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

EXPLOSIVE BULLETS 11

ordinary cartridges, or that they were explosive. Finally they were told not to use them except by special order. On the island of Kuriatchitza the machine-gun companies were supplied exclusively with cartridges containing explosive bullets.

No. 27, of the 28th (Czech) Regiment, says that each squad (about 40 men) was supplied with a package of 10 “Einschuss ” bullets. In the squad preference was given to the good shots. According to him, these bullets had been known only to the officers, who carefully kept the secret of them, and did not divulge the fact of their existence until during the war. “It is an officer’s secret,” he said. He heard them mentioned for the first time during the war.

No. 28, of the 1st Regiment, squad-leader. All he said was that the object of the Kinschusspatronen ” is to gauge the distance.

No. 29, of the 1st Regiment, relates that he never had explosive bullets in his possession, but that he had heard them mentioned in time of peace, as being used for gauging the distance, because in exploding these cartridges give out a peculiar flame.

No. 30, hospital attendant in the 22nd Regiment, alleges that he knows very little about these bullets. He says he never saw any.

No. 31 says that the best shots in the regiment were given 5 * Einschusspatronen.” He had never seen them before the war. The best shots always had to open the fire.

Nos. 32 and 33, both « Einjihrige Freiwillige ” (““ one-year-service volunteers ”), assert that «Einschusspatronen ” serve to verify the distance. An