The Kingdom of serbia : report upon the atrocities committed by the Austro-Hungarian Army during the first invasion of Serbia

98 AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ATROCITIES

On the lines to the right of, and above the village of Grrushitch, I saw the body of a boy of 17 or 18 who had been killed by the Austrians. Almost all the men of this village had been carried off into captivity. I was told that the Austrian soldatesca (both officers and privates) had been guilty of many acts of rapine, sparing neither old women nor little girls. Gipsy women were also outraged by the enemy. A gipsy wet-nurse complained that two soldiers had sucked her milk. In Bela Reka the Austrians carried off the entire male population into captivity (from boys to old men of 60 and 70).

I spoke with a young boy of the 2nd class of the primary school, who had been taken prisoner, and contrived to escape. The child was ignorant of the ultimate fate of the other prisoners, but he saw many of them shot in a maize-field. No sooner had the army of the enemy entered the village than all the inhabitants were assembled to hear the proclamation of the Emperor Francis Joseph. The proclamation was read out in Serbian. The women were compelled to shout * Long live Francis Joseph,” while all the men were being taken away into captivity. The women were outraged. The mayor of the village was killed. The whole place was sacked.

In a house opposite the Town Hall of the village of Tzulkovitch I myself saw a heartrending spectacle of old men, old women, girls, young men, small children and boys—all suffering from bayonet wounds. The courtyard and the house were full of mangled men. A very great number of the wounded were little girls. There was also a