PRISONERS OF THE HUN.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 January 1918, Page 6

PRISONERS OF THE HUN.

11UMAX WRECKS RELEASED. OPERATION OF GERMAN MILITARY MACHINE. There arrive in London from time to. time pitiable specimens of humanity (wrote an English correspondent recently). Broken men, disgorged by the German military prison machine—men who have had the ill-fortune to become enemy captives by reason of wounds or other untoward circumstances. For the most past these men are repatriated by agreement. Occasionally they come unheralded, having, by reason of comparative physical fitness and illimitable resource and determination, managed to escape from the dreaded bondage. Latterly, a-few gaunt, sallow-complex-ioned Australians have dribbled across 'from Holland. Australian troops pride themselves on the very low percentage of men taken alive by the enemy. Australians prefer to die rather than sufftr the indignity of falling into the hands of the Roches. T have talked with Captain J. E. Mort, of a famous battalion, who was taken prisoner. A real Australian this officer, and the first officer to escape. His was the spirit the Hun could not break. He was taken after he had been five times wounded, and had lapsed into unconsciousness. Determine.l upon escape it was not long after bis evacuation from a German hospital that he found a way. A PERILOUS ADVENTURE. It was a dangerous adventure; 100 miles from prison to frontier. The situation was tense for every hour of that six days' journey. During the hours of daylight be bid in sewers and bushes, and at night he made long treks across a well guarded and hostile country, swimming rivers and canals, and crawling past sentries. He was taken prisoner at Bnllecourt, where he was shot in several places and finally "got one through the neck." Three days later he was removed, and once in Germany was sent by train from Mons to Hamelin in the north-west of Germany; from there right back te Karlsruhe in the south, and later north to Stroben (Hanover). It was from the latter place that he finally escaped, and went west to Holland. DECAMPING AT NIGHT. "My life as a prisoner of war was nearly all spent in hospital," said the captain, "and in this I consider myself fortunate. I was treated fairly well, considering the state of things in Germany. The larger hospitals seemed to be run On fairly good lines, and the food was much better than elsewhere. However, when I was finally passed out of hospital to the prison laager I soon began to feel the pinch of hunger. I felt it many times, and also the iron heel of the Prus- ] r .ian you bear so much about. Some Germans are brutes. Parcels earne through from England, and [ was then able to do without the German rations almost entirely, "I had, after coming out of hospital, planned several methods of escape, some by myself, tome with a companion. We oven got so far as to make a pair of wire-cutters from a steel fish-plate taken lrom a tram rail. This we tried, and it proved a very efficient implement. However, we (Lietuenant H. 0. Fitzgerald, of the Canadians, and I) taped by making a key to fit one of the gates, and decamped at night, during one of the sentries' unguarded moments! After getting out we made our way across n, long rnocr and swamp, travelling onlv by night, and avoiding roads of any importance, also bridges. We lay hidden during the daytime. THE IRRESOLUTE SENTRY "We had some very narrow escapes. As I was crossing a plank bridge over a canal one night in my stockinged feet, a Hun stepped out of the shadows with a rifle slung loosely on his shoulder. He called 'Halt,' and the suddenness of it caused me to almost over-balance. However, I had sufficient presence af mind to answer 'Freunde.' and he paused irresolutely in the act of unslinging his rifle. I edged nonchalantly back along the plank, and then ran' for my life] We beat him. On several occasions we were surrounded, but escaped by crawling awav under their very noses almost. "Unfortunately my poor old pal was recaptured whilst we were swimming one of the rivers on the fifth night after escaping. T finished the journey alone, crossing the frontier near Penekamp, in Holland. The frontier sentries are posted at stations a very short distune? apart, and have bloodhounds to lid them in capturing escapees and smugglers. "I was well treated in Holland, and, after waiting there about a fortnWit. caught a British eonvr.v ~3 to England, arriving in London in October," "And the food?" Captain Mort was asked, "In hospital 'it was fairly good," he answered, "but not plentiful, ° It was hen we got to the prison, laager at Stroben that the hardship began. The bread was terrible stuff—common rve dough mixed with wood pulp. Would you believe it, one of our fellows got a splinter in ' s fi n „ er handling it. You could always see the grains of wood in tne crust. A filh ration loaf had to last two officers for a. week. The meat was horse from the war zone. For fish we got none other than shark's tail." 1

COMMON" PEOPLE STCK OF THE WAR "What, was the attitude of the Gcr--1:1 ii people towards prisoners?" llic common people and common soldiers are terribly sick of avervlliintr ''onneet.ed with tile war. They' ar/liftlfstarved. We could ?ee that when we weie taken out for exercise. I speak a few words of German, and the farmers' wives and daughters appeared to be ratlier friendly. 'The war is no good to 5 ou and no good to us,' they used to repeat; 'why can't we all be friends?' "Some were insulting. Only a few, fhnii'rli. Tn hospital one interpreter said in ii«> <We>e <rot you all viglit (meanil -~ Lngland). We have beaten TCussia aim are beating France. Italy will be on her knees before long, and then we will crush England tq the last man. There will lie no peace for her.' That appears to be the view of the better classes." ''And how are the air raids regarded by the Germans?'' "We never heard air raids mentioned, and the (.Vrman soldiers in the line used to In ugh about their squndrons lip London. But altogether they haTl little to say about it. They know there is plenty of food in England. It makes them mad." ''And tlie militarv machine?" "It s efficiency is unimpaired. Officers and K.0.0.'s have absolute control over the men, who dare not even think of sedition. What chance have they got: without arms? German officers are not nearly so arrogant and insulting as they

used to be. 1 saw only two cases of flagrant cruelty to the men.'' LIEUT. MEYER'S ADVENTURES, Lieutenant. <J. B. Meyer, captured at Moufjiiet Farm in August, had terrible experiences at the hands of the Boche hospital stall". Wounded by handgrenade and gunshot during uu attack, lie was unahlc to regain our own lines. He recalled very little that happened 011 that night, until he found himself a prisoner in what appeared to be a Hun artillery observation post. The occupants took very little notice of him and liis suffering, but later he was carried a long distance across country to an ambulance, where he saw his company commander, Captain Fox, also lyinpr wounded. Together tlicy travelled bv ambulance to a clearing station which consisted of a draughty marquee. w They were thrown on the floor 011 straw, and left for two days and three nights without the slightest attention. Then tliey were bundled roTighly into an ambulance and thence into a train. They were put on the floor of the guard's van, which had a scant covering of straw. Thev were transferred to a base hospital at Courtrallette, a converted lace factory. REFUSED WATER. "I must say," continued Lieut. Meyer, "that for the first two days I was well treated. Thereafter I was moved into another ward, where the neglect was shocking. However, during this period my wounds were properly dressed, and splinters removed from my shin and knee without anaesthetic. On one occasion during this frightful operation I was laughed at and refused when asking for water. While here I saw Lieut. McG'ftwan. I was next conveyed to Grafenwolie, in Germany, by hospital train. This was a fairly comfortable journey. At Grafenwohe we were placed in open [ lorries, and had a wretched trip over cobbles to the hospital—an improvised one. The bed? consisted of a wooden post with a thin mattress filled with wood shavings and a pillow of the same. These caused bad bed-sores. I have the scars now. There were 110 nurses, and wr. were at the mercy of rough German orderlies, who, beyond washing wounds with an alcohol solution, never used anything. to assist healing. They simpfj placed a bit of lint on the wound, stacks of paper, and then a short bandage. Paper is employed extensively in place of bandages. "We were the first contingent of British prisoners to arrive at this place. I remember Captain Hood- and Lieutenant Cummins'. The food throughout consisted of filthy sou]) and decayed potatoes I remained there till when I left Konstanza for exchange to Switzerland. In Switzerland Lieut Meyer spent a month in a clinic, and was reasonable well treated. They were very glad to receive parcels of food. He retained pleasant memories of Switzerland. Another escapee, Private (2-Ml4) H. West, was captured also at Mouqet Farm in September. He was taken to Camhrai for three week*, where with others lie was employed on the construction of aircraft, sheds. They were badly treated here. Thence, lie was sent to Dulm.'in lager in Germany, where he remained two months. Then lie was set to work in a quarry at Wnlfrach. and the treatment was of a brutal nature. Tie became ill, and was sent to Friedriehsfeld at the end of January. The food at the quarrv v, r ?.s "unfit for pigs." The men were required to work 12 hours a day continuously and in all weathers. At Fricdriehsfeld he was employed during Marcli in cutting firewood. He escaped on June 10, KH7, but was caught on the border by a German sentry and returned. As a punishment he was placed in solitary confinement on meagre bread and water rations for 14 days. Afterwards he was sent to work at a paper factory at Walsung. The food here was "awful." "T cut the wire," continued Private West, "on September fl, and escaped. I crossed the border into Holland on the 13th. where I was quarantined. I'm terrib'v glad to be back."