REPATRIATING PRISONERS.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16432, 28 January 1919, Page 8

REPATRIATING PRISONERS.

» WILLOCHRA'S LATEST DUTY. Tho liner Willochra, which has done •uuch service in transporting troops .'rom New Zealand, has recently-been "loing yeoman work in the direction of iking repatriated men back to England, Some interesting clippings regarding this latter duty liave been leveivea uy iurs J. Al. Uoi'dy, of Jieokeu.uaiii, iioni iter uusoaucl, Mr It. Ouruy, who is cuiei oinner oi vue liner, or, as one is now oiuciaiiy iiiiowu, "xi.Al.iN.Zi. xiaiifaport VViliocma." xae \» lilociua recently landed m iiuU witu a couipieuieuti of i4UO uai/fiaced oixicers and men, wno hau ueion&ea to tuu "oiu convempubles, and euioarlied lor. England ao Kotteruam. tone was one oi ihe largest passenger vessels that had ever entered JLtuu, and her arrival was welcomed previously by three aeroplanes, which went out to meet her, while a great reception was in store for her wheu she actually came alongsiue, a.ud her soldiers were assailed by gifts of tobacco, cigarettes, etc. . Many of the. men were colonials, and all were agreed that after their "travelling since 1914," there was no place like iioi&e. ■ The.y all had their anecdotes of Warfare, to tell, and all had tales of the brutality meted out to them while in captivity in Germany. "We should not be believed if we told you all we have gone 'through in Germany," said one repatriated bluejacket. He had, he said, actually seen 'a man bayonetted for describing the soup $s "cabbage water." "In Germany," said another _ bluejacket, "the • people were declaring. it was not their fault that Allied soldiers had been so badly treated," but he pointed out-sand - his companions unhesitatingly - confirmed.' it—tliat the German people, man, ■ woman, aud child, were as hostile as they could possibly be until tliey realised Germany had lost the war: They J®" called an occasion at Hesse in 1915, when a Frenchman • was fatally wcfcinded with a bayonet because he complained of the food served out to them—food which was -uneatable—while such was tho starving condition of British prisoners that it was stated they became so ravenous on one occasion that the guard intervened, fired a round, and killed one man. • . A private in a West Yorkshire regiment stated that several'.men of his regiment were taken prisoner in 1914. They were handed over to troops behind, the - line, who beat • them • with sticks and chains, and kicked them. At- Doberitz some were harnessed to a waggon, and did the work of a horse. Another man had suffered the indignity of being tied to a post "from 8 a.m. to. 8 p.m., for " some imaginary offence, and . others had seen fellowprisoners bayoneted ' because they had dared to show resentment of the treatment they received. Corporal Bowen, of the .Australians, had undergone solitary, confinement for 56 days, and for weeks he was in a dark cell on a diet of 'bread and water.