of us, and the Germans themselves alone knew the
true facts of the case.

■'■ — .T



124 COMRADES IN CAPTIVITY

The camp was sufficiently near to the frontier to
make such a scheme reasonable, and a determined
rush must have resulted in many getting across,
although some (both English and German) would
have got killed. But no secret orders had been
passed round to us, and to the ordinary prisoner the
whole affair is a mystery clothed in many rumours.
Another theory is that the townspeople of Crefeld,
who were by this time quite friendly, but desperately
hungry as a result of the continuance of the war,
were planning to kill two birds with one stone by
liberating us and seizing our food. All that we know
for certain is that the guards were suddenly doubled,
and reinforced by a whole battalion of men even
more earnest than themselves, and that even on
shorter notice than that given us at GiUersloh we
were told to pack up and go. Everything was done
to expedite our departure, which was to be in two
separate parties, and we were told that the camps
to which we were going were both very good ones.

To " Mossy " and other members of the P.T. this
news that we were again to be moved was a bitter
disappointment. The sap from the cardboard hut
was going on famously. A diagram of it is given
on the opposite page.

It had been started by some of the Russians who
had been moved from Crefeld soon after we came,
and it was a fine poetic justice which decreed that
the P.T. who had handed over their own tunnel



THE BREAK-UP OF CREFELD 125

to Russians at Giitersloh should be able to get hold
of it almost immediately. A few notes from
*' Mossy's " second diary will serve to show that, as
before, the element of humour was not lacking as
spice to the venture.

" Our first attempt to get rid of sand was a hazar-
dous proceding. We had about six bags of it, and
decided to put them down the open drain that




Enrr^Tice to y{aV



£rilV2>>nce' to C)



unncl



was in the centre of the barrack square. So we
started off in the dusk, carrying the bags unde r
waterproofs and Burberrys. But somebody managed
to spill half his bag on the stone flags outside the
barrack entrance, and within five yards of the
sentry; so when we got back from the drain we
were horrified to see a great splash of yellow sand.
The question was how to remove it without attract-



126 COMRADES IN CAPTIVITY

ing the notice of the sentry, for it would have to be
removed before daylight. A brilliant idea ! . . .
Here come two more of the gang returning from the
drain. We dash out and collar them. A terrible
struggle ensues before the eyes of the astonished
guard. The vanquished are dragged over and over
the flagstones through the sand, and the spot is
swept clean. The sentry muttered something about
* verdampt Englanders,' but seeing that we were
making no attempt upon the wires, did no more than
spit upon the ground in disgust.

" But before the work could go on we had to
find a place for the sand. This old, old problem
was solved by making keys for the attics, and very
soon we were going along at a great pace."

The fine progress referred to by " Mossy " was due
a good deal to the Herculean efforts of a sturdy
little orderly. A man about five feet high and four
feet broad he was, and I believe a black Celt.
Mulcahy had been a miner in civil life, and worked
regularly in the tunnel for the sheer love of it,
absolutely refusing to take any reward for what he
did. I mention this not because he would at all
care to have it spoken of, but to give an idea of the
very cordial relations which existed between English
officers and soldiers in German prison camps. A
very large number of escapes (there can be no harm
in divulging this secret now that the war is over)
were only made possible by this perfect co-operation



THE BREAK-UP OF CREFELD 127

between officers and orderlies. But where possible
this was always avoided by escaping officers, not
because the soldier was unwilling to take the risk of
punishment, but because the officer was unwilling
that the man should get into trouble through his
loyalty. Orderlies had their work to do in the
camp, and their efforts beyond that were generally
confined to helping officers to get out rather than
escaping themselves. I know of only one case of an
orderly escaping from an officers' camp. The
obvious plan for a soldier wanting to get away was
to volunteer for work on a farm, where his chances
of escape were very much thicker.

It would be hard to over-estimate the help of an
experienced miner like Mulcahy in such a venture
as " Mossy's " tunnel. He it was who got out N. and
O. after they had been buried. He worked like a
demon. His heart and soul were in the work, and no
one was more bitterly disappointed than he when
it appeared that once again all these labours were to
be frustrated by sheer bad luck. To add to the
disappointment of the P.T. it was now rumoured
that their sacrifice at Giitersloh had been vain, and
that the tunnel had been given away soon after
our departure as a result of quarrels.

It was decided that one of the party should con-
ceal himself when the others left the camp and try
to finish the tunnel alone. His place would be faked
on Jppel, and his name answered by friends for as



128 COMRADES IiN CAPTIVITY

long as this was possible. " Mossy " was therefore
hidden away behind the false wall, together with
the tunnelling tools and a store of food; and the rest
of the P.T. and the camp in general carried their
tempers down into the barrack square, well prepared
for any devilry which should suggest itself.

The thought of concealing themselves till every-
body had cleared out of the camp had occurred to
several more officers, and so it was found on evening
Afpel that the numbers were not correct. We
were counted again, and this time enthusiastic but
injudicious faking led to the numbers being not less
but more than they ought to be. The Germans,
who were now thoroughly suspicious, ordered a
third Afpel, and this time each man as he answered
his name was required to march through a small
opening in the wire fence which divided the barrack
square from two tennis-courts. A large number
of these officers, however, contrived to craAvl back
again under the wire, and to answer other people's
names ; and as a result of this and the mistakes which
the Germans themselves were making a ludicrous
result was again arrived at. This last roll-call
took so long that darkness came on before it was
finished.

Meanwhile, many of the officers who had been
counted had departed to bring down such furniture
and belongings as they could not hope to carry away
with them, and were making bonfires. The idea



THE BREAK-UP OF CREFELD 129

became popular. Fires sprang up all over the bar-
rack square. While the sentries were beating out
one, two others were being lighted. The leaping
red flames showed men being chased with bayonets
and vanishing in darkness. The fires continued to
burn, and increased in number. Finally the alarm
was sounded, and a battalion marched in to clear
the square. We were given five minutes to clear
out. After that, anyone seen about would be shot.
The Germans were thoroughly apprehensive, their
idea of the rag being that an attempt had been made
to burn down the camp. Whether the guards knew
the reason of our removal or not I cannot say, but
certainly they had the wind well up. Sentries
and prisoners alike spent a sleepless night, the
former carefully watching, the latter packing and
arranging what they could carry with them on the
journey.

The strangest company assembled next morning
to march down to the station. There were about
as many armed guards as prisoners, and each prisoner,
determined to leave as little as possible for the
Germans, had loaded himself like a Christmas-tree.
Such people as were abroad in the streets of Crefeld
roared with laughter as we passed, and there was
some cause for their amusement.

It was an agonizing march; every fifty yards or so
the column was compelled to halt, while bags were
changed from one hand to the other and bundles



130 COMRADES IN CAPTIVITY

readjusted on the shoulders. There goes one bear-
ing a large English ham, two bottles of cold tea, a
chair, a hockey-stick, and on the end of it a canary
in a cage. Another staggers onward beneath a cage
of live rabbits, a box of tinned meats, and his dirty
washing. A third mournfully attempts to pick out
of the road contents of some box which has fallen
and biirst, while the sentry, fearing a trick, urges him
forward with German oaths and the butt of his
rifle.

Even from Crefeld camp down to the station the
road was left littered with breakages and discarded
loads, but it was when we had arrived at the other
end of the railway journey that the nightmare started .
Mile after mile we were urged across country be-
coming ever wilder and more swampy. The day
was exceedingly hot. Weary men hurled aside
one by one various loads they had tied to themselves.
Finally we arrived into camp furious and utterly
exhausted, to find ourselves looking at about four
drab, dirty-looking wooden huts roofed with tarred
felt. This was Schwarmstedt, the good camp.
A barbed-wire fence surrounded, and machine-
gun towers dominated, the lager from each end.

If anyone wishes to know where Schwarmstedt
is situated — a thing which I cannot possibly conceive
— I will refer him to the map at the beginning of
this book. There we were. We sank down on to
the ground, with what baggage remained to us,



»




THE EXODUS FROM CREFELD.



THE BREAK-UP OF CREFELD 133

and sat quietly cursing amid various venomous
insects which infested the ground. Prison life
does not make for restraint in speech. " Well,

this is a !" said somebody, reflecting the general

opinion. " Oh, a strafe camp, obviously," replied
his friend.



10



CHAPTER XII

SCHVVARMSTEDT

" AcHTUNG !" (Attention) suddenly yelled the Ger-
mans. The Camp Commandant has arrived on the
scene to have a look at us. We rise somewhat list-
lessly, and see with amusement a very magnificent
figure approaching. He is old, but tall and erect, and
wears with very obvious pride the Uhlan officer's
uniform, plastered with enormous decorations gained,
I believe, in 1870, when his mind last worked. His
manners were theatrical but very courteous. He was
what you call " old-world." He welcomed us to
his camp, w^iich was, said he, not so nice as he would
wish for English officers — but there, he had not
invited us ; we must make the best of it ; and he would
endeavour to do all that was possible to make our
stay comfortable. The rooms held from thirteen
to sixteen officers, so that we could be with our
friends. He knew all that was to be known about
the English, because he had stayed in Scotland.
We could dismiss.

Some of us were of the opinion that he was trying
to be funny; others that he was not quite all there.

134



SCHWARMSTEDT 135

Personally I believe that he was quite serious, and
merely " old-world " — yes, " old-world."

The rooms he referred to lay in three of the long
drab wooden huts. The partition between the
rooms was of thin matchboarding. The outside
walls were thicker, but the tarred felt had come off
in places and the boards had warped, leaving cracks
almost an inch wide for the rain and wind. A
state of overcrowding could not be avoided, and by
whatever mode of arrangement, the beds had often
to touch one another.

Sanitary arrangements were very bad, and the
latrine so situated that the ends of two living-huts
came to within ten paces of it. The drinking-
water was brownish, and smelt; but filtered water
could be bought in the canteen at ten pfennigs
a glass, and boiling water at fifteen pfennigs the
kettle. There were two pumps in the camp, and
at these and in the wooden troughs near we washed
our clothes when they became dirty. To reduce
the quantity of things required to be washed, and
because the camp was filled with a fine dusty sand,
very difiicult to remove, most of us went about
wearing only gym. shoes, a shirt, and a pair of shorts.
Bodily cleansing was, we discovered, another question
and a more difficult one. The camp baths lay out-
side the wire, and the Germans required parole
to be given before we visited them. This parole,
some of us considered, we had no right to give,



136 COMRADES IN CAPTIVITY

except for reasonable exercise, in accordance with the
Army order. The Germans should have supplied
baths within the camp, and had no right to demand
parole from us for such a purpose as visiting them.
We who refused parole were taken across twice a
week by an armed guard, who watched us carefully
all the time; the other officers were, I believe,
allowed four baths for the same period of time.

Owing to the hot weather, and the fleas which
infested the camp, a cold swill under one of the
pumps seemed highly desirable, but this was
forbidden on grounds of modesty, as the two pumps
were in the open. The camp lay in the middle of
a large moor, and there was not a house for miles
round. The only female I ever saw enter the camp
was the dentist's assistant, useful as a smuggler of
maps and compasses if sufficiently bribed with drip-
ping, but the last person in the world likely to be
shocked by such a sight.

What happened in consequence was that there
were frequent rushes from the barracks to the pump
by naked officers, a hurried douche, and a rush
back. Occasionally two stolid German guards would
appear, to march the naked men off to prison; and
later on they would call round for their clothes.
I recall with some pleasure the time when an
" Inspector of Camps," or some such personage,
was accosted by a naked officer holding up a flea,
which he desired to bring to notice. " Dat,"



SCHWARMSTEDT 137

shouted the shocked Inspector, " is der most unver-
schamter spectacle [with accent on the second
syllable] I have never seen !"

But gradually pump bathing was winked at and
permitted.

tP ^ w "TP

When we arrived at Schwarmstedt the camp was
quite unlighted except for the great arc lamps shining
on the wire, but later the rooms were fitted with
electric-light. The Germans prided themselves,
and often I believe with some reason, on keeping
their prison camps clean. Therefore our letters
home describing the state of Schwarmstedt were
none of them allowed through. Finally we decided
to include in every letter a perfectly frank and
accurate account of the camp, with the object that
(i) if the letters did not pass the German censor,
then no letters at all would reach home from the
camp, and people would, we thought, cause inquiry
to be made; (2) if any of the letters did get through
they would contain the bald truth. Fortunately
it was not long before Captains Fox and Gaunter
were able to escape, and as soon as we knew that
they had arrived safely in England, we felt that
further strafing of letters was not necessary. So,
evidently, did the Germans, for the censoring became
less strict.

Each morning exhibits from the inter-barrack
bug-hunting competition were pinned to the doors



138 COMRADES IN CAPTIVITY

of the rooms. They were of a very varied descrip-
tion, and a matter of great interest to the collectors.
But this sporting and scientific event was soon
forbidden by the authorities as " insulting to the
German Kaiser." Schwarmstedt was one of those
camps where something funny happened every day,
and I am very sorry that I never kept a diary, because
now it is impossible to remember all the things.

The food provided by the Germans was exceed-
ingly scanty and bad, but it had to be used to some
extent, as the supply of private parcels was not yet
coming through from England to the new address,'
and food brought from Crefeld did not quite last
out the interval. The daily ration, for which we
paid one mark fifty pfennigs, comprised the follow-
ing:

Breakfast : black coffee, made, I believe, from
acorns.

Dinner : soup, containing cabbage, black peas,
mangel-wurzel, occasional pieces of potato, and once
or twice a week tiny shreds of meat.

Supper : thin soup, more like pig's wash than any-
thing else.

In addition to this, we were allowed to purchase
two pounds of war-bread a week at sixty pfennigs.
It was nasty sour stuff, and had violent effects on
the stomach. The colour of the crust was brown,
but inside it was khaki, and so putty-like that a ball
of it rolled and flung against the wall stuck there.



SCHWARMSTEDT 139

Our private food was cooked in ovens dug into
the sand of the camp. I never became expert as
some did, but " Bobbie " was a wonderful chef.
Condensed milk, a little flour, and some Eno's Fruit
Salts for raising purposes, was all he needed to make
cakes fit for the King; and I have known him create
an omelet large enough for six hungry people out
of only three eggs and a little flour. Fuel was
obtained on our walks, which were the one really
pleasant feature of Schwarmstedt. The country
round was wild but beautiful. There were woods
in which to lie talking while tea was boiled on a stick
fire; gorse and heather to smell; and streams to bathe
in as long as we remained unseen. It was possible
to wander for miles amid the red heather and the
golden gorse without seeing a house, or a human
being within shade of the dappled pine-woods,
which dotted darkly green the countryside.

To these pleasant walks I attribute the general
good health of Schwarmstedt prisoners, in spite
of bad camp conditions; and the fact is that (strange
as it may seem) I felt much better there than I had
done at Crefeld, which was a far better prison.

One day a swarm of bees came into the lager and
affixed themselves to the pump handle. No one
cared to go near them except Bobbie, who was wear-
ing kilts, a fact which most people would regard as
an additional reason for avoiding close acquaintance
with bees. But not so *' Bobbie " ; he revelled in them ,



140 COMRADES IN CAPTIVITY

and walked proudly about the camp with clusters
hanging from him, sworn at by all he approached,
and followed, though not too closely, by a timid
but envious German guard, exclaiming at intervals,
" Meine schwarm ! Meine schwarm !"

The funniest things which happened at Schwarm-
stedt generally took place in connection with escap-
ing, which was the chief feature of its history, and
must have a chapter to itself. That it was not a
difficult camp to " break " was quickly discovered
when three officers left suddenly within thirty-six
hours of arrival, leaving the wire cut behind them.
It was imagined by the Germans that this escape
must have been effected during the night, and an
order came out that no windows were to be opened
between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Later on,
as the escapes continued, and particularly as the glass
got accidentally broken, this rule was suffered to
lapse.

In answer to those who think it strange that camps
should differ so greatly as Schwarmstedt, Crefeld,
and Giitersloh, since Germany is, generally speaking,
run on a single system, I must explain that in the
matter of prison lagers that is certainly not so, for
the Camp Commandant is independent of all
Government departments, and responsible only to
•the Corps Commander, and through him to the
Kaiser. The result is what might be expected.
The camps differ according to the character of the



SCHWARMSTEDT 141

Commandant, and particularly according to the
Corps Commander in whose Division the camp is.
Schwarmstedt, Strohen, and Holzminden, probably
the three worst camps in Germany, were all in the
Hanover district, that is in the loth Army Corps,
commanded by Von H., who simply loathed the
British: for what precise reason I don't know, but
it was said because he had got into disgrace on the
Somme by losing to them two German divisions.

I will conclude this chapter with a tale apropos
of letters which is amusingly indicative of German
snobbery.

After the letter strafe was removed, everyone was
naturally very anxious to get news quickly through
to England, reassuring friends of his safety after the
long interval without correspondence. But the
Germans did all they could to cause delay, and it
was found that a letter written by any ordinary
officer took about three months getting home.
Then came the brilliant idea to one of us that perhaps
the correspondence of an officer not ordinary, ad-
dressed to people whose rank was similarly unusual
might receive more prompt attention. This wise
man proceeded to re-write his letters, addressing
them to the Duchess of Brighton, and putting his
proper home address underneath. Could these
letters, he asked the interpreter, be forwarded at
once to England ? The interpreter looked at the
envelopes.



142 COMRADES IN CAPTIVITY

" Ah ! the Duchess of Brighton, she is your mother,
yes ?"

" Certainly," said the officer.

" I will at once see what I can do, mein Herr."
And in a very short time that officer's letters had
arrived safely to his mother in spite of all the warnings
of his friends that the English postal authorities
would probably give them to Miss Connie Ediss.



CHAPTER XIII

SCHWARMSTEDT: SOME ESCAPES

The soil of Schwarmstedt was sandy, with peat
about a foot down. By digging two feet one came
to water. Obviously, therefore, it was unsuited
for tunnelling. Nevertheless one or two tunnels
were attempted, and I am sorry to say that the last
one ended disastrously in two of my friends getting
shot. " Mossy," who had been collared by the Boches
at Crefeld a few days after our departure, was one
of the victims, but he was not shot dead, as was
poor M. A very shallow tunnel, hardly better than
a rabbit-hole, had been driven from beneath the
floor of a camp building to come out a few yards
the " right " side of the barbed wire. It was all
that was possible under the circumstances, and all
that was necessary.

The Huns got wind of the attempt and were
waiting for them. Poor M. was shot without
challenge or chance of life at five yards' range, and
" Mossy" got an arm badly smashed. Nobody whined
about it (it would have been the last thing they
would have wished; they had taken their risk and
paid for it), but I cannot bring myself to imagine

143



144 COMRADES IN CAPTIVITY

any British soldier deliberately killing a defenceless
man in such circumstances. He might have shot
him running, or said, " Get back, and think yourself
lucky with five months' gaol " — that was the penalty
at the time — but since it is the duty of all soldiers
to escape if they can, he would hardly have murdered
him for making the attempt. Wolf w^as the name
of the Hun who did it — a name which we took in
case of any future chance of justice — and a wolf
he must have been, with a wolf's heart and a wolf's
brain, to shoot a defenceless man without challenge,
in cold blood.

The Commandant allowed M. a military funeral,
which took place in a small churchyard about six
miles away. His particular friends, the members of
his room, and a percentage of other prisoners, were
allowed to attend, and stood by the graveside when
the German soldiers fired a salute of three rounds
which echoed back from the overshadowing woods.
There, with sunlight, branch-filtered, falling across
the brown earth which covered him, we left poor
M. when the echoes had fallen to silence and only
the sough of the trees could be heard. He was
one of the gentlest and bravest souls I ever
knew.

Most of the German sentries disapproved of Wolf,
and were in fact kind and credulous men, as is proved
by the following amusing occurrence. One day
P. and H. dressed themselves in the clothes of French



SCHWARMSTEDT: SOME ESCAPES 145

orderlies, of whom there were a few at Schwarm-
stedt, and looked so exceedingly comic that we had
to roar with laughter. They marched solemnly to
an empty sentry-box which was in the camp, laid it
flat, placed their escaping kit inside, and carried it
to the camp entrance. Unfortunately, they met
the Boche sergeant-major.

" What are you doing ?" said he.

" We are moving this old sentry-box outside the



• J)
wne.



" But why ?"

" Commandant's orders."

As they had no guard in charge of them the
sergeant-major was suspicious. " That is not true,"
said he; " you are Englanders."

" But no, monsieur."

" Yes, I have my suspicions. I will cause an
inquiry to be made."

Off he went to look at the list of men on duty
that day, and the details of their work. When he
returned later on with a guard, he was surprised and