BX March 11, 1918

Bitter Hatred of the Germans – Sapper P. Hughes Tells of His Feelings After Witnessing Atrocities

Sapper Percy Hughes writes to Mrs. William Charlton, R.R. No. 3 that he is in the Kitchener Hospital, Brighton England, suffering from being gassed which induced pneumonia. He notified her that he had forwarded a medal he had received after service for a year and ten months. He writes further:

“I think I deserve a little rest. I’d rather a few conscripts take their turn. In fact I’ve just voted for conscription. I hate war in any and every form, but I’ve seen enough of the German brutality in Belgium and France to make me think that not only does the future peace of the world depend upon Germany being crushed, but even Christianity itself hang in the balance. The Germans profess Christ, but not as the lowly Carpenter, a Saviour of mankind, but as the symbol of war, with flaming sword in each hand. I have often thought, when looking upon the bodies of dead Germans, at the inscription on their body belts, “Gott Mitt Uns,” which means in English “God with us.”  There are more of us gifted with the supreme knowledge of which side God is taking in this war, but the God whom I have been taught about must surely look down on this terrible carnage and slaughter with pity for a world gone strangely mad and filled with a blood lust such as the Germans have. In spite of the hellish and terrifying conditions which are ever present in France in the firing line, I think the ideals and principles for which we are fighting are worth dying for, and if anything should happen to Joe, Myself or Bob, I know that it will grieve you deeply, but if God in His infinite wisdom deem it so, you would have the satisfaction of knowing that it happened in the task of saving the rest of the civilized world from the beast-like domination of a race of barbarians and savages with only a thin veneer of civilization.

“You wonder why I am so bitter in my hatred of them, but I have seen things happen over there which have frozen my veins and when this terrible catastrophe is over and the true history of the savagery and barbarism of the Hun is written down in cold print, the world will stand amazed with horror and disgust.

“To return to a more pleasant subject, I hope the crops have been good the past summer, for much depends upon the farmers of Canada, and I hope that the government does not make a muddle of conscription by taking men for the war who are needed on the land.”