PUZZLED HUNS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 164, 5 April 1919, Page 7

PUZZLED HUNS

Foreigners are.fond of stating that (he British take their, pleasures sadly. These same foreigners, or at least tho more kindly among them, often add that, on the other hand, the British suffer their hardships' gladly. Naturally, neither statement is strictly true, but'during my threo years as a prisoner of war in Germany (writes si returned prisoner in the "Daily Mail") I often noticed how near to the truth these statements came. Altogether I was at six camps—Gutcrsloh, Crcfeld, Schwarmsteda,- Strohen, Holzmindcn, and Eursleuberg. Of the-se, three were fairly good camps and threo were thoroughly bad. But iu each case the samo thing held true—tho better the camp the surlier the prisoners, and tho worse the camp the cheerier they were. At Crefeld and Guterloh, both camps villi good buildings and good commandants, there.was a good deal of ill-feed-ing and bickering among the British. You would see them walking round the grounds with lons faces, shoulders haunched., and eyes fixed dully on tho ground. But when the all-British camp at Crefeld-whither. wo had all -been brought from our outlying camps—was broken up and wo were sent to the various choice spots situated in the zone of tlio 10th Army Corps, there was ■ a different tale to tell.

llicre was nothing to laugh at. so everybody laughed. The Huns were amazed. Thero was nothing to do, so every body was busy. Tho Huns couldn't understand it. There was nothing to eat, unopened tins of provisions in tho camp wcro "strong verbolten," yet the stowpots were full and (he whole place was redolent, with the pleasant smell of cooking. Tho Hunsgavo it up in disgust. Many and queer were Ihe hidingplaces for these tins.

On. one occasion tho Hun was wily; an officer entered tho camp, leading on u string an enormons hound. This animal sniffed around tho huts, and eventually started scratching in tlireo places and unearthed n hidden stor.e of "verbolen" tins. The Hun's triumphant air on the first of these occasions obviously showed Hint he expected us to bo impressed by his sagacity. Instead, men opened "books" and swccpsta.kes upon how many hiding-places the dog would find and how quickly he would discover them. Everybody spurred llio dog on with cries of "Seek! Seek!'>nd "(icod dog!" When the animal discovered a second store Ihero was a positive shriek of joy.

My first impression of Slrohen—perhaps the worst camp of tho lot—was a row of cheerful, grinning faces. I immediately knew it was a thoroughly bad camp.

An then when 1 went to Furslenburg —tho best camp in Germany—l found nearly everybody looking sulky, 50 per conl. of the men worrying about their livers, and the other 50 per cent, complaining Hint the dining-hall was draughty! And at Schwnrmstedt and Slrohen the. boards of the huts were nearly two inches apart! I wonder if it is the same with Britons tho 'Whole world over?