My Escape from Donington Hall, Preceded by an Account of the Siege of Kiao-Chow in 1915

THE English officer reassured me. “Be assured,” he said, “that you will be able to interview your Swiss Consul at Gibraltar to-day. You will be free the moment he confirms that...

When I stepped out of my door the whole courtyard was ablaze with torches and countless large Chinese lanterns. The guard presented arms, the drums beat and the musicians gave u...

“GUNTHER PLÜSCHOW, the German Naval-lieutenant, fugitive from Donington Hall, has now been at large seven days. The Chinese dragon tattooed on his left arm while on service in t...

I REMEMBER it as if it were yesterday. In the early hours of the morning an orderly arrived at our villa and brought Patzig and myself the order to report at once to the Divisio...

IT was in the month of August of the year 1913 when I arrived in my native town, Schwerin. I had stayed several weeks in England, where I had devoted days to the visit of museum...

ALL was silent around us. The rain ceased. The park lay wrapped in darkness, and only the light of the huge arc-lamps, which lit up the night-boundary, streamed faintly towards...

What I enjoyed most was my freedom from arrest. Officialdom did not take the slightest notice of my presence, and I remained there for several days, in spite of the frantic anxi...

THE siege progressed according to plan. The Japanese dug themselves in ever closer; they brought up more and more heavy guns, and on several occasions large bodies of Japanese i...

Mukden at last! We soon passed Peking. Then—Osinanfou! The first German sounds again smote upon my ear. And then for ten hours we passed through a beautifully cultivated country...

Immediately at the beginning of the siege, my good Patzig was obliged to leave me and to rejoin his 21-centimetre Battery-commander. He had only luxuriated for four weeks in the...

IN time captivity became unbearable. Nothing relieved my gloom—neither letters, parcels forwarded from home by loving hands, the company of my friends, not even hockey, to which...

THE enemy fleet lay at anchor behind the Pearl Mountains. I could not resist the temptation, and flew round them once again. Then I wended my way farther and farther towards Sou...

HOW did things look at Kiao-Chow in the meantime? The bombardment from the sea had become a daily occurrence, and soon the land batteries added their boom to the hellish discord...

WE were greatly puzzled by the activity of the Japanese besieging army. After the first bombardment we all thought that the Japanese would try to carry the fortress by assault,...

I WAS quite unable to sit still for long. Alone in my first-class compartment I was overwhelmed by the thoughts and hopes which raced through my brain. I ran about my railway ca...

I now descended to the promenade-deck, where several passengers eyed me with indignation on account of my unkempt appearance and my torn blue stockings, which looked, I must say...

As all remained quiet, and not a soul hove in sight, I climbed out of my nook, took off my boots, and stowed them away under a stack of timber in a corner of the fore-deck. I no...