even hurt to discover that they had both vanished,
taking their kit, but leaving the sentry-box to be
moved back to its proper place.

Other attempts, equally barefaced, were successful.
N., having stolen a German uniform, and M., being
suitably disguised by an artist friend, one afternoon
went to the gate, unlocked it with a home-made key,
and walked out before the eyes of the whole camp.



146 COxMRADES IN CAPTIVITY

Nor were they recaptured for a fortnight, by which
time they had got nearly to the border.

The key they used was made of camp money
melted down and poured into a mould ; an impres-
sion of the lock had been taken with shaving-soap,
and the rest of the business was done with a file and
a candle, as previously described. Many such keys
were made at Schwarmstcdt. and after we had been
there a month or two I think we were pretty well
able to unlock any room in the whole camp.

Officers who had obtained maps of the country
through bribery, or in some other way, lent them
round for friends to copy. Thus it was that I
managed to get a very good one. Thin paper,
such as found in Huntley and Palmer's biscuit-
tins, was generally used for tracing, and answered
the purpose well. My compass was also home-made,
one of the famous " Black " manufacture, born out
of a magnet, a needle, and an old watch-case. It
was really laughable how, until they grew wiser with
experience, the Germans actually allowed us to
purchase magnets, not to speak of rucksacks and
civilian hats, at the canteen; but the rucksacks were
bought up so quickly that they became suspicious
and would get no more in. They even tried to
collar back those which they had sold, but without
much success. Therefore, to carry my supply of
food I cut up and sewed into a knapsack the old
valise in which my clothes had been sent out to me



SCHWARMSTEDT: SOME ESCAPES 147

from England. When finished it was large enough
to carry food for twenty-one days, at the end of
which time I certainly expected to be caught or
over. Saving up food for the journey was a matter
of some time and difficulty at Schwarmstedt, but it
proceeded surely, although rather slowly, as parcels
came along from England, and as one was able to
slip occasional unopened tins into one's pocket when
visiting the parcel office. Meanwhile, those who were
fortunate enough to have a store ready tried various
methods of escaping.

As we had been allowed to bring only one box
with us from Crefeld, we all naturally brought the
biggest we had. But it was obvious that boxes of
that size could not be kept in rooms already over-
crowded with the beds of fifteen or sixteen officers
— even when the beds were double-decked (vide
Mr. Bernard's drawing, p. 149) — so the German
authorities ordered that they should be removed
from the camp to a store-shed outside the wire.
Certain officers, bent on emulating St. Paul, got
into their boxes (as a matter of fact they were large
wicker baskets), and arranged that EngHsh orderlies
should carry them across to the store-shed, from
which they would be able to escape during the night.
All went well at first. By two o'clock the baskets
were outside the gate, and moving merrily towards
the shed. Then suddenly the German officer
called a halt, and decided that as the soldiers were



148 COMRADES IN CAPTIVITY^

needed for other work the baskets should stay where
they were until five o'clock. The day was very
hot. After a time one of the occupants got cramp
and awful squeakings and scratchings came from
his basket. " Cover it up with a lonely tune," was
our immediate motto, and by whistling, talking,
and shouting, near the gate, we did our best; but
the sentry was obviously suspicious, for he looked
hard at the box. Fortunately he did not stab it
with his bayonet; nor could he open any of them,
because they were locked, all the keys being carried
by one officer in another basket, who was expected
to cut himself out and liberate his companions.
At last the boxes were taken to the shed, but whether
the sentry had mentioned his suspicions, or whether,
as is also alleged, one of the escapers showed himself
at the store-room window, it presently happened
that at about eight o'clock a German officer followed
by a guard went straight to the place where they
were, and captured them all. We saw them marched
off to cells, where thev were to do five months' soli-
tary confinement, which was the ridiculously harsh
penalty for an attempt to escape until it was reduced
to a fortnight by mutual arrangement between
the tvv'o Governments in July, 191 7.

A great dog was kept by the Germans to track
down prisoners who escaped, but like most other
Germans at Schwarmstedt, he was open to cor-
ruption, and on discovering that the English ofiiccrs




DOUBLE-DECKED BEDS.



II



SCHWARMSTEDT: SOME ESCAPES 151

could give him better and more plentiful food than
his proper masters, he promptly became great friends
with them. So much so that finally, when one
of the ofhcers escaped, he took the dog along with
him. Whether he made him carry his pack or not
I am unable to say, but rumour has it that he was
unable to persuade the dog to leave him even after
he had made an attempt upon its life by endeavour-
ing to drown it in a river. It is not easy to hold the
head of a big dog under water against his will, and
if he insists upon following you after you have
plainly showed such disinclination for his company,
what more is there for a poor prisoner to do ? It
was not long before several other ofhcers who pos-
sessed wire-cutters escaped by using them, and two
more succeeded in climbing over the wire in a dark
corner of the camp.

As a result of this, extra sentries were put on, and
larger lamps hung up. Therefore, though none of
these men got over (most were recaptured quite
near the Holland frontier), their failure was of service
to their country, since it takes at least six men to
provide an extra sentry-post, men who might be
fighting, or at least replacing on farms and elsewhere
other German fighting men.

The following note smuggled out of prison is of
interest as the true diary of an escaping officer,
and as showing the way in which experience
was pooled in camp for the common good, so that



152 COMRADES IN CAPTIVITY

each failure might contribute towards somebody's
success.

" My dear M.,

I. Climbing with a cross-fence is easy, and
G. did it on the straight.

" 2. Food: Sugar, biscuits, choc, Horlicks, and
Quakers to soak in water, excellent. Much meat
when tired dangerous. Water-bottle essential.

" 3. Route: Consult Jacky's map and little flying
man's. Jacky's especially for Weser-Ems and its
surroundings.

" 4. Our route: 400 yards north, then west with
a little south, but not crossing Schwarmstedt road
or trolley-line. Boggy, and two or three big shallow
drains, but feasible this weather ; a mile or so of water-
meadows. Then south-west through forest of pine,
and heath. Several kilos until road with small
village on ridge. Cross-road and single rail to
edge of pine-wood, cross grassy waste (curlews and
plovers). South-west to river Aller where flowing
north. Unfordable. Find boat opposite tongue of
wood. Leave it wrong side. Strike up to ridge
and cross rail in wood. Follow road through village
to Schwarmstedt. Schwa"mstedt watched. Nearly
caught. Cross double rail, and lie up in wood.
(End of second night.) South-west cross single
rail. One kilo west, Schwarmstedt, to river.
Follow river up to bridge on road leading from



SCHWARMSTEDT: SOME ESCAPES 153

Hope to ?. Stolzen village immediately on left
bank. (Station Hope is on Saltan to Hanover
line, one station on Hanover side of Schwarmstedt.)
Cross bridge through Stolzen village, turn left
and straight along road to Niestadt. Lie up in
pine-wood right of road. (End of fourth night.)
Continue down road till scared by bicycle patrol
in village, turn off to south-west through woods
some miles; then stopped by bog and driven on to
rail about three kilos north of Niestadt. Lie up
in wood close to rail. (End of fifth night.) Cross
embanked road and get through bit of heath and
pine on to a track running through crops due south
to level crossing (watched); leave rail on left and
strike south-west along Wunstof road. Past north
Wunstof and due west through huge private wood
(oak). Leave wood and go south-west three or four
kilos. Lie up. (End of sixth night.) South-west
over road until reach Weser-Ems canal. Follow
canal west four or five kilos until Stadthagen to
Windheim (?) road crosses it. Then north-west (to
avoid Minden) along this road. Lie up. (End of
seventh night.) Continue north-west until Wind-
heim. Through village and down by cart-tracks
through water-meadows to river Weser. Find
boat outside factory, and opposite another factory,
at edge of tongue of wood. Leave boat on wrong
side and lie up two to three kilos west of river in
country of small farms and heath and pine-woods.



154



COMRADES IN CAPTIVITY



(End of eighth night.) Follow tracks eight to ten
kilos due west, until strike road with signpost saying
' Friedwald, 5 kilos ' behind us, last eight kilos
through forest and waste. Then south-west by
south along roads and camp in view of Wichenget
hills. (End of ninth night.) South-west one to
two kilos to canal, and due west along canal. Camp
five to six kilos west of railway, running north from
Lubbeke. (End of tenth night.) West along canal,
making detour to avoid rail-bridges (first single
line, then double line, two bridges). N.B., Rail-
way-bridges built thus :




Road-bridges thus :




Camp about fifteen kilos west of rail in pine-woods
north of canal. (End of eleventh night.) Along
canal (passing three Ruskies) until two kilos west of



SCHWARMSTEDT: SOME ESCAPES 155

rail running north to Wilhelmshaven. Lie up in
big wood on hill south of canal. (End of twelfth
night.) Detour round railway-bridge and along
canal. Here very heavy sandy going. Canal runs
through big sandy waste, part bog. Lie up close to
canal south of Recke just east of small rail-bridge.
(End of thirteenth night.) Start along canal, pass-
ing under a railway-bridge; run bang into Hilfs-
dienstwache and four men fishing. Taken to
small lager in Recke village, then to bigger lager
two kilos north of Recke. Altogether five camps
round Recke, one of which at Minteren. Eight
prisoners (various) had been taken in that neighbour-
hood that week before us.

" All accounts, French and German agreed that :

" I. Between Norshoom and Bentheim (roughly)
the guards had been strengthened last year owing to
the flow of fugitives.

" 2. All bridges from Recke west, including those
over the Ems, were guarded.

" 3. The Ems must be swum.

*' 4. Hardly any now go through there.

" Nothing was said to show that there was a sentry
on the frontier every so many yards, but roads?
bridges, and likely points were watched.

"Return journey: Recke rail to Everversburg,
passing south of canal into hilly country of woods
and small farms, with big woods on crest round
Warsen. Everversburg to Osnabruck. Osnabruck



156 COMRADES IN CAPTIVITY

to Nohen (hilly and woody), Nohen to Minden,
Hanover, Schwarmstedt, and off at Hademsdorf
station, north of Schwarmstedt, to which our
trolley-line runs down.

" Trolley-line follows a dry line of country. Leave
rail, through woods, then about one to two kilos
of spongy meadows, then this heath. No sign of
posts between 9 and 10 p.m. Between Schwarm-
stedt and Hademsdorf the railway crosses the Aller.
Did not see watcher.

'' Conclusions : On five occasions we passed right
by a man unchallenged, saying either ' Guten
abend ' or nothing. Once we were stopped, but
got off by a little German and by having an ugly-
looking stick. When we ran into anyone it was
nearly always before midnight, and it was very dan-
gerous to leave lying-up positions before 1 1 p.m.
During the day we were several times lying within
twenty yards of workers or passers-by, and it pays
to have a bit of loose heather ready to scatter over
self and belongings. Rye at this moment makes the
very best cover, though bad if discovered, no doubt.
Walk up furrow between it and another corn-crop,
or between two plants of rye, turn in and walk
quietly, keeping impediments high, then turn right
or left and lie down. But it's fearfully hot midday,
and water is essential. Damp woods — e.g., alder,
spruce, oak — have so many mosquitoes as to interfere
with sleep and rob you of vitality. Young pines,



SCHWARMSTEDT: SOME ESCAPES 157

heather, and juniper the best possible combination.
Never fail to get water to take into hiding, and
drink plentifully also at night. Seed spuds are all
right raw (always found close to houses). Every-
thing in a mackintosh is a good idea. We only had
one wet night, good weather helps enormously, and
especially north star.

" Another time I should never pass through a
village till after midnight, and before 3.15 a.m.
Fifty kilos from the frontier I should leave all roads
and villages and use tracks. I should put into my
map the name of every village; it helps so with the
signposts. I should make for the Dutch re-entrant
north of the Ems Vecht canal, and on the lines
given I should reckon twenty nights inclusive,
allowing a course of 200 kilos. Our best night we
did twenty to twenty-two, the canal tow-path was
easily the best going, and deserted until Recke.

" Twenty nights means a lot of food. I could
have just done twenty to twenty-one on what I
took, but at first I ate painfully little. Now, after
four days' rest, I am, however, much better than when
I started. I was weakest the third and fourth
nights out. One has no spirit at the end, but one's
legs will keep trudging well on a level surface.
Men on bicycles are dangerous, and often, I fancy,
telephone ahead instead of stopping one. Civilian
kit would be a great help. Wear a hat — a ' Gor'-
blimy ' is better than nothing.



158 COMRADES IN CAPTIVITY

" As to routes, I am not sure I wouldn't go the
same until three to four kilos west of Recke. Then
turn due north, ten kilos. Then north-west and
into re-entrant. On the other hand I might try
the trolley-line and Hademsdorf rail-bridge for
speed. Then, avoiding stations, to Stolzen bridge,
thence Drakenberg; try to boat the Weser near there,
and take a line north of the big swamp that lies
east and north-east of Recke, and so avoid the canal.

" The lieutenant here says west or south-west from
this camp is impossible ! A straight west line and
good going like the canal is very tempting, but on the
big heaths and reclaimed land the tracks run beau-
tifully straight. Take change of socks, three big
handkerchiefs, spare shorts, plenty of cord, and cut
sticks. I shall probably get out to you temporarily
in a few days. Love to the whole room. Keep this
in cache."



CHAPTER XIV

SCHWARMSTEDT: SOME ESCAPES {Continued)

The baggage-room at Schwarmstedt was, as I have
said, outside the wire. We were allowed to visit
it on occasions, and were guarded by a sentry who
did not always count to see if the same number as
went out returned with him. My first plan for
escape was to go across and conceal myself in the
baggage-room, getting away by jumping out of the
window to a telegraph-pole, which would give me a
slide of about twenty feet to the ground.

It was fortunate that on the day that I went
across to attempt it, somebody noticed that the
bottom of the telegraph pole had been recently
twined round and round with barbed wire for about
eight feet, a circumstance which would have made
my slide down extremely unpleasant. Under these
circumstances I concealed my equipment and waited
for a better opportunity, which finally came when we
were on the train and leaving Schwarmstedt for
Holzminden — but that is another story.

About this time another officer was unfortunate
in being discovered in the dust-trolley after it had

159



i6o COMRADES IN CAPTIVITY

been taken outside the wire. This truck ran on a
light railway, and was filled and pushed in and out
of the camp by our own orderlies under charge of a
German guard. Usually it was not emptied until
the following morning, and remained standing all
night at a little distance from the camp. It hap-
pened, however, on this particular occasion that two
hungry German soldiers came along, and seeing
the loaded trolley standing there, determined to
see if there was anything fit for food left in any of
the old tins. To their great surprise, on tipping
over the trolley, they discovered a dirty and bruised
British officer.

In the summer of 1 91 7 heath-fires were fairly
frequent at Schwarmstedt. Flames swept down on
the camp on several occasions, and as it would have
burnt like tinder, all the orderlies and such German
guards as were not on duty were turned out to
divert the course of the fire by digging trenches,
and beating away the approaching flames with
green branches of trees.

It was a beautiful sight. Heavy smoke would
tower up in the distance and a running wave of red
fire be seen to sweep over the moor; a pine-tree
suddenly outlined and painted in flame would stand
up yellow against the sky, and the next moment be
left behind a blackened ruin. Gradually the drift-
ing smoke enveloped the camp, and before long
neither guards nor prisoners were able to see more



SCHWARMSTEDT: SOME ESCAPES i6i

than a few yards in front of them. I forget whether
it was during a fire, a thunderstorm, or a dust-storm,
that Captains Fox and Caunter made their escape.
An account of that remarkable journey to the fron-
tier is given in a little book written by the latter
entitled " Thirteen Days," which was the very
short space of time they took in doing it. They
were the first and last officers to get over from
Schwarmstedt, although scores of others got out.
Often there would be several officers out together,
and sometimes they had been gone for a day or two
before their absence was discovered by the Germans.
Their beds at night were fitted with dummies, and
their places taken on Jppel by people already
counted slipping round the back and being counted
again.

Periodically the Germans made rigorous searches
to find the hiding-places of maps, compasses, food,
and escape kit generally, and these searches were
often very diverting. It was the children's game
of hide-and-seek played by grown-ups, and the
Germans being in all respects so very much more
" growed-up " than the British, the advantage was
naturally with the latter, because they enjoyed it,
whereas the Huns didn't— indeed, at first they
seemed to know nothing whatever about the game,
and maps sportingly pinned to the backs of pictures,
or on the underneath of tables, escaped scot-free.
But laboriously and by degrees our hosts improved,



i62 COMRADES IN CAPTIVITY

and attained finally a certain proficiency, although,
since they regarded the v/hole business merely as
" dienst," they were naturally unable to throw them-
selves into it with the proper childish enthusiasm;
and any new variation in the game always had them
beaten. In this prison diversion the big dog was
allowed to take part, and one day covered himself
with glory by unearthing a small store of hidden
tins beneath the floor of a hut. This triumph
pleased the Germans vastly, and was taken in very
good part by the English officers, who immediately
opened books and sweep-stakes as to the number
of such hiding-places the dog would discover, and
in what space of time. Cries of " Good dog !"
and " Seek, seek !" gave him encouragement, and
when at last he did discover a second and last store,
a perfect howl of applause went up from all present.
The Huns were puzzled by this behaviour, but as
there was really nothing in it for which they could
send us to prison, they contented themselves with
sticking out their chests and scowling. At Strohen,
the sister camp to Schwarmstedt, whither the rest
of the Crefeld people had gone, an even funnier
thing took place. Special detectives had been
brought from Berlin, and a truly rigorous search
was conducted by them, one of whom very soon
bore pinned to his coat tails the inscription:
" You know my methods, Watson !" Several caches
were discovered, and the experts seemed pleased;




"VOU HAVE DER TINS — YES? NO?"



SCHWARMSTEDT: SOME ESCAPES 165

but the true point of the joke was that when they
came to depart, they found that their pockets had
been picked.

I think it would have been hard to discover every-
thing that was hidden at Schwarmstedt without
puUing the whole place to pieces. Floorboards,
windowsills, walls, all had their secrets, not to men-
tion any of the special stunts evolved for concealing
forbidden articles in the personal belongings of
prisoners — e.g.^ handles of tennis-racquets. Some-
times the Germans did make a good haul, however,
and then their difficulty was to keep it. The story
of W.'s pack is a case in point. W.'s pack, containing
all his escaping kit and the hoarded food of months,
had the misfortune to be discovered in its hiding-
place by the Huns. The German officer in charge
of the search was not a bad fellow, but arrogant and
without humour save of the sour kind which befits
a Prussian. Delighted with his capture, he went
at once to the senior of the barrack in which the
pack was found, and prepared to gloat. An aged
sentry carried the pack, following him; and be-
hind the aged sentry went softly the owner of
the pack, undiscovered as yet, since it had not
been opened. He was accompanied by certain of
his friends.

German Officer: " A-ha, mein Herr, you see
I have a beautiful pack !"

Barrack Officer: " Indeed !"

12



i66 COMRADES IN CAPTIVITY

G. O. : " The owner, he was ready just to go, yes.
And you, mein Herr, when [smiling] are you leaving
us ?"

B. O. : '' Oh, next month, I think."

G. O. : " Ah, then I will show it to you. You will
see what to take with you."

B.O.: " That is very good of you, Herr
Lieutenant."

G. O.: "Hans!"

Aged Sentry: " Yaw, Herr Hauptmann."

He drops the pack to stand rigidly to attention
after the German manner.

G. O. : " The pack, bring it here to me !"

Alas for Hans ! that little bit of Geiman disci-
pline had undone him. The pack was gone,
vanished into air. W. could do the hundred in
about even time, and he was in gym. shoes. A circle
of friends closed round as he disappeared, and Hans
saw nothing. He looked down first to the side
where the pack had been. He looked to the other
side. Then he looked behind him. He scratched
his head. " It is gone, Herr Hauptmann," he mur-
mured.

" Gone !" cried the Prussian officer, beating him-
self on the forehead and bringing out the most
unusual oath I have ever heard, " Mister God-
Christ ! These English !"

Certainly an appeal to the Almighty was the only
thing left him. The pack was two rooms away



SCHWARMSTEDT: SOME ESCAPES 167

being pulled to pieces as fast as fingers could do it,
and the contents being distributed hastily in hiding-
places over all the hut. To retrieve it was beyond
the bounds of human possibility.



CHAPTER XV

ON THE COMRADESHIP OF MEN AND BOOKS

The following lecture was given at Schwarmstedt
in 191 7, and I include it in this record of prison life
because I am getting rather tired of the Germans,
and because I believe it shows amongst other things
a good deal of the mentality of prisoners of war.
People who don't like it can skip it, but I would
rather that they did not buy the book.

One of the most amusing parts of a quaintly
humorous book I happened recently to read con-
cerned itself with the description of a very exclu-
sive club. So exclusive was this club that it con-
sisted only of the founder, the secretary, and the
treasurer, and these were all the same man. To
him meals were every day served solemnly in the
club dining-room, and from time to time names
were put up for membership by him in the capacity
of secretary, and later on blackballed when he
assumed the cloak of founder and the majority. It
is perhaps hardly necessary for me to say that the club
was an English one, with its headquarters situate in

Oxford.

168



MEN AND BOOKS 169

To-night I am speaking to an audience of English-
men (I beg pardon — Britons !) on the comradeship
of men and books, and the first thing I want to say-
is that there is in one sense — the sense in which I
speak of them — very little difference between the
two. Viewed as comrades, the things we expect
to give them and the things we expect in return are