GERMAN BRUTALITY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3085, 16 May 1917, Page 6

GERMAN BRUTALITY

BRITISH OFFICER'S REPORT

TREATMENT OF THE WOUNDED

, ; : Defence Headquarters has received a fcopy of a report supplied to tho British Military Attache at Berne by a British subject relating to experiences in the German prison camp at Parchim, in Mecklenburg. The report, which is regarded officially as fully authentic, ■gives some conception of the attitude of the German command towards British prisoners of war. "I have the honour to bring to ;>our notice several facts relating to the ■camp at Parchim, in Mecklenburg, from where I have just come, and where a number of my fellow-countrymen are confined," runs the report, which is datod February 5, 1917. "All my notes having been lost on my way to Switzerland, I can only give the dates approximately, but all the facts I,relate are absolutely correct, and I state them ■ 'without exaggeration and quite impartially. "It was.while I was interned at the -Northern Hospital at Parchim Camp that we were informed of the arrival of about forty seriously wounded British from the front—taken prisoner at tho beginning of October, 1916, they 'were sent to Germany from the Cnm"brai Hospital. There were about thirty-six men and four officers, viz., Captain Mingo, Lieutenant Gunu, Lieutenant Balfour, and Lieutenant Fordham ; the latter was seriously wounded in the right arm, and arrived covered ■with a pieoe of sacking in lieu of a shirt and breeshes, for all clothing. Two days later I was able to provide •him from my own wardrobe with underclothing, etc., to clothe him comfortably. This officer was to be cent on to Hamburg— 'Eppendorfer Kranlienhaus,' Erikastrasse—to be operated "upon. "Here I might relate a rather typical story. When I was called in to these officers as an interpreter, and sclSSg the sad condition of Lieutenant Fordham, I offered to fit him out with sjukc of my own things, the German attendant, who understood a little English, and overheard our conversation, a?ked me for an explanation, and when 1 told him what I proposed doing grew red with fury, saying that a.common soldier, a prisoner'of war, had no 'right to set himself up in the place of the German Government, and that_the latter knew how to duly treat officer (prisoners of enemy armies, etc. Two days later the 'Feldwebel' from the 'Kommandatur' of the. hospital,, to whom I had to act as interpreter to express to Lieutenant Fordham the regrets of the camp authorities at being able to offer him only the coarse clothing for' soldiers, allowed me to give the lieutenant . everything he needed. When the 'Feldwebel' heard that I was going to offer the lieutenant a pair of boots, he said that Jihat was unnecessary, as the patient would bo on a. stretcher all the time, and that the boots -would be far more useful to himself, 'German Feldwebel,' as the father of a family, etc. 1 Of course I refused his request, so tho officer got tho hoots and I cautioned tho Feldwebel that he would hear of it again. I am glad to be able to Tolatei this case of German begging; this hospital orderly is at | present on service at the 'Kommandatur' at the 'Blutstrasse' Hospital at j Parchim. , "The other officers were completely 'fitted out by the 'Prisoners' Help Comimittee' in the camp, who picked out from among their store the test thoy had to suitably clothe the officers. Here i again the German authorities could not or would not do anything for officer prisoners. As regards medical care" and food, however, I believe they had not much cause for complaint. How Private Soldiers Were Treated. "Now for the privates. The camp hospital was intended to accommodate prisoners '-with slight ailmehts.or accidents happening in the course of their captivity. It was just a row of wooden buildings, not very carefully put together. There is only one operating room (Barr. VI), and never, since the beginning of the war had any wounded ■prisoners come to the camp direct from the front. The hospital arrangements •were not adequate for this. Had'it not teen for the fact that latterly all the German hospitals were filled up with their own wounded, these poor Canadians would not have been sent to PaTchim.

"On their arrival the other Russian, French, and Belgian patients were removed from Barr. -Vl.,' and from now on they had to come every day in spite of, all difficulties from a neighbouring hut to our operating room to bo attended to. I must not omit to mention that in my capacity of interpreter I had a bed in the same room as the Canadians. Tho latter slept on hard wooden beds, without springs; the mattresses were of coarse sacking stuffed •with some sort of vegetable fibre .'Among these wounded there were at most five or six who were only slightly •wounded—hands or forearms—and who •wore able to move about. All the rest had serious wounds, abdominal, fractured legs, and there were two whose right legs had been, amputated. You will understand how terribly these unfortunates suffered on these hard beds, especially as tho floor of tho hut was badly laid. Every time a German walked along the room in his heavy hoots all the beds shook. The senior doctor was a lieutenant, whose name, I believe, was Amoke. Ho was a great •bully, who gave himself the appearance of being very busy, hut in reality spent the greater part of his time in drinking in the hospital .canteen. In connection with'him I. could mention' several instances of incredible in> ■humanity. Fortunately he did not trouble much with the new arrivals, and left all theswdrk' for his assistant, a civilian dootor', who had been pressed into army service, ftnd who did his 'best to look after his patients. "As regards dressings and drugs yon will already know that there is a great shortage of them .in Germany. Thus these poor fellows, whose wounds should 'have been dressed at least onco a day, were only attended to wdien ihey were in such a condition that they could not he left longer. The following died within two days:— 1. Roberts (Scotch).—Serious abdominalwound and fractured thigh. . This .poor fellow begged, in his dplirium. for something else to drink hut plain water., Happily I had a bottle of fruit syrup, and so we could quench his thirst with a morerefreshing drink. 2. J. Shand (AberdeenshiroV —Terribly wounded in tho shoulder, abdomen, and broken legs. _ He also suffered terribly from thirst, and the onlv thing he could ae given to drink was a.little tea :nado fo.r him on the stove in the ward. ■ . ' 3. Oscar Lesarbeau (French '■■ Canadian).—Wounded in the sboul- ■ der and injury to tho lung. 4. S£order(?). Canadian.—Shrapnel injury to the brain. This man could take no solid food at all, and I fed bim for several days en milk chocolate and Liebig's meat extract. ' "In the first three cases, I think, recovery would have been difficult, if not impossible, in any case. As regards the latter, I think that suitable liquid nourishment would have suited him to fight the fever. In any case these wounded should have been sent to a hospital better adapted tor treating such severe injuries. Jne food for all these wounded

I was quite insufficient, and not calculated to enable them to fight against their weakness due to loss of blood, etc. The food was as follows :— 7 a.m.: A basin of corn-flour (2 pints), 100 grammes black bread (very heavy). Noon: A basin of 'Rutabaga' soup, carrots, cabbage, or beans, with 100 grammes of boiled and hashed meat. 3 p.m.; One pint an lait, with another slice of black bread. 6 p.m.: A basin of poor barley soup. "Except the midday meal, which varied slightly on Tuesdays, we had a raw herring and seven or eight potatoes in their skins. All the other meals were always identically the same. A Callous Attendant. "Finally, I will mention the callous conduct of the head attendant in hospital. He was a non-commissioned officer of the name of Schmidt—a small barber in ordinary times—a bad man all through, whose immoral behaviour frequently caused his comrades—themselves not beyond reproach—to remonstrate with him. This would not have been any business of ours had he not, in order to satisfy his low tastes, forced the poor prisoners to band over to him the small luxuries they received in their parcels. On"no account would ho take night duty for these serious cases, however much they stood in need of it, on account of their thirst, etc. I therefore on my own account arranged .to do night duty, and I tell you what occurred —to mention only one of many deplorable incidents. "One evening tho doctor, as usual, had ordered two injections of morphia. So as not to be disturbed in his amusement the above-mentioned chief attendant injeoted one doso before going into ( town at about 7 p.m. (instead of waiting till nine, when all was quiet, and the patient would have been able to sleep after the drug), and then on his return from town would give the second. This evening he came back horribly drunk, and when I reminded him that the patients wanted their second dose, he replied that it was not yet time, but, however, he would come and do it directly. T waited in vain, and about 2 a.m.—seeing how thepoor fellows were suffering—l went in search of him. and found him in tho office of the 'Kommandatur,' with some companions of his kind. I remonstrated with him, but he only laughed. I should soy that as far as I was concerned T had tamed this brute by bribing him with a couple of marks. As regards the food, I omitted to say that towards the end of my stay with my comrades I had managed to procure for the worst cases an extra cup 6f good soup at 10 a.m., and seven cups of milk among twelve or thirteen oatient's; these took it in turn to have their cup'of milk every alternate day. The assistant doctor had at once granted this extra,allowance, but the 'brute' of whom I have had so much to say tried to object to it by every means in his power. , "f. may also say that the slightly wounded were sent into the camp before their wounds were healed, and there they had to do barrack-yard duties, such as sweeping, pushing trucks, and pumping water. They were far too lightly clothed, and the early frost made their wounds very painful."