Chapter 28

STORIES OF THE HEROES OF MONS

The statements which follow, and which were made to me while I was a prisoner of war in Germany, are not from picked soldiers who happened to have sensational stories. They were the only men whom I met who were prisoners in the early days.

Being blind myself, I could not, of course, see the men I was speaking to, but their tone impressed me very much as being men who had suffered in silence.

It was necessary for me to study very carefully what they said and impress it on my memory; and I have committed their statements to writing immediately on my release, for to carry written statements over the frontier was entirely out of the question.

I have put down nothing which was not told to me; neither have I tried to embellish or enlarge upon the statements made, or frame the words of the men in any way that might give an exaggerated impression of what occurred.

It is quite possible, however, that one or two incidents which I have reported from one man may be part of the story of one of the others. But it can be taken as an absolute fact that, taken as a whole, the statements are a true recital of these men's own description of their experience.

The men were in no way excited. I obtained the information when chatting in the ordinary way over a pipe of tobacco, whenever the men had an opportunity of coming to my room to have a chat.

THE STORY OF PRIVATE ----, WEST KENT REGIMENT

"I was captured at Mons, sir. Been here over two years now. Things are not so bad now as they were at first.

"I've seen some things which I shan't easily forget. I've been keeping them to myself because we dare not talk of them.

"Some of the fellows have had a terrible time. When the war is over any German who is met in England by any prisoners of war will have a rough passage. There won't be any need to hold ourselves back any longer. My goodness, sir, they'll never get away alive!

"Not long after I was captured 70 English soldiers were taken away from the Lager one day. They never knew where they were going. They were taken to a munition factory; and when they found out where they were they passed the word along to refuse to work.

"When the Germans told them what they had to do, they refused. Their guards threatened them, and said it would be the worse for them if they didn't; but they wouldn't budge.

"Then they were taken out and made to stand in a row against a wall; and a firing-party was drawn up in front of them with loaded rifles, but not one of them flinched.

"They were told that unless they went to work they would be shot, and although the firing-party was standing in front of them not one of them would budge.

"The threat was not carried out, and they were sent back to the Lager.

"Before we started getting parcels we had a terrible time trying to live on the food they gave us. All they gave us was a cup of coffee and two slices of black bread in the morning; and for dinner and supper a basin of hot potato water. It was so thin and weak it was just like water that potatoes had been boiled in."

The soldier whose statement is given above has since been exchanged to Switzerland, owing to an injury to his sight, caused by the work he was employed upon while a prisoner.

THE STORY OF PRIVATE ---- OF THE LEICESTER REGIMENT

"I was captured during the retreat in August, 1914.

"My Company was left behind as a rear-guard, to enable the rest of the battalion to get away. Our trench was only about two feet deep. Although the Germans were coming on very fast and in enormous numbers, we were not allowed to retire.

"The Germans charged us three times. We lost all our officers, and although we kept on fighting they came on in such large numbers it must have been the main body, for they were all round us, and most of the fellows were killed or wounded.

"They had their revenge on us, too, when they got us, for the German soldiers who were told to look after us did terrible things. They took us one by one and made us run the gauntlet.

"I was bruised all over when I got through, and so were the other fellows.

"One chap when he was running the gauntlet was struck in the face by the butt of a rifle; his nose was smashed and his face covered in blood, and he fell to the ground insensible. They threw him in a ditch, because they thought he was dead; but he was able to crawl out next morning.

"It was awful, that first night, and they didn't know what to do with us. They made us stand the whole night through in a loose wire entanglement, so that we couldn't walk about or sit down; and it rained like anything all night long.

"Then we were put in cattle trucks and sent into Germany, and for the first two days they did not give us any food or water.

"On the second day we stopped at a station and a woman came towards us with a large can of soup, and we thought we were going to be fed; but she brought it right up to us, and said: 'Ugh, dirty Englanders,' and poured it on to the line.

"I was taken to Soltau Lager; and the food they gave us consisted of a cup of acorn coffee in the morning and a small piece of black bread, which had to last all day, and wouldn't make more than two good slices.

"For dinner we got a basin of very thin potato soup; sometimes we got a potato in it, and sometimes we didn't. For supper we got a cup of coffee, and we were supposed to make the bread do for both breakfast and supper.

"The prisoners were sent out from Soltau in working parties to farmers, factories, and coal mines and salt mines. The salt mines were dreaded most, and fellows who had been working there for two or three months looked dreadful. In fact, they could not keep up there longer than that; they got too ill.

"I was sent into a salt mine myself. The hours are not long, because it is impossible to stay down many hours at a time, and we were generally brought up about one o'clock. They did not keep me in the mine long, because they found I was of no use for the work.

"It's not so bad on the farms, although you have to work from about 4 o'clock till 8 or 9 at night. But the food is better, as you generally live at the farmer's table, and have the same as he does.

"When prisoners are sent in working parties, the employers have to pay the German Government the same wages he usually pays a man, and the prisoners receive from the German Government 30 pfennings (about 3d.) per day."

"Did the American Consul ever visit the lager?" I asked.

"Yes, but only once when I was there."

"Were you free to make any complaints to him if you wished?"

"Two of the fellows did; but they got punished for it.

"Before he visited the lager a notice was put up that the Commandant did not consider there was any reason for complaint, and any man making a complaint would be given 14 days' imprisonment.

"When he called we were drawn up on parade in four companies, and stood to attention, while he passed down the line, asking if there were any complaints.

"By his side was the Commandant and another German officer."

THE STORY OF PRIVATE ---- OF THE NORFOLK REGIMENT

"I came out with the original Expeditionary Force, and was in the retreat from Mons, but was not captured until October, 1914.

"The German soldiers who captured me treated me quite well. They gave me some of their rations, and allowed me to attend to our wounded.

"I had just bandaged up the leg of a man in the Cheshire Regiment, who had half his foot blown off, when all the prisoners were ordered to the rear.

"A German officer came up and ordered us both to get back; but I pointed out that the Cheshire man was too badly wounded to be moved without help. He ordered me to undo the bandage, and when he saw the condition of the wound, he drew his revolver and shot him dead. He then ordered me to get back.

"We were then sent into Germany, and when we stopped at the Railway Stations school children were paraded on the platform and threw things at us.

"We were given nothing to eat, and at one station we appealed to a clergyman, who spoke English; but he said that only German soldiers should be fed, and turned away.

"I was sent to Hameln Lager. I was several times sent out with working parties, and we were sometimes treated very roughly, especially when there was only an under officer in charge of us.

"The job I liked best was working for a farmer. Sometimes you get hold of a decent chap, who will treat you well, if you suit him. The work is hard and the hours very long, but you live with the family, and food is much better than what you get in camp; especially as some of the farmers have food concealed.

"The under officers are very rough, and stop at nothing.

"There was a notice up in the lager which said that no man has any right to refuse to work, and that only the laws of the Imperial German Government were recognised; and if any man refused to do what he was told, the guards had authority to use their rifles."

"Did they ever use them?" I asked.

"I never saw them myself; but a man came into the lager one day who said that just before he was moved one of the men was being badgered about by his guards, until he at last turned round and knocked one down. The guards immediately ran their bayonets into him, and he died next day.

"The American Consul visited our camp shortly afterwards, and this man told him about it, and was informed the matter was already known, and was being investigated. I do not know if anything came of it.

"Another little trick which they used to employ to force men to work in the mines and other places was to take them out one by one under an armed guard. The rest of us would hear a shot fired, and then they would take another; a shot would be fired, and so on. But we soon got on to that, because we found it was a fake.

"About 100 men were taken away from the lager in the early part of the war to work in a factory, but when they found it was a munition factory they refused to work. They were each sentenced to twelve or fifteen months' imprisonment. I know this for a fact, because I have spoken to the men. They were very badly treated, and one of them is in hospital to-day, insane."

THE STORY OF PRIVATE ---- OF THE MIDDLESEX REGIMENT, TOLD ME IN BLENHURST CAMP

"I was at Soltau Lager for a long time before we came here. We used to get one loaf of black bread a day (2 lbs.) between 10 men. The only food we got was some sort of coffee for breakfast, and the same for supper. For dinner we had a basin of soup, which was almost undrinkable, some thin washy stuff; occasionally we got some potatoes.

"In the early part of the war there were about 60 of our fellows sent to work in a munition factory. But when they got there and saw what they had to do, they refused. They were threatened with all kinds of things to make them work, and then they were lined up against a wall, and a number of German soldiers stood in front of them, and told them that if they didn't work, they would be shot. Then they made a show of loading, and brought their rifles up to the shoulders. When our men still refused they were taken into a building and locked up two or three in a room; and left there for 3 or 4 days without food or water or convenience of any kind."

I asked Private ---- if he was quite sure of this statement and the length of time, as the men would be reduced to a state of absolute starvation.

"I am quite sure about it," he said, "and as for the men being starved, I can only tell you that they were found curled up on the floor, gnawing at their finger-nails.

"When the Commandant let them out he said he was going to send them back to their lager, as he admired their pluck, and didn't think Englishmen had so much in them."