left."

* * * * *

"As regards the Hispano-American revictualling, it may be said with
truth that without this the population of Northern France would have
died of hunger, for the Germans considered themselves liberated from
any responsibility. During the first months of the war before this
Committee started, the Germans put up posters saying that the Allies
were trying to starve Germany, who in turn was not obliged to feed the
invaded territory.... When informant (who is from ST. QUENTIN) left at
the general evacuation of this town, no requisition bonds were given
for household goods. As the inhabitants left, their furniture was
loaded on to motor lorries and taken to the station, whence it was
sent by special train to Germany. This shows clearly that requisition
bonds issued by the Germans show only the small proportion of what has
been suffered by the inhabitants.... Informant was the witness of the
execution of French civilians whose only fault was either to hide
arms or pigeons: several who had committed these infractions of
requisitions were shot, and the Germans announced the fact by poster
of a blood-red colour. In other cases the men shot were British
prisoners who had dressed in civil clothes on the arrival of the
Germans. Informant had a long conversation with one of them before
his execution. He told informant how he had been unable to leave ST.
QUENTIN, viz., by the 28th August. Some passers-by offered to hide
him. It appears that, through his ignorance of the French language,
he was unaware that the Germans threatened execution to all men found
after a certain date. He was discovered and condemned to death for
espionage. It is obvious, as the man himself said, that one could not
imagine a man acting as a spy without knowing either the language of