WHAT THE PRISONERS TEIL

Hokitika Guardian, 23 May 1917, Page 4

WHAT THE PRISONERS TEIL

(By F. A. MoKenzie.)

With the British Army in the Field, March 6 The German prisoner, in his muddy blueigrey uniform, with the fear of d««ttb scarce out of his even, was wolfishly devouring the regulation mealot ‘‘ bully ” and biscuits. “Good,” he said with a satisfied air when the last crumb had gone , “ very good. We don’t have food like that on our side.” He was one of the many hundre prisoners who have been captured by the British in the raids of the past few weeks. Thesß men have all been examined and their eondition studied. What can ho learned from them of the state of the German Army and of

Germany itself ? Look at the men. Naturally they arrive in our lines muddy, dishevelled, and often with faces showing mingled apprehension and relief. They do not look very attractive objeots, but can you expect it from men living for days or weeks amid appalling mud, and theD, after terrifio shell fire, taken captive by a yelling crowd of khakiclad soldiers, who —with bomb and bayonet —rushed the trenches almost before Fri'z knew that they were there ? .

The men here come mostly from Bavaria and Erst Prussia. 0r thfse the Bavarians are the better fighters. The East Prussian regiments inolude many German Pules BDd a considerable proportion of wastrels. They generally seem sufficiently, although not over-abundantly fed. Last December deserters arriving in our lines fold appalling tales of starvation. One Pole declared that his company had had nothing but jam, bread, aad tea for weeks. No one says this now. On the contrary, they talk of a decided improvement in their rations recently, To-day the usual meals in many of the German companies are cofie9 and bread for breakfast ; a sloppy meat dish, half soup, half stew, for dinner, and eoffee and bread for to/. Jam is ofien issued as well, and there is a small supply of artificial butter tasting like cart-grease. Tea is more and more used as a substitute for coffee- When the fighting is strenuous the food is increased. When in reserve cr in a quiet part of the line it is reduced. But there is a general agreement amODg the prisoners that the food recently has improved.

What of the physique of the men ? Some companies are almost incredibly low, otheis are very good, while most are mixed. Three prisoners brought in reoently from one sector formed the most extraordinary trio that could be imagined. Tney were little more than dwarfs, only two or three inches over five feet high. One had lost his right eye and had to shoot from his left shoulder. The second was half-wit-ted and had not . been called to serve until he was thirty-two. The third was a young degenerate. They said that tb&irs wa9 a specially short company. Yet it had been piaced in the front line to hold a part of an important position.

TALL PRUSSIAN GUARDS. You might conclude from this that the German Army is very low down Yet a few days later we captured another three prisoners. These were so tall that they made the Canadian ■who esoorfced them io, himself ovßr six feet high, look small. They came from a regiment of the Prussian Guard Reserve, recently transferred from the Russian front to the west. It is a very smart body. When the lines were raided at 3 a.m„ the Guards were already shaved. They fought like demons. But their fighting strength did not Bave them or their dug*outs from the Canadians, \ Many of the Germans are a mixed crowd. The worst companies are being used as cannon fodder, to hold the lines while the preparations for the spring offensive are being carefully made by picked droops behind. But we can say that we find an increasing number of young, immature, smalllimbed lads among the prisoners, quite unfitted for winter war,

Clothing is markedly worse than it was. Some men have no underclothing at all, not even a shirt. Others have very poor cotton wear. Wool is markedly absent, except in socks. The Germans are wearing a new artificial wool made from wood fibre, but apparently neither the soldiers nor the people at home like it. There are constant complaints from wives in letters found on the men about the scarcity and poorness of clothing material of every kind. They frequently ask the men to send home their old woollen socks, however old and worn out. Every thread of wool

is precious. The Bavarian prisoners grumble openly about the Kaiser, and about the folly of Germany in plnDging them into this war. “ If PrnßSia loses this war we will leave her and become an independent kingdom agam,” they say, “ If the King of Bavaria had beau German Emperor there wonld have been no war with England,” is another common remark. “ Wouldn’t it be rather mean to leave your pal in a hole ?” one young English officer suggested to a Bavarian who was preaching separation. “ We couldn’t stay, because there will be such heavy taxes o pay if we lone ibe war that they would ruin u«,” the m n replied. When it was suggested to him that B.viria wonld have to pay her share whether she separated from

Prussia or not, be scratched his head perplexedly. Such things were beyond a pliin peasant soldier. OUR ARTILLERY FIRE. The letters from horns fouudoa tha prisoners deal largely with food conditions in Gtrmatiy. They do not wholly bear out the extremely unfavorable reports of German conditions* now circulating in England. They show want, but not starvation in the towns. Such tuwns suffer more than others, and all are feeling the pinch, In the country however, things are net nearly so bad, for the rural population can supplement then.’ rations in maty ways. There is shortage of many customary tbingtf and absence of some ; anxious worrying days, but egaiu, I repeat, go far a$ the lectors show no general starvation.

Many of the writers openly long for peace, but, again, there is little in tf?e letters to suggest despair or oonsoiousnaos of probable defeat. Lv.e last year, when the German Chancellor suggested peace negotiations, the letters were full of ons of rejoicing. “Thank God, our illustrious Kaiser is at last about *o give the world p 'ace,” was the common sentiment. That phase has goi,e, and the most recent letters proclaim confidence in the submarines. Th 3 weapon they say, has at last beeD found that will beat the Englander ! It is always the Englander who looms in ibe letters as the great foe. It may be, of course, that tha people at home in Germany conceal thenworst conditions from their soldier relatives or are afraid to revt-el them. That is a point on which I express no opinion.

Earlier in the wer, German soldiers when taken prisoners were often Bullen aud resentful, showing an intense seam of conscious superiority over their enemy. Then the talk was all dominated by the strain of “Deutrchland über Alles.” Hero the change is

striking. Tho talk of Get many dominating tho world bus gone. Germany they declare, iB now defending agfti et those who should destroy her. Tho one wish of most of the men is to return home and to hear no more of war. They speak almost with awe and terror of the effect of oar artillery fire, of bow it searches their lines, smashes thbir tranches, explodes their ammunition dumps and causes them constant casualties. One man incidentally stated that his company ornamander vieiis theliuosouco in three weeks. The British 0.0. lives in a dug-out amotg his men. The evidonca supplied by tho Getman prisoners and their letters, while

it does not confirm the extreme views of German exhaustion, doss show declining moral, a deadened enthusiaam, approaching internal divisions and the dread of coming diausler.