners at deten tion camps in germany varies consider ably according to the locality our men in most cases suffered from want of food and have received differential treatment as compared with their french and russian comrades and many acts of violence have been complained of latterly however there does appear to be a slight improvement in some respects due perhaps to visits of . inspection made from time to time thru the am erican ambassador barbarous savagery germany has for many years posed be fore the civilized world as a great mili tary nation she has abundantly proved her military skill and courage hut sure ly it was also for her to put up a stan dard of military honor and conduct which would gain the respect if not the friendship of the nations instead she has stooped to acts which will sure ly stain her military history and which would vie with the barbarous savage ry of the dervishes of the soudan i do not think there can be a soldier of any nationality even amongst the germans themselves who is not heartily ashamed of the slur which has thus been brought upon the profession of arms the usages of war have not only been outraged by the infliction of cruelties on british prisoners but by the con trivances which must have arrested your lordships attention the germans have last week introduced the method of placing their opponents hors de com bat by the use of asphyxiating gasses they employ these poisonous methods to prevail when their attack according to the rules of war might otherwise have failed speaking in the debate dn the treat ment of british prisoners in germany premier asquith said it is a horrible story from every view point one of the blackest spots on even german methods of war will remember it m - object in rising is to say with all emphasis and deliberation that we shall not forget and we ought not to forget this horrible record of calmulated cruel ty and crime we shall at the end of this war and we hold it to be our duty to exact such reparation against those who are proved to be guilty agents in this matter as it may be possible for us to inflict i do not think we would be doing our duty cither to those brave unfor tunate men or the honor of our country or to the plain dictates of humanity if we should be content with anything less kitchener tells of barbarities of the germans says germans have ipven shot british prisoners in cold blood london april 27 lord kitchener told the lords today that british pris oners had been insulted . maltreated and even shot down by their german captors he said :— i have been forced with reluctance to accept as indisputably true the mal treatment by the german army of bri tish prisoners the hague convention has been flag rantly disregarded by german officers prisoners have been stripped and mal treated in various ways and in some cases evidence goes to prove they have been shot in cold blood our officers even when wounded have been wantonly insulted and fre quently struck british troops being landed in flanders ? yllil fleet of transports and war ships reported by hol land as off belgian coast new york april 27 a washington special to the times says from dutch sources based upon what were said to be the latest advices from that country as well as the fact that england had ab solutely stopped all channel and north sea shipping came the report last night that england has been massing trans port ships and large war vessels which can bombard belgian coast while re maining out of reach of the german coast batteries and will probably try to land a new expeditionary force some where between heyst and blankenbergh or elsewhere north of ostend for the purpose of attacking the right flank of the german forces now attacking al ong the yser canal it is possible that 250,000 troops may be aboard the transports which are sup posed to be assembling off the fland ers coast with the idea of landing as soon as the british warships have re duced the german batteries ashore barrel cannon to fool enemy . germans have rigged up fake batteries posed on farm carts—stationed in shrubbery to fooi the enemy's a frtat scouts ** attack on the allies directed by the kaiser and the big battle rages with.undiminished fury germans admit effective work of canadians london april 27.—the troops of the allies defending ypres are being at tacked by the germans from three dir ections—north northeast and north r west the great battle which began a week ago 125 miles miles from london is raging with undiminished fury despite their heavy losses estimated at more than 25,000 in some despatches received here today the germans are maintaining their terrific offensive emperor william is reported to have reached the flanders front late yester day afternoon extending british front . while the germans are continuing their attack upon ypres the keystone of the allies position in the flanders wedge that thrusts its way across ypres canal is extending its front it has reached boesinghe about three miles from ypres and is about two miles southeast of lipcerne the first town stormed by the germans on the west bank of the canal . a boesinghe has been completely dcs troyed says a despatch from amster dam the ruins are burning but stub born fighting continues amid the wreck age the collapse of a church steeple buried german and rrench soldiers as they were fighting in tlie very shadow of the edifice hold lizerne ' lizerne is iai the possession of the germans who have held their own des pite repeated attacks by the french and belgian troops for a short t'me sunday the allies gained the upper hand driving the germans from lizercne back to the canal but german reinforcements ar rived in tirade to recapture the town the correspondent who sent this des patch states that the germans them selves declare that had it not been for the canadian troops the allies would be in retreat along the entire flanders front the canadians upset all the german calculations the correspondent contin ues the kaiser's troops expected their coup to result in the quick fall of ypres and the capture of all important points along the canal their expectations would have ieen fulfilled if the can adians had not smashed into their ad vancing line throwing eleven entire re giments into confusion third furious german a ttempt on calais is an entire failure london april 27 the kaiser's third drive for calais has been stopped—and stopped short german attacks on ypres have been repulsed and the allies have succeeded in regaining considerable of the ground lost in the first furious at tacks of the german army attempt on calais paris april 28.—the offensive assu'm ed by the germans in ypres region has rise to the report that they are about to undertake another carefully planned attempt to force their way to calais the military authorities are cautious however in accepting this suggestion as an explanation for the germans recent activity the magnitude of the forces concentrated by the germans on such a limited front cannot be explained it is believed here to be more the desire to keep the allies active the opinion is expressed that it was perhaps still is their purpose to break a large gap in the allies lines prepara tory to more important undertakings entirely checked london april 28.—the german de sign to turn the left of the british position at ypres and to drive the allies out of belgium has failed according to a times correspondent in the north of france he says that while the battle is still raging furiously the german advance has been definitely checked > « britain thanks the united states grateful for services done to british prisoners in germany „ london april 28.—the british parlia ment occupied itself solely today with discussions on the treatment of british prisoners of war in germany both in the house of lords and the house of commons gratitude was ex pressed for efforts that have been made by the united states to ameliorate the conditions of prisoners 1 t rev dr bond returned to toronto by last evening's express fair treatment given german war prisoners in all british camps churchill says britain has no intention of making reprisals on german pri soners german methods entirely inhuman but britain treats even the crews of german submar ines with all kindness london april 27.—first lovl of the admiralty churchill explained britain's policy in the matter of the treatment of german sailors captured on board submarines in the commons today answering a question on the subject he said we cannot admit that the reprisals which germany have taken against numbers of our officers can be allowed to deflect us from a policy which we regard as humane and just in itself must be branded with reference to germany's answer to this matter he said:—"lt is neces sary to publicly brand this form of warfare and prevent it taking its ph.ee among the methods open to belliger ent nations no special conditions had been ap plied to the crews ofe german subrm r ines because they are such but only 0 those engaged in wantonly killing ncn combatants neutrals and women on the high seas 8 different but humane licidents like the sinking of t.it oriole af night without warning she was lost early in february with a crew of twenty men the sinking of t c kalaba with a loss of over one hv i dred lives and the blowing up of fish ing vessels decided the government he declared to place all submarine prisoners taken after february isth aj,d o long as this system of warfare con tinued in a distinct category he pointed out thc-t the conditions under which these prisoners were con fined were in every way humane we have offered toiallow a repres entative of the united states to visit these prisoners he said " and to make a report facilities are accorded to us prospero left burgco at 9 a.m going west allied armies make progress at dardanelles troops landed on both sides and turkish fort captured i london april 28 official).—the allied armids at the dardanelles aie making satisfactory progress forces have been landed on both sides of the straits the french have taken the fortress of kuni kale on the asiatic side and captured 500 prisoners general lan hamilton is in command of the allied army and the advance being made is satisfactory kum kalejs the fortress at th en 1 ranee to the dardanelles ■ m • canadian regiments thinned out and reinforcements have been forwarded from great britain london april 28.—the heavy casual ty list among the canadians ( at the front resulted in an emergency call for rein forcements on monday night when a body of officers and men both from base details and recent arrivals paraded and embarked for a special destina tion the departure of these troops was not secret as is usually the case but was open and folkestone citizens gave them a rousing farewell . 1 fot | allies bombard interior forts qf dardanelles london april 28 the daily mail's athens correspondent says the bomb ardr.icnt of the interior forts of the dardanelles which began on sunday continued monday and resulted in heavy damage to the forts it is reported the forts on the coast near smyrna were also bombarded but this report has not been confirmed p = 3[^l 1 the l liverpool and london 1 and globe r insurance company ltd head office liverpool r i . jg protect your property and place your insurance j with the largest fire insurance p house in the colony we have the largest net premium income of all the fire insurance companies operating in newfoundland bowring brothers limited i sole agents for newfoundland z l bll g 4ia==i r==h|hf=if ifeff give 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