Hong Kong Daily Press 1918-12-19
BULGARIAN BRUTALITY.
PRISON CAMP HORRORS.
[FROM G. Ward Price.]
The Serbian prisoners-of-war camp on
the outskirts of Sofia is terrible evidence
of that hatred between Bulgarian and
Serbian, which runs like a poison through
the whole system of the Balkans. A mile
from Sofia, near the main road to
Radomir, is a muddy compound about
three acres in extent, surrounded by barb-
ed wire. In this pen are 103,000 Serbians
of all ages, together with 600 Greek civi-
lians, carried off from Sepres and Druina,
a smaller body of Russians, and a detach-
ment of French. The French were lodged
in a few whitewashed mud-huts which the
compound contains. The greater major-
ity of the Serbians have lain out in the
open day and night, in wind and rain,
summer and winter, many of them for
three whole years of captivity, They have
had no blankets or protection of any
kind, and at night pack their wretched
bodies close together for warmth like a
herd of animals. Their food is 1lb., of
dark bread a day. Their so-called soup,
which they were preparing while I was
there, is just a cauldron of hot water,
with a dozen maize-pods in it. For drink-
ing and washing water in this enclosure
there is a solitary trickle from one small
tap. Thirsty men wait two hours to get
near it.
Ten Serbians had died during the night
before I went there. In the morning the
Bulgarians put their bodies into a cart
and carried them away. An hour later
the same cart returned bringing the day's
bread ration. When a man can no longer
stand, his friends carry him into one of
the verminous little huts. There he lies
until he is dead, and next morning the
bread cart carries his carcase away.
Three fresh bodies were on the ground
when I reached the camp at ten o'clock,
and I was taken to see the little earth-
floored cabin which with grim irony is
called the "hospital.” There were five
Serbians in it -four just frames of skin
and bone. The fifth man lay stretched
on his back on the bare ground. His eyes
were glazed and fixed. his breath came in
quick spasms, and flies were crawling
over his face. He looked as if he had
but a few more hours of suffering to live.
“Does no one come to do anything for
these people? Have you never seen a
Bulgarian medical officer here?" I asked.
"Never," was the emphatic. reply of a
Serbian and a Greek prisoner who spoke
French.
It must be allowed to count in favour
of Serbia that all her Bulgarian prisoners
whom one has seen on the roads behind
the Serbian front were fit, as well fed as
the Allied troops themselves, and any-
thing at all but overworked. No sooner
was the misceable condition of these Ser-
bian prisoners known than the British
Army authorities took steps to do all they
could for the survivors. Doctors and
medical comforts are already in Sofia to
repair. as far as may be the terrible
scandal that lies at the very door of the
Bulgarian Governments. — Daily Tele-
graph.
https://archive.org/details/NPDP19181219/page/n4/mode/1up?view=theater
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