Salt Lake Tribune | 1916-06-11 | Page 17 | Desertions Follow Verdun Conflicts

DESERTIONS FOLLOW VEBDUNMCDHFUCTS German Prisoners Tell Captors Cap-tors of Trench Horrors and Brutal Treatment. ESCAPE IN DARKNESS "Officers Spoke to Us a if We Were Dogs," Says One Refugee. Special Cable to The Tribune. PARIS, June 10. The number of deserters de-serters from the German armies fighting fight-ing around Verdun is assuming largo proportions. Almost every night BOme of them make their way into tho French trencheB. Three German infantrymen were thus taken prisoners by the French near a listening post in front of the trenches, to which the trio had crawled in the darkness. The first, a wholesale dealer in leather leath-er from Leipzig, was forty years, and had .been wounded once while fighting on the Russian front. Delighted to Escape. He declared himself delighted at having hav-ing succeeded in making his escape, as the shelling of the French artillery was driving him nearly insane. He said that when he left home he was confident confi-dent of Germany's final and decisive victory, but now he realized she was doomed to disaster. "My own business," he said, "is ruined. I did most of my business abroad, and some of my best customers lived in Paris. "Now all Europe hates us, and it would be foolish to hope that we shall be able to win back our old markets. Who will care to do business with us after tho war? The bost thing we could do would be to sue for peace immediately im-mediately on the best terms obtainable, but our military leaders will never permit per-mit that. We must go on to the bitter end." Caught Student, Too. The second prisoner was a young student stu-dent of the 1916 class. His. father is a teacher in a small town in Alsace. He told how he had happened to become be-come enrolled in a regiment consisting of men twice his age. "When it was decided to attack Verdun," Ver-dun," he said, "the German military authorities called for volunteers. In order to .help along recruiting they depicted de-picted to the young people how they would cover themselves with immortal glory at Verdun and how tho triumphal entry into the fortress and the resulting result-ing fall of Paris would remain an event which would never be forgotten by those to take part in it. "Manv of us were tempted by offers of-fers of "some office at home when the war was over as a reward for coming forward when it was necessary for Germany to strike a decisive blow. I was one of these. "We were also told that we would never be called upon to do any hand-to-hand fighting, as the German artillery would wipe out all resistance. Carnage Was Awful. "Now all my comrades have fallen, and I could no longer stand the constant con-stant sight of the dreadful, carnage. The memory of what I have seen on tho battlefield bat-tlefield haunted me every night, and I felt it was driving me mad. I simply had to get out of it." The third prisoner was a miner and the father or seven children. He declared de-clared that he had been driven to desert de-sert through brutal treatment and lack of sufficient food. "It was becoming quite unbearable," he declared. "We were being treated worse than dogs, but the thing which made me make up my mind to desert was the letters I received from my wife at home. "She told me that my children were starving. As a prisoner I hope to be able to help them. I know you allow your prisoners of war to work and pay "them well. Every penny I make is to be sent home to my wife and children in Germany. May those who are responsible re-sponsible for this ,war be cursed forever! for-ever! "