The Soldier at the Western Front – The Use of Dum-Dum-Projectiles
Source 1: War Diary of Ernst Pauleit
The soldier Ernst Pauleit describes in his war diary not alone the alleged common use of Dum Dum Bullets by the British but as well a fast, and as he puts it “hypocritical” way to manufacture this sort of ammunition.
„8 o’clock in the morning: It is said that our battalion is going to make a change of position soon. I am going to use this moment of peace to pin down the interesting fact in this booklet that the projectiles used by the British infantry are without exception Dum Dum Projectiles.The hypocritical Albion has done everything to hide its cruelties and even we only happened to find out by accident the secret behind this kind of projectile. A profound examination of this rifle bullet showed that they have not steel cover only have one made of a very soft metal and they don’t have – as it is common – a full lead core but a separated one.
From the outside this bullet look perfectly normal – just like our own. But the state of affairs changes when the top is broken.
To fulfill this task the British rifles are equipped with a special system that allows them to make Dum Dum bullets out of their projectiles in an instant, and the enemy can’t prove this infamous deed.
I myself found an English rifle yesterday, examined its construction closely and successfully tried to manufacture one of these bullets which are banned by international law. To be able to prove this at any time I’m going to keep some of these rifle bullets […].
So it is proven: Without the pressing need the Germans never changed their idealistic way to fight and their conduct of war. But in face of the infamous deeds of the enemy, particularly the English, from now on the parole must be: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth! We owe this to our honest infantry.” War diary of Ernst Pauleit, note dated 27th October 1914, excerpt
