"attracted the attention of a party of about eight Germans. The Germans came to the edge of the pit. It was getting dusk, but the light was still good, and everything clearly discernible. One of them, who appeared to be carrying no arms and who, at any rate, had no rifle, came a few feet down the slope into the chalk pit, within eight or ten yards of some of the wounded men."
He looked at the men, laughed, and said something in German to the Germans who were waiting on the edge of the pit. Immediately one of them fired at the officer, then three or four of these ten soldiers were shot, then another officer and the witness, and the rest of them.
"After an interval of some time I sat up and found that I was the only man of the ten who were living when the Germans came into the pit remaining alive and that all the rest were dead."
Another witness describes a painful case in which five soldiers, two Belgians and three French, were tied to trees by German soldiers apparently drunk, who stuck knives in their faces, pricked them with their bayonets, and ultimately shot them.
We have no evidence to show whether and in what cases orders proceeded from the officer in command to give no quarter, but there are some instances in which persons obviously desiring to surrender were, nevertheless, killed.
(b) Firing on Hospitals or on the Red Cross Ambulances or Stretcher Bearers.
This subject may conveniently be divided into three subdivisions, namely, firing on—
(1) Hospital buildings and other Red Cross establishments.
(2) Ambulances.
(3) Stretcher bearers.