Two years' captivity in German East Africa

In the Officers’ Mess at Portsmouth—no less than in every Chancellerie in Europe—the one topic of discussion in the last days of July, 1914, was the possibility of WAR.

Three days later we arrived off Mombasa, and here another warship took over our convoy of transports and escorted them to their destination, while we proceeded into Kilindini Ha...

Daybreak of Saturday, November 28, 1914, found us off Dar-es-Salaam, the capital of what was then German East Africa. It lies about twenty miles south of Zanzibar. We anchored s...

This was the unwelcome news with which the steward greeted me at 6 a.m. on the morning following that adventurous 28th of November. It was a facer! I could not understand why th...

At about a quarter to seven a Leutenant came into my cell. In peace-time he was an officer in the D.O.A. steamship line, and he spoke a little English. He informed us that he ha...

At Saranda we were ordered to alight, and found that breakfast had been prepared for us—and a very good breakfast too. There were sardines and sausage, bread, butter and marmala...

I had, of course, told the other inmates of the Boma that I was expecting to be released very shortly, but they one and all received this statement with the most disconcerting s...

The small stock of tobacco I had with me when I was captured was very soon exhausted, and the problem of how to get more became an urgent one, for smoking was our greatest solac...

In January, 1915, a fresh prisoner arrived. This was the airman, C——, who had been captured in the Rufigi River. While flying over the delta for the purpose of ascertaining the...

On March 6th a new prisoner arrived, an Englishman who had been taken in the fighting on the Congo border. When war broke out he was working in the Congo, and had promptly offer...

On July 11th, “the Baron,” one of our naval ratings, and a Belgian effected their escape. They got away about 9 p.m., just after the guard had completed its final round. The bui...

In October, 1915, there was an outbreak of typhoid in the camp. The first to go down with it was Lieut.-Com. P——, who had been my messmate in the old _Goliath_ and captured at t...

Many are the tales of German cruelty to natives, and while I am not in a position to state that torture and intimidation form an intrinsic part of Teutonic Colonial administrati...

In April, 1916, the sad apathy bred of weary captivity and hope too long deferred was broken by wild rumour, speculation and surmise. _What_ was happening in the Colony? We knew...

On May 22nd I was informed that orders had been received to send me to Morogoro, and on the following morning, accompanied by Derndorf, whose camp at Bugiri had been closed down...

After crossing the Ruhaha we followed a road which on our right hand skirted the hills, while on our left stretched the vast, monotonous plain. Four hours’ steady march brought...

The food at Mahenge kept us alive, and that is all that can be said for it. In quantity it was usually, but not invariably, sufficient, but the _quality_ was beyond description!...

We had been warned to be ready to start on _safari_ on the morning of Saturday, September 16th, and only two nights before that date five of the prisoners escaped. Their prepara...

By the beginning of October (1916) the food-supply was in a very bad way. We were living almost entirely on sour mealy-meal and chirocco, with only occasionally a very little me...

It was just one o’clock when we were handed over, and, after a wash, I went in to lunch with the officers of the regiment. My first meal as a free man! Let the reader imagine to...