Vlad the Impaler is a notorious person, for obvious reasons—there are many primary sources describing how he brutally killed tens of thousands of turks and ottomans during his reign. However, I've been trying to separate fact vs myth about the person, notably whether he distinguished between enemy combatants (men) and women/children. In particular, wikipedia cites a passage from german pamphlet written in 1521: "He roasted children and forced their mother to eat them. He cut the breasts from the women and force their husband to eat them. Finally he impaled them all."

Is this accurate? Did he engage in forced cannibalism, of torturing women and children in this manner? Are there any primary sources for this? If so, is there any indication of how prevalent this practice was or why he did it? I suppose it could be considered a type of total war, albeit a particularly brutal and psychological version.

Anyway, I'd appreciate any and all insight or material that y'all can provide.