U-BOAT PRISONERS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20095, 15 November 1939, Page 7

U-BOAT PRISONERS

QUARTERS IN ENGLAND SURPRISE MEETINGS LONDON, Oct. 6. When a batch of prisoners of war captured from U-boats arrived at a disused cotton mill in the North of England, which is being used as an internment camp, , some of them had surprise meetings with other prisoners whom they had never expected to see again.

Most of the new arrivals wore civilian dress, though a few had retained their naval trousers and boots. They looked well, though a trifle haggard. Their average age was about 23. They carried oddments of personal belongings in cardboard boxes, and when interrogated by officers stood smartly, to attention. “When the first batch, came here,” said a sergeant of the guard, who was himself in a German prison camp in 1918, "some of them started to give the Nazi salute, but we soon washed that out.”

The prisoners were agreeably surprised at the treatment offered them, having been told in Germany to expect something more severe. They have asked for more potatoes and less meat on their menu, and German books have been allowed them. "Room” leaders have been appointed and these will have a separate mess. Several acres of land near the mill have been acquired for recreation purposes.

Escape is impossible, as these are guards on every floor and the double sentry-paced walls of barbed wire can be floodlit.