IN THE HANDS OF THE HUNS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 85, 8 April 1916, Page 2

IN THE HANDS OF THE HUNS.

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCES OF A SCOTTISH SOLDIER. The privations which British prisoners of war have suffered in Germany were described by Private Robert An derson, Ist Gordon Highlanders, one of the recently exchanged prisoners from Germany, who has returned to h',s home at Glen Village, Falkirk. P.ivate Anderson was wounded and talctn prisoner during the retreat frcra Mens, and early in January 'ast year he was incarcerated in a camp at . Wittenberg. On arrival at Wittenberg .they were met by an immense crowd, who with sticks?, stones ami whips belaboured the premiers, who had to bolt for the camp, being pursued by the howling mob, who kept up the attack until the gates closed on the exhausted prisoners.

The conditions of the camp were described by Private Anderson as "absolutely horrible." The fool was filthy and inadequate, and altogether unfit for pigs, but the men had to take it to prevent themselves starving. The rigorous winter which had set in la:d its mark on many of the prisoners, who were interned in wooden huts. They wer 8 scandalously Hl-fed, in f?ct, they were starved, their clothes were scanty many of them being in rago while from the hygenc viewpoint things" were utterly deplorable.

The camp was ravaged by a 'iruient ouUneak of typhus fever, and im.ny deaths occurred daily. One of the hv'.t was set apart for the reception of the fever patients, and Anderson, himself suffering from the disease, was carried there on a table, 'and dumped down beside two Rus- ' sians. Simultaneous with the appearance of the epidemic the Germans abandoned the camp, or that particular portion of it, and the patients, who were lying en the bare floors, were left in this dreadfui isolation, alone and unaided. No prevision Avas made for the treatment of the men. The Germans erected a kind of chute outside the camp, and by means of this the food was launched to the patients. Their comrades who were strong enough endeavoured to help the weaker ones, but the exertion proved too much for them, and they had to desist. HOSPITAL SCENES.

The scenes in this so-called hospital or isolation ward were indescribable. Patients were lying here, there, and everywhere. If a patient was unable to get at the food he had to fast, as the others had become so weak they were unable to tend him. Two R.A. M C. men who were in the camp worked r.ealouslv to alleviate the sufferings of their stricken comrades,* but in course of time they,-worn out H)y their arduous work, fell victims to the typhus, which was spreading with alarming rapidity. Every day there were admissions and the "hospital" had become so congested that the patients believed they Avould have been better dead. Thev had exactly the same cdrthes with which they had come r 7VTn the battlefield, and altogether thev were in a deplorable condition.

"The horrors cf that camp I shall never fcrget," said Private Andersen. "They were unspeakable. In January, February and March the fever was at its worst stage. Four British dockers at this time volunteered to come hit/" the camp and begin their humane merciful work among the poor, patients. They worked horoicall" but eventually succumbed

to the seine time abcut the T>r.nt, l«o<" February. How many of us

I survived I do not know. No one will (ever realise what we have suffered,

but when the other British doctors return they will be able to tell. And during all this time we were not allowed to write Our people did not know whether we were alive or dead, and I, as a matter of fact, was officially presumed dead"

SENTRIES AND DOGS. Describing the sentries' round through, the huts, Private Anderson said:—"At all times of the day and night two sentries, one armed with a rifle and the other with a resolver, /came intfo the; huts w|th & wolfhound, and if we did not stand to attention and salute them —even though they were N.C.O.'s —they set the dog on us. One night I was lying down speaking to a chum, and did not hear the sentries enter. The next thing I felt was a wolf dog clutching at my throat, and after a desperate struggle I managed to free myself. My chum, who could speak German, asked for an explanation, and the sentries thereupon turner the hcund en him. It tore the sleeve out of his jacket and hit him hadly on the arm. This incident was reported to a captain of the "R.A.M.C, who in turn reported it to the American Ambassador, and a result of this the captain was himself assaulted by a German officer, who stru"<-i- him en the back with his sword."

Other episodes referred to by Private Anderson were the flogging of Russians, and the brutal treatment raeted out to the only man ill his section who wore a kilt, and who was "kicked up and down like a football."

BIG MEDICAL FEES. Half-a-dozen doctors are now being paid £5,000 a year by the Admiralty, private practice is not forbidden, but it must not interfere with official duties.

"Lucky" Baldwin, the millionaire mine-owner, who died some time ago in California, got a bill from his medical attendant for £20,000, and, judging by the money he left behind him, it would not make much difference to his pocket-money.

On one occasion the late King Edward asked one of his medical attendants what a first-rate medical man' would make and was told that £15,000 a year would hit the mark. But the King's informant added that a bigbarrister would beat that by £IO,OOO. It is en record that for a journey to Petrograd to vaccinate the Empress Catherine 11., the great Dr. Dimsdale received £IO,OOO, an annuity 'of £SOO, and a Russian title. And much more recently the Czar paid £15,000 to a Moscow doctcr for two days' attendance. Dr. Keys, an American doctor, went on board one of the Vanderbilt yachts for a pleasure trip, and, incidentally, to look after the health bill. His own bill totted up to £12,000. But the biggest medical fee on re- , cord was paid to Dr. Gale, the blind , medical electrician, for a few weeks' | successful treatment of a millionaire's leg. He got £50,000. It is said that Rockefeller has long had a standing effer out, of a million sterling, to the man who will provide him with new digestive apparatus, j That million has not been earned up to the moment of going to' press.

THE ZEPPELIN MENACE. A PARLIAMENTARIAN'S OFFER. LEADER OF AIR RAIDS. In the. House of Commons, Mr. Billing, the aviator who was recently elected, drew attention to the Zeppelin danger-and offered personally to organise and lead air raids on Germany. He believed he could bag as many Zeppelins in a day as the Government hoped to capture in a 3 r ear. Mr. Tennant said the War Office would not neglect Mr. Billing's offer. In addition to Ll 5, another Zeppelin was' hit during the recent raid. This was known owing to a message from the commander being picked up.

THOSE ANZAC BOYS. ) When is someone going to publish a volume of Anzac stories? Here is a delightful touch from one cf my friends, writes C. Sutcliffe Marriott in the "Pall Mail Gazette": —"Anzac: The hospital was sick of us. It wouldn't keep us at any price. I got cuffed cut, and was hauled before my Chief. He said, 'I see you are nine times down en the crimes list.' 'Yes, sir.' What have you been doing?' 'I got over the hospital wall, sir.' 'What else did you do?' 'Nothing, sir.' 'Are you sure?' 'Well, I helped the fellows with crutches to get over the wall, too, sir.' 'Don't you like London?' 'No, sir; it's all walls ,and the men spend half their life indoors.' "What do you think I'd better do with you?' 'I don't know sir.' 'Would you lik? to STO on furlough?' 'Yes sir.' .... Then h e kicked mo downstairs, and here I am!" And here with him are some thousands of fellow Anriacs. I wonder if those who see them striding magnificently abcut their favourite haunts of Victoria and Westminster, handsome, gallant, debonnair, neat and trim to the last button, always remember that behind each of these smiling faces under each of those shapely tunics, is somewhere a nest of pain, for each is in London because he has had a knockout blow "somewhere in Europe." Not the least of the minor consolations of the war is that it brought the splendid Anzacs to our shores.