GRIM EXPERIENCES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 185, 1 May 1919, Page 5

GRIM EXPERIENCES

IN THE HANDS OF THE HUNS

WELLINGTON BOY'S STORY

After being eight months a prisoner in the hands of the Germans, Private A. E. Morris, of the N.Z.E.F., a "Wellington boy, was released on the signing of the armistice in November last, and he has now returned to his homo. lie tells ii grim story of brutal ill-treatment at tho hands of'the Germans, who forced him ami many other prisoners to work under shocking conditions close behind tlu German linqs, under the iiro of wt> British guns. Private Morris was captured on April 16, 1918, with other members of the New Zealand Entrenching Battalion. His unit had been hurried to tlio front at the time whim the British armies were falling back before tlio great German offensive, and it was surrounded and cut off by the advancing enemy. "When the Germans broke through at Armentieres," said Private Morris to ;i Dominion reporter yesterday. "We were hurried into, Metoren to help stop thorn there. Wo were part of the Entrpnshing Battalion which had been called into being owing to the great German attack on March. We got into Meteren on April 15, and the Germans Hanked us overnight. When daybreak came wo found. th> enemy a kiiometro around- us on either aide. .The men of one platoon tried to get back, and they were shot down. I stopped in the trench after seeing this, and about ten minute 3 later tho'Germans arrived; Three of them' jumped into the trench and ordered me to take off all my equipment. One of them knocked my 'tin' hat off with,a pistol, and 'another pulled out a spado and struck at my face, apparently, with the intention of marking me. I dodged, and he only cut the side of my mouth. Then they ordered me back into their lines, and I went back to a machine-gun post. I met another captured New Zealander on the way, '. and we picked up ono of our boys who had been wounded.

"We got the wounded man to a dressing station, where the Gtrmans took all our field dressings, and used them on their, own men. From there wo marched back fo- about four hours to'a German headquartors. By this time there wero about five hundred prisoners in the part)', New Zealanders and Tommies. W,e were counted at this headquarters and then ordered to march again. iWo wero halted at about midnight in the .town of Armentieres. Here the guards divided ins into two parties. The party that included me marched on again until 3.80 a:m:, and then forty of us were put into a shed'. The building was about 20 feet long and was partially filled with bags of cement and tools. Wo lay on the floor. At 6 a.m. we were turned out and we had thoughts of breakfast, for we had not been, given anything to eat since being captured. We were marched to an ammunition, dump ami set to work there, unloading ammunition trains and loading lorries for the firing-line. We worked on the dump from G in the morning until 6 o'clock at night, itill without any food'. By that time the men wero on tho verge of collapse. '

"At G o'clock that evening we were marched to a shed 20ft. by 12ft. and put there for the night. There was a concrete floor and wo had no bedding. There were forty of us, in wet clothes, for it had been raining when we were taken. We packed like sardines on the floor. At midnight tho guards turned us ou,t again, and we found, that there was another ammunition train to unload. Wo worked on this train till 3 a.m., went tack to the shed, and were called out again at 6 a.m. to load more shells. This went on until i o'clock in the afternoon, and then we were given our first food, a. bowl each of sauerkraut soup. It was the first food we had received,since being taken early in the morning of the preceding dny, and we had been inarching or doing heavy work most of the time. We worked on until 6 p.m., and then we were given rations, consisting of a quarter of a loaf of bread and a mug of imitation coffee. The. bread was black, with sawdust in it. It was to last until itbo following evening, "Wo were kept at work on the dump during the following days. On the third day 1 gave my puttece to a German for half a loaf of bread. Two days later I exchanged my boots for a loaf, We collected jjrass and leaves in the fields when possible, in order (o boil for food. On April 30 I bought a loaf of bread with a ring my mother had given me. We were absolutely starving. Wo remained on the dump until May 11, and were told then that wo were going to.be sent to Germany. One of the' men had committed suicide with a German bomb, which he exploded in his hand. We had become physical wrecks. We were taken to' Lille, where the Germans sorted out the mechanics and miners. The rest of us were put into what was called tho lilack hole of Lille , at Tort M'Donald. We were there for six weeks, 350 men in a room • 60ft. by 20ft. ' Wo slept on the concrete floor and on racks ranged in three tiers on either side; There was no bedding. Wfj had simply what was left of the clothing wo had been captured in. We were allowed out once a day for ten minutes to receive our rations, consisting of a bowl of mangel soup, a mug of 'coffee, , * and a quarter of a loaf of bread per man. We ■toad no water,- and had to use part of issue of coffee for cashing. The sanitary conditions were unspeakable. There was just a bisr barrel in tho cornea , for 350 men.. Tho toys were dyimr rapidly of dysentery and other troubles. After six weeks in that place, wo were again told we were going to Germany. We were marched back to Bois Grenie'r. neiir Armentieres, and set to work salvaging British shells and duckboards. The job lasted about a week. Then tho British started to advance, and ,we we.re inarched back to Lille. During this time we had been under British shellfire and the attacks of British aeroplanes, which sini])ly swarmed overhead nig'ht and day. Some .of the hoys were killed by bombs from the 'planes, which made many attacks on the dump where we worked. After returning to Lille, I formed part of a working party employed in a _ suburb., We had a good camp there, with plenty of water and improved sanitary conditions. We w<:re iesued with a blanket each. - We used to march eirfht kilometres when coin,? to work. The work consisted of breaking up French spinning machinery. The flernuns were making use of tho iron. We norked there for about three months without n.ny increase in rations. Several -German artillery horses were killed by bombs from our aeroplanes, and wo cooked some of the meat over open fires. "Then the Allied advance began to approach Lille, though wo did not know it at the time, and \vs ivero taken,further back. We loaded the broken iron on trains for Germany. We also loaded ,\ train with rifles, bayonets and other ftlulf. But we did not realise that the Germans were evacuating Lille,'or else we could have hidden nnd waited for the arrival of our men. Wo were marched back to Tournai, pulling German wagons with packs and rifles on them, still on tho ration of a quarter of a loaf per day. We used to pull turnips in the fields alongside the road, the- punishment being a blow from tho butt of a rifle or a slick."

Aftcs. leaving Tournai, added Private Morris, the prisoners were marched back from point to point. They helped to build u new German aerodrome at one point. There were signs that the spirit of tho i Germans was being broken, but tho situation of the prisoners was relieved only by tlio Belgians, whoso kindness and generosity novor failed. At tho village of Stockeal, where there wore English residents, the prisoners were housed in a, hall and from friends they received, through the bad: door, bread, jam, soap, towels and clean shirts. It wns the brightest experience that had fallen to their lot since the day of their capture. They marched back from Lille for three weeks ami (hoiv sufVerings iiifludi'd Iwl foet, due to luck of proper footwear. Private Morris wns using wpnden clogs. Then ill: lust came, tho news of the armistice. The prisoners were told Mint they would be sent home, but they did not wait for Gorman permission. They left their prison miarters that ni»ht, am! with the. iissistiinco of sympathisers made I heir way to Brussels, whore, they were housed in it collp'jp building, supplied with f'injl and given clean civilian clothing. Private Morris was truiitod like a son by a kindly Belgian family. The next move was to Csilnis. whore uniforms w'"> issued, and in December Private Morris reached England, where-he was put into hospital for a fortnight owing to his weakened condition, and then given two months' leave to recuperate among private friends.