Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Leslie Harold Barry 'Memoirs of my experiences in Germany', November 1916-January 1918
MLMSS 695

[Note: Transcribed using OCR software. May contain typographical errors]

[Page 5]
It would seem strange that the opening chapters of these memoirs should be descriptive of the roughest weather conditions that the Australians had to contend with in France, but in these days of peace, quietness, and the various other quantities that go to make life in Sydney so enjoyable, despite the fact that it is well nigh three years since, the mention of "Flers November ’16" is always met with the question - Do you remember the mud and slosh?. It was something to remember I can assure you, for it had rained incessantly for three months
- the lines of communication were bad enough, for many times I have seen the big A.B.C. Motor Waggons with their wheels submerged sending out a big wash for all the world like punts in a canal. How the poor army horses were to be pitied - straining waist high in mud with their loads, and then to stand in the horses lines and shiver in their wet rugs all night. In one respect the horses were luckier than we were for they certainly had more to eat than the average "front line Digger".
We had ie, the 1st FIELD COY ENGINEERS, been working in conjunction with the 1st BRIGADE for five nights, arranging this particular little stunt, waded out through Delville Wood, along the Calvary Trench out to the communication trench that went from the sunken road to the front line, worked with the pick and shovel in mud that had to be removed from your shovel with your hand for four hours -and then a weary tramp back to a wet dug-out and wet blankets- all under cover of darkness, our only joy being the rum, that, in this case, did not go to the Sergeants mess.
Came the eventful night when we were told that we were to go over the top with the Infantry and were to expect little or no, opposition from the Hun—but alas;-H. Q, were all out An their calculation- for after our barrage had finished,-(a sight bye-the-way that is beautiful in spite of its terribleness- the sky lit up all around with the shells leaving our guns, many of them to be seen burning their way through the air and then to burst in a huge conflagration over the enemies lines) and we were over the top, making our way towards our objective- Fritz started

[Page 6]
to let us know that we were not going to have things all our own way. Covering us on our left were a party of bombers, and in the night - lit up like day with the bursting shells - they could be seen being slowly driven back with answering bomb and machine gun fire. It was then that I met my "Waterloo" with a piece of bomb in my lung - sufficient with the ensuing hemorrage to make me unconscious for the rest of the night. However for the benefit of those who have not experienced the feeling, I would likfc to tell you that before I went "right out to it"
I felt very small and cheap, expecting that my resting place was to be in "NO MANS LAND" - right from my earliest childhood days did my misdemeanour come before me, I could only trust that the "man with the slate" hadn’t everything written down.
I came to in the early hours of the dawn and seeing a trench about thirty yards ahead of me, which I surmised was our own front line, I determined on reaching it - knowing that if I stayed in "no mans land" much longer I wouldn’t have the strength to crawl a yard. Taking the chance - after about an hour’s crawling - I reached it only to find that particular part untenanted, and having no fears, even though a german boot and shovel were staring me in the face,
I made my way up the trench - turned the first traverse to find myself looking down a couple of rifles with two big burly germane behind them. I sometimes wonder who was the most surprised — at all events it wasn’t long before Fritz was on top of me with his bayonet touching my tunic, yabbering away for all his worth. Thanks to the lucky star that
I must have been born under, a german commissioned officer appeared on the scene accompanied by an interpreter, Z was taken, stripped of my personal belongings, (which afterwards reached me at the Hospital) my wound was dressed by a couple of field ambulance men, and I was then questioned as to how I came to get into the trench. I was next put on an improvised stretcher and carried about two-hundred yards to a machine gun position immediately behind the front line. Whilst being carried I well remember being dropped twice owing to my carriers having to take cover from the English guns which were shelling their supports. I lay all day in this dug-out, receiving all the water I cared to drink, and taunts from a german Sergeant-major about our unsuccessful attack and as to how the Germans would soon be in Paris.
I might mention that even though I was partly unconscious

[Page 7]
I was particularly struck by the physique and soldierly aspect of my captors. That night I was carried into Bapaume, my wound dressed by a Doctor, and taking my turn with the German wounded - despatched in a horse ambulance to some advanced dressing station, resting some four or five hours and then on to still another dressing station, another rest and then I was taken to a field hospital ~ arriving there in the early hours of the morning of the second night of my captivity. At this hospital I received my first warm drink, was offered food, and was put into bed clothed in the night-shirt that is worn in the german hospital, I lay in this particular hospital for a month - going sometimes five days without a wash, eating food that was unpalatable through sheer hunger, lying in a bed that was infested with those wretched "chats", Next I was moved to Cambrai - remaining there a week. On the second night of my arrival we were visited by some of the allied flying men - all the hospital lights were switched off and the orderly left the ward for better shelter. One of the milder invalids by way of a "Jock", whilst pandemonium reigned in the hospital, knowing the whereabouts of the pantry, lost no time in lifting the contents consisting of a couple of loaves and a supply of "marmalade, in which the remainder of the ward (about fifteen or twenty English prisoners) afterwards shared.
I had now been five weeks without a bath and was still wearing the same night-shirt. All dressings here -no matter how serious - were done without anaesthetic, and it used to be particularly cheerful to hear the yells of poor devils going to the small operating theatre at the end of the ward to have their wounds dressed. The german Doctors that I had met so far didn’t go out of their way to treat us with any kindness and yet they were not actually cruel. Nursing Sisters were conspicuous by their absence, and the average male orderly - if he had the chance - would take you down for what he could of your scanty ration of bread, I was luck/y enough to have the money (some ninety francs) that was taken from me when I was first taken prisoner returned to me amongst my other personal effects, but even then it was impossible to purchase from the orderlies anything more than a comb and a small piece of soap, these I obtained from an orderly that changed my french money to german marks (paper money) and kept ten marks for his trouble.

[Page 8]
After a week in the Citadel, at Cambrai, converted into a hospital, I was moved off into Germany in a hospital train.
My travelling companions consisted of three other Englishmen and four Russian prisoners who had been sent from Germany to work-removing the forests in the captured part of Prance,
Two of the Russians were suffering from venereal disease, one had been worked to a shadow and was consumptive, the other had received a wound in the head in one of the allied air raids. The consumptive died in the first night of our fifty hour train journey into Germany - he passed out in the early hours of the morning untendered, the car orderly was asleep and a Russian’s life - as I was afterwards to learn - was of no importance to the German Government. Our comfort was the same as the German wounded, though the food was anything but tasty or sufficient, the attendant wasn’t at all bad-hearted for I managed to bribe him to shave me at a cost of five francs (my first shave for five weeks), also I was able to buy some condensed milk for a price equivalent to 2/- per tin.
The interior of the hospital car was much the same as the English red cross cars- but the attention and the food, as might be expected, was anything but decent.
I was lying in a top stretcher and was able to enjoy the quaint Belgium scenery- the ruins around Mons - and, but for the numerous german sentries with black and white sentry boxes with the german eagle very conspicuous - one would never have known that the rest of Europe were at one anothers throats.
Arriving at Aachen (the border town of Germany, touching on Belgium and Holland) we were visited by lady workers of the German Red Cross who walked through our carriage, carrying biscuits and cigarettes, which, as we found, were not for wounded prisoners. Continuing on our Journey through Rhineland (which I was afterwards to tour on foot) we crossed the Rhine at Dusseldorf, entered into Westphalia (the great industrial centre of Germany) up through Duisburg, through Essen (where all the industries seemed to be going in full swing) then on to Dortmund where we disentrained and were taken through the city in open motor cars to the local "Krankenhaus"
From what I learnt afterwards- all the big German cities possess a Catholic hospital subsidised in peace time by the German Government, controlled in most cases by Monks

[Page 9]
the younger of whom in war time were forced to serve in the army, in most cases as field ambulance men. It mas in one of these Institutions that I found myself, there must have been very close on fifteen hundred patients being looked after by these monks with not a woman on the working staff of the establishment.
While going through the reception room of the hospital my pay book, which was taken from me, was the object of much interest to the German soldiers who comprised the clerical staff of the hospital, for our payments of twenty or forty francs in the field fortnightly was indeed something in comparison to german soldier’s pay - which, inclusive of allotment, amounted to about fourpence per day.
Before going into the special ward set apart for prisoners I received my long looked for bath - being scrubbed down by a couple of Russians. How I enjoyed it although there was no soap, for it is amazing the dirt that can be removed by hot water and a scrubbing brush. My new quarters was the attic of the hospital into which forty prisoners, of all nationalities, were crowded. Our beds were alright and cleanliness was strictly enforced, but the air at night-time with overcrowding - stank unbearably. The food was an improvement - being better cooked - though the quantity was absolutely insufficient, boiled turnips -in the absence of potatoes- being the star item on the menu the same food might fatten pigs but I'm certain the Creator never meant them for invalids.
The occupants of this ward were certainly cosmopolitan for apart from the three Englishmen I had left Cambrai with, they consisted of Frenchmen, Russians, Servians, and one old "contemptible". They had all met with accidents, in some cases self inflicted, in the different industries of the
"Father land" that they had been compelled to work at. Prom the Englishmen I heard tales of the german treatment of prisoners in the latter months of ‘14, how the prisoners roughed it until the food parcels commenced to arrive from England, and for the benefit of the disbelieving section of the public I can assure you that what he told me was in no way different to what our press has published the last few years.
Medical treatment by way of an operation was impossible in my particular case, although I was ex-rayed. One of the Englishmen who had come through with me from Prance, through careless dressing, lost the use of his right arm. Another had a shrapnel pellet in the middle of his shoulder removed

[Page 10]
without anaesthetic, a cheerful enough sight to make a Russian, who was waiting his turn to go under the knife, faint.
The majority of the Frenchmen were receiving their parcels from home, so that occasionally - when their larder was stocked- I used to come in for the unwanted german bread, soup, or whatever was going and while my scanty roll of marks lasted I was able to buy chocolate and the hard french army biscuit at an exorbitant price, paying two marks for a sixpenny slab of chocolate and twopence for a single biscuit the size of the halfpenny scone.
Christmas 1916 came and passed the ward was made to look very nice with a gorgeous Xmas tree with its many candles, but alas no presents. All I had to remember the day by was an extra basin of soup for my Xmas dinner - needless to say I’ve not forgotten it yet.
It was a noticeable feature that the majority of the casualities received in working for the "Fatherland" were due not to the prisoners carelessness, but more so (particularly in respect to those working in the coal mines "cokeries" and iron foundries) to the deterioration of the working plant through the skilled labour being away at the war. There have been quite a few cases where amputations have been necessary and many where men have died with internal strains, to say nothing of lung troubles.
Personally I had something to be thankful for, a certain Englishman had died while we were inmates of this hospital,
I succeeded in "bluffing" the orderly and obtained some of the clothes belonging to him, a shirt and a warm English overcoat, which when I left the hospital, was a Godsend to me.
I received my "walking ticket" from this Hospital in anything but healthy condition - clad in a pair of "Tommy" trousers or rather what was left of them for the previous owner had received an issue of "iron ration" in the vicinity of his seat, a pair of boots four sizes too big for me, (they had belonged to a "Tommy" whose feet had been amputated due to trench feet).(I might mention that my own trousers and boots had disappeared or rather been stolen while I was lying on my back in hospital) my mud and blood-stained tunic, a night shirt I had been wearing for a month previously, and the "heaven sent" overcoat beforementioned. In company with the other Englishman who was in the same state of convalescence as myself,! was escorted off to Dulmen, one of the main

[Page 11]
receiving depots for prisoners of war, having to face the German winter of ‘16, ill clad, to say nothing of an empty stomach, some cheerful aspect - so cheerful in fact that I hope it shall never be my lot to face anything similar.

[Page 12]
We walked through the City of Dortmund to the Station, all the while the subject of jeers from passers-by, and even then -Feby ‘17- the wan and colorless faces of the citizens were very prominent, the empty shop windows, grocery places being noticeable by the windows full of nothing else but soup powders - the butcher shops having nothing but a single piece of sausage on show. The food question in Germany that particular winter was the worst experienced by the civilian population over the war, for the potato crop had been a failure and the Government organizations had not sufficient time to be in thorough working order.
On this occasion we travelled 4th Class, and although we were only three hours in the train, travelling was anything but comfortable with its hard wooden seats and sides, but I guess it didn't bear comparison to the cattle trucks that the first wounded prisoners arrived in Germany in, not to mention the open trucks that the unwounded prisoners taken on the Somme had to contend with.
Upon arrival at Dulmen station we had a four mile tramp over snow-covered roads to the camp, and to one out of bed a week after having been confined to that same bed for three months, it was not a pleasant "jaunt". On arriving at the camp our particulars were taken - from civil occupation to your Mother’s maiden name- and we were issued with two thin blankets, a soup dish and spoon, and allotted to a hut amongst other English prisoners - after receiving the avenging dish of soup.
The quarters were certainly weatherproof and a small amount of fuel was allowed daily to heat the rooms, for all the huts were fitted with a small stove. In consideration of our position our quarters were moderately comfortable - for we had a bunk with paper stuffed mattresses to sleep on, they were not overclean nor yet overwarm - but they might have been worse,
Next morning at 6,30 came the bowl of substitute coffee made from acorns, the daily ration of dry bread that did not suffice for breakfast, and then roll-call in the dark and snow. That same day I was examined by the camp Doctor and, although absolutely unfit for work, set about camp fatigues. Next day came about five inoculations, against various

[Page 13]
diseases, at the same time, then a hot bath and fumigation which was anything but a pleasure - for your clothes were taken from you and after your bath-without soap or towel-you waited in the cold whilst your clothes were fumigated in a huge steam over, for a matter of forty minutes.
The food question became much worse, for of all the vile mixtures that could be made for human consumption it fell to our lot to eat, and when other prisoners of war-who were receiving red cross parcels- turned the German soups "down" there was always a mad animal rush in that direction.
Most of us were down with dysentery and in my weak state I want through particular "hell" for daily we used to march to an adjoining forest through snow, and then go through a hard day’s work handling huge trees - our particular job being hauling and loading. Our midday soup was sent from the camp, arriving there cold - which didn’t tend to make it any more palatable- and after having the hours rest after the meal, work would be resumed and we would continue until dusk when the return to camp would be made- our spirits by this time being at a very low ebb. We used to march back- eagerly expectant that our "first parcel" would be to hand but alas the same "expectant feeling" came night after night in my case ----- and we just went on, living in hopes that something for the good would eventuate. The cigarette in those "down-out" days consisted of that well-known brand - known to tramps etc as 0.P.B’s (other peoples butts) for when a "butt" or a "Cigarette stump" was seen on the road there would be one wild rush and at times almost a "free fight" to obtain it. Sometimes the german sentry in charge of the party would be smoking what the germans called a "cigar" - all eyes would be watching the "butt" diminishing - watching for the cycological moment when it would be thrown away — in some cases one of us got it but in quite a few the sentry would put his foot on it and make it useless for anyone to think of smoking.
Saturday night was a "gala-night" in the camp, the "seasoned" prisoners would entertain we hungry ones with a first class variety concert in a theatre built by the American Consul, which, when the Camp Commandant was not "straffing" the English (same being pretty frequent) used to be open? In most of the camps there was usually an Englishman or two to impersonate the "inevitable woman" which must always adorn the stage. These impersonations were often very clever, and in the humorous farces extremely funny and enjoyable. Needless to say all concerts were

[Page 14]
censored before and when in performance by German officers.
The concluding orchestral piece -instead of "The King" - was the old chorus "Keep the home fires burning", So popular was this song amongst us, that it was sung in German at Berlin music halls and theatres.
It was in this camp shortly before I was sent out to work in the country that I met my pal "Choate" with whom I was to have some varied experiences later. If ever a man needed a good pal it was then and I rather think I found one, it was share and share alike with us but unluckily I had nothing to share, but the English food which he was receiving in his parcels in which I now shared tasted -as they say in the Classics - "like nectar".
There were a large number of Russian prisoners in this camp consisting for the main part of men who had been working behind the front line, and through sheer weakness and exhaustion were sent back into Germany to die. I have seen them dying in twenties a day, and in a good many cases - because of the smallness of their wasted forms - they were buried two in one coffin
These Russian’s lot was worse than ours for in our hungry times we did manage occasionally to get a bit of extra soup or bread from the "luckier Englishman" receiving parcels —- it was a common occurrence for them to be seen eating mouldy bread and even rushing the "pig swills".
Just after my arrival at this camp I witnessed the arrival of about onehundred and fifty Englishmen including a few Australians who had been working behind the line in captured Prance, Their condition beggars description, I have often wondered whether the German Government’s idea in treating unwounded prisoners like they did was for the purpose of leading the German public to believe — from the motley clad, broken in spirit, and absolute weaklings (caused undoubtedly by the barbarous way in which they were treated)-- that the prisoners were only just captured and that that was the condition of the remainder of armies that they were fighting against. A prisoner was not acknowledged nor
accounted for to the British War Office until he arrived in German soil, so that a good many of the prisoners that cannot be traced have died in France through illtreatment received. My greatest hope is that German Officers who ordered their barbaric treatment-or even witnessed it-can be traced by the Allied Governments and punished by death --- for does not the "Book of Books" tell us "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth".
Washing conditions were something to be remembered. The water in the.taps didn’t thaw until three o’clock in the

[Page 15]
afternoon - if you were lucky you possessed a small, piece of soap - so cold was it that when combing my "hair after washing, icicles would be on the comb.
I well remember a certain day during the cold stretch
- it was Feby 4th 1917 - reckoned in the German papers to have been the coldest day for twenty-five years, I had gone out with a small working party to a brick kiln adjacent to the camp, our job was digging bricks out of the frozen ground and as my breakfast that morning had been a bowl of substitute coffee it was not surprising when I went out in a faint luckily I was caught when falling, otherwise with the loose bricks about I may have caught a "souvenir" out of it.
Anyway when I came to I was compelled to make some pretence at working - I may state that from experience one took great stock of his sentry before arguing the point with him, if he appeared at all weak or "blase" you loafed at your Job, If he appeared to he of the "Prussian" type or "he was one of those elderly patriots - who only knew the war from their papers- you did just what you were told rather than run the risk of "falling foul" with him, for you didn't know what he was capable of doing--- it might he the cold steel of his bayonet or a gentle reminder with the butt of "his rifle".
On a certain occasion 1 witnessed an elderly 'Frenchman beaten unconscious with the flat of a sword by a German officer, his offence being that he didn't get out of the road quick enough when passing this officer.
Early in March I was examined, with forty other Englishmen, & classified as fit for "arbide" (work) by the camp Doctor.

[Page 16]
In the first week of March, this party that had been passed by the Doctor, left the camp and entrained at Haltenn in a 4th class carriage of an ordinary passenger train - for a destination unknown.
We were a motley crowd -- seven Colonials and thirty- three Englishmen of all regiments (including a sprinkling of "Derby's ' last issues" i,e. men recruited under Lord Derby’s scheme of compulsory enrollment.
The Colonials included three Canadians, three Australians (Choate, Pitts, and myself) and a South African by name Charles who was accompanying us as interpreter and who, the day before we left had just done fourteen days for "not getting to Holland" otherwise being caught whilst escaping.
I had one thing to be thankful for, for beyond that which I stood up in I possessed nothing in the way of luggage or kit. Casting my eyes around the crowd I
noticed Charles, the S.A., weak with his solitary confinement making heavy headway with his "gear". In the four miles to the station I gave him what assistance I was capable of,in relieving him at intervals. Later he re-payed a thousand times for the good turn I gave him.
Our journey of some five hours passed without incident, except that the leather strap hangers in the carriage were removed by one of the Canadians - to be afterwards used in repairing the sole of a pair of boots- leather of any kind being absolutely unprocurable.
We knew that the district we were making for was the industrial centre of Germany, and had our destination been a coal mine our resolution formed on the journey was to refuse to enter it, so that when we arrived at a suburb of Dusseldorf and disentrained all eyes were eagerly watching for "our to be abode". Imagine our surprise when we halted - after ten minutes walk from the station - at a three-storeyed building in the outskirts of the town, all the windows of the building were barred up and an eight feet paling fence,with about eight strands of barbed wire on top of it,surrounded the establishment.
The ground space was very limited, about as small as the average suburban back-yard, but the interior of the two upper floors to which we were "assigned" appeared like a palace after thg rough condition of our quarters at Dulmen.

[Page 17] I would like to impress upon my readers that the conditions I am about to describe stood out on their own against the living conditions that the majority of the other prisoners had to experience when working in the country.
It is an absolute fact that no other prisoners ever found such comfortable quarters as we were now installed in. We were alloted three or four to bedrooms containing wire mattresses, straw mattresses, and a couple of blankets.
Each room was lit up with electric light and contained a washstand and utensils, wardrobe and a room-heater. Hot water was obtainable for bathing purposes, being generated by steam boilers in the cellar. In short our new quarters left very little to be desired.
Next morning we went out to work on the railway line, doing ordinary navvy work, which is hard enough at any time but on empty stomachs it took "some sticking", especially as the weather was still wintry - everything being frozen.
The following morning I was appointed house orderly through the instrumentality of Charles our interpreter. My duties were particularly light and being the worst off,as regards health, of the party, I was not slow in taking the advantage of my good fortune.
The german food was much the same as in camp though it was better cooked, thanks to the women folk who lived on the ground floor which we were not allowed to enter.
Our guard consisted of a Corporal and two privates, one of whom had been wounded in Prance, the three of these men being unfit for active service. Our treatment at their hands all the while we were in these quarters was very free and easy. While at work there were about five civilians distributed about the party who were all armed and constituted the "bosses1* as well as the sentries. The man to whom these civilians were responsible was the local stationmaster, who was a burly, typical German, being a bluster and bully very much feared by all the railway workers. The working hours were long, and on a good number of Sundays the parties were compelled to work - the pay being 8d per day, which, as cigarettes cost Id a piece - didn’t keep a man in "smokes". After about a month of this monotonous routine the first batch of parcels arrived, much to the joy of everyone concerned, I scored particularly well for I received my clothing parcels, grocery and bread (some of which was two to three months old, but nevertheless tasted like "cake" to the German bread.

[Page 18]
Very shortly after our arrival we Colonials formed a sort of union amongst ourselves and set about making preparations for escape in acquiring Information as to the lay of land towards the Holland border. Naturally enough we looked to our interpreter as our leader, and he in keeping with the old time adage "all’s fair in love and war" managed on a certain occasion to get in conversation with a young "fraulein" who was working in a factory close to the railway line. Things went on smoothly for a while and letters used to be smuggled through the fence when the sentries weren't around, but unfortunately for us the most hated sentry or rather workman on the job got one in on us for he got away with the girl — and so we lost our first chance of acquiring the knowledge of vital importance to ourselves.
Our parcels were the absolute mainstay of our existence for decently clad, and with a contented stomach, we were not only better off than the average German, but when it came to a point it gave us spirit to defy them.
While a party were working loading a truck with building material the stationmaster put in an appearance and ordered the men to "go faster" — as it was Sunday the men were not altogether in their "element" in working for the "Fatherland" and Pitts,(one of the Australians) lost no time in telling the stationmaster,in good old Australian style, just what he thought of his Government, his army, not to mention his own personal shortcomings. Luckily he wasn't understood, though the stationmaster probably saw the attitude of the men and lost no time in beating a "hasty retreat".
From that time on we were left to our own resources and were very rarely interfered with when at work so "Jimmy Pitts" eulogy on what would be done with the Stationmaster and his nigger-driving methods if he was in Australia, certainly did some good.
The German rolling stock was in a very bad condition as also were the points. It was a common thing for a goods train to jump the points and thereby delay traffic considerably.
The male shortage was very noticeable. Women were to be seen firing on the railway engines, doing navvying work and all manner of heavy manual work.
I may be wrong in my conjecture but with the majority of the women we came in contact with at Dusseldorf, always at a distance, there seemed to be a strong feeling of sympathy existing between we Englishmen and them, although in

[Page 19]
some cases I have been spat at by them. It is quite possible that the women may have known how the Englishman treat their womenfolk, which is vastly different to their own treatment,
for these German women are kicked and cuffed about like dogs, but the fact remains that we were very often smiled at when I passing them in the street.
Directly opposite us looking into our yard (where I used to take my exercise along a path about fifteen yards long) was the top storey of a flat. It wasn't very long before we noticed three or four young women living there who used to be very interested in any "doings" in our yard. With our intended escape in view, Charles, one of the Canadians and
myself set about getting them "particularly interested" in us,
From signalling, our interest got to letter writing, and per medium of a hole in the fence a regular correspondence was carried on,which was made easy by our easy going sentries and the fact of my being in the house all day and not being watched*
Our "barrack" overlooked a park, and the scene on a fine Sunday, with couples and picnic-parties in this park, was not by any means necessary to remind us of the birdlike life we were leading behind the barbed wires. The Germans as a nation are very musical and it almost made one*s heart ache to see and hear these parties singing in harmony to the accompaniment of mandolins and guitars.
By the same token I am reminded of a humorous "musical incident" witnessed in the street once when the German troops were passing the barrack, " Fritz" is compelled tossing when on the march and on this occasion a company of "canon fodder" were passing-singing "Deutchsland uber Alles" when I noticed a german "non-com" loosening the vocal chord of an errant songster by kicking him on his "stern sheets".
The lad certainly "sang" when he felt the impact of the boot though I couldn't hear as to whether he was in tune or not.

[Page 20]
Conditions at the barracks went on more or less
harmoniously for a few months, except for occasions when
the men went on strike because of the delay of the parcels,
the parcels would then be hurried up in transit by the Corporal in charge of us.
Letters from home used to arrive every couple of months usually they would be at least three months old, but none the less next welcome to our food parcels. Our parcels upon arrival were always censored all tinned goods being held over and drawn by us when required.
One thing our captivity did for most of us was made us excellent thieves, for no matter where we were, if we could put our hands on anything that would be useful in any way to us - it went.
The two Canadians were working unloading salvaged war material at the Station and amongst military gear they handled were large quantities of harness, so that it was a common thing for both flaps of a saddle or a breast collar to be brought home to the barrack to be used for repairing boots. The only thing in the eating line that we could
put our hands on were potatoes, cabbages and beetroot which would be removed from a goods train if ever it chanced to pull up anywhere close to where the party was working.
It has been said that everyone in Germany over war time was a thief, i,e, they would steal anything to eat. The civilians we were working with helped themselves whenever a goods train pulled up and it was mighty certain we lost no time in taking our "cue" from them. On one occasion we had poultry for dinner, caught and cooked under our sentrie’s nose — a stray fowl was seen running about our yard and one of the Canadians neatly skittled it with a stone and then cooked it on the stove provided for our cooking.
We were never short of fuel the coal having been procured in the same manner as the vegetables.
Our sentries must have been mighty hungry for every day they would strain the soup for the minute portions of meat
or potato that we wouldn’t look at when our parcels were on hand.

By this time a very intimate acquaintance had been made

[Page 21]
with our "fair correspondents’* who were anxious that we should call on them before we made our escape. Our plans bye-the-way were far from completion as all we had obtained from the German girls so far had been a map giving details of the roads of the country between us and Holland ~ so with the hope of getting more particulars we resolved on visiting them.
Our sentries, who were posted indoors, counted us before "lights out" and didn’t worry us until the time came for "up stand" as they used to call it - otherwise "reveille". Apparently they thought that we/ were there for duration being so comfortably quartered, but they were certainly out in their calculations. All the weak places of the building that offered any means of escape had been located in the first week of our residence there. The window of our room- in fact all the rooms - had been caged in, but the fanlight was only nailed. By removing the nail it could be opened and was then wide enough to allow one to squeeze through and get a footing on the window-sill. Reaching cunt along the wall a lightning conductor strong enough to hold a mans weight could be reached, there/was then about twenty-five feet to be negotiated to the ground hanging on to the lightning conductor. It certainly looked alright in theory but when we put it into practice one night shortly after midnight barefooted and garbed in our English prisoner-of-war clothes, with our nerves in a high state of tension, it was by no means easy. Having gained the ground we made our
way to where a tree had been left conveniently standing adjacent to the fence - climbing this tree it was comparatively easy to clear the barbed wire and then drop to the ground to be a free man for m few short hours.
Luckily for us the streets were dark and unfrequented and we were able to reach the house and enter unobserved at the ground flat where the girls were waiting for us. We certainly were right in the boom for there were four of them there, two married and two single. The married one’s husbands were both engaged in war work one being a "Feld Webel" which is equivalent to the rank of Sergt Major in the artillery in France, and the other an engineer in a munition factory in Berlin.
The people living in the middle flat were hostile to us for on one occasion they had reported our "friends" to the police, but being unable to give definite proof as

[Page 22]
regards their interest in us, nothing was done, so that our conversation had to be carried on in whispers.
It would be impossible to describe our joy and feelings at being entertained in a comfortable drawing-room, and to enjoy women’s company after the life of isolation and discomfort we had led for some months.
We had some trouble in making ourselves understood at first, but later on our "Platt Deutches" became more easy, but we were never "stuck" for when we did get a trifle mixed we always had the interpreter, who spoke the language like a native, to help us out of difficulties.
Before leaving we were given supper consisting of biscuits and fruit, though the supply was somewhat limited.
The kindness of these women touched us deeply. In conversation they told us of the hard conditions as regards living that they had to contend with, how very often meat supplies were unobtainable even with the Government coupon tickets, the high prices that had to be paid for such luxuries as tea, coffee, cocoa and butter which used to be smuggled in through Holland. The lot of the women, children and old people was very hard during the blockade, and it is said that had the German doctors had their way peace would have come much earlier.
Saying "good-bye" to our friends at about half past four in the morning we would reluctantly make our way back to the barrack, getting back the way we got out, and we would manage to get in about an hour's sleep before being called.
One of our biggest troubles in the way of our escape was the getting ready of our civilian clothes for the journey. These had to be made out of our prison clothes and it was only during a few hours of night that we could do the work without fear of being disturbed*
Our visits to "yonder flat" were now more frequent being two or three nights a week, and our progress in the "romancing direction" was by no means backward. The ladies were particularly fond of our English cigarettes and had cultivated a taste before the war for "tea". Occasionally a bottle of choice wine would be awaiting us and we now always had tea with fresh goat’s milk served with our supper. The fresh milk was a rare treat to us as it was the only xpilk, other than condensed, I had tasted in my sixteen months "sojourn" in Germany,
Thanks to our friends we were given instructions as

[Page 23]
to how to cross the Rhine as railway passengers, which was || valuable information to us as the German Government, having all the bridges guarded used to regard it as a better means ef keeping the prisoners in Germany than a line of sentries.
We also acquired information as to how the border was guarded at the particular point we purposed crossing it.
One thing we were fortunate in was this- there were
six of us attempting the escape and we intended going in parties of threes but there was only one compass. One of us however managed to find a magazine containing a chart of the skies in the hemisphere we were in, so that it was quite easy for the party I was going with to pick up the North Star, which, provided the stars were visible, was a better guide than a compass.
We managed to bribe one of the civilians who was working with us (at the cost of a pound or so of biscuits and a couple of loaves of bread) to buy with money we furnished collars, ties, and headgear.
Our trouble now was to wait until the nights lengthened, for the Summer nights on the continent only gave us about six hours darkness.
To get an inside knowledge of the city of Dusseldorf which is about the sixth town in Germany as regards size and importance, I made arrangements with the sentry to take me to a dentist to get an imaginary tooth stopped. In my journeying to the dentist's in the "Municipal up-to-date Electric Cars"
I was amazed at the cheapness of the fares - for a journey the length of two sections in Sydney my fare was a halfpenny return.
While on the working commands we all received very sympathetic treatment from the local doctor who spoke a little English and who told me that he held a high opinion of the ability of Lloyd George.
To give people an idea of what the average German went through in case of sickness — we had a civilian working with us who went down with pneumonia, he was ill for six weeks and when he again started work he had lost forty pounds in weight.
Between seasons when the civilians were waiting for the potatoes to ripen, it was very noticeable how they all seemed to fall off in size and become more hollow cheeked than usual. But we certainly weren’t sorry for the male population.
A remarkable comparison could be drawn between the spirit and

[Page 24]
general healthy appearance of the majority of the working party against practically all of the Germans we came in contact with.
Recollections are very vivid concerning on allied air raid that visited Dusseldorf shortly before we escaped.
We were awakened shortly after mid-night by the noise of the anti-aircraft gun fire. Almost immediately every light in the barrack was switched on and all heads were at the different windows watching the searchlights and bursting shells. Our sentries, finding all argument useless as regards having the place in darkness, left us for the lower regions and we watched on hoping to find the city in ruins next day.
Next day when the party marched out to work every head was held high with pride in the achievement, and we all hoped that Fritz would get reminders like this at least every week. The German papers put the raid down as a failure, but some months later we were told by a Russian that the factory he had been working in, amongst others, had received considerable damage over the visit.

[Page 25]
At last came the night on which we were to attempt to regain our liberty. By a strange coincidence it was the anniversary of our being six months at Dusseldorf. We were all (thanks to our Red Cross parcels) in pretty fair condition and had managed to accumulate a fair supply of biscuits, chocolate and dried fruits on which we were to rely while on the track. I was not forgotten during my internment by my mates in France - for from money subscribed by them I had been kept in a plentiful supply of cigarettes, which, on this occasion, were of great consolation to us.
We six colonials (Pitts, the Australian, remaining behind) broke camp successfully, for during the past few months we had become proficient at that art. We had about an hour in which to get to the Station - having left the camp at 11 p. m, - our lady friends had given us the time and instructions how to pass through the Station and catch a train that left shortly after mid-night.
We were "working" in threes - Charles and two Canadians
- Choate,One Canadian and myself being the last party to leave the building. The first three caught the train alright and afterwards managed to reach Holland , but we were a few minutes behind time and on arriving at the Station found our train had gone. We then resolved on catching the first one to cross the Rhine next morning. We walked through the City, and it was surprising the amount of light and life there for that late hour. Passing several policemen who looked very authorative in their military uniform and swords we eventually found a spare allotment of ground in an outlying suburb, on which we slept or rather shivered for a few remaining hours of the night. At three o'clock we started to make our way to the station, we being anything but sanguinary as to our improvised civilian clothes passing censor in the daylight. However,
Choate (who was our spokesman) got the railway tickets alright and we passed through on to the platform to find that our train wouldn't start until,seven o'clock that morning. This entailed a very risky wait for our escape by this time would have been noticed and had the Corporal in charge been at all sharp we should have been stopped at the Station, however beyond being questioned by several civilians and a German Officer to whom we replied the equivalent to "I don't know"

[Page 26]
nothing happened and we managed to get into a compartment
with only a solitary civilian occupying it.
It was with very anxious hearts that we waited to hear the rumbling of the train over the Rhine bridge, after which we knew we were not only on the right train but that our biggest barrier had been passed.
Unfortunately the train switched off in a different direction to our intended destination, but we were lucky enough to hand in our tickets to some lady porter (who was probably thinking of her "Fritz" at the front) so that we were not questioned at the station we got off at.
From the weather vane at the local church we conveniently got our direction and immediately set about making good the twenty kilometres that were not included in the course we had set ourselves.
We walked until eleven o'clock and then adjourned for breakfast — continuing on through open country, occasionally passing a prisoner of war working on the numerous farms.
Keeping to the main road we were passing through a small village and unceremoniously ran into the village "cop" (who from the census of the Government knew the business of the district to , the number of eggs laid by each fowl). As we were strangers we were taken around to the police station to produce our passports send to give an account in general as to what we were doing in the village.
Things were looking anything but "rosy" for us, but through the policeman’ s absolute stupidity and no one at the office being able to speak French, we were able to bluff them that we were peaceful Belgian civilian prisoners working in an adjoining town. Accordingly we were ordered back to the town we had mentioned we had come from, but we lost no time in "beating it" not in that direction but towards Holland.
Reaching a swamp we set about "digging in" where we were not likely to be disturbed for we had had our lesson as regards walking in the daytime.
Starting out again that night at dusk, it was not long before we were walking through the towns and villages that we had mapped out for our course. At one small place we astonished the villagers by washing ourselves at the "village pump". Passing through the town of Dalken, as we had walked continuously for nine hours, we determined on picking upon the first suitable spot to lie up for the following day. A convenient forest suited us to a nicety, so settling down on

[Page 27]
a bed of leaves, it wasn't long before "shut eye" fell to the three of us. Waking shortly after daylight we made our way farther into the forest to guard against being disturbed. We lay there until about three o'clock in the afternoon, after having partaken of a "snack" from our limited supply, the sweet chocolate gave us a thirst that from our position couldn't be quenched.
It was about this time that some sportsmen could be heard shooting no great distance from us and we were alarmed when approaching footsteps could be heard. Taking stock of the approaching trouble his dog was seen to be smelling around the position we had first slept on and to make things worse the gunman had a shot at a pheasant almost above our heads, but in missing the pheasant he also missed the chance of collecting 90 marks for the German Government allow 30 marks per head to the civilians who effect the capture of escaping prisoners- of-war.
Commencing on what we reckoned was our final "lap" we started out on the main roads again and walked for some hours before we were able to quench the thirst that had troubled us all that day.
We were within the garrisoned border now and the places we were making through were all pretty thick with "Fritzs'1, but whistling away the german march songs not to mention "Asleep in the Ditch" which is very popular amongst the Germans- and giving a gruff "good night" to our passers by, we passed alright.
Our intentions were - after passing a certain railway line which intersected the roadway - to leave the main road for the fields about 300 yards above the line. A number of German soldiers,whom we took to be the patrol,were in an hotel on the roadside and we were congratulating ourselves on having missed them and that in a very short while we would be in the "promised land". The lights of the city of Vento in Holland were conspicuous in contrast to the darkened lights in all the German towns,and for a moment the three of us were discussing in whispers as to what our programme would be next day in Holland, when we were brought to the realization that we hadn’t crossed the border by the sharp command of "Halt" from the shadow alongside the road. If we had "got" while the
going was good some o£ us may have got over the border, but it is amazing what can be lost in a few seconds, for in that time the patrol was on top of us asking for our passports. Thinking

[Page 28]
that the "bluff stakes" might be worked again we argued for some time that we were law-abiding Belgian farm hands, but failing to convince them we were marched off to the border guard room - where we still had a hope of bluffing them.
In contradiction to the many wild stories told of all manner of traps, watch dogs, and barbed wire, we happened to know that the border consisted of a patrol path with sentries patrolling to meet one another, posted at a distance of about a couple of hundred yards apart. We had been prepared to meet a patrol,but having passed the one in the hotel we didn’t reckon on striking another so soon.
This happened about 11.30 that when we arrived at the reception room we were amongst the "early Catches" and it was certainly amusing to watch the "other arrivals" coming in. They were a nondescript lot and consisted of women food smugglers and civilians escaping from doing military
duty. Next morning we were up to be interrogated by the
Commandant. Although there was an English interpreter there he couldn’t read the correspondence taken from us so that in pretending we were Belgians of the "Woloon" type (which happened to be a language not spoken generally amongst the Belgians) we had the staff in a quandary for a couple of hours -- everything said to us we "didn’t understand". At last the Canadian was taken away on his own and given a kind of third degree examination, in which the cat came out of the bag and yes were found to be English prisoners of war.
On return to the reception room we found that one of the women food smugglers had also returned from "getting her medicine" - a sadder and considerably thinner person than when she went out. When she had had her pockets and various other concealing places full of contraband goods she had looked a fat old dame of fifty or so, but stripped of her goods she was a well built young women of twenty-six or thereabouts.
Before the morning had passed we were moved off under an escort a piece to the town gaol and lodged in separate "solitary" cells which were absolutely impenetrable.
On our journey to the gaol at Kalden Kirchen we had asked our sentries how far we were from Holland, we knew we were not very far, but it certainly hurt some when we were told the "promised land" was only ten minutes easy walk. So ended our three nights and two days "jaunt" through Rhineland.

[Page 29]
Our own English food was all gone by now so when the German food was served up, it went with a relish that was strange to German Diet. The food here was remarkably good being better than I had seen in any of the hospitals or camps I had been in, so that when we were moved off next day to Aix la Chapelle, Ifor one, was sorry to leave.
However we were warned by our guards that they meant to kill if we attempted to escape, so as no chance offered itself on the way we arrived at Aachen in a few hours and were taken before the Commandant who sent us off to,a military gaol, where we found ourselves certainly up against it, for, as our fellow prisoners were all disciplinary cases from the German army in occupied France, the treatment was anything but gentle.
The building in pre-war days had been a technical school of arts and we were alloted to a schoolroom amongst a number of German soldiers and Russian prisoners who had been attempting to regain their liberty.
In marching through the town we noticed that the shop windows were much better stocked than in any other town that we had been in, this was probably due to the goods being smuggled in through Holland. Most of the citizens appeared to be well fed and there seemed to be more gaiety and life about the place. The town was full of flags, eagles and all the German emblems of war - this was to impress the large Belgian population.
In both Dusseldorf and Aachen large numbers of Belgian civilian prisoners were working in the industries of the Fatherland - many making munitions to be used against their own countrymen.
Our prison quarters were considerably overcrowded, the place was infested with lice and the sanitary arrangements overnight consisted of a small tub which used to be overflowing quite early in the night. To make matters worse the three of us were down with dysentery, though the food was better and more palatable than that served in the prison camp.
We Englishmen were the object of much curiosity from the German soldiers amongst us. Our boots and clothing were infinitely better than their own and it took some puzzling on their part as to how we were in possession of them, when, according to their press, England was at her last resources,
due to the successful blockade of the U. Boats.
Amongst the Germans were a large number of men caught while trying to make their escape into Holland, and in

[Page 30]
conversation with some of them out of the same regiment we casually mentioned that we were Colonials - in reply they stated that their regiment had been fighting against the Canadians at Lens and about 1J0 of them had gone over to give themselves up, but the Canadians had shown no mercy and had simply mowed them down with machine gun fire, not a man reaching the Canadian lines.
We were kept in this unhealthy hole for a week and were then removed under escort to a camp at Burgsteinfurt, being some ten hours in the train, without refreshment of any kind, although our sentries got a feed at every big station we passed through.
Going through Dusseldorf we met a German Flying Officer who told us in excellent English that we had been very unfortunate in having been caught at the last post
We passed the best part of a week in a camp gaol on dry bread and a vile soup every alternate day and were then moved to Munster - being taken through the town to No l,Camp.
Here we were kept in a reception room and through the sentry being bribed were allowed to receive English food, sent in by some of the "old stagers’’ in the camp who knew what "clink’’ diet was like.
The gaol here adjoined the compound in which the Belgian prisoners were kept. On one night they showed their spirit by setting fire to their barracks shortly after "lights out" had blown. The fire spread rapidly although it was raining and it reached our gaol. We were rushed out in the open air, everyone getting away alright. We remained in the night air for some hours, getting wet to the skin, and were then billeted in the wash house, having to sleep on cement floors.
That portion of the camp was completely gutted, in spite of the efforts of the prisoner of war fire brigade, whom I’m afraid, encouraged rather than prevented the fire.
We remained in the wash house for a few days and were then moved to Munster 111 lager, where we were put into a large cellar amongst thirty Englishmen awaiting trial for not getting to Holland* Sanitation and ventilation were bad and the food consisted of a third of a basin of soup with the ordinary unsatisfactory ration of bread.
We had one consolation - we were in excellent company amongst these Englishmen, for the time would be passed in telling yarns about the early days of the war in Germany and the different attempts of escape - in which we learnt quite a lot. Amongst us was a Canadian Sergeant who had made thirteen

[Page 31]
unsuccessful attempts he had been working in a Salt Mine in Hanover, where floggings were daily occurrences. We were also told by eye witnesses of a certain Englishman who had I been released with a number of other Englishmen from the fortress at Cologne and sent on a working command where he refused to work and was deliberately shot in cold blood. Another hun atrocity was the shooting of an Englishman for refusing to draw the morning's coffee, which, when parcels I were on hand, we Englishmen never touched. This incident occurred at Sene Lager.
English food used to be smuggled in through a crack in the door whenever a sentry was on duty who wouldn't take a bribe of a bit of soap, a few cigarettes or biscuits. One amusing incident while here was when the hinges of the door to the cellar (which happened to be inwards) were removed and we used to take it in turns to visit the English Barrack for food and cigarettes. We used to be counted when the guard relieved one another and they could never understand how there would be two or three short or extra in our numbers.
While waiting in this reception room we used to be often rushed out into the passage and our quarters searched for food or cigarettes. One night we were unceremoniously bustled out into the passage about 11,30, at night, for the special benefit of a drunken prussian Sergeant Major, and as we three Colonials and a regular English Army man were not quick enough about it, we were kicked and punched, and the guards were told to use their bayonets on "we swinerein Englanders".
After four or five days in this reception room we were taken before the camp commandant to be tried. We were asked a ridiculous question "Why did you attempt to escape?", To this question we replied "Because it was our duty" for we had been put "wise" by the other prisoners that any other answer was unsatisfactory, in as much that had be said we were dissatisfied by the German treatment - our sentence would be heavier,
We found out at the trial - indirectly of course - that Charles and his companions had reached Holland alright. We were sentenced to fourteen days solitary confinement after waiting just on four weeks to be tried.
Next day we commenced our "stretch in the small cells", mine was 5' by 6' and fitted with a wooden stretcher. You did your time in this manner - the first day- daylight, bread, and soup for two other meals with a mattress and blankets for the night. The three following days - bread and water and complete darkness and just blankets and the hard boards to sleep on. Here again if it hadn't been for the English food that was

[Page 32]
smuggled into us by the Russian orderly looking after the gaol, and whom for his services received food, things would have gone very hard with us.
On two occasions during the fourteen days, per medium of a small piece of soap, I managed to get up to the English Barracks, eat as much as I could hold, and return with food and cigarettes for my pals.
Vermin were particularly had in these cells. The blankets and mattresses were swarming with fleas and lice, and . I remember finding a dead mouse in one of the pockets of my |coat - he had probably been after crumbs in my pocket and had met his end in being lain on in my sleep.
Every morning we received five minutes fresh air when we were taken out to wash etc.
Under such conditions as these we were particularly glad at the expiration of the fourteen days/ to receive our limited freedom, for all told we had done six weeks gaol, and all the thought of our three pals by now probably in England - made us resolve to have another go for our liberty the first chance that offered itself.

[Page 33]
Here,at Munster, the camp quarters were indeed very I substantial for the different Barracks were built of brick and Bin pre-war days had been military barracks.
I smile now when I think of the first meal we ate after
coming out of " clink". I didn't at the time for I was sick for I a week, and I wasn't the only one for my two pals had my same I complaint - an overloaded stomach.
It was amazing the graft that went on in this camp.
I Compasses, civilian clothes, maps and everything that was needed | in the escaping line could be bought in the camp. Civilian money
was not in circulation amongst the prisoners but it was there - I in large notes too. The manufacture of compasses was particularly I cute. A French prisoner in the camp/used to go out and work at a Jeweller’s shop in Munster every day and return back to the I camp at night time. At his trade the necessary glass and metal I were stolen and in his recreation hours at night the finished I article was made, the steel needle being magnetised from the dynamo that drove the camp picture show. A couple of tins of I meat, dripping or jam from our parcels would always work the oracle. Civilian clothes would be cobbled up by the Russian I camp tailors and then be camouflaged with the prison red stripe I on trousers and coat - all for the same manner of repayment as above Our stay in the camp was short lived for on the third I day we were told to hold ourselves in readiness to be moved off I to our commands at Dusseldorf,
It was certainly a strange action of the German Government I to send escaped prisoners back to the place where they had escaped from, but the action was probably due to this reason -so I many Englishmen were making attempts to escape merely to get I moved to some different work that might be easier than the job I they were at.
In this camp football and boxing were allowed to be I played on Sundays and great games used to be watched between the French and English teams, We were fortunate to see the camp I picture show, run under the supervision of some enterprising I German, and amongst the films which were probably pre-war, was one showing scenes around Sydney Harbour and also the Old Show Ground on some Easter Show week.
Before leaving camp we were subjected to a strict search,
I having to strip whilst our clothes were searched. Our paper I money was concealed in cigarettes and our precious compasses and I map in a bit of soap. So that when we left the camp we had not I only gained experience but were also better equipped for our next escape, which, on account of coming winter, had to be very soon.

[Page 34]
On this occasion we travelled with our sentry in a special compartment set aside for dogs, and over the journey had much pleasure in opening up some of our English foodstuffs under the eyes of the sentry and two civilians who had just partaken of their "snack" of a couple of dry (paper thickness) slices of German bread - it certainly gave us pleasure to see their envious eyes compelled to turn away.
Our hours train journey brought us to our home town and we arrived about tea time to receive a great reception from the Englishmen of the party who came to our assistance with gifts of food and clothing that kept us going until our parcels started coming to hand.
Our reception from the sentries was somewhat strained and we were alloted to rooms higher up in the building that would offer us greater obstacles by way of escaping. I lost my once comfortable job in the house and had to go out to work with the remainder of the party. We were watched closely both at work and in the house, and at nighttime used to be awakened three or four times over the night to see that dummies we had in our places when we escaped before, were not taking our places now. However in spite of being closely watched we were able to get into communication again with our lady friends per medium of a length of cotton-reaching from Xtes one of the top windows to the/ street below. Unfortunately we were unable to visit them again, but through our letters managed to get another detailed map and more particulars as regards train travelling.
Finding the long working hours did not offer us time enough to make preparations for our next attempt,and in order to get our clothes ready, I determined on getting sick-time, so with that intention in mind I managed to poison my left hand by rubbing rust into a blister, which through the swelling, necessitated it being lanced by the Doctor -- this bit of swindling got me a fortnight in the barracks.
In the meanwhile my pals working outside managed to smuggle in a length of stout wire unobserved, and our preparations were beginning to be well advanced.
About this time our food parcels were being stolen in transit, several out of each batch being missing, but through the vegetables that were stolen from the trains whilst the party were at work we managed to knock out an existence.
Through the previous interpreter having the luck to escape and a "Tommy" now installed in his stead- rows with the Germans
were almost an everyday occurrence, Charles,the South African, had been the right man in the right place, and had at all times kept harmony amongst the men, and kept the Germans in the right

[Page 35]
place too. The German papers, which were obtained with an
amount of bribing, were very cocksure about the ultimate end of ^the war finishing in Germany’s favor, and our sentries were of the opinion that Alsace Lorraine would never be voluntarily given up and that Germany would fight to the bitter end.
Things were looking none too rosy at this stage,for the Germans were just about to make the peace treaty with the Russians, and having the extra armies in trance they considered they had " all but" won the war.
Being watched so closely we determined on making "our break" Jjust on tea time - knowing that at the most we would only have I twenty minutes start.
Through the Corporal in charge discovering the map our friends had procured for us in the room where two of the escapees slept, and they (the two) being told that they were under arrest land to hold themselves in readiness for moving back to camp funder escort, where a sentence of fourteen days solitary I confinement awaited them, we were compelled to attempt out second escape on the night of December 12th, with the prospect of being out in the Continental Winter, in mud, water and snow, with a limited supply of foodstuffs and no cigarettes.
The bars of the windows from which we were to lower ourselves some fifteen or twenty feet to the roof of a shed and from there a drop of some ten feet into the street, were ten inches 4 apart. Six of us were making the attempt, the three of us that had made one attempt each taking a "new hand" in tow.
My pal, an Englishman, who was somewhat thick in the fit vicinity of the belt, had great trouble in working himself through I the ten inch bars, but after several "gymnastic contortions" and a good shove by one of those "who stayed at home" he got
* through and joined me on the roof. Choate and Pitts, who had got through an adjoining window, shook hands with me on the roof and reached the street first, making in their descent what seemed I to me a terrific amount of noise. Giving my pal the office to hurry up we reached the street the other two were not very far I behind us and Pitt & Choate out of sight.
The railway station was reached in good time, and in under ninety minutes we were in the train and making our way across the Rhine.
On this occassion, rather than risk the chance of being carried out of our course, we left the train at the first station across the Rhine - namely Neuss.
Making our way through the town amongst civilians and
soldiers, passing several policemen, we were soon leaving the town 1 well behind and were amongst the scattered villages. As the fields were all frozen and having a compass in our possession we took to the open country and walked until about 4o’clock in the

[Page 36]
morning and then we laid down in a ditch amongst some winter- stricken trees. We slept for a few hours in the snow and then, as cigarettes had run out, took turns at the " one and only pipe in our possession. At about 3 o'clock some old civilian, gathering firewood, walked on top of us and got into conversation with us, he was well on in years and complained about the hard times ~ what with the scarcity of food and having to pay the equivalent to 18/for a cotton shirt, 10/- for a pair of thin socks, 30/- for a pair of wooden soled boots etc.
We gave him our sympathy, said good-day to him, and walked off out of sight where we concealed ourselves in another hole amongst some bare trees.
Being open country all around us we were unable to "beat it" as we would be seen no matter in what direction we made off - so we were compelled to lie where we were on the offchance that if an alarm was given and an armed party came looking for us, they could only find us by walking on top of us.
An hour passed without interruption and we were beginning to think that our position was safe, when two armed soldiers charged in on our position - taking us in the front and rear, and were prisoners again after some twenty hours of liberty.

[Page 37]
On the occasion of our second re-capture we were taken to a Russian prisoner of war compound at Neuss, where that same night we entrained for Limburg,
Whilst going into Neuss in an electric tram-car, the German civilians were very jubilant over the success at Cambrai and were treating us to jibes and informing us that in a month’s time they would be in Paris to which we replied in our limited conversational ability, that they would not get there in a hundred years.
Knowing of the unpleasant solitary confinement ahead of us, had the chance offered itself both my pal and myself would have attempted a break, but it was no for we were too closely watched.
Our train journey to Cologne passed without incident and we disentrained and were put in the guard room until our train arrived next morning,
The Germans at this time were very scared about the much boomed American Air Squadron that never arrived. The station on all sides was sand-bagged and a strong guard was in evidence.
Another noticeable thing in all the big towns on or about the Rhine were the darkened lights, which, in all towns I was in were much darker than the London lights, this in view of the possibilities of an air raid, would show how scared the Germans were.
Over night, as no sleeping accommodation was available, we passed sitting about the floor. We were regailed with some soup that we had much pleasure (in view of possessing English food) in turning down - much to the amazement of the German soldiers
Next morning we continued our train journey and after some hours arrived at Limburg in the state of "Hesse-Nasau" -- famous for being the camp where the late Sir Roger Casement tried to form his Irish Brigade.
The camp was in a fine position, being on the top of a high hill, and the sanitary conditions and the general camp conditions were the best that I saw in any of the camps I was in.
Before going into the camp we were searched in the reception room, this time by a man that knew his game thoroughly, for all our contraband articles were discovered - except for some of the currency paper money.
Red Cross supplies at this camp were in abundance, for many prisoners working behind the firing line, who in all probability had died from lack of food, overwork or exposure, could not be traced and their parcels were accordingly distributed

[Page 38]
amongst the needy ones in camp.
A noticeable thing was a field cannon standing outside the wires, trained on to the English Barrack room, being at a distance of twenty-five yards away.
Regarding the attempted formation of the German Irish Brigade, I met a number of Irishmen who were in the camp when [the Germans tried to formulate this plan. About 2000 Irishmen with a big percentage of regular army men were concentrated at this camp, given particularly tasty food and allowed very easy (treatment for a month or so. Distributed throughout the camp were some thirty or so Germanised Irishmen wearing the uniform of the proposed corps, Notices were posted in all the barracks stating particulars as to pay, conditions etc and Germany's intention of liberating Ireland from the tyrannical English Government after the war. Casement on several occasions tried to make speeches to the men, but was invariably howled down. He then tried to get the men's confidence by mixing amongst them in the camp, and the story is told about him getting into holts with one of the camp cooks who knocked him over the head with his implement of office, which happened to be a large wooden ladle.
Easy measures were found to be of no avail and the Germans commenced bad treatment - plenty of standing to attention for [long periods, and the old starvation cure. Food parcels were opened up in front of the men and were then taken away. Still there were no recruits to speak of,for out of a large number of pen, only a score of renegade Englishmen turned coats, and that was only after some weeks of very bad treatment.
I was told that the sentries, whenever they walked into a barrack room (without there were a particularly strong number of them) would have missiles of all kinds thrown at them.
Finding that both ‘ideas’ wouldn't materialize, the camp was broken up and the Irishmen despatched to salt and coal mines and some to punishment camps. One camp I remember being at Geisen, where a number of Irishmen went mad.
In December 1917 many of the Italian prisoners were interned in this Limburg camp. They fell in for very bad treatment being on the usual "starvation diet". One certain cold winter Sunday they were compelled to stand to attention in the snow for about six hours because of the fact of them having been seen accepting food and clothing from the English prisoners.
One outstanding feature at this camp was the splendid physique of the Englishmen, who for the most part were out of the regular Guard regiments.
Our stay here was limited to a month, when we were taken back to Munster, spending about thirty hours in the train under an armed escort.

[Page 39]
Arriving at the station in the early hours of the morning
we were marched through a particularly heavy snow storm and on arriving at the camp were put into cells immediately. In the morning we were taken to the reception room, where after waiting about a week were given our trial «- when we started on our fourteen days solitary confinement.
We had a pretty cold fourteen days for we were under the ground in cellars, and what with the intense cold (not to mention [the soldier's "inveterate companion " the inevitable "chat") land the fact of there being a hitch in the smuggling of English food to us, we experienced anything but a picnic.
We were very much amused at seeing quite a number of familiar faces that we had met before, doing time for the same offence as we were. Amongst them were two of the party who had attempted their escape with us and who had been caught very early in the night, not having succeeded in crossing the Rhine, We also learnt 1 that the other two, Pitts & Choate, had been successful.
Christmas and New Year passed in these anything but pleasurable conditions and we were released about the 2nd Jany.
Camp conditions were the same as we had found them before - still [the same intriguing,for we had no difficulty in obtaining another compass and getting our clothing fixed up for our next attempt.
After two days in the camp we were sent back to Dusseldorf, (staying there a night, but as the Germans wouldn't entertain the [thought of our remaining, we were sent back to the camp at Munster,

[Page 40]
Shortly after arriving back at Munster I determined on faking some complaint, that, provided the German Doctor could be "bluffed", would prevent me from being sent out to work over the winter months. With this purpose in view I reported sick one morning, telling the Doctor that I had had an epileptic fit over night and producing a mate to substantiate my statement.
I fancy I must have looked honest, or perhaps the solitary confinement had made me look a mighty sick man, for my tale was accepted and I was classified as a man unfit for work of any kind and put on an exchange list for England - though I was under surveillance for some days.
Having achieved very much more than I had aimed for I was certainly not a scrap behind in giving the "fits" a further I flutter, always having recovered when the sentries put in an appearance.
I was very sorry to lose the pal I had attempted escape [with, for after we had been in camp about a fortnight he was sent off on a working party, and took with him the compass and maps that we intended using again, I also gave him the greater part of my civilian money, knowing that if I didn’t succeed in passing the final board of doctors I would be sent back to the camp where I should have plenty of opportunities for acquiring all the necessary articles for another attempt for my liberty.
Three weeks passed and my ruse was still going strong, Life, generally speaking, in this camp was fairly comfortable, for thanks to the Red Cross there was a very fair library in the camp, and this , with a concert or picture show once a week used to help break the monotony although field grey uniforms and barbed wire could not be forgotten.
The canteen in the camp run by Germans was a huge Joke, for all that could be bought were cigarettes (which used to cost 8 pfenigs, equivalent to 1d a piece) and were pretty rotten too
at that. Swedish matches, all manner of brushes and tooth paste and once a week "vin blac" of a very inferior quality was available at a cost of a mark for a small wineglass, but it was a rare occasion when any of us were financial enough to attempt I drowning our sorrows and tribulations.
Medical treatment in the camp was a bit of a farce, for apart from the paper bandages the doctor’s verdict for any kind of minor complaint was "aspirin tablets" and "arbide" which meant work - both in the same breath.
I had been out of gaol seven weeks, having a good time so far as good times went in Deutcshland, when one afternoon about 3 o'clock I was warned to get myself in readiness to move

[Page 41]
off in an hour’s time under escort for an unknown destination.
All my personal effects were taken from me and I was examined to see that I was taking nothing away that was against the interests of the "fatherland".
I left the camp - not as the Germans recently repatriated from Australia, with a limitation 80 lbs baggage weight, £50 notes but in just what I stood up in and a five mark note (not forgetting about 10 lbs of foodstuffs). On arriving at Munster Railway Station I was surprised to find myself amongst fifteen or so Englishmen, several of whom were absolutely incapacitated, the rest being more or less helpless.
I must admit that on seeing these helpless chaps I felt that in my pretense of fits I was doing an injustice to some poor wounded Englishman, but rightly or wrongly I wanted to be a free man and I had paid dearly for my two unsuccessful attempts to regain my liberty.
We were given second class accomodation in the train and journeyed as far as Cologne where we disentrained and rested a few hours. Here we were joined by other parties from different
camps and then continued our journey to Aachen. Insufficient orderlies were in attendance so that the few of us that could use our limbs had to assist in carrying stretcher cases and baggage, though we were travelling almost sixteen hours we received no food or hot drinks from the Germans,
Upon arrival at Aachen (sometimes called Aix la chapelle)
we were motored a distance of a few hundred yards to the [Exchange Hospital, where everything was spick and span, the various wards being attended to by nurses. Here the german food was particularly tasty, it being very evident that these belated kindnesses were being given so that good impressions might be carried back to England.
At last came the final board by the German Doctors , when 196 of us, including myself, passed the test. The test in my case being having my spine looked at and my eyes peered into (probably to see whether I looked truthful when I answered various questions) Some thirteen or more failed to pass and were sent back into Germany - one case, strange to say, being a genuine sufferer of the complaint I was supposed to have.
One particularly sad case amongst those who passed as that of an Australian who had only been a prisoner for a few months, having had an eye shot out with a revolver, and then the sight had gradually gone out of his other eye. He was clad in a clothes that would have insulted an Australian scarecrow, wearing wooden sabots for boots, and receiving no attention for a discharge coming from his missing eye socket. One Englishman amongst

[Page 42]
He was going home with a kink in the neck due in the first place to a blow from the butt end of a rifle received from a sentry.
Another chap with a helpless right arm due to lack of medical attention in the case of a poisoned hand, caused from a blister arising from working for the Fatherland. Another chap was maimed in such a way that I cannot describe, through a kick from 'some brutal sentry. There were many cases where carelessness in the dressing of wounds had made the wound considerably worse than it would have been with proper attention.
As against some of these cases of carelessness I was told by an Englishman who had been in the same hospital, of a case where an Englishman was operated on to remove an abscess in the vicinity of his heart the abscess was removed and the heart taken out and washed and then put back — the patient lived for twenty-four hours «had he lived longer the Doctor’s name would have been made as the feat would have been unparrelled in medical science.
After being a week in Aachen we were given a tram ride -through the city to an outlying railway station where we entrained on a Red Cross train - leaving next morning for Rotterdam.
I certainly had the laugh on "Fritz" for I came out of his country as a stretcher case, and I was too comfortable under the blankets to see what the Holland border looked like in the early hours of the dawn.
Arriving at the first big town across the border a crowd of Dutch Red Cross Ladies and English Y.M.C.A. Officials boarded the train,distributing cigarettes, chocolates and foodstufffs not forgetting a number of up-to-date English newspapers and periodicals that were very much appreciated by those of our number who were able to take an interest in how things were going in France.
The greater part of the country en route to Rotterdam .is very low lying and at all defensive points was strongly guarded by detachments of Dutch soldiers.
At some of the towns quite a show of feeling was given us but I guess the returning batch of repatriated Germans were given the same show of interest. Arriving at Rotterdam we disentrained and were given quarters in a large shed on one of the wharves, which had been turned into a hospital and was being looked after by ladies of the Dutch Red Cross, the catering being done by the RMDutch Baker Coy, whose boats were to take us over to England.
We were given no leave to see the City as there were a number of interned German soldiers working at civilian trades there, the authorities being frightened that a few broken heads and

[Page 43]
limbs might be the "result" if the parties came into contact with one another.
After two days of this bliss, being waited on hand and foot, fed decently and when you told a good tale about a bad I toothache a drop of whisky would be put into your hands, we were I put aboard the boat for England the same boat that had brought la number of Germans, repatriated, the previous night.
The first night aboard we spent in the harbour in I the first class saloon, singing choruses and hymns to the accompaniment of the piano — in short "getting the glad feeling of liberty and relief " off our chests - for only those of us who had seen the hun at his worst could realise to the full hilt what "liberty" really meant.
We had no escort but the Germans had guarranteed an
area free from mines. The trip of about twenty-four hours was uneventful except for running into a heavy sea, which made the majority of us mighty sick men.
We lay of the Wash for some hours and were then taken
off in tugs (the Dutch people on board not being allowed ashore) to the railway station at Leeds, passing en route a number of fat german civilians with an abundance of luggage - going "back" in anything like the exuberant spirit in which we had left Holland.
At Leeds, after a bit of a snack and some good old English tea we entrained on a Red Cross train for London, having our first meal (English) on the train - a big healthy plateful I of roast beef and vegetables, followed by apple pie. The Dutch I had treated us fairly well in the "eats", but they were rationed pretty severely there. This meal on the train was my best for close on eighteen months - it is over two years now since I ate it and I’ve not forgotten it.
On arriving at Charing Cross London at about eight o’clock - Royalty was in attendance and one of the Guard Bands was playing. We were greeted by a number of the Australian Red Cross ladies who had worked so untiringly on the organization that had kept us alive during our internment.
I well remember that the first words spoken to me by two Melbourne ladies, who knew I came from Sydney, were " have you seen our arbour".
We were motored from the Station to King George's Hospital Waterloo amidst the cheers of a large crowd and the Guards Band playing "Home Sweet Home", - It wasn’t "Home" to me but near enough,
A few days after our arrival Princess Mary entertained us at the Hospital with a belated Xmas dinner, followed by a concert. This almost made me forget my "German Xmas’s" - one in

[Page 44]
hospital and the other in gaol.
So ends my German experiences. Should they have been uninteresting I would remark that I have adhered strictly to facts, and in conclusion let me add "that in the times when I feel like praying, though they may be rare, I don’t forget God bless the Red Cross and its workers for what they did for me when I was in Germany.