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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Tunnellers of Holzminden - (with a side-issue) - -Author: Hugh George Edmund Durnford - -Release Date: June 11, 2016 [EBook #52308] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TUNNELLERS OF HOLZMINDEN *** - - - - -Produced by MWS and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet -Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div> - <h1 class='c000'>THE TUNNELLERS OF HOLZMINDEN</h1> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS</div> - <div>C. F. CLAY, <span class='sc'>Manager</span></div> - <div>LONDON: FETTER LANE, E.C. 4</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/cambridge_press.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='size90'> - -<table class='table0' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='25%' /> -<col width='5%' /> -<col width='70%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002'>NEW YORK</td> - <td class='c003'>:</td> - <td class='c004'>THE MACMILLAN CO.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002'>BOMBAY</td> - <td class='c003'>⎫</td> - <td class='c004'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002'>CALCUTTA</td> - <td class='c003'>⎬</td> - <td class='c004'>MACMILLAN AND CO., <span class='sc'>Ltd.</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002'>MADRAS</td> - <td class='c003'>⎭</td> - <td class='c004'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002'>TORONTO</td> - <td class='c003'>:</td> - <td class='c004'>THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, <span class='sc'>Ltd.</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002'>TOKYO</td> - <td class='c003'>:</td> - <td class='c004'>MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA</td> - </tr> -</table> - -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div id='frontis' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/frontis.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The track of the Holzminden Tunnel after being dug up.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>THE TUNNELLERS</span></div> - <div>OF</div> - <div><span class='xlarge'>HOLZMINDEN</span></div> - <div>(WITH A SIDE-ISSUE)</div> - <div class='c005'>BY</div> - <div>H. G. DURNFORD, M.C., M.A.</div> - <div><span class='small'>FELLOW OF KING’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE</span></div> - <div class='c005'>CAMBRIDGE</div> - <div>AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS</div> - <div>1920</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div>TO</div> - <div class='c005'>MY WIFE</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c006'>PREFACE</h2> -</div> - -<p class='drop-capa0_0_0_6 c007'>Almost exactly two years ago, as I write these lines, -the famous Holzminden Tunnel became history. -Even then, when the sordid camp was still lending (and -seemed likely to lend <i>in perpetuum</i>) its grey colour to -every aspect of life, when sense of proportion was practically -dormant and racial animosity intensified to the -highest pitch, it was impossible to overlook the peculiar -dramatic proprieties of the event. Some day, it was felt, -this story might be fittingly told.</p> - -<p class='c008'>And in the retrospect the feeling remains unaltered. -The harsh angles have softened: the tumult and the -shouting have died away to the remoter cells of memory: -Captain Niemeyer (of the Reserve) has departed—God -knows where! His imperial master is dragging out an -unhappy old age in exile. The British protagonists and -walkers-on in the 9-months struggle have scattered to -the ends of the Empire on their lawful occasions. Once -in a blue moon perhaps they think of it and rub their -eyes. The details are already vague. The whole of their -prison existence seems absurdly far away.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But it is in the hope that they will care to follow with -not uncritical interest the following plain unvarnished -account of the Tunnel episode that I, a mere looker-on, -have sorted out the threads and fitted the jumble together. -If any think this an impertinence, may I plead -that an ordinary stage hand may see more of the workings -of a nine months run than the star performers? To -them at any rate, protagonists, walkers- and lookers-on -in the event, and their friends and relations I would -address myself particularly. Through them alone can I -hope to interest the British public in this simple tale of -a strategically unimportant but highly successful side-show, -in Germany, in the dog days of 1918.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I am indebted to one friend in particular for assistance -in the true description of the actual Tunnel. He prefers -to remain anonymous. Many others of my ex-fellow-prisoners -have helped me in various ways. The design -which is reproduced on the cover was drawn by Lieutenant -Lockhead while in captivity at Stralsund and was intended -to serve as a Christmas card; I am indebted to him for -the loan of the block. To Messrs Blackwood I am obliged -for permission to reprint the personal experiences -contained in the final chapter.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r c009'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>H. G. DURNFORD.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c009'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>King’s College,</span></div> - <div class='line in4'><span class='sc'>Cambridge.</span></div> - <div class='line in8'><i>24th July 1920.</i></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c006'>CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table1' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='11%' /> -<col width='76%' /> -<col width='11%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c010'><span class='small'>CHAP.</span></td> - <td class='c002'> </td> - <td class='c011'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'> </td> - <td class='c002'>PROLOGUE</td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#Prologue'>1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>I.</td> - <td class='c002'>A CAMP IN BEING</td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#I'>14</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>II.</td> - <td class='c002'>NIEMEYER—AND PINPRICKS</td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#II'>32</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>III.</td> - <td class='c002'>INTRODUCING THE MAIN MOTIF</td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#III'>49</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>IV.</td> - <td class='c002'>ESCAPES</td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#IV'>60</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>V.</td> - <td class='c002'>ACCOMPLICES</td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#V'>71</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>VI.</td> - <td class='c002'>IN THE TUNNEL</td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#VI'>89</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>VII.</td> - <td class='c002'>REPRISALS</td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#VII'>101</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>VIII.</td> - <td class='c002'>THE LAST LAP</td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#VIII'>118</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>IX.</td> - <td class='c002'>THE ESCAPE AND THE SEQUEL</td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#IX'>131</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>X.</td> - <td class='c002'>CLOSING INCIDENTS</td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#X'>148</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>XI.</td> - <td class='c002'>MAKING GOOD</td> - <td class='c011'><a href='#XI'>164</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c006'>ILLUSTRATIONS AND PLANS</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table2' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='74%' /> -<col width='19%' /> -<col width='6%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>The track of the Holzminden Tunnel after being dug up</td> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'><i><a href='#frontis'>Frontispiece</a></i></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>A street in Ypres</td> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>The Cloth Hall in 1917</td> - <td class='c013'><i>to face p.</i></td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#illo002'>2</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>The Menin Gate of Ypres</td> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>The Battery in action N. of the Menin Road</td> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>The Menin Road</td> - <td class='c013'>”</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#illo005'>5</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>At the waggon-lines</td> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>View from Kaserne B, showing skating rink made in January 1918</td> - <td class='c013'><i>to face p.</i></td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#illo030'>30</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Karl Niemeyer</td> - <td class='c013'>”</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#illo036'>36</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>General plan of Holzminden Camp</td> - <td class='c013'><i>p.</i></td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#illo053'>53</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Kaserne B</td> - <td class='c013'><i>to face p.</i></td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#illo054'>54</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Scene of the Walter-Medlicott attempt</td> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>A dining-room at Holzminden</td> - <td class='c013'>”</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#illo061'>61</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Section and ground-plan of staircase, chamber, and tunnel entrance</td> - <td class='c013'><i>p.</i></td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#illo073'>73</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Course of the tunnel</td> - <td class='c013'>”</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#illo093'>93</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>At the tunnel mouth</td> - <td class='c013'><i>to face p.</i></td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#illo100'>100</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Section of attic roof</td> - <td class='c013'><i>p.</i></td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#illo112'>112</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Orderlies digging out the tunnel between Kaserne B and the outer wall</td> - <td class='c013'><i>to face p.</i></td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#illo142'>142</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Group of recaptured officers in a room at Holzminden</td> - <td class='c013'>”</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#illo162'>162</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Facsimile of the original permit-card copied by Lockhead</td> - <td class='c013'><i>to face p.</i></td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#illo169'>169</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Facsimile of the forged railway passport</td> - <td class='c013'><i>between pp.</i></td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#illo175'>174-5</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012'>Map of N.W. Germany and frontiers</td> - <td class='c013'><i>p.</i></td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#illo189'>189</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Prologue' class='c006'>PROLOGUE</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>“B/—th will detail the liaison officer for the Group for -to-morrow the 5th.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Brigade orderly splashed in bearing the unwelcome -message. I had just turned in. The never-to-be-forgotten -fatal three days’ downpour which had set in on -the 31st July 1917 and had upset so many calculations -had just stopped and we had enjoyed an afternoon and -evening of bright sunshine and cloudless skies. The -water in the dug-out, which had risen steadily in spite of -temporary responses to our efforts with an old trench -pump and a chain of buckets, was now gradually beginning -to abate and the stretcher on which I slept was once more -high and dry. Also I was due to go down to waggon-lines -in two days’ time, and life generally was taking on -a less sombre hue.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It could afford to. Our six weeks in action in the -Salient had been lived in an atmosphere of almost unrelieved -gloom, an atmosphere—so we had come to believe—inalienable -from the place itself.</p> - -<p class='c008'>One had come to realise what men had meant who -in earlier days on the Somme—when all was said to -be quiet at Ypres—had trekked south into the Valley -of the Shadow of Death and remarked that “it was -better than the Salient.” Now we had seen for ourselves. -It had not merely been the shelling and the -fact that there was not a really safe spot, except in the -very ramparts of the Eastern wall themselves, between -Belgian Battery Corner and the front line. It had not -merely been that the German gunners conveyed the impression -that they were <i>aiming</i> at <i>you</i>, that they knew -exactly where you were, and that they were doing it—had -been doing it all along—more as a pleasure than -as an allotted task. It had not been the fact that no -fatigue or waggon-line party could set great hopes on -returning scatheless from a job of work; nor that here -hostile aeroplane observation seemed more acute than -in other parts; nor again that rarely a night passed -but one saw or heard of some shambles on a main traffic -road. It was none of these things. The spirit of Ypres -was abroad, impregnating those new to her. From the -very morning when, accompanying a harassed, jumpy -acting C.R.A. on his round of battery inspections, I -had first seen her, I had felt the spell upon me. It was -like grey skies and a wind in the east, the quintessence -of sombreness. The intervals of quiet could not be -called peace; they served only to intensify the solitude. -The history of the place seemed to cast its stamp on -those who sojourned in it.</p> - -<div id='illo002' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_002_facing_a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>A street in Ypres.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_002_facing_b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Cloth Hall in 1917.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_002_facing_c.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Menin Gate of Ypres.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>We had come into action at the beginning of July. -Our instructions had been to get “in” and camouflaged -and registered and then wait for “the day,” and that -waiting had been sorely trying to the patience. It had -been far worse than sitting on the Messines Ridge in -June. We had been told we should be “silent,” but -we had fired steadily nevertheless, and this meant, of -course, more ammunition and added risk of casualties -amongst horses and men. It had meant having the men -out of cover to shift the shells from their depôts to the -gun-pits; and such things were considerations when we -were losing men at the rate of about two a day and the -stock of capable gunners and N.C.O.’s, depleted at -Messines, was beginning to run dangerously low. “D” -Battery on our immediate right had had an even worse -time. Poor old “D.” They were always getting the -rough of it since Courcelette, and this time they had got -it very rough indeed. They had had no cellar to put -their gun-crews in and we had been unable to spare them -a share in ours, so they had left emergency crews at the -guns and worked them by nucleus shifts, the remainder -sleeping a long way behind.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The preparations had dragged their slow course along, -and we had gone on with our daily routine, never knowing -what the next minute was not going to produce, unloading -and storing the ammunition, and heaving a sigh of relief -when the last pack-horse had discharged his daily load -and that anxiety at least was off our shoulders for the -day; checking the sights and aiming-posts, strengthening -so far as we could the pits, watching and shepherding -the men; gassed one night and on duty all the next and -then gassed again the third—the deadly mustard fellow -had just made his costly début; counting the leaden -hours, congratulating ourselves each time that—our duty -over—we made the dug-out door afresh; and ever and -anon looking hopefully through the tattered screen which -still served to shield our part of the Menin Road from -hostile observation to where Passchendaele Church stood -prominent and quite intact on the opposite slope.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In five weeks the Corps Artillery alone had lost (I -believe the figure is correct) 568 officers, killed, wounded, -or gassed, and other ranks also had lost in proportion. -We ourselves had lost one officer (gassed almost as soon -as we had got in), five out of our six N.C.O.’s, and -twelve gunners or bombardiers. “D” had had a young -officer just out from England killed with a sergeant immediately -behind our own guns, and a direct hit on one -of their dug-outs had deprived them of three more sergeants -and two gunners at one fell swoop. The toll had -mounted up steadily, and though the C.-in-C. had issued -a special appreciation of the bearing of the artillery in -these difficult circumstances, we had day by day been -feeling more the heavy strain.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Then had come the last days of July. All the conceivable -practice barrages had been fired and the Huns -made wise to the uttermost.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Then again—amidst rumours that the French were -two days late—the storm clouds had gathered from the -unfavourable quarter, and finally on the 31st July the -great unwieldy barrage had unwound its complicated -length in drizzling rain on the Hun lines. The infantry -had gone over and reached the “black line” up to -scheduled time: but on the “black line” they had lost -co-ordination; when the barrage advanced again they had -been late to follow up; the barrage had rolled on unheeding; -our men, floundering in its wake on hopeless -ground and now in a steady downpour, had had to come -back and consolidate on the “black line,” while the -batteries awaited in vain the longed-for order to advance.</p> - -<hr class='c015' /> - -<p class='c008'>Well, what was one job more or less after all? One -might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, and I should -go down to waggon-lines with all the clearer conscience -on the 6th, and sleep.... How I would sleep! -I would get down there for lunch if I could, have a -quiet ride in the afternoon into “Pop,” and come back -to waggon-lines for an early dinner and bed. How -glorious to wake up once more, and to hear the birds -twittering outside! It seemed ages ago since one had -done so last, and it was in reality just eight days. My -waggon-line billet was in a small farm-house. Madame -and her man had been, for those parts, friendly enough. -I remembered having tried to convey to Madame that -next time I visited her, Ypres would be free. She had -not understood, and perhaps it had been just as well.</p> - -<div id='illo005' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_005_facing_a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Battery in action N. of the Menin Road.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_005_facing_b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>The Menin Road.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_005_facing_c.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>At the waggon-lines.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Yes, a late breakfast, after a sluice-down in the open -air, a leisurely toilet, and a stroll round the horses; and -then perhaps a real joy-ride, an all-day affair towards -Nieppe Forest....</p> - -<p class='c008'>I rang up the battery and gave my orders for signallers -and an orderly on the morrow. There was only one -other subaltern available for the job, and as the Major -was out at the time I deputed myself. It is the unwritten -rule.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I read through the standing orders for the Group -liaison officers, finished my chapter of <i>Sonia</i>—I was -to read the next in a very different setting—and went -to sleep.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Menin Road was a populous concern in those -days and the varied traffic comforted our gregarious -souls as we walked down at a round pace next morning -after breakfast to pay our respects <i>en route</i> to Infantry -Brigade and the senior Artillery Liaison Officer of the -Group in the big labyrinth of dug-outs at the bottom -of the hill. Hell Fire Corner, though still occasionally -shelled “on spec,” was no longer the shunned, depressing -cross-roads that it used to be. Now it even boasted -a military policeman to control the traffic. Ambulance -cars and heavy lorries passed and met us. The road -was thick with infantry and fatigue-parties of various -kinds going up and coming out.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The shattered boughs and fallen branches, which had -blocked the unused road before, had now been side-tracked; -only dead mules and horses here and there -had created fresh obstructions. Fritz was putting most -of his metal this morning on to the front line and the -ridge where we were due at noon; but even back here -he had guns enough to send over his one a minute, -searching—now that he might no longer observe—for -some of his old favourite spots. So we did not loiter.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At Infantry Brigade they were making their toilet. -The senior Liaison Officer told me that battalion had -shifted its headquarters during the night: “too hot to -stay where it was.” He gave me what he understood -were the map co-ordinates of their new abode, and I -took my departure.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We crossed the old No Man’s Land, passed the -working-parties at their thankless tasks of road-making -in the churned morass, and picked our way warily round -the crater lips across the old German front line system -till we struck the railway. It did not seem to be getting -shelled, and would at least afford better going than if -we plunged through the crater-field direct towards the -front line. My intention was to nurse the railway for -a mile or so, and then, leaving it, to strike across up -the ridge in order to hit off “The Rectory,” where -Battalion H.Q. were reported to be.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I had not been forward myself since the show. It -was worse even than I expected. The ground was just -beginning to harden in the hot sunshine, but every hole -was filled with water and one had to plan out one’s -course with long detours, jumping precariously from -island to island. The rusted wire, half buried in the -loose earth, tore one’s puttees. The whole place stank. -There were very few dead about; the Hun communiqué -had probably not lied in saying that their outposts had -been lightly held. But the railway embankment gave -possible lodgment for the feet and we kept along it as -I planned, with six paces between each man and one -eye on the 4·2’s falling just to our right in the valley. -The effect on that ground was only local and we had -no fears of splinters.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At last, panting and thirsty, we reached the crest -which our infantry were holding. We could see no -movement. Over the bleak expanse of shell-holes there -was no human being to be seen; one had got to cast -one’s eye right back to where the working-parties -were.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A line of ruined houses and pill-boxes ran along the -ridge. One of them was “The Rectory.” I went into -it; there was a concreted cellar facing Boche-wards, -but nobody inside it. I hailed a Red Cross man who -was wandering about forlornly. He hadn’t seen anyone, -didn’t know anything.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was rather annoying. I looked up my book of the -rules and tried a cast back to the original map reference -for Battalion Headquarters. It must be a ruined pill-box -which they were shelling. I waited till there was a -pause and then looked inside. No, not a sign of anyone.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Confound Brigade! That part of the programme -must wait, that’s all. I had to establish connection by -visual with our Brigade signallers at Hell Fire Corner -and must plant my lamp.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We went down into one of the pill-boxes on the -ridge and deposited the gear. The dug-out was a foot -or more deep in water, but must have been a comfortable, -secure home. Two wounded infantrymen were -lying on the bunks on one side of the dug-out. They -told me they had been there since the first day, untended -save by chance arrivals. I tried to cheer them -up and we offered them our water-bottles.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We stuck the lamp up just behind the pill-box on -the top of a bank and flashed it full in the direction of -Hell Fire Corner. There was no answer. “Nothing’s -going right to-day,” I thought, and the shells were -pitching just to our right and inviting retirement to the -safe—if damp—recess beneath us.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But I was overdue and had not found sign or trace -of the infantry. The place might be deserted for all the -world, save for our little party. I had one more cast -round in various ruined pill-boxes on our side of the -slope, and then made up my mind to go forward—east—a -little. My Major had told me yesterday that our -fellows were digging in in front of the ridge. Perhaps -the infantry Colonel was with them.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It did not seem very likely, on the forward side of a -ridge sloping towards Hunland, but unusual things -were done in those days of disorganisation and I had -not seen a single infantryman since we left the working-parties -behind us early in the morning. Our infantry, -if they were not a myth, must be east of me, not west.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I left my signallers still flashing vainly and took my -orderly with me to the forward slope of the ridge. We -stalked down a hedge about 50 yards, then turned due -right along another. There was another “pill-box” -just half right of us.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“That might be them, sir,” said my orderly.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We swung sharp right and walked up to it. I saw -an unusual helmet. “One of our Tommies decking -himself out,” I thought. Then another helmet of the -same sort, and the truth flashed on me just as it was too -late and we were within a few paces of them, with the -pill-box between us and home, covered by a couple of -German rifles.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A dozen very vivid thoughts raced through my mind. -“Somebody’s made the most awful howler.” “I can’t get -back.” “Where in thunder were our infantry, then?” -“This is the end.” “I haven’t even got a revolver on -me.” “Prisoner!—what will they say?” “What the -devil <i>will</i> they say?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>I gave the lad an order and we held up our hands. -I will not labour the apology. The back verandah of -the pill-box—so it looked—was bristling with amazed -and animated Huns. Cut off from retreat, unarmed -and utterly flabbergasted, what would you? I stammered -out a few words in bad French to their officer -and then asked leave to sit down. I was exhausted -and quite overwhelmed. So this was the result of my -fourteen months of cumulative experience. What a -culmination! To walk over No Man’s Land on a bye-day -in broad daylight into a German nest! Such a thing -had never come into our ken that I could remember. -And if it had, I should have been the first to pass -uncharitable comment. What hideous irony! I looked -at the boy I had led unwittingly into captivity. What -sort of an officer did <i>he</i> think I was now? He would -bless me before it was all over, if all one heard, had -read of, was true. Suddenly one began to see the -prisoner-of-war question in a new light. What was it -like really? And all the time I racked and racked my -brains to think whose fault it was, where the mistake -had lain. I knew the range on the map to “The Rectory,” -which I had just left, and the range of our S.O.S. -barrage. Three hundred yards to play with. I had -come barely a hundred. Perhaps they hadn’t known of -this pill-box. To know, O Lord, if only to know—and -I couldn’t<a id='r1' /><a href='#f1' class='c016'><sup>[1]</sup></a>.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> -<div class='footnote' id='f1'> -<p class='c008'><span class='label'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. </span>I did learn later, at Stralsund Camp in Germany, where I met the Colonel I was then trying to find. He told me his H.Q. on that day had been 100 yards <i>north</i> of “The Rectory,” which they had found too hot to stay in.</p> -</div> -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>That day seemed an eternity. In the evening I heard -the shells from my own battery come whizzing over. -I was to have observed them, five rounds of battery -fire on the German front line at 5 p.m. Since the push -this had been the only method, except by visual; no -wires had lived a day up till then.</p> - -<p class='c008'>My tie alone proclaimed me as an officer. I had left -my tunic and all my impedimenta, with—fortunately—my -notebooks and important papers, in the pill-box on -the ridge.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The orderly in his rough way was comforting. I felt -sorry for the boy. It wasn’t his fault anyway.</p> - -<p class='c008'>One had an early insight into the German character. -This lot were Mecklenburgers and good stuff by the -look of them, but desperately dull and earnest. All -day long they sat in that pill-box—three officers and -about twenty men—and jabbered. There wasn’t a laugh, -there wasn’t even the semblance of a smile. They -smoked cigars most of the time; when food was brought, -they gobbled it down like famished wolves and then -turned to jabbering and smoking once more. Occasionally -a British plane caused a diversion; they rushed to -the verandah and craned their necks at it amidst a babel -of maledictions, it would have been funny—if one had -been in the heart for it—to see the way these fellows -took their war. They were perfectly safe, and knew it, -until such time as we should attack again. The pill-box -must have been sunk a yard or more beneath the -ground, and had five feet or more of concrete on every -side. Only the back-blast from a shell pitching in their -back verandah—short of a direct hit from a heavy gun—could -have done much harm. They were wonderfully -well camouflaged.</p> - -<p class='c008'>They gave me something to drink but could not -spare any food, and I smoked a cigar or two. When it -got dark they sent us down under an escort. We had -hardly started when a “strafe” began, so we sat in -another pill-box and listened to our own shells falling -all round and hitting the place more than once.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Then the bombardment died away and we went on -our way—across the swampy Hanebeek, past batteries -and groups of infantry in open trenches or yet other -pill-boxes; into Company Headquarters, a crowded -cellar in a farm, where a brief examination of our guides -by a pot-bellied, earnest Hun officer took place; and -then away again, on over more open, firmer country, -up a long slope by a narrow bridle-path, with our shells -still falling at intervals round about and fresh corpses -of men and horses showing where our guns had found -occasional value from searching tracks whose use had -been established. The warning <i>Draht</i>, <i>Draht</i> (“ware -wire”) of our surly N.C.O. guide became rarer, we -emerged at length on to a regular road, and after an -hour or so’s walking we were taken into the roomy and -laboriously built and fortified quarters of the Regimental -Staff. There more depositions were taken by the bullet-headed -Brigade Major, a forbidding-looking, efficient -little blackguard, I thought, and a good specimen of -their military machine. Cigars were provided for our -guides and we were marched out again once more, items -of passing interest, no doubt, but as human beings -inconsiderable. We would be going towards Moorslede. -I was dead tired and faint with hunger, but the cool -night air blew fresh upon my forehead. We passed ammunition -limbers by the score—great, clumsy things -they seemed after our neat Q.F. variety—and now and -again a company of infantry coming up to the line at the -rapid, business-like half run, half walk, which struck -one so strangely after our own infantry’s measured pace. -They seemed to be in high spirits, and had a cheery word -for our guides. From what I saw, the German Flanders -army went up cheerfully enough in those days to take -its hammering.</p> - -<p class='c008'>And then at last, in the grey dawn and after many -questionings of passers-by by our somewhat uncertain -guides, Moorslede, and a brief halt in a Headquarters -of sorts; then on again on the last stage, beyond shell-fire -now and knowing—as every German had enviously -said to us who could speak English at all—that “the -war was <i>over for us</i>.” It was their stock phrase, and I -believed them with a deep-down feeling somewhere—in -spite of all the bitterness—that it was so, and that I -should at least, given reasonable luck, see home and -friends once more.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Into Roulers we fare in a grinding, shaking motor-bus -and take our first impression of black rye bread and -<i>ersatz</i> coffee.</p> - -<p class='c008'>And here we may be left—in a Belgian occupied -town, in a stifling, ill-ventilated room, amidst a motley -crew of unwashed, sleepy, but not unfriendly Germans; -worn with the fatigue and strain of the last long fifteen -hours, and at first—for my part—probing vainly for an -explanation of it all; and then, as the tyranny of the -stomach grows more ensconced, settling down to the -long, absorbing vigil of waiting on the next full meal.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='I' class='c006'>CHAPTER I<br /> <br />A CAMP IN BEING</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>A broad, level, methodically cultivated plain; a horizon -of wooded slopes with, every few degrees or so, the -suggestion of winding valleys and watercourses; to the -northward, the river Weser, Nature’s barrier beyond -the wire, flowing between us and freedom, and visible -from our upper windows in an occasional gleam of silver -against the shadows of the steep further bank; to the -west the town, red-roofed and picturesque with adjoining -allotments; on the edge of the allotments a -large square walled enclosure containing two very recent -architectural abominations, eyesores in the general prospect—to -wit, <i>Kaserne</i> A and B of the <i>Offizier Gefangenen -Lager</i><a id='r2' /><a href='#f2' class='c016'><sup>[2]</sup></a> Holzminden, that highly advertised Brunswickian -retreat which, on a day in September 1917, -flung open its hospitable gates to its first English guests, -an advance instalment of about thirty from Karlsruhe. -Such—in a paragraph—was Holzminden Camp and its -environment.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> -<div class='footnote' id='f2'> -<p class='c008'><span class='label'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. </span>Officer prisoners-of-war camp.</p> -</div> -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>The new Camp had been freely boomed; the <i>Lager</i> -“Poldhu” had got hold of it and done wonders with -it—that mysterious <i>Lager</i> “Poldhu” of Germany in -war time, which spoke not through wires or wireless -and seemingly lacked all means of transmission, but -which percolated, none the less, from <i>Lager</i> to <i>Lager</i> in -some mysterious way, so that what should by rights -have remained a close secret in the <i>Kommandantur</i><a id='r3' /><a href='#f3' class='c016'><sup>[3]</sup></a> at -X in Baden was known all over the Camp at Y in Silesia -within a week or so. Thus it was noised abroad in a -dozen camps that four had got out from Freiburg and -were still at large, that a tunnel scheme had been discovered -at the last moment at Magdeburg, and that -poor old C— had got “jug” again for hitting a sentry -in the parcel office at Ströhen.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> -<div class='footnote' id='f3'> -<p class='c008'><span class='label'><a href='#r3'>3</a>. </span>Kommandantur means in a prison camp that part set apart for the German personnel, and includes the Commandant’s office.</p> -</div> -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Holzminden—so ran the “Poldhu”—was to be the -real thing, a prisoner’s Mecca—fine, brand-new buildings, -spacious grounds, good scenery, good air. The -report was discussed and swallowed or pooh-poohed according -to temperament. The Schwarmstedt crowd took -the news of their impending departure thither with a pronounced -sniff. They were—had been for several months—in -the Xth Army Corps Area. Holzminden also was -in the Xth Army Corps. There could no good thing -come out of the Xth Army Corps. Schwarmstedt was -in fact sufficiently sceptical of the Xth Army Corps to -have remained gladly in its flea-ridden huts, had it not -been that the prospect of a winter on the bog-wastes in -those flimsy buildings seemed almost intolerable. That -fate was reserved in the actual event for Italians, with -the usual leavening of neglected Russians.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Accordingly, an advance party of the ‘nineteen-fourteeners’ -and ‘-fifteeners’ of Schwarmstedt packed -up their household gods and suffered themselves to be -transported to Holzminden. They were told authoritatively -that this was going to be merely a stopping-place -on the way to Holland and exchange; so they threw -chests-full of tins at the starving Russians who were -remaining behind, left their heavy luggage to follow -after them, and arrived only with the clothes they stood -up in and a suit-case of tins to last them till they -reached the border. The border took most of them -three months to reach; the suit-cases were empty in -under a week. It was galling, after having been led to -believe that they would be dining at the Hague in a -few days, to find that they were to remain prisoners -for an indefinite period in a camp in which the feeding -arrangements were, to put it mildly, as yet incompletely -organised. But they had acted unwisely. Three and a -half years of doubt and uncertainty should have taught -them better than to travel empty-handed so far from -their refilling point, or to rely on exchange until they -were actually at the border.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Fortunately, however, they were only the advance -guard; the main party from Schwarmstedt had yet to -come, and when the nakedness of the land and the -bleakness of the immediate exchange prospect was really -discovered, the wires were set in motion and injunctions -passed to the remainder to save what could yet be -saved. Anything edible had long since disappeared -down the throats of the Russians and would, in any -case, have been difficult to reclaim from our unfortunate -Allies. But other things of less immediate value were -salved; and the main party from Schwarmstedt pulled -out in their turn from the bog camp, resigned at least -to a temporary stay in their new abode, and properly -equipped with the more essential things. It was a regal -transport. There were 200 of them, not to mention -their hand-luggage, which assumed vast proportions, -since everything that was left behind as heavy luggage -stood an even chance of being lost in transit, even if -transport exigencies in the Fatherland permitted of it -ever being put on board a train.</p> - -<p class='c008'>What an arrival that was—the main body from -Schwarmstedt! We raw ‘seventeeners,’ fresh up in our -ordnance boots and Tommies’ tunics from the sorting -camps of Heidelberg and Karlsruhe in mild Baden, -could hardly credit it. We had what we wore, plus, -perhaps, an odd shirt which the Belgian ladies in -Courtrai might have given us. Here was an eye-opener—Schwarmstedt -Camp come to Holzminden under a -camouflage of suit-cases! We leaned out of the windows -of “A” Barrack as they staggered in at the main gate, -and the Schwarmstedt advance party hailed their friends -as the stream rolled on through the inner gate into the -camp grounds, and bawled out amidst the general babel -disparaging comment on the new camp and its personnel.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Irish Mick in our room was in great form. “Bury -your notes,” he sang out, “bury your notes. They -sthrip ye mother naked.” Every one in three of the -incoming cortège had not less on him than 50 marks in -German currency notes. (<i>Strengstens verboten</i>, of course, -and a search on arrival was the accepted thing.) So, -taking Mick at his word, they sat them down on the -dusty <i>Spielplatz</i>, made unobtrusive graves with pocket -knives, and dedicated their money to the land. Perhaps -they were seen. Perhaps the scratches were in some -cases too obvious. At all events the Germans became -wise; and one of their N.C.O.’s going round betimes -next morning before the party had been able to see to -their investments unearthed no less than 2000 marks! -The Schwarmstedt party lost the first round.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We have digressed somewhat: but those first few -days at Holzminden were days of digressions, of alarums -and excursions, of administration too chaotic even for -a serious strafe. The best organisation in the world -will not get 500 more or less passive resisters satisfactorily -transplanted from one place to another without -considerable difficulty, and the German arrangements at -Holzminden were ludicrously insufficient for their task. -The buildings were there, and that was about all. The -crockery had not arrived; there were three large boilers -in the German cook-house to cater for the bodily wants -of 500 English officers and 100 Germans; there were -two or three wretched cooking-stoves for our private -use; there were about half a dozen British orderlies—the -rest, we were told, were on their way; the bathroom -had not even been begun; the parcel room was not yet -open, nor was the canteen; the German staff were incomplete, -new to the ropes, and totally inefficient. The -Commandant was a kindly old dodderer of about seventy -who left everything in the hands of the Camp Officer; -and the Camp Officer, as we were to know before very -long and as a good many knew quite well already, was -the most plausible villain and the biggest liar in Germany. -Hauptmann Karl Niemeyer will figure perforce largely -in these pages. Let him be introduced to the reader as -he introduced himself to us on our arrival in the camp. -It was one of his stock ‘turns.’</p> - -<p class='c008'>Twenty-five of us had arrived at midnight from -Heidelberg, dead tired and hungry, and had been -greeted in fluent Yank beneath the flaring electric lamp -at the door of the Kommandantur by someone whom at -first sight and sound we took to be rather a genial and -sympathetic person. He told us that he was glad to see -us, that he was always glad to see any Englishman, that -he had been great friends with the English himself before -the war, and that he hoped to be so again. But -that in the meanwhile war was war. That we had -better, y’know, write straight away to our friends for -our thickest clothes, y’know. It was very cold here in -winter, y’know—(he did not then add that there was -also very little fuel and that wood was going to cost us -18 marks a pailful). He concluded his speech of welcome -on a note of old-world hospitality which made us -think of bedroom candles and a comforting ‘night-cap’:—</p> - -<p class='c008'>“So now, yentlemen, I expect you will be glad to go -to your bedrooms. I will wish you good-night. You -will be searched in the morning.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>We crawled upstairs full of hope and were sorted -out into three of the upper rooms reserved for newcomers. -There was nothing to eat and no night lingerie -to slip into; and we were locked in because we had not -been searched.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the morning we appeared again, empty and unshaven, -for the search. Our kind mentor of the night -before must have pierced our secret, for almost his first -enquiry was whether we had breakfasted. A menial -was then despatched to bid the cook provide breakfast -for the <i>Herren</i> with all despatch, and we solaced our -impatience with unreasoned thoughts of a sizzling -rasher, or at least some <i>wurst</i>. Breakfast, when it came, -was one cup each of <i>ersatz</i> coffee, and lukewarm at that. -But the genial Karl pretended not to understand our -disgust.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It must be admitted that he did not confine his -innocent pranks to the newly captured. All was fish -that came to his net. The only difference was that he -got so little change out of those who knew the ropes. -They, for instance, might have guessed what “breakfast” -(German 1917 version) meant. Also they knew -their rights and how far he—and they—could go, -pretty well to the last centimetre. So, be it added, did -he. It was one thing for the whole camp to laugh at -him on <i>appel</i> (roll-call). Laughing and shouting on -<i>appel</i>—Homeric ripples of merriment or short sharp -barks from the entire assembly—were recognised as -means of entering effective protest when the Germans -began to exceed their prerogatives. But it would be -quite another thing to tell Niemeyer to his face to shut -up. One officer did this and was promptly marched -off to the cells. These two had waged bitter war since -Ströhen days and the Englishman had renewed the -offensive by openly refusing to shake Niemeyer’s hand -on arrival at Holzminden. It was natural that the -latter should get back on him as soon as the opportunity -arrived. Holding, as he did, all the scoring cards, -Niemeyer never went out of his way to avoid trouble. -On the contrary, he welcomed it. His power to deal -with the situation to his own satisfaction only failed -when, as sometimes happened, his temper passed completely -beyond his control.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Under him, and in charge of Kaserne A, was one -Gröner, a saturnine, sallow, heavy-moustachioed fellow, -reputed a schoolmaster in civil life, and from all appearances -a worthy exponent of Kultur. By the -Schwarmstedt lot he was known and loathed, and his -stomach bulged temptingly as he stalked on to our <i>appel</i>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>And there was Ulrich, who arrived shortly after the -opening of the camp and assumed command of B -Kaserne and its two hundred and fifty inhabitants. -Ulrich had stopped something very recently in the -Passchendaele fighting and was generally understood to -be “swinging the lead.” At all events no brisker or -jauntier figure was to be seen most days of the week. -But if a General hove in sight, or there was a rumour -of further drastic combings-out in the home service -cadres, Ulrich forthwith assumed a halt and woe-begone -gait. His chest caved in, his left leg lagged behind his -right, and he appeared supremely miserable and C3. -These seizures were chronic, but were noticed to be of -brief duration. For the rest, Ulrich was polite, but a -doubtful character. To a privileged few he was communicative -and expressed his doubts as to the orthodoxy -of the conduct of prison camps in the Xth Army Corps. -But his billet depended on his keeping in with the -authorities; he was a border-line case for the front, -and he had a wife and numerous children. What would -you, or he?</p> - -<p class='c008'>Let us take the opportunity to introduce the rest of -the minor characters. There was a <i>Feldwebel-Leutnant</i> -called Welman who rejoiced—justly enough—in the -sobriquet of the “Jew Boy.” He had never been to -the front, was reported to be permanently unfit and to -get fifty per cent. of the profits of the canteen. At all -events he was the officer in charge of the Quartermaster’s -Department in this Camp, and was credited accordingly -with a snug war billet. He was not discourteous, but -if unduly harassed by his own superiors, or by a long -row of sneeringly critical English, he became excited, -and his voice used to sound as if it came out of the -bridge of his Semitic nose. He spoke vile Berlinese and -was generally regarded as a harmless enough little soul -with a capacity for business.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There was “Square-eyes,” an old farmer Feldwebel -who had been promised his discharge months since and -loathed his present job. He never made an enemy -among the English in the camp and used to speak -broken English, beaming through enormous horn -spectacles. Unfortunately his reign did not last long. -Either his discharge came, or he was regarded by the -authorities as too mild for his job. At all events he left -us comparatively early.</p> - -<p class='c008'>And there were other gentlemen Feldwebels who -construed their duties too humanely for the taste of the -authorities and were removed; and one or two who -gained full approbation, and remained to add to the -gaiety of things.</p> - -<p class='c008'>What a fate to have the charge of officers in a prison -camp! Theirs was not an enviable lot. If they were too -severe, they forfeited all moral control over us. If they -were too complaisant, they risked losing their jobs. There -was no more difficult fence on which to sit and preserve -balance. A few—the more democratic—were doubtless -intrigued by the idea of exercising control on the sacred -officer class; on most it weighed as an irreconcileable -anomaly.</p> - -<p class='c008'>One little fellow, Mandelbrot, curiously combined -respect and authority in his behaviour to us. He was -an incorrigible disciplinarian and never allowed any -liberties. But if he had to address a British officer, -whatever the officer’s rank, he would click his heels together -and stand to attention.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The first ten days at Holzminden were chaos itself. -Even Niemeyer was unable to exert himself as actively -inimical in the complete disorganisation. He was too -busily engaged in strafing his own staff. Moreover, he -was as yet only Camp Officer. The doddering old -Commandant still reigned and Niemeyer’s time was -largely spent in interposing his unwelcome oar into -conversations between the Commandant and an aggrieved -senior British officer.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The English, moreover, were at sixes and sevens -amongst themselves. It was frankly a struggle for food. -Schwarmstedt, as stated, had brought very few tins. -We from Baden had none. The German commissariat -was of course execrable. There was no “common box” -or relief store of tins and food for new-comers such as -had been instituted in the prosperous days of Crefeld -and Gütersloh, when the odd captives straggled in from -the battle of the Somme and found plenty awaiting -them. Parcels had in many cases been already countermanded -on the strength of the Holland rumour, in -others they were in process of being diverted from -Schwarmstedt, and this would probably be a matter of -weeks. For the first time since 1914 the old campaigners -were casting about for their next meal. It was a new -experience. The German canteen, of course, had nothing -edible for sale. There was barely fuel enough for our -few stoves; the baths were not yet open; the beds -were hard and rocky.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It needed but a brief acquaintanceship with the Xth -Corps to be able to put one’s finger on the <i>fons et origo -mali</i>, which went much deeper than the doddering -Commandant and his graceless Lieutenant. Everything -that was unpleasant in our new surroundings had been -hatched, we might be sure, at H.Q. from the brain of -von Hänisch, the fox, <i>General Kommandierende</i> of the -Corps. Now von Hänisch, besides being by nature fox-like, -had got a bad hammering from the English on the -Somme, and had lost many men, and his field command -into the bargain; and now, with a third or so of the -British officer prisoners-of-war in Germany under his -amiable tutelage, he was not the man to waste any time -in getting back on the country which had been the -means of breaking him.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The camp was not ten days old before von Renard -took a preliminary prowl round his prize covert to -appraise the value of his new hunting grounds; the -magic word went forth “<i>Inspection</i>.” The taps were -turned on; the available brooms were brought forth; -the British orderlies—what there were of them—were -set on to every conceivable form of fatigue; the German -staff worked overtime, and general electricity pervaded -the place. And amidst the general preparations the -senior British officer girded up his loins for a battle -royal and noted down with his faithful adjutant a long -list of complaints....</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is the next day, some time after morning <i>appel</i>, -which the General has attended and which has passed -without incident. The senior British officer, the better -to forward his many just claims, has ordered a punctiliously -correct parade.</p> - -<p class='c008'>From Room 69 on the second floor of Kaserne A -we may get a good view of the interview which, one -way or the other, is destined to fashion our existence -for the immediate future. The General having made a -tour of the Camp is about to pass through the gate into -the precincts of the Kommandantur. Our senior officer -will apply for an interview. The General will doubtless -unbend so far as to go through the form of one.</p> - -<p class='c008'>He is surrounded by his staff, as well as by the old -Camp Commandant, with his insufferable Camp Officer, -the Paymaster, and the other officers attached to the -camp. They are grouped respectfully behind their -Chief, very splendid in their best uniforms, and stiff as -pokers. Every now and again he turns and addresses -a question to one of them, and then the poker back -grows even stiffer, and the gloved hand goes up to the -peaked cap in salute and stays there till the General is -pleased to turn away again. How we used to loathe -this German habit. One conceived a frantic longing to -tear their hands forcibly away and fasten them down. -It seemed so thoroughly Prussian, this habit of talking -to their superiors as if they were shading their eyes -from the sun! How infinitely better our own brisk -method seemed than this long-drawn apotheosis!</p> - -<p class='c008'>The interview is graciously accorded and takes place -on the bleak patch of grass graced by the euphemistic -title of <i>Spielplatz</i> and already worn bare by the trampling -to and fro of 500 pairs of feet. Here, against the back -wall of the squalid cook-house, across one of the dining -room tables (symbol of conference!), ringed in by smug -supercilious Huns, and with the eyes of his own -countrymen riveted on him from the adjoining barrack, -our senior officer joins the issue. It exemplifies the -scant attention which has been paid to the spokesman -of the British community that the interview should be -held in the open air, almost as an afterthought, instead -of, as it should properly have been held, in the Kommandantur -itself.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The senior British officer has no enviable task, but -he has at least the armour of experience and knows how -far he may go and to what he is entitled. Years of this -sort of thing—ever since First Ypres—have taught him -that only too well. There is nothing novel to him in -this interview; only that the nature of the Hun -opposite to him partakes of the attributes of the fox -rather than of the pig, and that he has if possible a -stiffer job in prospect than ever heretofore, and one -which he would gladly delegate.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is no sinecure being senior officer in a bad German -prison camp. “The stiffest job I ever took on in my -life,” a veteran of both the Boer and the European war -was heard to say once. “I have never known a position -where one weak link in one’s own argument, one single -individual who is beyond control, will so completely -crack one’s line of defence.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>But of that anon. For the present we will follow -Major Wyndham at his uphill task, as the interview -begins. He trusts to his own moderate German rather -than to an interpreter and speaks direct to the Fox, who -listens with eyes askance and a sneer on his face.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The first complaint is the building accommodation. It -is at present quite inadequate. There are no public -rooms, no library, one solitary cook-house, and no bathroom. -When are these going to be allowed, please?</p> - -<p class='c008'>The General confers. The extra cook-house and the -bathroom will be put up as soon as possible. As to the -public rooms and the library, there is nothing in the -Regulations which prescribes for these. They have been -permitted in other camps, but that was a luxury.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“But every German officers’ camp in England has at -least one public room. It is well known.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“That may be. But England is not Germany. It is -war-time, and the English officers must learn to do -without luxuries.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Is it to be understood that this is a ‘strafe’ camp?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“It may please the English officers to understand -that. It is deserved <i>allerdings</i>. Next please.” The -General glances at his watch.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The next complaint is the size of the exercise ground. -It is too small to admit of games being properly played. -There is plenty of room if the General will permit the -barbed wire fence on the southern side to be moved -back 15 yards. It will not encroach on the allotments. -And a corner at the south-east end of the camp might -also with advantage be put inside the wire.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This is a reasonable proposition. As things are, we -can play a half-sized game of hockey on the available -ground. One half-sized game of hockey will not go far -amongst 550. And there is no necessity for the curtailment. -Along the southern side of the ground the inner -wire runs parallel to the outer wall, but full 40 yards -away from it; immediately under the wall are the allotments -of the camp staff. There is a space 20 yards in -breadth between the wire and the allotments. Why -should we not have this? One can do a lot with 20 -yards on a hundred yards’ stretch in a prison camp.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But Foxy-face knows only too well where he can hit -us on the raw, and is obdurate. “Later, perhaps, we -will see, but now impossible. Neither can the gymnasium -at the south-eastern end, or any of the ground round it, -be included.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Next on the programme comes the conduct of the -Camp Officer. Why has Hauptmann Niemeyer, whose -behaviour at Ströhen Camp has been already reported -to and strongly condemned by the <i>Kriegsministerium</i> -(War Office), been again placed in a position of responsibility -in so large a camp? Has the General been made -aware of his previous record?</p> - -<p class='c008'>The senior British officer regrets that he cannot command -greater fluency as he makes this point-blank -attack. If he succeeds, Niemeyer will have to go. If -he fails, it will be war to the knife between the two of -them, and he knows it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But the General has already prejudged the issue and -our Major might just as well have saved his powder. -Niemeyer has been standing with his hand at the peak -of his cap for three minutes gabbling all the time. A -clever man can get quite a lot of self-justification into -three minutes. He will stay. We can trust him for -that ... the General beams on his faithful henchman.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Major sees that it is hopeless, but keeps his -temper and carries on. There is one more complaint, -and a big one, for it touches honour rather than comfort. -It is on the delicate subject of parole.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Now it should be explained that in the Great War -captivity meant confinement in the strictest sense of -the term, and the roystering days at Verdun in the -Napoleonic Wars were not repeated. In those days -prisoners on parole kept their private apartments, their -carriages, and their mistresses, and racketed, if they -wished to—so long as they kept within a reasonable and -elastic law—to their heart’s content. In the Great War -it was the wish, rightly and clearly expressed by Lord -Grey, that officers should use the privileges of parole -to take walks outside the camp only when they could -not get sufficient exercise within it to keep themselves -fit. When, therefore, in previous camps the British had -availed themselves of this privilege, they had been in -the habit, before starting on the walk, of handing in a -signed card to the Germans on which it was stated that -they undertook not to do two things:—to escape or in -any way to facilitate future escape, or to damage German -property. The arrangement had proved perfectly -satisfactory.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But at Holzminden, when the cards were produced -for us to sign, there was a whole charter of other things -that we must or might not do when we went out for -walks. We were required, for instance, to sign to the -effect that we would unhesitatingly obey the orders of -the German officer or N.C.O. accompanying us; this -hit at the whole basis of the parole idea. We were -asked to append our names underneath a clause which -stated that we <i>knew</i> that the breaking of our parole was -punishable with the death penalty; this merely insulted -our intelligence. We were determined that we would -either take walks on parole on the terms of heretofore -or not take them at all. This spirit of dogged conservatism -when there was so clearly everything to lose and -nothing much to gain might seem petty and unreasonable, -were it not remembered, firstly, that any attempt -to interfere with our parole was in honour bound to be -furiously contested, and secondly, that if in the course -of business you conceded the German an inch, he was -pretty certain shortly to make overtures for a mile.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Such, at any rate, is the opinion of the senior British -officer, as he now bluntly demands the <i>status quo ante</i> -in the matter of parole.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The General laughs and turns to his escort. Who -are these British after all who should set themselves up -on so high a pedestal? It is known that their parole -was broken at Schwarmstedt, in the spirit, if not actually -in the letter. The Major asks for corroborative detail. -It is given and denied roundly.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The high and mighty <i>Stellvertreter Kommandierende -General</i> does not lightly brook flat contradiction in his -own domain, and begins to lose his temper. In other -words, he begins to shout. The word “Baralong,” spat -out so that all can hear, floats up to our upper window. -He is presumably making some general allegation against -the lost British sense of honour. Neither is our Major -quite so cool as he was; “Lusitania” counters “Baralong.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>There is no further any attempt at concealment and -the Fox bares his teeth in a snarl.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“If every Englishman in this command,” he storms, -“got his deserts he would be shot.” And he stalks away -with his staff in a white heat of passion.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The senior British officer sends for his Adjutant and -an order goes round the camp that all parole cards will -be torn up and no walks will take place until an apology -is forthcoming.</p> - -<div id='illo030' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_030_facing.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>View from Kaserne B, showing skating rink made in January 1918.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The apology took months to come. It took weeks -only to report the full circumstances of the case to -the British Legation in Holland, thence to the Dutch -Minister in Berlin, and finally to the Kriegsministerium -itself. And in the meanwhile 500 odd British officers -took their sole exercise in the slushy compound, pounding -round and round the eternal triangle, forbidden to play -games, and longing for the frost which would at least -enable them to build a slide.</p> - -<p class='c008'>And on the evening after the General’s departure a -groan went up from the entire <i>appel</i> as the Interpreter -announced the fact that the aged Commandant had taken -his expected departure and that Hauptmann Niemeyer -reigned in his stead.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='II' class='c006'>CHAPTER II<br /> <br />NIEMEYER—AND PINPRICKS</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>What has been told may serve as a prologue. The -curtain at Holzminden did not really go up till Niemeyer -came into his own. He became on his accession even -more truculent than hitherto. War was openly declared -between himself and the senior British officer. The cells -rapidly filled up with officers whom he had incarcerated -for an innocuous stare, a failure to salute at 30 paces -distance, or more than likely for no reason at all. We -became accustomed to the sight and sound of this gentle -knight outside our Kaserne in the morning about a -quarter to eight, storming up and down in a black gust of -bilious passion, harrying everybody—Germans, British, -officers, orderlies—anyone, in short, who crossed his -path. “I give you three days right away,” “I guess you -know I am the Commandant,” and similar phrases floated -up to us as we lay in bed half asleep and warned us that -we might expect a visit at any moment. Sometimes, in -the beginning, he came into our rooms in person and -made facetiously offensive remarks to our unresponsive -forms. But later his sense of dignity deprived us of the -pleasure of his company at these early hours, and he -preferred to prowl about outside in general supervision, -while sentries and N.C.O.’s, acting to orders, and sheepish -or blatant according to their natures, banged upon our -doors, and with a raucous <i>Aufstehen</i> (“get up”) contrived -as a rule to bring back reality.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We were supposed to be up by 8 o’clock. If we were -not, there was always the risk that one of the sentries -might interpret his duties too literally and pull us out. -This insult was of quite frequent occurrence, and it resulted, -as may be supposed, in friction of the most serious -kind. Someone would probably shout down at Niemeyer -in the enclosure “Take your — sentries away,” and -Niemeyer would at once storm his way up to have a -personal investigation on the spot. The hate at that -unseasonable time in the morning could be very direct, -and usually resulted in the Commandant bagging a brace -or so more for “jug.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>It need not be added that these visits aroused intense -resentment. It was so obvious that they were only intended -to annoy. The pretext was that we were so -habitually late on the 9 o’clock <i>appel</i>. The answer to -that was that in a crowd of 500 odd a great many would -be late at any <i>appel</i>, be it fixed for 9 or 10, or even 12. -Let those who were late take their chance of punishment. -Another argument advanced by Niemeyer was that according -to the regulations every room had to be swept -and garnished by 10 a.m. Our reply was that they always -were. Our own orderlies were responsible for that job, -and they performed it when they were not called away -from their own task on a German fatigue. And in their -unavoidable absence we cleaned up our rooms and made -our beds ourselves.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This little game was in fact no more than one of a -series of pinpricks; taken by itself we could have made -light of it. But the snowball of pinpricks gathered weight -as the camp got under weigh and Niemeyer grew more -and more secure in his position.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Niemeyer succeeded in impregnating the entire camp -with an atmosphere of acute discontent and jumpiness, -and no one knew this better than himself. It was, as a -matter of fact, a remarkably fine achievement for one -man, for Holzminden might have been from the start -a happy camp. The air was good, the view was good, -the buildings were waterproof, the water supply was good. -Only the Commandant was vile.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The man who controlled the welfare of approximately -one-quarter of the English officers at this time prisoners-of-war -in Germany had for 17 years besmirched by his -presence the province of Milwaukee, U.S.A. His twin -brother, Heinrich, of Clausthal Camp in the same command, -boasted a similar record—what they had done -during the 17 years nobody exactly knew. The brethren -were practically doubles, and rivalled each other in the -calculated arrogance, animosity, and deceit which, for the -best part of a year, busied a thousand souls in devising -suitable post-bellum punishments for the estimable pair. -If a comparison had to be made, it might be said by those -in a position to know that Harry was the worse on occasions, -but that Charlie had it for sheer, dogged, day-in -day-out nastiness. In any case there was not much in it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was a concatenation of unfortunate circumstances -that two watch-dogs of such a breed and temper happened -to be lying idle in the Hanover kennels when the word -went forth for a general British strafe in the Xth Army -Corps. It was always understood that the pair had -weathered a search on the high seas by a British destroyer -when crossing over from America to the service -of their beloved Fatherland. As to Charles, it was reported -that he had been given some form of a command -on the Somme, but had lost it again within a brief period. -He was certainly fond of referring in no uncertain way -to his dreadful experiences in that battle—which was, if -anything, a pretty sure indication that he had never been -near it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The reason for the high favour in which the Niemeyers -were held at Hanover was always something -of an enigma. It was supposed by some that they could -trace their patronage to even Higher Quarters than the -Army Corps Commander. The appointments of Camp -Commandants, we were once told by a friendly Dutchman -from the Berlin Legation, were in the giving of the -Emperor. He alone could make and unmake. There -was no reason to suppose this particular Dutchman was -lying to us, and he had come straight from the Hague, -where Lord Newton was at the time endeavouring to -thrash out an acceptable exchange agreement with the -German representatives. Certain it is that, despite the -strongest representations ever since the departure of the -first party for exchange to Holland—from British officers -to the British General commanding in that country, from -the General to the War Office, from the War Office back -again to the British Legation in Holland, from the Legation -to the Dutch Government, and from the Dutch -Government to Berlin—the pair stuck like leeches, and -retired, by the back door, only at such an advanced -period in the war that it had become evident that not -even the patronage of the All Highest was likely to -avail them much any longer. If true, it is an index of -the system.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But most of us were sceptical of this explanation. It -appeared more reasonable to suppose that the Niemeyers -were helping Hänisch in butter from our parcels and -getting carte blanche as a <i>quid pro quo</i>. There is no doubt -at all that Charles used to steal, although he took good -care to cover his tracks<a id='r4' /><a href='#f4' class='c016'><sup>[4]</sup></a>.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> -<div class='footnote' id='f4'> -<p class='c008'><span class='label'><a href='#r4'>4</a>. </span>When the parcel room at Holzminden was cleared out after the armistice, a trap-door was found in the floor, thus allowing access from under the guard-room. Niemeyer expressed the greatest astonishment.</p> -</div> -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>In appearance they were typically Hunnish, but of -the commercial rather than the military brand. Bullet -heads with close-cropped grey hair; florid complexion; -grey moustachios with the usual Kaiser twirl; heavy jowl -and thick neck. Charles Niemeyer used to wear his cap -at a rakish angle on the back of his head. He was never -seen out of his Prussian military greatcoat except during -a severe heat wave, or without his spurs. Like most of -his countrymen he carried a swelling paunch, which protruded -as he walked or stood even more prominently -than its circumference warranted. Sometimes he carried -a stick, but more usually he thrust both hands deep into -his greatcoat pockets, from which they were only occasionally -withdrawn to return a salute. He smoked -large numbers of cigars. All these outward characteristics -gave him a most plebeian appearance singularly at variance -with that of the usual dapper and punctilious regimental -officer.</p> - -<div id='illo036' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_036_facing.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Karl Niemeyer.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>His voice was the most astounding thing about him. -It was really a most delicately modulated instrument -capable of the softest and most sycophantic coo or the -most guttural bellow, as occasion demanded. Niemeyer -used to speak his native tongue extremely fast, babbling -along without any of the harsh scraping dissonances that -one usually associated with it, and quite unintelligibly -to the ordinary English ear. His English was simply -bar-tender Yank, extremely fluent within certain stock -limits and every now and then including a ludicrous error; -also, when he wished it, suitably foul. He sometimes -made absurd mistakes. Thus he would say “I will have -you arrested right now—in five minutes,” or (his best) -“You think I do not understand the English, but I -do. I know dam all about you.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Right away,” “cost price,” the enclitic “Yes-no” at -the end of a sentence, and other absurdities abounded in -his speech. “Cost price” was a particular favourite. -You could get “cost price” jug for any period: or you -could be “told something straight, yes cost price, I guess.” -He cherished the idea that “cost price” represented what -was plain and unequivocal, an index to the straight-dealing -methods of alien saloon managers in far Milwaukee. -Sometimes, when a grievance involved the use of technical -English beyond his range, he would blind at us in German, -which we infinitely preferred, as it gave the comedians -an opportunity for looking uncomprehendingly asinine -and shouting in chorus <i>nichts verstehen</i> (“don’t understand”), -which infuriated him.</p> - -<p class='c008'>With Niemeyer first impressions were not actually -unpleasing, as he had clear blue eyes and a voice which, -as I have said, when under control was not unmusical. -New arrivals at the camp, unless they had been forewarned -or had had previous dealings with him, were inclined -to size him up as a friendly, if over-familiar, old -bounder.</p> - -<p class='c008'>He used to walk about with a retriever puppy, which -was a source of considerable annoyance to its owner, as -it was invariably on better terms with the prisoners-of-war, -who used sometimes to feed it, than with himself. -The only occasions on which he was ever seen to stoop -was when bending down to coax the puppy to follow -its rightful master.</p> - -<p class='c008'>He treated his dependants as beings of another world—“like -dogs” would be too mild a term, for Niemeyer -was quite restrained in his dealings with the puppy. -He was never seen to return his men’s salutes; he only -returned ours as the result of frequent protests. His -conduct towards the British orderlies was just the same, -except that his vituperation had to be done in English -and with therefore more limited scope. To the British -officers, except in his moods of Berserker fury, he would -be either coldly polite or else offensively hail-fellow-well-met, -as the mood took him. If he had any hobbies -we did not hear of them. He neither walked nor rode -nor indulged in any sport. Once in a blue moon he went -for a drive. He was a bachelor, and was understood to -loathe the sight of women. Whether he drank or drugged -or gambled his many spare hours away at Holzminden -is not known. We did not certainly identify him with -literary tasks. The knowledge of his power was his -main solace, and there is no doubt that he often stirred -up trouble in the camp for the sake of trouble. To some -such motive only could be ascribed his relentlessly literal -interpretation of the Corps regulations. Under a reasonable -régime these would never have been pressed. Even -so, things at Holzminden would have gone smoothly -enough if he had been a gentleman. It was the fact that -even this modest provision had not been made on their -account that goaded the British to an intense intolerance -of the man and all his works; and he, in his turn, looked -for moral support to the authority which, with full knowledge, -had placed him where he was. Such was Captain -of the Reserve Karl Niemeyer.</p> - -<p class='c008'>He adopted the policy of alleviating our numerous -discomforts only by slow degrees or on the principle of -two steps backward for each one forward. A long string -of complaints was presented to him on the average about -twice a week. The bath-house was at length completed, -and the camp watch-dog was promptly lodged in it. -When remonstrated with, Niemeyer explained that there -was at present no room for the dog’s accommodation -in the Kommandantur. So we continued bath-less for -another month—those of us, at least, who could not face -an icy plunge in the horse-troughs on the <i>Spielplatz</i>. -When at length the bath-house was vacated and purged, -it was found that only two of the showers were effective.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Somebody broke one of the electric lamps in the -compound: all games were promptly stopped. This left -us literally with no outlet for exercise except the monotonous -“pound” in shorts and jersey round the camp -enclosure, or a furtive game of fives at the end of one -of the long corridors, for which it was not always easy -to “book a court”!</p> - -<p class='c008'>The distribution of parcels was kept in the hands of -the German personnel, and as a result hopeless chaos -and congestion reigned. In all previous camps the -British had efficiently organised the distribution of their -own parcels, no light task in the days when supplies from -home were unrationed and one recipient might claim as -many as twenty parcels in a week. When the consignments -diverted from other camps began to reach Holzminden, -the German parcel room was packed from floor -to ceiling with the accumulations. The most that Niemeyer -would at first allow in the nature of English -control in the parcel room was the services of two -orderlies. The presence of a British officer in the parcel -room, even on parole and for the express purpose of -supervising and facilitating delivery, was only permitted -when all other attempts to cope with the situation had -failed.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was the same with the tin rooms, and here a word -of explanation is required. When a prisoner-of-war in -Germany drew his parcel from home he might not, -strictly speaking, merely walk off with it under his arm. -This practice was winked at in many easy camps, but -at Holzminden it was rigidly taboo. The regulations -stipulated that every article should be strictly censored -before issue. It was not enough to shake a tin to -ascertain its non-contraband nature. It had to be opened -by a German and its contents taken delivery of in a -plate or bowl. And if the contents were solid, such as, -for instance, a tinned ham, then that ham had to be cut, -bisected, quartered, or “Crippened” into just so many -fragments as would leave no room for doubt that a -compass or a map or a file did not remain concealed. -A ham or tongue, of course, was thus ruined. The -German employees in the tin room loathed this desecration -almost as much as we did; it gave them additional -work and seemed to them to be an act of unreasoning -vandalism. Poor devils! Some of them were honest, -although undoubtedly some stole. But it must have -been refined torture for them daily to sniff Elysium and -lack its joy, daily to mutilate <i>delicatessen</i> such as they -had not tasted for months and months, daily to handle -forbidden delights. But they had to do it, for they never -knew when the Commandant would not spring a surprise -visit on them. I have seen him take out a penknife on -such occasions and hack practically into mincemeat a -tongue which had been left comparatively whole, full of -zest for the service of the Fatherland and threatening -dire things to his staff if ever such an object was let off -so lightly again.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But even the destruction of our food would have been -tolerable if we could have got at it with reasonable ease; -unfortunately the inadequacy of the arrangements extended -to the cellars where the tin rooms were located. -At the beginning of things there was one tin room for -the requirements of the whole camp. The tins were -brought down from the parcel room in wheelbarrows -and piled on racks in the tin room; there was no British -supervision; there were no lockers or partitions, and -the German staff could not read or understand English. -It was hardly to be wondered at, therefore, that before -a week was out the room was in complete confusion, -accentuated each day as the intake exceeded the offtake.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To get your tins opened you had to take your turn -in a queue. To be the first man in this queue it was -necessary, as a rule, to put in an appearance about half-past -seven in the morning. The last applicant was usually -served just before evening roll-call. All day the queue -crawled. It was a case of queue-crawling or missing a -day, English tins or German rations, and the inner man -won. The head of the queue was at the tin room door. -The rest of it coiled along the damp passage which -traversed the cellar floor, it sat and read on the steps of -the staircase that led down to the passage, often it overflowed -right into and out of the doorway of the Kaserne. -It was a mournful dispirited queue in those days. The -Germans took five or ten minutes to serve each man -and it was even odds that your tins wouldn’t be there. -And if you were very unlucky you might have an accident -with your tray on the return journey, upset your plates, -and have to begin all over again.</p> - -<p class='c008'>So much for tins; but even so, the toil was not complete. -Supposing that you had emerged, weary but -victorious, from the cellars, you had still only the cold -and raw material for your meal; the urgent corollary -was to get this cooked, and to do so it was necessary to -fight for a place on the stoves. Holzminden at that time -boasted three cooking stoves with surface space for thirty -pots (including kettles) and a purely wood fuel supply. -It was hardly to be wondered at—so great was the -demand, and so slow the fire—that a great many did -not get on the stoves more than once in the day. -It is true that new and better stoves were being built -opposite to B Kaserne, but they were not yet ready. -For the moment it was a case of opportunism, watchfulness, -forcefulness if necessary, and devil take the -hindmost.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Sometimes the old German cook would take part of -the overflow on to his own capacious stoves in the -German cook-house and so ease the congestion. But he -was in deadly terror all the time that he would be seen -helping us from the Kommandantur, and he expected a -substantial consideration (in kind) for the risk he took -on our behalf. Such consideration it was not in the power -of some of us to bestow.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We from the sorting camps were feeling the pinch -about now, and were living, most of us, and apart from -the German ration, on precarious charity. At Karlsruhe -we had blown ourselves out on tomatoes and bread: at -Heidelberg we had added relish to the bread, with an -occasional pot of honey from their well-stocked canteen. -But in the canteen at Holzminden there was nothing to -eat beyond a very nauseous paste. Some of us were lucky -and fell in with a well-stocked mess; the rest of us waited -blankly for our relief parcels, eking out with a tin here -and a tin there, frying bread in dripping, lucky if we -could see a meal ahead. For the first time in our lives -we knew hunger; not so fiercely as our successors in -1918 were to know it, but more fiercely perhaps than -the veterans of 1914 and 1915, who, whatever their -other tortures, had at least come as prisoners into a -country where food was to be had for the purchasing.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Finally there was the question of fuel. It was October -now, and the days in Brunswick were no longer balmy. -Each of our rooms—scheduled to hold twelve—possessed -a stove, but there was nothing to put in the stove. -We saw woods on the horizon to three sides of us. The -regulations, we understood, permitted us the daily ration -of a German soldier in the field. But no wood was -forthcoming, except what was brought for the consumption -of our three cooking stoves. A dangerous minority -endeavoured, as usual, to destroy the comfort of the -community by stealing this cooking supply. The practice -was sternly stopped. Then recourse was had to the -stools in the dining rooms. These blazed well for a -night or two, but were naturally not replaced, and we -had all the fewer stools to sit upon. Finally those who -preferred a blaze to a night’s rest sacrificed their bed -boards. It was reckless jettison, but excusable. The -Camp Commandant had broken faith with us over the -fuel question if possible more flagrantly than over others, -and the camp was justly incensed. One day a representative -of the Dutch Legation in Berlin had been down -to visit us. On the morning of his arrival the Commandant, -scenting the trouble which might be expected -on this as on other issues, had caused it to be proclaimed -at morning <i>appel</i> that from that day fuel would be issued -free (loud cheers!). We might have known. We never -got a faggot free. The representative carried out his -colourless inspection, and that evening we were as cold -as before. The end of this particular campaign was that -ultimately, and under the extreme pressure of the increasing -cold, we paid for wood at the rate of 40 marks -a cubic metre. The only people who got fuel free were -those under detention in the cells.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Every now and again a waggon-load of briquettes used -to come in under escort for discharge in the coal cellars -of Kaserne B. On these occasions we used to help -unloading the waggon—but not into the coal cellars. -A crowd of officers with British warms and trench coats -with capacious pockets suddenly appeared from nowhere, -swarmed round the waggon and its disconcerted sentinel, -and contrived to get a bit of their own back.</p> - -<p class='c008'>For rank exploitation, however, the food supply was -<i>facile princeps</i>. We might forgive the Germans for the -food they offered us; we could not forgive them either -for the way they served it or for the price they made -us pay for it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In one of the cellars aforementioned our year’s potato -supply was stored. This came in in October. Three -English orderlies were on permanent fatigue in this cellar, -peeling the daily potato ration for the camp. When the -peeling was complete the potatoes were thrown into one -of the two large coppers in the German cook-house (the -other contained hot water) and were boiled up in relentless -conjunction with the other ingredients billed for -that particular day. It did not matter what they were; -everything went into the hotch-potch, and, so long as it -eventually boiled and was ladled out into big pails for -despatch to the dining rooms, all was well. On Sundays -there was an occasional lump of horse-flesh floating in -the stew and some green vegetable which might fairly -be classified as “a not too French French bean”; on -one Sunday, as a variation, the skull of a cow complete -except for skin and ears was found floating in the pot. -On other days plain <i>sauerkraut</i>, or its equivalent nastiness. -Occasionally there was some barley grain which, with -many of us, did duty as porridge for our next morning’s -breakfast.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Such was our bill of fare for the mid-day meal. Our -breakfast was <i>ersatz</i> coffee: our supper was an attenuated -version of our lunch. And for this we were mulcted -monthly to the tune of 60 marks a head. No doubt this -charge would have been exceeded, if it had been possible; -but an agreement between the British and German -Governments had fixed the sum of 60 marks as the limit -which a subaltern prisoner-of-war might receive as pay -whilst in captivity, and the Germans could not therefore -legally charge any more. As it was, there was nothing -left on which a subaltern might come and go for ordinary -out-of-pocket expenses in the canteen or in camp subscriptions; -and to meet these requirements he had to -draw a cheque on his bankers which was discounted with -a neutral agent by the Germans at a ruinous rate of -exchange for himself and with a very comfortable margin -of profit for everybody else concerned.</p> - -<p class='c008'>No one, of course, who could live on his own supply -of tins thought of looking at the German food. It was -too impossibly served. Messes would sometimes depute -one of their members to make a dive into the soup tub -and rescue some of the better looking potatoes wherewith -to supplement the evening stew.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The poor quality of the diet was accepted as directly -attributable to the beleaguered state of Germany. We -knew that the sentries and the staff personnel were -getting the same, and that probably the people in the -town were faring little better. What we did resent was -that we were not allowed to take over our ration in bulk -and exercise control as to the manner of its cooking, and -also that we were not allowed a rebate for what we did -not require.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There was only one visible means of retaliation—scrupulously -“drawing” the whole of the weekly ration -of Boche bread and as scrupulously wasting it or burning -it. That never failed to create a commotion, and it was -made, before very long, a punishable offence.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Almost weekly the messing question figured prominently -on the agenda for the senior officer’s conference -with the Commandant. Weekly the same privileges -were demanded—control of the raw supply, supervision -in the kitchen, an equivalent return in money for what -we did not require. Weekly the Commandant returned -evasive and unsatisfactory replies, and shifted the onus -of responsibility on to convenient and distant Hanover. -To the end we were not quite sure that he might not, -in this one instance, be really telling the truth. The -messing system in the Hanover command might really -conceivably be directed from a centralised control; but -if so, how to reconcile our system with that at Clausthal -in the same command, where rebate was allowed as a -matter of course?</p> - -<p class='c008'>Later on, damning evidence was collected to prove -that we were not getting more than two-thirds of our -scheduled weight. As a sop we received the unheard-of -concession of getting our potatoes in their jackets on two -days in the week.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There is little doubt, in the retrospect, that our messing -at Holzminden probably afforded the easiest field for -exploitation, so little interest was taken, during most -of the period, in the garbage which was offered us, and -so regular and secure was the payment, a credit from -our own unsuspecting Government debited automatically -against us in our account before we had even the opportunity -to turn it into <i>Lager Geld</i>, as the paper currency -of the camp used to be called. It was hardly to be -wondered at that the Supply branch of the German army -should have been so venal; the opportunities for profiteering -must have been unlimited.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Sometimes a Quartermaster-General used to come -round on inspection and sniff the mess in the coppers -and admire the stoves. With him in close attendance -one probably saw the people who were really getting at -us, the <i>Verwaltung Leute</i> (“Q” people) of the place. -They were seedy, suspicious-looking folk, thin enough -in spite of their obvious battening at our expense. The -General himself was a fairly poor specimen of his class. -He drove up to the camp from the station even in the -finest weather in a closed carriage and behind one feeble -nag. He was obviously zealously misinformed about -everything, and our quarrel lay not with him, any more -than we should have visited the sins of an over-astute -quartermaster on the shoulders of some old dug-out at -Corps H.Q.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Later on, in 1918, we heard how things had been -done at Rastatt in Baden, where hundreds of British -officers lay all day on their beds too weak to move for -weeks on end. There too, where the stuff that we -spurned would have been a banquet, the fault could be -brought home to the criminal maladministration, venality, -and neglect of the ghouls on the lower rungs of the <i>verwaltung</i> -staff. We have seen the diaries—</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Thursday half ration, complained but no explanation. -Friday a General came over to inspect. We were given -a double ration for dinner. Saturday half ration again”: -and so on.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But in their case it was deliberate cruelty as well as -exploitation.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='III' class='c006'>CHAPTER III<br /> <br />INTRODUCING THE MAIN MOTIF</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>Such, in brief, were some of the major pinpricks in -this winter of our discontent. Needless to say that -from the beginning heads had been put together to -discover a means of escape. The camp did not, at first -sight, appear an easy one to get out of, but before we -had been there a month seventeen had been out. A -hole was made in the passage of Kaserne A at the end -next to the Kommandantur and through this parties in -twos and threes, and even in sixes and sevens, had -crept, walked down the stairs of the Kommandantur -and, in the guise of German sentries under an N.C.O., -made their exit through the main gate. When the first -party got away—three of them—their names were -answered for them on <i>appel</i> for the next day and a half, -giving them two full days’ start. This was the more -creditable performance as one of them was a field -officer, and as such paraded on <i>appel</i> with the few other -officers of his rank in the camp in front of the vulgar -herd, easy to be seen and equally easy to be missed.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Unfortunately Niemeyer’s luck was in. All were -caught before they reached the Ems and were brought -back to the camp. The passage was discovered, the hole -was filled up, a system of permit cards initiated, and the -most promising escape channel in the camp was abandoned -as being no longer practicable. Niemeyer was -immensely relieved when the last of his errant lambs -was brought back for incarceration. He had had his -lesson and profited by it. Henceforth the English -should be allowed no rope.</p> - -<p class='c008'>So the wire was heightened and a No Man’s Land -was created round the enclosure between the line of -sentries and the Platz, wherein it was death to walk. -Censoring redoubled in vigilance. British control in the -parcel room seemed more distant an event than ever, -and Niemeyer became more blatantly cocksure than -before.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“You see, yentlemen,” he would say, “you cannot -get out now. I should not try; it will be bad for your -health.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>And in reply, and having nothing very much better to -do, a select little band assumed the habits and characteristics -of moles and started on the long task which -was to result in convincing Niemeyer that he had made -a mistake, and that where there is a will there is also -somehow and somewhere a way.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The history of the Holzminden Tunnel is the history -of a great adventure. It was over 60 yards in length, -and it took nine months to complete. It was dug, except -for one brief period, in the hours of daylight between -morning and evening <i>appel</i>, and its workers, in order -to reach and return from the scene of their labours, -ran daily risks of being identified by the German sentries. -Much of it was dug through layers of stones; all of it -was dug with appliances that a miner would have -scorned. During all its long travail it was never actually -suspected—and this though the Camp Commandant -prided himself as the “cutest” gaoler in the Fatherland. -Lastly, it was above all expectations successful, and in a -way which satisfied to the full the dramatic proprieties.</p> - -<p class='c008'>An attempt has been made in this story to show its -readers something of Holzminden Camp as it was, not -because it bristled with barbarities, as some previous -accounts of it might have led credulous people to believe, -but because it did most effectively supply a -suitable background to the tunnel episode; a background -of grey, monotonous imprisonment, of minor indignities -considerable only in their cumulative effect, of -permanent tension, of seeming unendingness, and a -queer depression beyond the ordinary. All who were -there will testify to that. Holzminden, even in its -lighter moments, was a gloomier camp than many -where the actual conditions were infinitely worse.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The secrets of the tunnel are not the author’s at first -hand; he did not personally experience its dank embrace; -he did not “labour and pray” in its recesses -with a sense of intimate proprietorship. In fact, except -for some organising assistance on the actual night of -the escape, he had nothing actively to do with it. The -control of the enterprise rested in the hands of a select -few who were known as the “working-party” and on -whom devolved the whole responsibility of doing the -job and seeing that it was done in secret. It was impossible -for those whose business it was to keep in close -personal touch with the whole community to remain -long in ignorance of the identity of the various members -of this party. But what they were doing, how or exactly -where they were doing it, when they would finish -doing it—on these points one was not, and did not -expect to be, enlightened. When the working-party -discussed plans, they did so behind closed doors and in -an undertone. The results of their deliberations were -communicated to those whom it concerned and to those -alone. Once the shifts had been arranged there was no -need for a member of the party to do more than be in -his appointed place at the appointed time and carry -out his appointed task. In the intervals the less he -talked the better. It was only when the scheme was -nearing its maturity and when it became desirable to let -a favoured few into the secret that tongues began ever -so circumspectly to wag.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When the essay became an event, and the tunnel the -one topic of conversation through the camp—and, be -it said, through Hanover as well—it was possible to -join the odd ends together and follow the whole enterprise -through in the retrospect from its modest beginning -to its glorious conclusion. This is all that this -account pretends to do.</p> - -<hr class='c015' /> - -<p class='c008'>At this juncture it may be well to describe the -premises.</p> - -<div id='illo053' class='figcenter id004'> -<img src='images/p_053.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>General plan of Holzminden Camp<br /><br />(Scale approx. 1 inch = 50 yards)</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The two Kasernes were identical in structure, but -the fact that the near end of Kaserne A was sacred to -the Kommandantur and the far end of Kaserne B was -set apart for orderlies gave rise to some more or less -improvised alterations in the internal structure. Here -it should be mentioned that “near end” means nearest -to the main gate. As you walked in through the main -gate the Kommandantur lay immediately on your left, -the sentries off duty sniggered at you from the guard-room -on your right, and the officers’ enclosure through -another (inner) gate directly faced you. The portion of -Kaserne A set apart for the English was that part which -was beyond the inner gate. The windows of the nearest -room to the gate on the ground floor were whitewashed -in order that we might not read—and thereby be in a -position to copy—the permit cards which it was necessary -for every German, military or civilian, to show the -sentry on duty before being permitted to pass in or out -of the prisoners’ enclosure. This regulation was a safeguard -introduced after the original escapes, and it used -to afford some amusement. On one occasion a sentry, -having been duly cautioned as to his orders, let Niemeyer -himself through without asking him for his card. -The result was an intensification of the air in the neighbourhood -for a good five minutes, and loud sounds -of merriment from the British quarter. Next day the -fellow, on his metal, stopped Niemeyer—in a hurry. The -sentry said very little, Niemeyer said a very great deal; -the consequence was that the sentry got seven days for -his pains, and the world—meaning the British quarter—again -cooed with merriment. But that is by the way.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Going straight on down the main cobble-stoned -thoroughfare of the camp, you reach Kaserne B, about -70 yards apart from Kaserne A.</p> - -<div id='illo054' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_054_facing.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Kaserne B.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Kaserne B was a 50-yard long, ugly, four-storied -affair, with an entrance doorway and a flight of stairs at -each end of it. From each entrance doorway a few steps -<i>downward</i> brought you through another door to the -basement corridor—(the distinction between these doors -should be kept clear in mind). On the outer side of -this basement corridor, i.e. looking towards the uncommunicative -outer wire of the camp, were the punishment -cells; on the inner side were the various cellars—the -tin cellar, the bread cellar, the store cellar, the potato -cellar, and other cellars necessary for the economic -administration of the camp. Half way down the basement -corridor, and shutting off the British from any -possibility of prying into the cellars at its far end, was -a partition consisting of two doors usually locked.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The near entrance door was the officers’ entrance, the -far door the orderlies’ entrance. Going through a swing -door <i>opposite</i> the officers’ entrance on the ground floor, -you found yourself in a long corridor which traversed -the entire length of the building and connected about a -dozen large rooms wherein the inhabitants of the ground -floor lived, slept, and made shift generally. The rooms -averaged about twelve occupants apiece and looked out -on to the inner (enclosure) side. The lower part of -their windows had to be kept permanently shut, even -in the daytime, a source of never-failing contention and -resentment.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The first floor was the counterpart of the ground -floor, except that the windows might be opened and -the general appearance was correspondingly brighter. -At the end of each of these floors were the “small” -rooms which opened off in little passages or saps at -either end of the main corridor. These small rooms -constituted the wings of the main building, which was -constructed after the pattern and in the proportions of -an <span class='large'>E</span> minus its central appendage. The sketch shows -this clearly enough.</p> - -<p class='c008'>These rooms were keenly competed for. They held -three to four occupants each and the actual amount of -cubic space per occupant was less in them, if anything, -than in the larger ones. But the moral effect of only -having to reckon with the individual proclivities of two, -as against eleven, other of your fellow-men, was reckoned -as an inestimable advantage; and no sooner was -the rumour abroad of one of those periodical “general -posts” occasioned by the departure of a party for -exchange to Holland or elsewhere than the House -Adjutant’s<a id='r5' /><a href='#f5' class='c016'><sup>[5]</sup></a> room was besieged by a crowd of applicants -and their backers, the insistence of whose claims was, -as a rule, in exactly inverse proportion to their merit. -Thus A, who is being strongly run for the shortly-to-be-vacant -billet in Number 35, is a second lieutenant -with eight months’ experience of captivity, and B, whose -inclusion in Number 37 opposite seems no less essential -to its existing occupants, is a Flying Corps captain -aged 21, not yet through his first six months of <i>gefangenschaft</i>. -C and D, however, who have commanded -companies on the Somme, remain unchampioned and -unambitious in their large rooms amidst a welter of -disorder, discomfort, and possibly discord, and have to -be prodded into admitting that they wouldn’t mind if -they <i>did</i> get a little peace now and again. It is the way -of the world.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> -<div class='footnote' id='f5'> -<p class='c008'><span class='label'><a href='#r5'>5</a>. </span>At Holzminden the senior British officer worked through a personal adjutant, known as the Camp Adjutant, who handed on orders to officers in charge of each Kaserne, known as House Adjutants.</p> -</div> -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>On the second floor there was the difference that two -large dining rooms were interspaced between the living -rooms. Dining room, it should be added, was a term -purely of courtesy. It is true that in these rooms the -large majority of officers in the Kaserne stored their -cooking utensils, prepared their food for cooking, and -gulped it down as quickly as might be when cooked. -But this feature of the rooms was not stressed, and -they were used in turn, and during the greater part of -the day, as theatres, lecture rooms, concert rooms, -reading rooms, and churches; on Saturday nights, or -whenever a “show” was on, officers were requested to -have finished their dinner by six. Dinner over, the -cups and plates were dumped in a convenient corner, -the tables were pushed up together to one end of the -room to form a solid platform, and in an incredibly -short space of time the drop scene and the wings were -hoisted triumphantly. Then, after two hours’ rapt forgetfulness -of the surroundings, down came the final -curtain, out trooped the audience, and back the tables -were pushed into their respective sites. The drill was -clockwork. There was nothing that we would less willingly -have foregone than our “shows,” and the scene-shifters -would have done so least of all.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But we must leave the dining rooms and mount the -stone staircase once again to the attic floor. This consisted -of a few small rooms at the near (Kommandantur) -end, and the orderlies’ quarters, with a stout wooden -partition, strengthened with sheet iron, in between. -The small rooms were remarkable only for their extreme -cold and the fact that one of them played a highly -important part in the subsequent proceedings. The -orderlies occupied the farther end of the attic floor. -We had the opportunity of inspecting their quarters -when we went up at certain fixed times to the baggage -room, which was at that end of the passage, to remove, -under the surveillance of a German Feldwebel, such -articles as we might require from our heavy luggage. -To do so we of course used the further (orderlies’) -staircase. This was supposed to be the only occasion -on which the officers might enter the building by the -further doorway. To check irregularities in this respect -a sentry was always placed at a spot outside the outer -wire and exactly opposite the doorway.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It should be added that—as the barrack was originally -built—the far ends of the ground, first, and second -floor corridors were exact replicas of the near ends, and -gave directly on to the orderlies’ staircase through -swing doors. These doors had at the outset been -securely boarded up. Early in the history of the camp -a trap-door had been made by some officers through the -boards on the dining room floor, but it had been discovered -by the Germans, who were now on their guard -for any repetition of the attempt; so that it was now a -physical impossibility to reach the orderlies’ quarters or -their staircase by any other means than walking in at -the further doorway. Similarly, orderlies could not -reach their own quarters except through their own -door.</p> - -<p class='c008'>From the near door of Kaserne A (the Kommandantur -door) to the far (orderlies’) door of Kaserne B was -a distance of some 150 or 160 yards and constituted -the base of the segment formed by the conformation of -the buildings and enclosure. The arc of the segment -was represented by the barbed wire fence with its -neutral zone which ran from just opposite the orderlies’ -door (E)—where it joined the outer wall—round the -semi-circular <i>Spielplatz</i> till it merged in the parcel -room and guard room opposite the Kommandantur. -The space thus enclosed between the base of the segment -and the arc represented the gross amount of outdoor -elbow room for the inmates of the camp, and -measured about 410 yards round. The net available -space was much less. One German and two English -cook-houses, a twenty-yard square potato patch, a wood -shed, cobble-stones, horse troughs, parallel bars, and a -cinder path running inside the wire, were factors which -considerably reduced our field of sport.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Just behind the length of the two Kasernes ran the -outer barrier, barbed wire superimposed on iron palings -five or six inches apart, with sentries on the inside and -later on the outside beat as well. The whole of the -ground directly between the two Kasernes, and again -between them and the outer barrier, was No Man’s -Land and forbidden to the British.</p> - -<p class='c008'>If you looked from the whitewashed window at the -end of the ground floor corridor in Kaserne B, you saw -an eight-foot wall between you and freedom. This wall -ran at right angles from the far end of the wired palings -and was wired on top. There was a sentry permanently -posted at the angle on the inner side, and early in the -year the defence was further strengthened by posting -an additional sentry outside. This fact had an important -bearing on the history of the tunnel.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The wall had a postern gate (D) just opposite the -orderlies’ entrance. This, of course, was always kept -locked. It was in any case impossible to get at without -either jumping from the end window of the corridor -and braving No Man’s Land, or cutting the wire near -its point of junction with the end of the building by -the orderlies’ door.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='IV' class='c006'>CHAPTER IV<br /> <br />ESCAPES</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>Such, in brief, were the precautions of the Xth Army -Corps for our safe custody: bolted ground floor windows; -wire in abundance; an encircling belt of No Man’s -Land searched to its uttermost inch by strong electric -lamps; an absence of any ground that could by a stretch -of imagination be termed “dead”; police dogs and night -patrols; and withal a very formidable cordon of sentries -both within and, subsequently, without the camp. It -was not an easy nut to crack by the overland route.</p> - -<p class='c008'>After the original mode of exit—through the Kommandantur -in “A” House and out through the main -gate—had become known, and therefore obsolete, more -direct methods were practised, with, in many cases, great -bravery and ingenuity, but in all a regrettable absence -of success. Three of these escapades are perhaps deserving -of especial mention.</p> - -<div id='illo061' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_061_facing_a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Scene of the Walter-Medlicott attempt.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_061_facing_b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>A dining-room at Holzminden.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The first<a id='r6' /><a href='#f6' class='c016'><sup>[6]</sup></a> of these will always be regarded by those -who saw it or knew of it as the bravest and at the same -time the coolest exploit of their prison experience. Both -the officers who performed it were subsequently killed—in -an attempt, it was said, to break away from their -guards after recapture following an escape from Bad -Kolberg. Unfortunately the English version of that -story will never be known, and the sworn evidence of -the sentries—that the British officers, after being delivered -over to their escort, and in spite of the most -stringent warnings, broke away and were mortally -wounded in doing so—remains, even if it be true, cold -comfort to their friends. It was the custom that an -attempt to escape, if resulting in capture, involved -automatic transfer to another camp, and of both -Medlicott and Walter, the heroes of this exploit, it -can be safely said that neither of them ever stayed -anywhere in Germany long enough to worry about -making themselves comfortable. Truly a proud record.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> -<div class='footnote' id='f6'> -<p class='c008'><span class='label'><a href='#r6'>6</a>. </span>To Lieutenant Fitzgerald of the Australian Flying Corps and his companion—if either of them should read this—my apologies. They were the first men out from Kaserne B at Holzminden, cutting the wire opposite the orderlies’ entrance in broad daylight and getting as far as Munster in mid-winter before recapture. But unfortunately I do not know any further details of their escapade.</p> -</div> -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>On a Sunday afternoon in March the usual sort of -things were happening. There was the usual small knot -of people round the stoves in the Kaserne B cook-house. -There were the usual few taking their afternoon constitutional -up and down on the cobbles or round and round -on the cinder. There was the usual bored sentry moving -up and down on his particular beat in No Man’s Land -in the stretch between the two Kasernes. Except to -the favoured few in the secret, there was the usual -complete absence of life or interest in the sombre enclosure.</p> - -<p class='c008'>From the shadow of the cook-house two officers, -wearing civilian disguise and carrying bulging rucksacks, -walked steadily over the cobbled track, through the -plain wire fence, across No Man’s Land, and up to the -wired railings which formed the northern boundary of -the camp, and which can be seen in the left of the -photograph. Those who were there to see them gave -one gasp of amazement, and then directed an agonized -look in the direction of the sentry. He was nearing -the lee of Kaserne A, still on the outward portion of -his beat, and was not due to turn for another fifteen -seconds or so. They pushed their packs through the -interstices of the palings on to the road, Walter shinned -up the palings, cut the strands of barbed wire, threw -back the cutters to accomplices waiting in the enclosure, -and dropped into the road. Medlicott followed. Then -they assumed their packs and pulled out their civilian -hats. As the sentry turned on his beat, two unassuming -pedestrians were to be seen walking up the road -which ran parallel to the camp towards the railway crossing -and the south-east. Fortune so far had favoured -this amazing and wonderfully calculated audacity—a -scheme worked out literally in terms of seconds. The -sentry at the far corner of Kaserne B had also clearly -suspected nothing: doubtless his beat had been as carefully -observed and timed as that of the other, and the -conclusion arrived at that for a given number of seconds -the whole length of that particular side of the camp -would probably not be under German observation.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Neither would it have been, but for a coincidence -against which no calculations or precautions could have -been proof. The German cell attendant—a decent little -man in his way, but very much <i>de trop</i> on such an -occasion as this—happened to be looking out of one of -the Kaserne B cell windows which gave upon the road, -and recognised both Walter and Medlicott, who had -only just completed the sentence of confinement incurred -for their last escape. He rushed upstairs and gave the -alarm. The fugitives, who were by then only a few -yards clear of the camp, realised that something unforeseen -had marred their plan and that they must run -for it. In broad daylight, and with a hue and cry in -their rear, they stood but the slenderest chance of -making cover in the woods, to reach which they had -first to cross the railway. It being Sunday afternoon, -there was more than the usual traffic on the road and -round the adjoining fields, and—to cut off their one -avenue of escape the more completely—the custodian -of the level crossing had received a prompt warning -from the Kommandantur by telephone as to what he -might expect; and he now stood in the path of the -fugitives with a loaded gun.</p> - -<p class='c008'>So the game was up, and the brave pair were brought -back amidst sympathetic cheers from the windows of -Kaserne B; the cell attendant got three months’ leave -on the nail; and Niemeyer, glowing with patriotic -fervour and pride at his still unblemished record, allowed -one of his sentries to shoot without the veriest shadow -of justification at one of the crowded end-corridor -windows of Kaserne B. Fortunately no one was hurt -either by the bullet or the broken glass. But for the -second time in the history of the camp a court of -enquiry sat to examine into a charge of manslaughter -attempted without any provocation. The findings of -this court were ultimately themselves found by the -Germans during a search and promptly confiscated.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Another attempt to escape partook of the serio-comic. -There had been introduced one day into Kaserne B a -length of timber, intended by the authorities to serve -as a framework for messing cupboards in one of the -dining rooms. This timber was, however, promptly -earmarked for a purpose more directly in the interests -of the allied cause. A certain beardless professor of -astronomy, who had lectured to us the previous Sunday -on the wonders of the moon and stars, conceived the -idea of projecting himself on this length of timber from -one of the corridor windows of the first floor on to the -wire of the palisade, and thence to the road beyond. -The timber was calculated—and proved—to be just -long enough to rest on the wire. His idea was to get -himself pushed out on the plank on a sufficiently dark -night, and, when the wire was reached, jump for it. -Three miles of the Cresta run could not equal this -little journey for condensed excitement.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But unfortunately, though it was a dark night and -the stage was well set for the adventure, the accomplices -pushed too hard, and the extemporised chute—with the -professor—went flying into space on the wrong side of -the wire, to the intense alarm of the nearest sentry. -Next morning the dining room was locked, on the -ground that it had been put to improper use. Thereupon -several hungry men who wanted to get at their -day’s food-supply battered in the door with stools. -Niemeyer retaliated by locking the whole of the Barrack -up within the Kaserne for twenty-four hours. This was -a good example of the collective punishments which -used so often to be applied in prison camps under the -rules of the Hague Convention, embodied, unfortunately, -in our own Manual of Military Law. They were futile, -served no effective or precautionary end, and succeeded -merely in rousing even in the more stolid the most -bitter feelings of personal antagonism. It need not -be added that such intervals were infinitely more to -Niemeyer’s taste than were the humdrum periods of -chronic dislike and discontent fostered under his genial -charge.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In this particular instance the siege was lifted after -twenty-four hours. A draft letter to the <i>Kriegsministerium</i>, -asking in plain German whether, as the result of one -officer attempting to escape, the remaining officers were -to be denied access to their food, was presented to the -Commandant. Niemeyer saw that he had gone far -enough, arranged to parley, and eventually capitulated; -an active boycott of the canteen in A Kaserne may also -possibly have hastened his resolution.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To the end we never discovered the degree of -pecuniary interest which Niemeyer exercised in the -profits of the canteen—probably fairly considerable; -he at all events never let a chance slip of attesting -before all and sundry that he was out of pocket on it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There was one other very clever attempt made -about this time—the only occasion besides the Walter-Medlicott -affair on which the wire was successfully cut -and negotiated in broad daylight. This again was the -result of minute observation and carefully timed and -cool action, and the cause of its failure could have been -as little foreseen.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The performers in this attempt were Captain Strover -(Indian Army), Lieutenant Bousfield (Royal Engineers), -and Lieutenant Nichol (R.F.C.). They chose what was -perhaps the weakest spot in the cordon of sentries—just -behind the parcel room. The back of the parcel -room—itself strictly out of bounds except during receiving -hours—abutted closely on to the outer wire, -which consisted of wire netting at the bottom and barbed -strands on top to a height of eight feet. Once through -this, and provided you had not been observed, it was -only necessary to walk airily through the married -quarters, out of an open gate, and into the suburbs of -Holzminden town.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The three managed to secrete themselves in the -parcel room till about mid-day, when the German -personnel betook itself to the most important task of -the twenty-four hours. Then, with extreme skill and -presence of mind, an aperture in the wire netting was -made to admit of the passage of their persons and packs, -and was closed behind them in such a way as to leave -no trace, except upon minute observation, that the wire -had been tampered with at all. The solitary sentry on -that particular beat saw nothing, and they walked unchallenged -into Holzminden, intending to cross the -Weser at the town bridge and make north-west for -Holland. But at a street corner they came face to face -with one of the tin room attendants of the camp, who -knew Strover by sight. He allowed them to pass unchallenged, -but a little later obviously thought better -of it; and from that moment they were aware that -their footsteps were being dogged. They hurried on -as fast as was possible, but the game was up. In an -incredibly short time, so it seemed, the whole of -Holzminden was following them, as the children of -Hamelin, further down the Weser, once followed the -Pied Piper; and after one half-hearted attempt to disarm -suspicion by a mild <i>was ist los?</i> (“what’s up?”)—the -most appropriate German remark under the circumstances—they -chucked their hand in and acknowledged -defeat.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was a striking tribute to the skilful nature of this -escape that the hole in the wire was not discovered, in -spite of the most elaborate search, till several hours -later.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Many other attempts were made, but they were still-born -in disaster before the wire was reached: they were -made usually at night, and we would be awakened out -of our beauty sleep by shouts and tramplings, alarums -and excursions, a mild barrage of rifle shots, the flash -of a torchlight on to our beds by a harassed Feldwebel -conducting an emergency <i>appel</i>, and general vituperation -after the manner of the best disciplined army in -the world.</p> - -<p class='c008'>One bright spirit conceived the idea of parachuting -himself on a windy night with an improvised umbrella -from the top floor; but either the wind never reached -the required velocity, or else his courage—very excusably—ebbed -before the sticking point.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Two others tried to be conveyed out of the camp -gates in the muck cart which cleared the camp refuse -once in every week. The British orderlies on this -fatigue were let into the secret, and as soon as the two -officers had crept unperceived by the German sentry -into the well of the cart, they were engaged to shovel -on to and over them the whole of the unsavoury contents -of the refuse bin. It was a sporting venture. To -sit possibly for hours at the bottom of a heap of decayed -food, lees of tea, used tins, and discarded dish-cloths, -on the off-chance of being able to get away when the -cart was finally unloaded at the town refuse heaps—the -ordinary man blenched at the very proposition. Nevertheless -it was only bad generalship which prevented -them at least from getting clear of the camp. One -officer successfully negotiated his part of the programme -and was well hidden away in the cart which was clearing -the A Kaserne bin. His partner, however, was noticed -by the sentry and the alarm was given; with the result -that after much prodding and mild comedy each unfortunate -was finally unearthed from his malodorous -retreat and the pair were marched off to the cells, taking -the bathroom en route as a necessary preliminary.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The star of Niemeyer was in the ascendant. Every -fruitless attempt increased his arrogance and intensified -his bar-tender style of buffoonery. The devil himself -when the alarm was on, he could afford to jest and be -merry at our expense as soon as the damage had been -put right and the tally of his charges agreed once again -with the official register.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Yentlemen,” he would say, strutting up to a group -of us as we were discussing the Strover episode, “you -have taught me a lesson. I shall not forget it. You -need not trouble any more. Good morning.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Or some officer of field rank, but just out from five -weeks’ cells for his last attempt, would be lolling listlessly -about, gazing blankly on the horizon and freedom. -To him Niemeyer suddenly appearing would proffer -unsought advice:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“It is no good, Colonel, you cannot do it: I see to -it, you know!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>And pass on, before the other had time to reply.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Or he would stroll up to a knot of officers and discuss -bootshops in Bond Street, and express his regret -that he should in all probability never visit London -again ... he had been very fond of London. What a pity -it all was. But then he was only a poor captain and -had to carry out his orders; if only the British would -give their “honour word” not to escape he would order -the wire to be removed immediately.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The best man to deal with him in these moods was -one “Broncho.” Broncho, indeed, never failed to tell -the Commandant exactly what he thought of him, and -was a privileged person to that extent.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“It’s no good talking like that, Commandant,” he -would say. “This camp’s a disgrace even to the Xth -Army Corps, and you know it.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>And Niemeyer would strut away, hugely pleased.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But these moods were few and far between, and made -him the unreliable blackguard that he was. For weeks -at a time we would be denied the privilege of seeing -his bulky figure in the inevitable blue greatcoat, swaggering -along, hands in pockets, cigar in mouth, and cap -well on the back of his head; during these periods he -sat tight in the recesses of the Kommandantur and put -out the tentacles of his power through his various -minions. He was reputed to have bouts of drink and -drugging and to hold wild orgies in his comfortable -apartments. Rumour credited him with having been -seen vomiting on to the courtyard from an upper window, -supported on either side by Welman and Ulrich. Certain -it is that his eight o’clock outbursts above related were -confined almost entirely to these periods of segregation -and suggested forcibly the morning after the night -before.</p> - -<p class='c008'>He had, moreover, succeeded in ridding himself of -successive leaders of the opposition. Wyndham, who -as senior officer had fought him tooth and nail, week -in, week out, ever since the Hänisch interview, had -been at length transferred to Freiburg, and was recuperating -in the milder Baden atmosphere. The -breezy Bingham, who succeeded Wyndham in office, -fought him at the rate of about three pitched battles a -week for a month, and was then transported at two -hours’ notice to distant Schweidnitz in Silesia. Bingham, -who belonged to a Service which does not mince its -words, endeavoured to force the issue on the canteen -question, and accused Niemeyer openly of countenancing—if -not of fixing—unfairly high prices. The Commandant, -almost speechless, challenged him to produce -concrete evidence within twenty-four hours, or be -court-martialled. Bingham the same day was prepared -with chapter and verse, evidence sworn threefold, and -damning price lists from other camps. Niemeyer then -characteristically refused an interview, and Bingham -went the next day. It happened to be one of the days -on which B House were locked into their barrack in -expiation of some microscopic or imaginary offence; -and they gave vent to their feelings by cheering their -late senior officer, as he left the camp, loud enough and -long enough for the citizens of Holzminden to suspect -either that Niemeyer had been assassinated or that we -had won the war.</p> - -<p class='c008'>That was the end of Bingham. His successor was of -a less militant stamp and things were allowed to drift -on in their existing unsatisfactory state. There was one -brighter spot. Von Hänisch was induced to make a -grudging semi-official recantation about the parole business -and we went out for walks again.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='V' class='c006'>CHAPTER V<br /> <br />ACCOMPLICES</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>But to return to our moles and their burrowings.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Attention had, from the start of the tunnelling -scheme, been directed to the subterranean parts of -Kaserne B. Kaserne A had, for the purposes of a tunnel, -been ruled out for various reasons. For one thing, -the personnel of the working-party as originally constituted -belonged almost exclusively to Kaserne B. For -another, Kaserne B was in itself the building more -favourably placed geographically for such an attempt. -Kaserne A was for half its length Kommandantur; its -“business end” was out of reach for the English.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Accordingly, the basement corridor of Kaserne B was -studied in all its aspects. It will be remembered that -this floor contained the detention cells and the various -cellars, that it was entered at each end of the building -through a door at the bottom of a short flight of steps, -and that half way down the corridor itself were two -doors usually locked. It will be clear, perhaps, that the -business end of the building from the escape point of -view was bound to be the far end, and that the best -base of operations would be somewhere underground in -the vicinity of the orderlies’ entrance. Owing to the -near presence of the detention cells and the consequent -risk of meeting the gaoler at awkward moments it would -be useless to enter the corridor at the officers’ end. It -would be necessary to make acquaintance with the -underworld by going in the first instance through the -orderlies’ entrance. Thence some part of the basement -floor might be penetrated, either through the door at -the bottom of the steps, or by some other means—to -be explained shortly. The door I have mentioned was -used only by the Germans and was kept locked. It -might be possible to tamper with this lock, but it would -have to be done from the outside, at the foot of the -staircase.</p> - -<p class='c008'>These points have been laboured, but it is highly -essential for it to be understood at the start that the -only possible entry to the potential base of operations—except -by breaking down the barricade or by burrowing -at some point through the reinforced concrete of -the actual masonry of the building (a process which -would greatly imperil discovery)—lay, in the first instance, -through the orderlies’ entrance.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I have explained that there was a short flight of -steps leading down to the basement floor. This was on -the right as you passed the threshold of the entrance -door. On the left was the first flight of the staircase -leading up to the baggage rooms and orderlies’ quarters. -To the left of the steps down, and completely blocking -up the underneath part of the first flight up, was a -palisade of stout upright planks, each about six inches -across, a further Boche precaution against undue communication -with the cellars.</p> - -<div id='illo073' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_073.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>A. Section, B. Ground-plan of staircase, chamber, and tunnel entrance.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Just as a dummy key to open the basement corridor -door had been completed, somebody had a brain-wave -which enabled the whole idea of using the cellar passage -at all to be dispensed with. It was conjectured (correctly, -as it turned out) that behind these planks there must -be some sort of square cellar or chamber not actually in -use by the Germans. Two sides of it would be bounded -directly by the eastern and southern walls of the -Kaserne, the western side by the last cellar in the basement -corridor (the potato cellar) and the northern side -by the inside wall of the corridor itself. If this supposition -was correct, and if the place could be got at, it -would be an ideal spot both as a base of operations for -the tunnel and a receptacle for the excavated earth. It -was decided therefore, by loosening one or more of the -planks and hingeing them so that they could be moved -as required in and out of position, to arrange a makeshift -but effective trap-door for the daily needs of the -working-party.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The ceremony at the laying of the foundation stone—one -should say, perhaps, removing the foundation -plank—was not largely attended. For one thing, there -were at that time only about four people in the know -at all; for another, a German sentry was standing on -guard immediately outside the door. Two officers in -orderlies’ clothes were responsible for the whole operation. -They removed <i>the whole of the partition</i>, loosened -the two necessary planks and replaced it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The structure of planks fitted very closely against -the side and top, except for one place at the top of the -plank nearest to the corner post of the partition next to -the cellar floor and immediately under the concrete of -the staircase, where there was a small aperture looking -like a misfit of the boards. Just under this aperture—and -on the inside, of course, of the partition—the bolt -was fixed. A small hand could just reach the bolt comfortably -from the outside and slide it in and out of the -corner post. Had the aperture been ever so little -smaller, no male hand could have got in at all, and, in -the absence of female society, the conspirators would -have had either to give up this entrance altogether or -increase the size of the aperture, which would have been -most dangerous.</p> - -<p class='c008'>By using this door as a means of entrance to and exit -from the chamber which, as will be explained later, -proved to exist behind the planks, the original party of -conspirators succeeded in beginning a tunnel. They dug -through the southern foundation wall of the building, -turned east at right angles and succeeded by about -Christmas in reaching a point beyond the outer wall<a id='r7' /><a href='#f7' class='c016'><sup>[7]</sup></a>. A -square chamber was made at the far end of the tunnel, -then about 15 yards long, to receive the earth of the -roof on the occasion of the escape, and all was ready for -a move when Niemeyer suddenly put a sentry <i>outside</i> -the outer wall, almost on top of the proposed site of exit.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> -<div class='footnote' id='f7'> -<p class='c008'><span class='label'><a href='#r7'>7</a>. </span>Point <i>Q</i> in plan on p. <a href='#illo053'>53</a>.</p> -</div> -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Just at this time the exchange of P.O.W. to Holland -began to operate. To some of the original conspirators, -disheartened—and no wonder—at the apparent complete -frustration of all their plans, the chance of going to -Holland seemed too good to be given up for the now -very distant hope of escape, and so it came about that -the “ownership” of the tunnel changed hands almost -completely, only three of the original conspirators remaining -in the firm.</p> - -<p class='c008'>As all doors were locked just before dusk, the available -time was necessarily limited to daylight, between -nine o’clock roll-call in the morning and evening roll-call -about an hour before dark. The actual working -hours were considerably shorter. In the first place, the -coast was never sufficiently clear in the morning for the -tunnel to be approached until about 11.30 a.m., and in -the second place, a considerable margin had to be allowed, -when coming off duty, for any possible delay in -getting a clear exit and so running the risk of being -discovered absent from <i>appel</i>. In addition to this, the -time spent in changing clothes had to be taken into -account. Consequently the actual working hours were -not, as a rule, longer—in winter—than from 12 noon -to 4 p.m. This arrangement, however acceptable to a -trades union official, was not good for tunnelling. As -will be understood, the utmost care had to be exercised -in approaching the orderlies’ entrance in order to -gain access to the tunnel, and the ordinary daily programme -was carried out on something like the following -lines.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We will assume that it is about 11 a.m.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The party of three on duty for the day assemble in -a little room on the ground floor and near the officers’ -entrance. They then take off their uniforms and slip -on the black trousers with yellow stripes, the black -coats with yellow armlets, and the black caps with yellow -bands, which form the distinctive dress of all -“other ranks” prisoners-of-war in Germany. Probably -greatcoats are put on as well, for it would be highly -inconvenient if a German came in just at this moment -and wanted to know the why and wherefore of this -change of attire. Meanwhile, one or more fellow-conspirators -are standing outside the officers’ entrance, -watching for the “all clear” signal from one of the -faithful orderlies standing in their own doorway, who, -in their turn, are waiting for some Germans working -down in the cellars to clear out for their mid-day meal. -Possibly there is a hitch on this particular morning; -the stolid German is working later than usual in the -cellars at that end of the building. Possibly the German -may knock off work before his accustomed time and -the signal may be given earlier than usual. But quick -or slow, the signal comes in due course—one of the -orderlies comes out and scratches his head, the sign that -all is clear at his end. The officer on picket duty at the -officers’ entrance casts one quick look round to see that -no Boches are approaching from the direction of the -Kommandantur, and then goes to the room in which -the party are waiting and tells them to move. Then he -returns to his post to continue his watch until the party -are safely on their way and he gets a further signal from -orderlies’ doorway that they have actually entered the -tunnel.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The three in the little room shed their overcoats, don -their orderlies’ caps, and sally forth trying to look as -much like the British Tommy off duty as is possible -under the circumstances. This is the “umpteenth” time -for them, and much practising has made them reasonably -good actors in the part. Often, however, an additional -embarrassment is provided in the shape of a parcel of -timber for strutting the roof of the tunnel or a bundle -of tin tubes to lengthen the air pipe.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Arrived at the orderlies’ door, they enter and stand -just inside it, out of sight of the sentry whose position—outside -the wire just opposite—gives him a good -view of the door as he stands still, facing the camp. -But it is unusual for the sentry to stand there long, -and as soon as he begins to march away, the orderly -who is standing in the doorway with one eye on his -every movement gives the word, and the party slips -quickly down the steps leading to the cellar, where one -of the orderlies slides the plank and lets them in. The -aperture is less than a foot wide, but they squeeze in -somehow. The door is shut and bolted again in a -second, and the orderlies, after making sure that all is -ship-shape outside the partition, go off and leave the -party to their work, where we shall follow them in a -little while.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Such was the game of bluff which took place daily on -that little stretch between the doors of Kaserne B for -nine long months. Had any of the party been ever -recognised and identified, the game would have been -up; any ground for suspicion on the part of the Germans -must have led either to the tunnel being discovered -or at least the door being kept so closely under -surveillance that another plan of getting underground -would have had to be devised. But such a contretemps -did not occur until three-quarters of the work had been -done, seven and a half months from the beginning of -it! And even then the mischief was not fatal to the -success of the scheme.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Luck indeed, but perhaps not quite so much a matter -of mere luck as might appear at first sight. In the first -place, there was the irrefutable law of mathematical -probabilities. There were two platoons of Landstürmers -detailed for the guard of the camp, and these relieved each -other every 24 hours. Each platoon was divided into -three relays of about ten men each, who did two hours -on and four hours off. The allocation of “beats” varied -for each individual sentry every time he went on duty. -It might quite likely be a fortnight before the same man -occupied the same station opposite the orderlies’ door. -Add to this the fact that there were 550 British officers -and over 100 orderlies in the camp; that the personnel -of both the <i>Wachshaft</i> and the prisoners was continually -changing; and that the thoughts of any sentry at this -period were more likely to be occupied with memories -of meals in the past, with dreams of meals in the future, -with the rottenness of the war in general and of Niemeyer -in particular, than with the comings and goings and -physiognomies of any British prisoners-of-war; and the -conclusion is arrived at that the risk of detection on -this account alone was, when all was said and done, -comparatively slight.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Yet risk there undoubtedly was from chance recognition, -if not by a sentry, by one of the motley crowd -which comprised the German personnel of the camp. -We have seen that the attendant at the detention cells -could remember faces. His comings and goings to and -from the cellar floor were extremely irregular and difficult -to anticipate; at any moment he might bob up -from the cells and plump face to face into the three -going to or returning from their shift. The German -interpreters were another difficulty. They might come -into the enclosure from the Kommandantur at any time, -and not infrequently their business led them into the -orderlies’ quarters. So might the corporal in charge of -the officers’ baggage room. If such a thing occurred, -and was at all likely to synchronise with the passage -from door to door of Kaserne B of three officers dressed -for no apparent reason in orderlies’ clothes, it was the -task of the picket on duty to intercept the intruders, -dally with them, pilot them on any pretext into securer -waters until time had been given to pass the danger -signal either to the changing room or to the orderly -waiting innocently at the foot of the orderlies’ staircase. -Sometimes the “all clear” was delayed for hours on -this account and a half-day’s shift was lost to the -cause.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Those not in the know—the vast majority of the -camp—used sometimes to wonder why it was that at -certain times of the day there were always one or two -members of a particular set loafing aimlessly by the -officers’ entrance of B Kaserne. Some critical people -were even heard to remark that they were wasting their -time!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Generally speaking, the immunity from scares was -wonderful. Wonderful, too, was the dog-like fidelity -of the Germans, officers and men alike, to their sacred -dinner-hour. It was indeed only on the most exceptional -occasions that a German ever came within the enclosure -during this period. It is actually on record that no -German officer, except on special occasions such as inspection -days, search days, or “strafe” days, <i>ever</i> did. -Even Niemeyer, most active of belligerents in the early -hours, was a party to the universal mid-day torpor. -About three in the afternoon he would wake up and -sally forth for a little potter round the premises; sometimes -he came in at the postern gate by the orderlies’ -entrance, for which, of course, he had a private key. -Therein lay danger always.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The fact is that Niemeyer, although no fool, had left -the possibility of a tunnel out of his scheme of defence; -or rather he must, after mature consideration, have discarded -any such undertaking as physically impossible. -He had been round and round the camp, viewed it inside -and outside in all its aspects, seen every means of -entry to the cellar floor blocked, boarded up, or else -permanently watched, and had come to the conclusion -that below the surface at any rate he was absolutely -secure against attack.</p> - -<p class='c008'>He did not realise, as undoubtedly he should have -done—being, as he said, a man of the world and priding -himself on his intimate knowledge of the British—that, -given time and sufficient freedom from observation, holes -could be made without battering rams and tunnels without -the proper tools; that he was himself too unpopular -with his own people to depend upon clockwork execution -of his orders; and that most of his own cowed staff and -every German civilian who knew much about Holzminden -camp were only too willing—for quite a moderate -consideration, in the shape of soap, dripping, or chocolate—to -contribute indirectly to doing him a bad turn. -And here, before we follow our conspirators behind the -planks under the staircase, it will be well to describe -these various agents, the bureaux to which they repaired -with their information, the caches and repositories for -the contraband articles which they brought into the -camp, and some of the hundred and one devices wherewith -dust was thrown in the eyes of authority.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There was a youthful Prussian known as the Letter -Boy, and so called because his principal task was the -sorting out and distribution of letters. He had a little -broken English and a fair amount of French, and he -used either language to lament publicly the fact that his -nationality was what it was. This young man also acted -as the confidential clerk of Niemeyer and was often used -by him instead of the official interpreters to take messages -and issue orders to individual officers in the camp. -Hating Niemeyer as he did only one degree less than -Prussia, and being ready to go to any lengths of treachery—which -did not involve detection—in return for favours -received, he was, as may be imagined, a useful informant. -Every morning he would repair to a room on -the attic floor of Kaserne A, which was inhabited by five -hardened and inveterate escapers, and which was regarded -as the distributing centre of escape materials to the entire -camp. Here, over a cup of coffee and some biscuits, -he would save the latest news from the Kommandantur, -e.g. “there was going to be a search, he had seen the telegram -ordering it. A new list for Holland had come in -from Hanover. Ulrich had had high words with the -Commandant on account of the alleged appropriation -by Niemeyer of his (Ulrich’s) Christmas wine ration. -For the last week a Fortnum & Mason’s parcel had -found its way every day into Niemeyer’s kitchen,”—and -so on. And he usually turned out to be right. He was -a useful lad; he was asked every kind of leading question -and he asked none back. If he was commissioned to buy -anything and it was small enough to go into his pocket, -he bought and brought it, regularly and punctually. -He must have guessed enough of what was going on to -be in a position to wreck the entire scheme if he had -wanted to. But he remained to the end punctiliously -loyal to his disloyalty, and smiled quite complacently at -the fullness of the final success.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Then there was the electric-light boy, a sturdy young -Frisian who, for some occult reason, had contrived to -confine his active service in the war to six “cushy” -months on the South Russian front. Theoretically he -was Prussian, Pan-German, and all that was horrible; -actually he was friendly and useful, though not, of -course, to be trusted to the same lengths as the Letter -Boy. He spoke good German and not the villainous -dialect which made direct negotiation so difficult with -most of the German-speaking personnel of the camp. -He was good for any number of pocket electric torches, -and an occasional bottle of <i>Kriegs Cognac</i>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Another “string” was the sanitary man—the only -civilian who was allowed into the camp without a sentry -to watch his movements. This gentleman kept a wife -and family on the adjoining premises and was always -ready, in return for services rendered, to enrich his scanty -larder with a store of English tins. He was difficult of -access, as his duties did not as a rule take him into the -buildings, and he was in a terrible funk of being found -out; most of his business was transacted in innocent -conversation with the orderlies over the state of the -refuse bin, or in consultation over a choked-up drain. -Ultimately his larder was found too convincingly full -of English tinned foods and he disappeared from our -midst; but he had contributed his quota.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There was a girl typist in the Kommandantur whom -no one ever saw but who conducted a passionate love -intrigue with an Australian Flying Corps officer through -the agency of letters attached to a weight and collected -by an accomplice sentry. Letters outward from the camp -were dropped in this way from the window, picked up -by the sentry, and so reached their destination in the -Kommandantur. The inward mail used to be thrown -up by the sentry and caught at the window. Whenever -news of general interest was included in the love passages, -an excerpt was made and handed to the senior British -officer. As the girl worked in the Commandant’s office, -there was often valuable material in these missives, and -she also acted as a check on the information supplied by -the Letter Boy. As to the satisfaction got out of the -purely personal side of the affair, opinions might vary. -An interchange of photographs was considered too risky, -and it is believed that neither party to the adventure ever -knew what the other really looked like at close quarters!</p> - -<p class='c008'>The orderly-barber had a similar affair, but was found -out and banished to a men’s camp, forfeiting thereby a -comfortable monthly income from cutting officers’ hair, -and leaving an awkward gap both in the tonsorial staff, -of which he was the only really efficient member, and -the orchestra, in which he had for many months been -the recognised authority on wind instruments.</p> - -<p class='c008'>An obliging canteen attendant, a patriotic Alsatian -amongst the parcel room staff, and half a dozen frankly -neutral sentries completed the list of what might be -called, from our point of view, the German effectives.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The N.C.O.’s—to do them justice—were beyond -suspicion. The majority of them would have been -infinitely rather on the Western front than in their -present uncongenial position. We never attempted to -meddle with them, and indeed there was no need.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The interpreters, although in every way friendly and -obliging, were too closely occupied with the multitudinous -tasks of their daily routine to invite overtures. -There were only three of them in the camp; and what -with acting as intermediaries in disputes, visiting the -cells, distributing letters, and dancing attendance in and -out of season on their German superiors, they were the -most hard-worked people in the camp and had hardly -a minute to call their own.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Adders was a spotty-faced Dusseldorfian with a perpetual -smile and a woman’s gait, and was regarded -generally with perhaps unmerited distrust.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Grau had been interned early in the war at Ahmednagar -in India, and would do anything for anybody who came -from India and whom he hoped might be instrumental -in restoring him one day to his beloved Nilgiris. “I do -not care for Germany,” he would say; “I do not care -for England. My heart is in India.” Poor Grau! He -stands very little chance of getting back there. He must -pay for the misdeeds of his countrymen.</p> - -<p class='c008'>And Wolff was a little cock-sparrow of a Frankfurter -Jew, with an accent acquired on the other side of the -Atlantic.</p> - -<p class='c008'>They used to come to the theatrical shows and sit -enraptured through the most scurrilous and thinly veiled -allusions to Niemeyer and other ornaments of the Xth -Army Corps. The fact that they were there solely as -censors rather added zest to the humour of it. Sometimes, -even, they lost dignity. Wolff in particular was -not proof against the attractions of the chemical compound -which in those days used to pass for Rhine wine; -and after one entertainment at which the bottle passed -somewhat freely he became violently intoxicated, and -was found next morning asleep in an orchard on the -other side of the town, having temporarily thrown off -the bonds of barrack discipline and made a regular night -of it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The hardened criminals of Room 83 on the attic floor -covered equally satisfactorily the traces of their contraband -consignments and the tracks of the consigners. -To the outward eye there was not a more innocent-looking -room in the whole of the two buildings. But -hiding-places lurked everywhere. The floor in this as -in nearly every other room was, fortunately, straightforward -planking laid without bolts or intersections. -Once one plank had been loosened and removed, there -was a space about five to six inches deep between the -planking and the foundation of the floor wherein to -store treasure. When one plank had been removed the -remainder could be slid up and down at leisure and the -whole of the space filled up, if necessary. This practice -was universal, and before the end there was hardly a room -without its cache, not one of which, in spite of two or -three most conscientious and Berlin-inspired searches, -was ever discovered.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In this room also there were sliding panels in the -walls, false partitions in the cupboards, false bottoms in -the drawers. Almost everything that ought to have -been solid was hollow.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Here maps were photographed without cameras and -developed without solutions; German uniforms were -made for use if a suitable opportunity arose; an air -pump was constructed out of bits of wood and the leather -of an R.F.C. flying-coat; air pipes were made out of old -tins; a device was thought out to fuse the electric wires -outside; dummy keys were fashioned. It was the temple -of the Goddess of Flight.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Room 24, the little room on the ground floor in -B House where the working shifts changed into their -orderlies’ clothes, was almost as complete a mask. The -clothes themselves were kept unlocked at the bottom of -several British uniforms in a wooden box. If a search -came they would have to take their chance of being -found; it was impossible to “cache” them afresh under -the boards every time that they were returned from -actual use.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In this room it was usual to find at least four or five -seated in conclave, in a space officially allotted to two. -“Tim” was the owner of the room and had come to be -regarded as the doyen and authority amongst escapers -in the camp. Tim had had a curious war. He had -carried despatches for a fortnight in August and early -September of 1914 and had then been taken prisoner at -a cross-roads by an ex-Rhodes Scholar of New College. -Since then he had spent his time either preparing to -escape or being confined for doing so. He had probably -been out of more camps, done more solitary confinement, -and had on the whole harder luck, than any other -prisoner-of-war in Germany. He spoke correct German -with a strong Irish accent. The very perfection and -thoroughness of his schemes seemed somehow to have -militated against their success. In all his time in Germany -he had not been actually at large for more than -half an hour. He had always been caught—perfectly -disguised and by the purest mischance—at the gate or -just outside it. He had gone with the first exchange -party for Holland, but at Aachen he had announced his -intention of coming back to Germany, and had brought -back a full report of the proceedings at Aachen and the -lie of the land generally—for the benefit of future parties. -It was generally understood that an attempt to escape -while on the journey to Holland was permissible when -in, or on the German side of Aachen, but not when -once the party had left Aachen for the frontier. This -was Tim all over. When he was not working for his -own hand, he was helping others. He disdained such -vulgar expedients as tunnels and was now hard at work -on his most elaborate scheme of all. He intended to -walk out of the main gate through the Kommandantur -in a German private’s uniform, accompanied by a young -curly-haired and dimpled flying officer disguised as his -sweetheart. The plot was by now almost mature, and -the curls were already growing in a most beautiful and -highly suspicious cluster low on the nape of the young -man’s neck.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Room 24 also harboured such of the official documents -of the senior British officer and his adjutant as it was unwise -to have lying about in the event of a search. One -of these was a most damning, authoritative, and complete -narrative of the misdeeds of Niemeyer during the first -three months of the camp’s existence. It was called the -Black Book, and was biding its time to be thrust as red-hot -evidence into the hands of some superior inspecting -official from the <i>Kriegsministerium</i>. Unfortunately that -opportunity never arrived, and the book did not attain -publicity till it was produced in Copenhagen after the -Armistice. It then made interesting reading.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='VI' class='c006'>CHAPTER VI<br /> <br />IN THE TUNNEL</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>We left the trio next for duty in process of disappearing -behind the planks, and about to start on their three-hour -shift at the face of the tunnel. Let us keep company -with them awhile at their difficult and absorbing task.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Tunnelling had at least one great advantage over other -methods of escape, that the interest attaching to the -actual preparation was able to over-ride, to some -extent, the suspense and anxiety as to ultimate success. -There was no opportunity to mope. The immediate -business was to defeat not only the Boche but Nature -too, with all the odds on the latter’s side.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The bolting of the wooden partition behind the last -of the trio shuts out the day and adds the proper molish -touch to the scene. However, what at first appears -pitch dark becomes gradually less so, and presently the -party can see enough to change their more or less clean -orderlies’ clothes for the filthy, sodden, mud-stained rags -which they wear for work in the tunnel. There are -other minor discomforts besides the darkness and the -damp. There is an indescribable musty smell produced -by a mélange of damp clay and earth, mice, old clothes, -and much-breathed air, a smell which you have to go -down into the bowels of the earth to get.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The working clothes are soon on, the clean orderlies’ -clothes stowed carefully away, and a move is made to -the tunnel mouth.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Look at the plan on p. <a href='#illo073'>73</a> and glean a rough idea of the -shape of the chamber and the siting of the tunnel mouth. -The ground area is roughly four yards by five. The -height varies, for, on the near (Kommandantur) side, -the roof consists of the concrete foundation to the first -flight of the orderlies’ staircase, while on the far side—that -next to the Eastern wall of the building—are the -cellar steps. The ground level, which is also the roof -level at the southern end, is about five feet above the -chamber floor.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Into the available recesses formed by this irregular -enclosure all the tunnel earth must be stowed away. -The hollow under the cellar steps is already full, and so -will be the opposite hollow under the orderlies’ staircase -before the end is reached, for a 60-yard passage through -the earth must be displaced somewhere, and it will be -a near thing and will require the most careful and -economical storage if the displacements can be kept -within the narrow cubic space which is all that can be -earmarked for them. A passage from the partition door -to the tunnel mouth must be preserved at all costs.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The tunnel mouth has been hacked through the main -southern wall of the building just where it joins the -cellar floor. It issues about three feet below the ground -level—immediately underneath the orderlies’ entrance—and -then bears sharp left in the direction of the outer -wall.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Now the outer wall is but ten yards away at this point, -and had the original scheme of the tunnel gone as it -had been planned, all would have been over long before -this particular May day, and the conspirators would have -made their bid for freedom. There was nothing very -Herculean involved in getting the tunnel to the other -side of the wall and popping up on a dark night, with -the friendly wall acting as a screen from the view of the -nearest sentry.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But unfortunately, as has been explained, Niemeyer -had taken precautionary measures just before the party -were ready to move, and had put a sentry at the outside -corner of the building, effectually covering the spot. -Unless this sentry was removed it would be necessary, -in order to have a reasonable prospect of success, to -continue the tunnel until a point was reached where it -would be possible to emerge under cover.</p> - -<p class='c008'>These bald words cannot attempt to convey the bitter -disappointment caused by Niemeyer’s manœuvre or the -seriousness of the altered prospect.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But the Tunnellers of Holzminden set their teeth and -prepared themselves, if necessary, to go on digging for -a year rather than run the risk that any of the party -should be spotted by a sentry as he emerged. It was -known how many a previous tunnel scheme had been -shattered miserably on this rock, simply through lack -of the necessary patience to go on with the job. At -Schwarmstedt, not so many months before, this had -happened. The tunnel came out quite close to the wire. -One officer got out and got away, but in so doing was -observed by a sentry. His successor had no sooner put -his head above ground than he was shot dead in the -most cold-blooded and treacherous manner—legitimately -murdered, if one may venture on the paradox.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There was a road immediately beyond the outside -wall, and the ground beyond the road was planted with -low-growing crops and vegetables over a belt of about -40 yards in breadth. The whole of this belt was searched -by the glare from the strong electric lamps at the corner -of the wall. Day and night there was now a sentry outside -the wall. If Niemeyer had posted machine guns at -intervals of 50 yards round the camp, he could hardly -have felt more immune from attack, more absolutely -secure from any attempt to spring him by the tunnel -method.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was early days—in April—to offer any decided -opinion as to what the vegetables were likely to be. If -they turned out to be crops which were not high enough -to offer adequate cover to the escapers, there would be -no choice—as the sketch will show—but to tunnel grimly -on till the rye-field was reached, several yards further -away. But the rye would be cut in early August at -latest, and meanwhile the tunnel had advanced barely -ten yards beyond the outside wall, and at best a two-foot -progress crowned during this period the effort of each -laborious day. This meant about 40 yards still to tunnel -and three months to go in a losing race, probably, unless -progress could be accelerated; and this, as the work took -the party further and further from their base, was hardly -to be expected.</p> - -<div id='illo093' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_093.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>(Scale = roughly 40 yds = inch.)<br /><br />Course of the tunnel<br /><br />(see also <a href='#frontis'>frontispiece</a>).</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>So it is with the depressed feeling of having to work -against time as well as nature that our friends assemble -behind the partition on this particular morning. They -are standing, or rather stooping, at the entrance, and -the first thing to do is to light up. Fortunately someone -has remembered to bring the matches to-day, so -Number 1 lights a couple of precious candles (we were -dependent entirely on England for these commodities) -and crawls in. He sticks one candle in the pump -chamber, which is just round the first corner and about -six feet from the entrance, and proceeds on his way with -the other. His progress is necessarily slow, very slow, -as the tunnel is so small that he is compelled to <i>wriggle</i> -along on his elbows and toes. There is no help for this. -The hole must be as small as possible, because of the -extreme economy to be exercised in the disposition of -the displaced earth.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Number 2 enters the pump chamber and starts working -the pump. This instrument consists of a home-made -vertical bellows, manufactured from wood and from the -leather of a flying coat, and is operated by Number 2 -with his left hand as he sits facing it and looking along -the tunnel towards the face. The pump is screwed to -wooden uprights which are securely embedded top and -bottom in the clay soil, and the air is forced into a pipe -composed of tin tubes made out of biscuit boxes. Little -did the glorious company of biscuit makers suspect that -in sending us our means of sustenance they were also -contributing to an important escape. This pipe is -sunk in the floor of the tunnel and is kept always -close to the face by the addition of more and yet more -tubes.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Number 3, whose duty it will be to pack the earth -when it is hauled out, stays outside the tunnel mouth -and sees that the rope attached to the basin is running -clear, and then hands the basin to Number 2, who puts -it in front of him ready to be pulled to the face by -Number 1 with that half of the rope which extends -from the pump chamber to the face. We shall see -what the basin was for if we accompany Number 1 on -his journey to the tunnel face.</p> - -<p class='c008'>For the first few yards he goes down a slight slope, -then again for a few yards up an incline to the place -where it was originally intended to make the exit—just -beyond the boundary wall. Here he can hear the thud-thud -of the sentry’s footsteps above his head. Then he -goes down again pretty steeply for three or four yards -and flattens out, the tunnel swinging slightly, first to -the right and then to the left. All this time he has been -going through fairly soft stuff—a sort of sandy yellow -clay, which has been easy enough to dig—but now he -comes to the stony part. Working in this stretch has -been terribly difficult. A dense, seemingly interminable -stratum of large stones has been encountered. The stones -are smooth and flat, tightly pressed together in a horizontal -position and cemented with the stickiest of clay. -Number 1’s progress becomes positively painful: he -barks his shoulders on the stones which project from -the walls, his toes and elbows suffer from the stones -beneath him, occasionally he bumps his head on the -uneven roof, and all the time he must keep the candle -alight, and swear only in an undertone. Soon he begins -to ascend again—steeply this time—and comes to the -face, but not before he has had yet one more unpleasant -experience. Out of the gloom in front of him appears -suddenly a pair of wicked little eyes, horribly bright and -menacing. He clenches his teeth and digs his chin into -the soil beneath him. The large rat, whose solitude he -has disturbed, crawls over him and leaves him sweating -with fright and almost faint with the eerie sensation -of it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But the tunnel must go on, so Number 1 sticks the -candle on some convenient stone at his side, takes the -cold chisel and gets to work. In five minutes or less -he has loosened a bathful of stones and he drops the -chisel, takes hold of his end of the rope and hauls. -The difficulties of hauling on a rope while lying in -a tube about eighteen inches in diameter lined with -knobbly stones can be imagined but cannot be adequately -described. Soon he hears the rattling of the basin on -the stones behind him, and it arrives at his feet. Next -comes the contortionist’s trick of getting it past his body -in the confined space, then the filling, and finally the -almost superhuman juggling feat of getting the full -basin back past his body again. A couple of jerks at the -rope leading to the pump chamber, and he feels it tauten. -The basin begins to move away, and Number 1 turns -on to his side again and gets to work, taking care that -he has the <i>end</i> of the rope attached to some part of his -person but that the rest of it is free.</p> - -<p class='c008'>If he is a fairly quick worker, he will have another -load of stones ready by the time the basin has been -pulled back and emptied. He will then haul it up again -and repeat the whole exhausting process. No wonder -that the tunnel party did not as a band shine as games -enthusiasts amongst their fellow-prisoners. They had -their bellyful of exercise down below.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Sometimes the monotony of the proceedings is varied -by a torrent of subdued cursing from the pump chamber, -while the full basin is on its way back. To the experienced -this only signifies that the rope has broken, as it frequently -does on account of the damp and the incessant -friction against the sides, roof, and floor of the tunnel. -A breakage entails a journey on the part of Number 2 -to effect repairs while Number 3 pumps.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The working time is divided into three equal parts, -and at the end of the first part Number 3, who is time-keeper -as well as packer, informs Number 2. A low -hail informs Number 1 that his digging is over for the -day, and he retraces his steps—or more accurately -wriggles back feet foremost, for there is no room to -turn round. He then becomes Number 3, Number 2 -becomes Number 1 and goes to the face, whilst Number -3 becomes Number 2 and pumps.</p> - -<p class='c008'>So the work goes on till 3.45 p.m. Then it ceases; -all three come out of the tunnel and change back into -their orderlies’ clothes to await the signal to come out. -At the orderlies’ entrance to the building stand two of -the orderlies waiting for a favourable opportunity to let -them out, and, just as during the morning manœuvre, -there are two or three officers loafing about for no -apparent reason at the other end of the building. On -some days there are no Boche about at this time and -immediate exit is possible, but to-day they happen to be -carrying potatoes down to the adjoining cellar, and pass -to and fro close to the hiding-place, quite plainly visible -through the cracks in the boards. They could not see -anything, naturally, even if they thought of looking, as -they are in the light and the chamber is practically in -the dark.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At last they go. “Come out now,” sings out one -of the orderlies, looking skywards and as if singing -a snatch of a music-hall song from sheer light-heartedness. -The trio unbolt the plank door and, slipping -quickly to the top of the steps, stand just inside the -orderlies’ door, precisely as they had stood in the -morning with the day’s work in front of them; and an -orderly waiting for a moment at the bottom of the steps -fastens the secret door. The orderly standing at the -entrance looks down the enclosure to make sure that -no Germans are about, and then says “Right.” Off -they go again. If the sun is shining, the light is very -dazzling after the darkness.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At the last moment, perhaps, and when home is so -nearly reached, a German Feldwebel appears from nowhere -in particular and heads for the same door. Out -from the cookhouse, which stands just opposite the -officers’ door, walks one of the aimless, lounging, loafing -officers above mentioned, and delays the Feldwebel -with some question, no matter how trivial. So home is -safely made again, and the party become officers once -more and put off their orderlies’ clothes. Then follows -<i>appel</i>, and the joy of a good wash in hot water and -something to eat.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The hours have not been long, but the foul atmosphere -has caused considerable fatigue, perhaps a bad -headache. And in case anyone should still think, after -reading this, that the work was light, he should be -invited to wriggle 50 yards on elbows and toes <i>in the -open</i>, and if he is unduly sceptical, in public. He will -lose dignity, but he will gain an appreciation of the -difficulties of the performance in a very confined space.</p> - -<hr class='c015' /> - -<p class='c008'>There are a few other points in regard to the construction -of the tunnel which may not be without interest.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When and where necessary, the roof was revetted. -The revetting was done with bed boards. The foundations -of all beds in the camp were boards placed cross-wise -across an iron frame and supporting a mattress -made of paper, straw and shavings, and uneven as the -Somme battlefield. Many of these boards had been -commandeered as firewood during the early stages of -the camp, when there had been, as related, a regrettable -hitch in the arrangements for our warming. Many -more now found their way underground by driblets -into the orderlies’ quarters and thence into the recess -behind the planks, or were carried direct by the working-party. -People clamoured querulously for the missing -boards which they had saved from the burning, and of -which they had now been robbed. No one except the -very few in the secret and an orderly or so had the -ghost of a notion what had really happened to them. -The Boche when appealed to of course shrugged their -shoulders and quoted the equivalent German proverb -about eating your cake. What would you? Very nearly -all is fair in escapes.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The only tools used in the digging of the tunnel -were a trowel or “mumptee” (an instrument with a -spike at one end and an excavating blade at the other) -and the cold chisel. The chisel was useful for levering -apart the smooth heavy stones which presented so much -difficulty. It seems probable that these stones had once -formed the bed of some river and had been worn -smooth and packed by the action of the water. Attempts -were made to dodge this difficult stratum of stones -which retarded progress so seriously, but in the absence -of proper instruments it was impossible to gauge the -level with any degree of accuracy. A descent of four -feet bringing no better results, it was decided to come -back to the previous level of about eight or nine feet -below the surface.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The chamber was just—and only just—sufficient for -the earth. When the last sackful<a id='r8' /><a href='#f8' class='c016'><sup>[8]</sup></a> had been piled the -chamber was practically full of earth from floor to -ceiling and in every crevice.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> -<div class='footnote' id='f8'> -<p class='c008'><span class='label'><a href='#r8'>8</a>. </span>See the photograph opposite. The sacks were mostly mattresses stolen from beds and quite unaccounted for also!</p> -</div> -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Orientation was not an easy matter. It was necessary -of course only to bear in a general easterly direction as -straight as possible. There were rough compasses galore -in the camp, but it was very difficult to dig the tunnel -straight and the compasses were too small to check -errors accurately.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Towards the end the tunnel had become too twisted -and hilly to permit any longer of the rope and basin -method being used, and it was necessary to fill sacks -and drag them back from the face. This method was -even more wearisome and exasperating than the other. -To wriggle back by oneself was bad enough: to wriggle -back, and every yard or so pull a heavy sack after one, -was infinitely more so. Nevertheless, all this practice -had its advantages: it braced the muscles of the working-party -for the great night when each one of them would -have to worm his way through the tunnel, pushing a -loaded pack in front of him.</p> -<div id='illo100' class='figcenter id005'> -<img src='images/p_100_facing.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>At the tunnel mouth.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='VII' class='c006'>CHAPTER VII<br /> <br />REPRISALS</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The days wore on, lengthening to the advantage of the -cause and permitting of longer shifts. The working-party -added to its numbers, allotting a few more privileged -places without difficulty; for by now the thing -was beginning to be known and discreetly talked about, -and founders’ shares were at a premium. A few who -might have been able to obtain them, but whose turn had -come for exchange, were unable to resist the temptation -and departed for Holland. The working-party -and some others, on being asked their intentions, politely -intimated that they preferred to remain in Germany. -Had Niemeyer only taken more intelligent stock of the -particular quarter from which so many unexpected -refusals emanated, it is possible that he might have -drawn valuable conclusions.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But Niemeyer, astute German though he was, disregarded -these and other even more valuable hints -which were to be offered him before the scheme was -ripe for launching, and which could have told him -easily enough in which quarter the wind blew. As an -instance of one, there arose in early June a sudden and -curious demand on the part of certain individuals for -transfer from A to B Kaserne. Three officers, comfortably -situated in a small room in the former house (the -same room, by the way, as that in which the Letter -Boy used to spend so much of his time), overlooking -the picturesque suburbs of Holzminden, and blessed -with apparently every comfort that a prisoner-of-war -could require, asked unashamedly if they might become -one of a motley, closely packed crew in one of the big -rooms on the ground floor of B Kaserne. Many of the -reasons given for the desire to change were ingenious, -but if submitted to anybody with a less cast-iron mould -of thought than the German camp officers it is unlikely -that they would have convinced. However, change -they were allowed to, and change they did; and the -working-party of twelve were now all lodged in B -Kaserne.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This was a very necessary move for the following -reason: when—if ever—the tunnel was used in earnest, -it would be used after dark and lock-up. Consequently -those who intended to use it would have all to be in B -Kaserne at the time. For any less important occasion -it might have been feasible for the A house members -of the scheme to arrange to change places for the night -with accomplices in B house, the A house officers -answering to the B house officers’ names and <i>vice versâ</i>. -This used to be done sometimes for occasions such as a -birthday party or a theatrical show, when the presence -of some member of the other house was essential to the -success of the evening’s programme. But more often -than not it was spotted, and either condoned or reported -according to the nature and temper of the Feldwebel -taking the <i>appel</i>. On a large scale and for an event of -the nature of the tunnel, for the success of which -complete absence of any suspicion on the part of the -Germans was an absolute <i>sine qua non</i>, such a risk -was not possible, and, indeed, could not be allowed. -It was intended that, whatever happened, and whatever -the hardship that might occur in individual cases, the -night of the escape should not find a single officer in B -Kaserne who was not domiciled there with the permission -of the Germans. This intention was happily carried -into effect.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Meanwhile, the owners of the founders’ shares, knowing, -as they did, pretty well the conditions under which -the scheme was to be submitted to the public, took -time by the forelock and changed houses before the -rush.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was indeed an undertaking in which the home -policy was fraught with almost as many dangers as the -foreign, and required the most patient and tactful -handling. Fortunately there was only one of the allied -nations in the camp, and this fact of itself quartered the -risk. Inter-allied jealousy, or merely Latin or Slavonic -exuberance, had many a time ere this during the war -wrecked a promising and well-laid plan. But even in a -camp where all were English and the loyalty to the -cause of the whole community never for an instant came -in question, there were yet grave risks of discovery -through some intemperate speech or action of the newly -captured or the not overwise.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was just after the arrival of one hundred newly -captured officers from the big March offensive of 1918 -that the cat was most nearly let out of the bag. A -“show” was on, and the audience were sitting in packed -rows and eager expectancy in front of the curtain, -waiting for the intellectual fare of the evening to be set -forth on the dining room tables. A canteen “boycott” -was in full force at the time, and the company, in the -absence of the bottle that cheers, was comparatively -quiet. The Germans used to make so much money out -of the English over the wine—and wretched wine at -that—that the senior British officer had every now and -again to clap on a drastic boycott on the canteen and -forbid officers to buy anything there at all. Sometimes -this policy was two-edged and as much in the interests -of peace and quiet in the camp as to the detriment of -German profiteers. At all events you could always tell -whether a boycott was on or not by the amount of -noise which attended the fortnightly shows, and it so -happened that on the particular occasion with which we -are concerned you <i>could</i> hear your next-door neighbour -speak.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Suddenly a padre—one of the new arrivals—leant -over to make a remark to an officer sitting near him, -and in bell-like tone uttered the dreadful question:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“<i>Are you in the tunnel?</i>”</p> - -<p class='c008'>A shiver ran through the whole of the adjoining rows. -Two of the German interpreters were seated within -two yards.</p> - -<p class='c008'>On another occasion an ingenuous youth was found -leaning out of one of the first floor corridor windows -and carrying on an animated conversation about escapes, -past and future, with one of the occupants of the cells. -They were apparently analysing the causes of failure of -a recent attempt and discussing the prospects of success -of another imminent one. Any English-speaking German -who happened to be in the building at the time—it -was midsummer, and all the windows were open—could -not fail to have been suitably impressed with this -dialogue.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A newly captured officer with a bump of observation -startled those near him one day by singing out to a -friend to know whether he too had recognised “these -officers walking about in orderlies’ clothes.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The senior British officer did, of course, from time to -time issue stringent orders about the paramount importance -of secrecy, and sometimes personally harangued -the occupants of each building. But the difficulty was -to cater for the odd handful—what we used to call “the -elusive half per cent”—who either succeeded in absenting -themselves from such harangues or, if present, failed -to understand their purport, and of whom it might fairly -be said that they were so stupid and perverse as to be -a real danger to their own side, on whichever side of -the line. A bump of carelessness, a bump of cussedness, -a faulty sense of discipline, and a penchant towards -selfish individualism—when two or three endowed with -these qualities were gathered together, the lot of those -responsible for their actions was not a pleasant one. -The senior officer was powerless, if any chose disloyally -or unintentionally not to support him; he exercised the -authority vested in his person by virtue of King’s Regulations, -and there it ended. A court of enquiry and a -threat of post-bellum action against the offender was -the limit of his power. Nor was it easy to enjoin general -secrecy on a subject which was never put publicly into -words. Hole, not tunnel, was the word used, if a word -had to be used—and then only in an undertone, or -behind closed doors.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But in spite of these potential sources of leakage, -nothing occurred to mar the progress of the tunnel -until the middle of May, when it had been in full -swing for five and a half months and reached to somewhere -about the middle of the vegetables. Then a -bomb-shell fell. It was announced one day on <i>appel</i> -that in consequence of measures of reprisals which had -been taken against German officers in a certain camp in -England, counter-reprisals would be put into force in -the Xth Army Corps until further notice. There would -be no less than four <i>appels</i> a day, at 9 a.m., 11.30 a.m., -3.30 p.m. and 6 p.m.; music, theatricals, games, and -walks were to be stopped; and no newspapers were to be -permitted into the camp. The Commandant regretted, -but orders were orders, and so on in the usual vein.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It struck us as deliciously ironical that counter-reprisals -on ourselves should be the first outward and -visible sign that anything had come of the agitation -which had, we knew, been raised on our behalf by -influential officers amongst the earlier Holland parties. -It ultimately transpired that strong representations had -been made to the German War Office as to the maladministration -in the Xth Army Corps and particularly -in the camps governed by the Twin Brethren, Heinrich -and Karl Niemeyer; when it became clear that no -attention was being paid to these representations, steps -were taken to collect in one camp in England all the -German officers who belonged to Hanoverian regiments -and to deal with them as a measure of reprisals on -appropriate lines. The measure signally failed, after -the manner of reprisals. In the first place, it was impossible -to find any Englishman at all like the Niemeyers, -and therefore the conditions ruling with us -could not be even approximately reproduced at home; -in the second place, a German government that was as -yet impenitent and still sanguine of ultimate success -decided that their best course lay in prompt counter-reprisals. -One of the features of this “strafe” was that -we were invited to send full accounts of it home in our -letters, provided only that we also mentioned the alleged -reason. An extra letter was offered us in which to do -so<a id='r9' /><a href='#f9' class='c016'><sup>[9]</sup></a>. This was a clumsy and typical German device to -endeavour to alienate popular feeling at home. Needless -to say, it was seen through, and not a single letter -mentioned the subject at all.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> -<div class='footnote' id='f9'> -<p class='c008'><span class='label'><a href='#r9'>9</a>. </span>Normally we were allowed to write two letters in each month (six sides to a letter) and four post-cards.</p> -</div> -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Any alternative to reprisals as a means for one belligerent -power to stop the malpractices of another was -not, so far as I am aware, discovered during the war. -But it was a poor arrangement at the best.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The added <i>appels</i> had a serious effect upon the output -of excavated earth, for the working hours were now -considerably reduced, and there were long faces amongst -the initiate. Those in authority began to have serious -qualms as to whether—even if all went well from now -on—the tunnel would have advanced near enough to -the rye crop before it was ripe for the sickle. Such -local papers as we were now compelled to smuggle into -the camp spoke of an early harvest. Added to this, the -entire camp, having now no games to play and nothing -particular to occupy itself with, began to take notice of -things to which they had been blind hitherto; and an -embarrassing number of enquiries—most secretly and -impressively conducted, but embarrassing withal—began -to be made as to the progress of the unmentionable -thing. Certain people all at once discovered that -they could in future only support existence if buoyed -up by the hope of escape, and began to ingratiate -themselves accordingly in the proper quarter. There -arose a strong and inconvenient demand for places in -what came to be known as the “waiting list,” which -did not in the least help the progress of what they -were waiting for.</p> - -<p class='c008'>During these days of counter-reprisal, which lasted -about a month, the event occurred which might so -easily have put the lid on the whole scheme, but which -did, in fact, probably prove to be its salvation. An -officer returning from his shift to the officers’ entrance -was recognised by a sentry. The sentry reported the -episode but could not give the officer’s name. Niemeyer -quickly appeared on the scene, attended by the camp -officers, and conducted a cross-examination and thorough -investigation on the spot; and the British were kept -standing on <i>appel</i>—those of them concerned in an agony -of apprehension—until the conclusion of the enquiry.</p> - -<p class='c008'>So well, however, was the entrance to the tunnel -concealed, and so inconclusive was the evidence supplied -by the sentry, that Niemeyer failed badly to take advantage -of the one real clue ever presented to him in -the history of the tunnel. He knew the English too -well to think for a moment of parading the whole camp -before the miserable sentry on the chance of an identification; -such an attempt would have meant a crowded -hour or so of sheer delight for the British and of baffled -exasperation for himself. He ultimately came to the -conclusion that if there was anything in the sentry’s -statement there was probably some embryo stunt afoot -(in this he was not far wrong); and contented himself -with the precaution of placing an additional sentry at -the orderlies’ door. The conspirators breathed again. -All was not yet lost.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When nothing further at all suspicious was reported, -the mood of the versatile Niemeyer again reacted, and -the informing sentry was given eight days in cells for -making a false report. This act, besides being typically -unjust, was also one of questionable policy, since it -naturally tended to make other sentries uncommunicative -of anything suspicious that they might see or hear. -Punishment in cells with them was an infinitely more -serious affair than it was with us. They had only their -own miserable ration and were cut off even from the -slender assistance of the home parcels on which most, -if not all of them, relied to keep their bodies and souls -together.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The immediate upshot, so far as the tunnel and the -additional sentry were concerned, was that so long as -the sentry remained posted over the orderlies’ entrance -the tunnel could not possibly be got at by the previous -method. A new entrance to the chamber had to be -made, and this was set about at once. A hole was begun -through the wall of the last of the big living rooms on -the ground floor which adjoined directly on to the -chamber. This hole would give entry to the chamber -somewhere underneath the staircase flight. It should be -explained here that the only reason which had prevented -this hole being attempted at a much earlier stage in the -proceedings was the obvious and almost certain risk of -any such hole being discovered in a search and thereby -ruining the whole scheme. Only the present desperate -state of affairs justified the risk being taken at all.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The inhabitants of Room 34 (the big room in question) -had, of course, to be let into the secret, if secret it -could any longer be called. One member of the patrol -now sat in a deck-chair at the end of the corridor just -opposite the door of the room, whence he could -command the whole length of the passage and dart in -at once to warn the workers inside if any German hove -in sight. A different officer every hour sitting at this -particular spot in the corridor, reading a book and -apparently perfectly resigned to the discomfort of the -site and the disturbance to his reading caused by the -perpetual traffic—if the Germans who did occasionally -come along had stopped for a moment to think....</p> - -<p class='c008'>But the fact is that the reprisals were militating for -us as well as against us. The German personnel were -not enjoying the counter-reprisals any more than we -were; counting 250 officers five times a day, even in -the most superficial manner, was a task that was obviously -trying the patience of both the Feldwebels and -the Lager officers very severely, and it is not surprising -that during this period they left us well alone when -they were given the opportunity. On the argument -that both sides had a grievance, personal relations between -the British and Germans (with the exception, of -course, of Niemeyer) improved by leaps and bounds; -and the supervision was more cursory and the letter of -the law more loosely interpreted than at any previous -time in the camp’s history.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The then senior British officer, Colonel Rathborne, -D.S.O., was himself deeply interested in the success of -the scheme, and had, in fact, been offered a place immediately -after the original working-party. It was his -obvious policy to foster as much as possible the existing -state of good relationship and to avoid serious collision -with the authorities. Consequently the reprisals were -left to work out their own sweet course; Niemeyer was -ignored; when a hammer disappeared from the tool-bag -of a civilian carpenter working in the camp and the -Feldwebel-Lieutenant Welman demanded its instant -restoration on pain of a general search, the hammer was -immediately produced. A German tin room attendant -had his cap whisked off his head by some adventurous -and unidentified spirit. The threats of a general search -were repeated, and the cap as promptly restored. The -Jewboy and the Germans generally were welcome to -draw any conclusions they wished as to our impaired -morale. Their conclusions were of secondary importance. -But a general search at such a time would have been a -disaster of the first magnitude, and Room 34 could -hardly have got through with its secret unnoticed.</p> - -<p class='c008'>However, the attempt to make an entry into the -chamber from Room 34 proved abortive, owing to the -difficulty of digging through the solid concrete of the -wall with the available tools. So after desperate efforts -for about a week the deck-chair habit ceased as suddenly -as it had begun, and the working-party turned their -attention to the attic, which was now the one remaining -available avenue of approach.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Leading to the attic floor from the officers’ staircase -were two swing doors. As the attic floor had now been -placed altogether out of bounds for officers, these doors -were padlocked and secured by a chain which passed -through the two large loop-handles of the doors. The -doors were forced by unscrewing one of these handles, -which were fastened by six screws through their bed-plates. -The screws had to be replaced every time the -conspirators went in or out. Entry was then possible -into one of the now disused officers’ small rooms. A -hole was knocked through the wall of this room into a -space between the wall of the attic, the roof, and the -eaves, thus:</p> - -<div id='illo112' class='figcenter id006'> -<img src='images/p_112.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>This space communicated with the orderlies’ quarters -by means of a small door which had been built into the -house to permit of access to the eaves. The hole in the -vacant room was camouflaged with a bit of board, cut to -size and covered with glue on which was sprinkled mortar -and distemper to tone with the wall of the room.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The use of this room as the means of access to the -orderlies’ quarters, and so <i>viâ</i> the staircase and the same -old secret door to the tunnel, made up in full for the -previous week’s delay and immensely accelerated the rate -of progress. It was no longer necessary to work by -means of carefully timed and well-reconnoitred reliefs; -the work could now go on all day and all night, with -interruptions only to admit of attendance on <i>appels</i>. -When the reprisal restrictions were removed, things -would go on even more swimmingly; as it was—and in -spite of continued trouble with the stones—the tunnel -was already estimated to be nosing its way to within -measurable distance of the coveted rye.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When the Commandant’s suspicion at length subsided -and the extra sentry was removed from the orderlies’ -entrance, the decision had to be made whether to revert -to the old method of getting to the tunnel or to stay -with the quicker method and risk a search. It goes -almost without saying that the latter counsel prevailed. -It was now mid-June, and with any luck it was hoped -that the tunnel would have been taken far enough by -the first week in July. If they went back to the old -method, it might not be ready before August. At the -worst the Letter Boy, or some other agent, might be -safely relied upon to give 24 hours’ notice of a search, -during which time much might be done still further to -conceal the traces of the attempted hole in Room 34—though -this had already been fairly effectually done—and -the actual hole in the attic. But it was unlikely, -since these attic rooms were now out of bounds and the -swing doors apparently securely padlocked, that a search -would extend so far.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It might be asked why had not this decision been taken -before, and why in the early stages the cumbrous method -of approaching the tunnel in orderlies’ clothes under the -very nose of a sentry had been preferred. The answer -to this very reasonable question is that three weeks is -not eight months. At this juncture it was reasonable -odds against a search being held before the tunnel was -completed. In November it was all the odds on. -Actually, since operations had been begun, there had -been two searches, both of them—as regards the ground -floor at any rate—extremely thorough. No hole in a -wall could have hoped to escape the sleuth hounds -specially sent down from Berlin for these occasions. -They may have got the worst of it in some of the personal -encounters—indeed, they very rarely did discover -any <i>articles</i> of a contraband nature; the British officers -who owned any as a rule took care not to be collared in -possession, and very often the war was carried into the -enemies’ country and the civilian detectives found, on -leaving a room, that they had somehow managed to -mislay an umbrella, or a hat, or some other object of -civilian attire useful for escapes—all of which, it need -hardly be said, provided scope for a most exhilarating -exchange of amenities, and sometimes for grave allegations -against the moral proclivities of the British prisoners. -But with bricks and mortar our black-coated friends were -on surer ground, and they would not have needed very -high qualifications to have spotted a gaping hole in a -wall camouflaged behind a bed. So our Tunnellers had -had to go outside to get to their work, and the plank -door had been decided upon.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Searches, though they meant confinement to the -buildings for the best part of the day and made cooking -a decent meal at the stoves impossible, were nevertheless -welcomed by all except those who had much to lose -and no time to hide it in as a pleasant variation to the -monotonous round. For one thing, they introduced for -a brief space a foreign element into the camp. Quaint -little spectacled civilians from Berlin, full of zeal for -their duties for an hour or so, but tiring rapidly as the -same ritual was gone through in room after room of -polite but mildly amused prisoners, could be induced, -with a little persuasion, to talk of food conditions in the -capital, their opinion on the war, and other interesting -subjects. The full dress uniform of a police officer provided -a pleasing variation to the eternal field grey; or -some Captain from Hanover, in charge of the company -specially detailed for the search, interested simply because -his face was new to us.</p> - -<p class='c008'>For any material result, both the searches held at -Holzminden were an absolute farce. Of one of them -we had full warning. An enormous quantity of books -were temporarily confiscated for examination and removed -to the parcel room. One or two maps which had -been carelessly left uncovered were duly netted; but -anything of real importance, such as civilian hats, clothes, -compasses, and the overwhelming majority of the maps, -were securely hidden before the search ever began, and -all that happened was that every officer in the camp was -invited to undress and then to dress again. These ordeals -were great fun. When it got to the final stages and the -victim was in his undergarments, he was invited to give -his parole that he had nothing actually concealed about -his person. With some of us delicacy conquered. Others -were less fastidious and requested the German to continue -his ungrateful task to the bitter end. Long before -the attic floor—in both houses the richest in contraband -stores—was reached, the searching-parties had tired of -the beauty of the human form and proceedings had become -entirely formal.</p> - -<p class='c008'>One officer prominent in this story was taken by surprise -at one of these searches with a whole escape kit -under his bed. But he had also at the foot of his bed -a large black wooden box which had a double bottom. -Luckily, when the sleuths entered his room, the first -thing that caught their eye was the big black box. They -turned everything out of it and tapped the bottom. -After a frenzied argument, lasting quite half an hour, -between a detective from Berlin who said there was a -double bottom, and the double bottom expert, who, being -called over to examine it, said there was not, the former -triumphantly put his foot through the false bottom. It -hid one or two books (prayer books, etc.) and some -private papers of no particular interest. These articles -were carried off in triumph, and every Hun present -shook the detective’s hand as if he had scored a goal -for Blackburn Rovers. They were so pleased that they -<i>forgot to look under the bed</i>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It should be added that on these occasions the camp -personnel could be relied upon to do their utmost in -helping to baffle the search. Thus, for instance, a sentry -could—for a cake of soap, or a stick of chocolate—be -easily induced to act as temporary banker for a large -number of German notes of the realm. Feldwebels -could be persuaded to give permission for an officer to -visit the latrine under guard, well knowing that he had -only gone to put something out on short deposit in a -reliable quarter. In some cases the Feldwebel was even -known to take the risk of the market himself. It was a -curious phenomenon, in fact, that on such gala days the -camp personnel became infinitely more indulgent than -on ordinary working days. It was as if they were disposed -to make common cause with us against Niemeyer and -his imported mercenaries. In doing so the camp sentries -did not forget to help themselves unasked whenever -they had an opportunity. Whilst we were shut up in -our rooms, they had ample access to the dining rooms; -and it was an amusing climax to the day’s sport to see -the whole of the guard marched off to the parcel room -after the search to be themselves searched in their turn, -their pockets simply bulging with stolen tins or eatables, -and in many cases the delinquents making frantic efforts -to eat a two days’ supply in two minutes and incur the -penalty of indigestion rather than that of nine days’ cells -for being found in possession of stolen goods. The whole -business was rather Gilbertian. I do not think it could -have happened in England, even if there had been a -famine there.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Niemeyer must have realised the futility of these field-days, -for there were no searches held between a date in -March and the time of the tunnel escape. On one occasion -all the preparations for one had been made, and -the information duly passed on through the usual channels -to us. But Niemeyer, in his turn, came to know that -we knew, and not only cancelled the operations but told -us frankly that he had done so. We had sometimes to -give the devil his due for a sense of humour.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='VIII' class='c006'>CHAPTER VIII<br /> <br />THE LAST LAP</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>After a brief spell of smoother working, both above -and below the surface, things began to go wrong again.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the first place, the exasperating stratum of stones -recurred and persisted. The tunnel was now being inclined -upwards. From rough measurements it had been -estimated that the face must now be approaching the -desired spot and be nearly abreast with the edge of the -rye-field. But the obstinate stratum added to the difficulty -of working uphill, and reduced the rate of progress almost -to the lowest on record; and, work as they might, it was -the last week in June before those directing decided that -the distance had been accomplished and the tunnel might -be inclined to the surface.</p> - -<p class='c008'>On the last day in June Lieutenant Butler, one of the -leading spirits in the concern, went up to the face on -the important duty of breaking the surface and pinpointing -the position. The tunnel had at length been -pushed through the clogging stratum, a total ascent of -nine feet had been made from the lowest point, and it -was judged that the end of it must now be very near -the surface. To confirm this, a narrow hole was bored -straight upwards from the face. It was found that there -were still six feet of clay and soil to be negotiated. This -was disappointing, but it was not so disappointing as -was the result of verifying the actual position. Butler -very gingery pushed a stick with a piece of white paper -attached to it up through the hole. The watchers from -one of the upper end-corridor windows groaned as they -discerned the damning piece of paper moving slowly to -and fro, <i>still eight or nine yards short of the rye</i>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The interest and general tension had now become so -great that, although nothing was said, half the camp knew -the same evening that something was wrong and guessed -fairly shrewdly what the something was. To carry on -into the rye would take at least three weeks’ hard work, -by which time the rye would probably have been cut -and the only cover afforded would be the darkness of -the night. But about three or four yards nearer than -the rye was a row of beans, and it was decided to make -a last effort to reach these and to trust to luck and the -darkness to carry the party across the bare space between -the beans and rye. The beans in themselves would afford -no mean screen.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Meanwhile, “Munshi” Gray, another of the conspirators, -the Father of the Tunnel, and in every way -one of the most important personages concerned, fell -due for a fortnight of solitary confinement. He had -some time ago had a violent altercation with the most -odious of the parcel room attendants, and had, in the -course of it, absent-mindedly handled a large knife which -was lying on the parcel room counter. The attendant -promptly brought a charge against him for attempted -homicide, and—the word, as well as the body, of even -the vilest German being sacrosanct when brought into -collision with those of prisoners-of-war—Gray was in -due course brought up before a court-martial. It says -something for his judges on this occasion that they did -not give him more than a fortnight, which in reality -amounted to acquittal. There existed tribunals which -would have given him six months of the best without -the slightest twinge of conscience, or—more melancholy -still—without the thought of having been in the least -unjust. This was but an instance of the perversions of -all the accepted canons of fair play which frequently -occurred; fortunately for Gray and the tunnel, it was -a mild sample. So the Munshi languished and knew -nothing of what was passing in the tunnel, except from -guarded scraps of Hindostani spoken to him in an even -voice from the window of the camp adjutant’s room, -immediately above his cell.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Finally, Tim and his young woman made their long -deliberated effort and were caught most unluckily at -the main gate, thereby throwing the camp officials and -Niemeyer in particular into a most undesirable mood of -added watchfulness. Everything had gone according to -plan up to a point—the Kommandantur staircase had -again been made use of, and a most seductive little -flapper typist had tripped his unassuming way unchallenged -through the gate. Tim himself, dressed in -a German private’s uniform (but otherwise unmistakably -Tim), had attempted to follow suit; but he was unable -to avoid his doom in the shape of one too curious and -too intelligent pair of eyes at the guard-room window. -Their owner recognised him as an English officer and -promptly gave the alarm. Result, the usual Tim débacle, -and the work of months once again nullified. The pair -were marched off to the cells under escort amidst sympathetic -expressions from every side. Even Ulrich, the -German officer of B Kaserne, was loud in his admiration -of the disguises used; ‘he had of course suspected -something was up for months.’ Of course.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Lieutenant Lincke, the officer who had succeeded the -pot-bellied Gröner in charge of A Kaserne, a pharmacist -by trade and the personification of pompous absurdity, -seized the opportunity to show his ignorance of the -English and his unsuitability for his post by intimating that -the female disguise had been culled from the theatrical -wardrobe allowed us on parole. Once again, and in accordance -with cherished tradition, war had to be waged -on the parole question, and the artificially good relations -which were being promoted in the interests of the tunnel -were temporarily suspended until Lincke could be induced -to retract his entirely inexcusable inference.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It must be explained that the whole of the theatrical -wardrobe, both for male and female parts, was kept -strictly apart under lock and key and under the supervision -of a particular officer. It had always been a strict injunction -of each successive senior British officer that on no -account was there to be any tampering with these clothes -for the purposes of escape, and that any infringement of -this order would be looked upon as a breaking of parole. -This unwritten, but none the less thoroughly understood, -reservation was as clear as it was necessary in the interests -of that large section of the community which relied -on the periodical “shows”—whether as performers or -spectators—for their principal means of relief from the -<i>ennui</i> of prison existence. The disguise of Tim’s accomplice -had, as a matter of fact, been smuggled in from -the town at a considerable expenditure in German money -and British kind.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But Lincke, having been, till within the last year, a -German pharmacist in a small way of business, had about -as much idea of British (not to say German) military -honour as he had of field operations. His training had -consisted of three or four months in a Reserve of Officers -Training Battalion, and he came out of it vibrant with -the glory of two things—the German military system, -and himself as reflecting a modest proportion of that -glory. He was perfectly genial, self-satisfied, and common. -On <i>appel</i> he insisted on believing that he was dealing -with a company of recruits on parade, and the long, -shuffling, indifferent rows of British officers winced or -laughed at his antics, according to the state of their -nerves. He used to begin operations by a salute with -the top half of his person inclined almost at right angles -with the ground; some of the lighter spirits used to go -one better and execute a complete <i>salaam</i>, and this, of -course, made him querulous. He would recall to the -senior officer on parade the great day when he and his -brother officer-aspirants stood poker stiff at attention -under inspection by one of the very biggest of the German -Generals. “Scarcely a <i>pickelhaube</i> moved.” That was -his triumph—scarcely a <i>pickelhaube</i> had moved. And -so why could not now the British officers do likewise, -instead of appearing on parade in dirty uniforms and -without caps and saluting so raggedly? Oh it was too bad.</p> - -<p class='c008'>He was of course a complete nonentity and disregarded -alike by Niemeyer and the British, as well as by his non-commissioned -officers. But even nonentities exercise -awkward powers if placed in positions where they should -not be, and Lincke, for all his mildness, was about as -troublesome to deal with as a Junker of the real Prussian -school. His pharmaceutical soul and his hopeless inability -to understand the British point of view made him -in fact a serious thorn in the flesh, as was evidenced in -the wardrobe incident.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Ultimately he crashed badly. He was in the habit of -paying frequent visits to the tin room, nominally to inspect, -actually to satisfy his craving for the sight of our -English delicacies. He was insatiably inquisitive, as well -as greedy, and used to spend hours together down in -the cellars, questioning officers as to the contents and -origin of particular tins. Finally there became reason to -suspect him of something rather more serious than mere -curiosity; a trap was set, and he was marked down by -three witnesses in the act of abstracting tins from one -of the shelves and putting them hurriedly in his pocket.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This gave us a most valuable handle, for even at -Holzminden the German officers had never stolen our -tins from our own tin room, or if they had, had not been -such fools as to be caught doing so. In due course, and -at a seasonable moment, the card was played, the written -statement of the witnesses handed in, and an explanation -asked for. Niemeyer took a day or two before he replied—what -passed between himself and the luckless -Lincke in the interval we could only guess—and then -explained that it was in the regulations for German officers -at any time to take tins out of the tin room in order -personally to examine them for contraband articles.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The senior British officer politely noted this explanation -and asked leave to refer the question to the <i>Kriegsministerium</i> -for a ruling. Lincke, meanwhile, was relieved -of his post. It was one of the few occasions (besides -the tunnel) upon which we ever succeeded in getting -really up on them.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The capture of Tim caused gloomy anticipation of a -search and with it the discovery of the attempted hole -in Room 34, and thereby, as a natural corollary, of the -tunnel itself. In the second week of July—with three -yards or so further to go before an exit could be made -behind the beans, with the prospect of a search imminent -at any moment, and with the added danger of an early -harvest to spur their efforts—the working-party began -to make their final arrangements. A week—possibly -ten days—hence, and the thing would be put to the -proof for better or worse.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There were thirteen of them: Lieutenants Mardock -and Lawrence of the Royal Naval Air Service, Captain -Gray, Lieutenant Butler, Captain Langren, Lieutenant -Wainwright, R.N., Lieutenant Macleod, Captain Bain, -Captain Kennard, Lieutenant Robertson, Lieutenant -Clouston, Lieutenant Morris, Lieutenant Paddison. -They voted for priority of station. After the working-party -proper, places were allotted to Lieutenant-Colonel -Rathborne, the senior officer of the camp, Lieutenant -Bousfield, whose share in a previous attempt has been -narrated earlier, and Captain Lyon of the Australians, -who was to travel with Bousfield.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Then came a supplementary working-party of six, -who, though not actually employed in the digging of the -tunnel, had contributed valuable assistance in scouting-out -and had made themselves generally useful in helping -to dig the holes inside the actual building.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was arranged that the original working-party should -have a clear hour’s start, and that another hour should -intervene between the last man out of the supplementary -working-party and “the ruck.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“The ruck”—or, in other words, anyone else who -wanted to go—had by now assumed alarming dimensions. -There were some sixty names on the official list handed -to me as Camp Adjutant on the day preceding the escape. -The list had been arranged in order of priority of exit, -and to prevent heart-burnings—as well as to promote -the maximum of secrecy—it was arranged that those on -the list should only be warned in the first instance <i>after</i> -the evening <i>appel</i> on the night of the actual escape. -Moreover, no one was to be told his place but only that -he was to lie in bed fully dressed until he was actually -warned to go, upon which he was to get up at once and -repair to the rendezvous on the attic floor. This was -a very wise precaution. It excluded the possibility of -anyone in A Kaserne getting wind of the intention to -flit and then endeavouring to get into the other barrack -for the night and so endangering the success of the -enterprise. It also precluded the risk of excessive human -circulation in the corridors, the only people authorised -to move about in the corridors being myself, Lieutenant -Grieve, who was selected as traffic controller, one or two -look-out men, and each escaper as, in his proper turn, -he left his bed to pass to the tunnel.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The orderlies had been thoroughly warned, and those -of them who had volunteered to help fully understood -their duties. One was to receive officers one by one -on the other side of the hole in the attic room and -was to signal the next man to come through when the -coast was clear. Another was to guide officers to the -tunnel entrance down the staircase and through the -planks, and two more were to be on duty at the actual -tunnel entrance. Traffic was to be carefully controlled. -Not more than two officers were to be allowed inside -the orderlies’ quarters at a time. If there was a hitch, -Lieutenant Grieve, on the far side of the attic hole, -was to be immediately warned. On discovery all the -orderlies were to pretend complete ignorance of the -whole business.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This last goes without saying. Just as the loyal co-operation -of the orderlies was essential to success, so it -was imperative that none of them should be implicated. -They had all been offered a starting-place if they cared -to accept one, but none of them did. The long expected, -almost despaired of, head-for-head exchange had at last -been arranged at the Hague, and the agreement was -now only awaiting ratification. The fact that privates -had been up till now excluded from the terms of the -exchange had of course been very severely criticised, -and it was not until later realised that the arrangements -for a general head-for-head repatriation had been -frustrated entirely from the German side. But the rule -of “women and children first”—as our orderlies, half -good naturedly, half cynically, and with that wonderful -instinct for the epigrammatic which characterises the -British soldier, had summarised the situation—was now -obsolete. To have imperilled their chances of exchange -by taking a long risk at this stage of their captivity -(nearly all of them were 1914 prisoners) would have -been very unwise, even had they been as well equipped -as the officers as regards disguise, money, reserves of -food, and general experience. Moreover, the penalties -for attempted escape were for private soldiers infinitely -more severe than they were for officers. They would -have certainly been sent back to one of the men’s -<i>Lagers</i>, and their previous experiences reminded them -that any officers’ <i>Lager</i>—even Holzminden—was considerably -better than the former’s best. And there were -always the coal and salt mines to be taken into calculation. -So they stayed behind, and their share in the -night’s work amply crowned their long record of ungrudged -service and devotion to the cause.</p> - -<p class='c008'>During the last few days, when it was generally -known that at any moment the cat might jump and it -became a question of concealing “zero” day from your -own side, the tension was positively painful. With the -best will in the world, the injunctions of the senior -British officer came to be overlooked. Even the senior -British officer himself was not innocent in this respect. -Small parties clustered at the ends of corridors or roamed -disconsolately round and round the camp, discussing -the eternal question, <i>When?</i> Civilian disguises, maps, -and packs were brought out from their hiding-places -and set ready for the road. More risks of detection -were run during this period in a day than had been run -before in a whole month. Maps were studied. An unwise -and rather insubordinate eleventh-hour attempt -on the part of one or two of the more desperate characters -in Kaserne A to effect a transfer of rooms to -Kaserne B was fortunately quashed. The senior British -officer, who was somewhat square-rigged in shape, was -given a trial run down the tunnel to see if he could -manage it. It took him an hour to get back!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Walks had been allowed again as a consequence of -the “lifting” of the reprisals, and most of the intending -starters availed themselves of this opportunity to get -into good marching trim. Fit as they were in consequence -of the strenuous work down below, they felt -the need of using every available opportunity for a -good heel-and-toe movement over a stretch of unconfined -ground. The Holland border was 120 kilometres -away and would not easily be reached by those who -had let their walking muscles lie too long dormant. In -addition, it was pleasant to get away for a space from -the strained atmosphere of the enclosure and the tremendous -secret of the camp, and without constraint to -think and talk for a little of other things. In high midsummer -the plain in which we walked was only less -lovely than it had been in the spring. As then the -trees, so now the young crops invited us to build up a -new calendar in terms of growing things. We may not -have felt the need perhaps, in the years gone by, to -pay due note to the wonderful kaleidoscope. Now -the very circumscription of her lecturing hours made -Nature’s lessons the more highly prized.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Sometimes, when the weather was warm and the -Feldwebel in charge sufficiently lazy and complacent, -we bathed in the Weser—clandestinely, for river bathing -was not allowed by the municipal authorities. Then -for a glorious half-hour the river would be alive with -the nude bodies of a hundred happy men. It was established -at these bathes that the river was easily -fordable at one point. In our parole cards there was -nothing down to tell us not to <i>notice</i> things. And the -river lay between the camp and Holland.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At the last moment another painful incident occurred. -It became known that a certain desperate party in A -Kaserne were proposing to anticipate the tunnel, and -the increased restrictions which its discovery would be -bound to create, by some wild-cat scheme of their own. -It appeared to be their intention to fuse the lights all -over the building and make a bid to get over the wire -in the darkness and confusion thus created. There was -also going to be employed a “blind” in the shape of a -large dummy figure dropped from a window at the -opposite end of the building to that at which the actual -attempt was to be made. The scheme in ordinary circumstances -would have been worth trying and was a -courageous one. But at this juncture of affairs, when -the work of nine months was on the verge of bearing -fruit, and when the one thing needed was to lull the -suspicions of the authorities, it was foolish and selfish. -To make matters worse, the participants had received -the unofficial support of the senior officer in the building.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The senior British officer in the camp, however, took -a very different line. He had the ringleader up and -put the argument fairly and forcibly before him. He -sympathised, of course, but—there was a train already -in the tunnel. The line was not quite clear for it yet, -but would be shortly, and it must be let through first. -It was very important not to have a collision at this -moment, and the advent of another train might spell -disaster. He must definitely forbid any prior attempt.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But for the above-mentioned ringleader, the tunnel -would have been essayed a night earlier than it actually -was. On the doors of the houses being locked at nightfall -on the 23rd July, it was found that the fellow was -in B Kaserne. He had got wind of it somehow and was -determined to be in at the death. The only course was -to cancel the operation for the night and induce this -officer to realise that he had made a mistake and explain -his appearance in the wrong house to the Feldwebel as -best he could. Elaborate measures were also taken to -put him off the scent for the ensuing night. Disciplinary -methods were really useless with this type; besides, the -senior officer was too closely occupied in the final arrangements -of his own intricate disguise—he was intending -to travel by train in broad daylight and not as a thief in -the night—to feel any inclination for taking any further -steps with this refractory individual.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Such difficulties may sound petty, perhaps, and inconsistent -with the spirit of comradeship. But it was -not in human nature to risk the fruits of eight months’ -incessant labour to benefit the crowd. Nerves were -badly on edge, and the wonder really is that this particular -intruder was let off as lightly as he was.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='IX' class='c006'>CHAPTER IX<br /> <br />THE ESCAPE AND THE SEQUEL</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The reader will excuse if at this point in the story the -first person pronoun figures rather prominently. I was -myself at this time the Adjutant of the camp, and, as -such, had been fairly thoroughly coached how things -were to be done. I was very glad to have the opportunity -of contributing, in however modest a degree, to the -success of the plot. The glorious nature of the adventure -came home to me at last, and I experienced some rather -severe eleventh-hour twinges of regret that I had not -availed myself more fully of any chances that I might -have had of actually participating. There had been -times of late when I had almost given up the tunnel. -There had seemed to be no end to the difficulties and -obstacles in completing it. Added to which, the ordinary -routine duties of Adjutant had kept me too fully occupied -to acquire the proper escaper’s atmosphere and -spend long hours over preparing maps and packs and -securing the necessary money and disguise. Frankly, I -had been a little sceptical.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Later on, in another camp, where there was full -latitude to mature one’s scheme and the Germans interfered -hardly at all with one’s daily doings, I experienced -the complete escape fever. But that is another story.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The actual night of the escape was the 24th July.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I was warned just before evening <i>appel</i>, at 6 o’clock, -that if B house harboured no aliens that night, the escape -would take place. I got hold of Grieve during the -evening and we held a long confabulation as to how the -policing had best be done. It was arranged that I should -do all the warning and escort people to the rendezvous -in the attic, and that he should do the actual controlling -and keep in communication with the orderlies. The -evening passed away and I don’t think anybody outside -the working-party was aware that anything was actually -in the wind.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The doors in B house were safely locked at 9.0 p.m. -without a single intruder from A house. Several people -had been keenly on the watch to see to this point. We -went off quietly to our respective rooms to have our -names called.</p> - -<p class='c008'>After the Feldwebel and his minions had finally left -the building, there was still another hour or so to wait -before the coast was clear for action. A German sentry -used to come round some time after 10 o’clock to close -all the windows in the corridors and incidentally remove -anything that he saw to his liking which might be lying -about. Until he had gone it would be unsafe to have -any undue movement, and only the cutting-out man—i.e. -the first officer to go through the tunnel—and the -two next on the list would go down to the chamber before -he was well clear.</p> - -<p class='c008'>During this period of waiting the senior British officer -paid me a visit in his dressing-gown and said good-bye. -I wished him good luck. We had worked together for -two months or more and had discussed the tunnel and -his particular plan to escape countless times. He had a -very good disguise and, without wishing to disparage -his features, they were—with the aid of glasses—wonderfully -Teutonic. He was, so far as I knew, the only one -who was proposing to travel all the way to the frontier -by train, and with his excellent knowledge of German -and forged papers he looked to have a very good -chance.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I sat in my room until the outside door had slammed -behind the German sentry and I knew the working-party -would have already begun making their way through -the tunnel for the last time. Then I began going round -the rooms and warning personally every man on the list. -They were to get their kit ready and get into bed fully -dressed and then wait until they were called. There -was to be no movement in the corridors of any sort. -For all the secrecy that had been attempted, they were -most of them more than half expecting the long-deferred -call. Probably someone had seen a member of the -working-party in his disguise and had passed on the -information. A few of them wanted to know where -they were in the list, but I told them that they were -not to know and had only to obey orders. Everyone -would have to come upstairs in his socks, carrying his -boots in his hand. After I had completed the task of -warning everybody I went up to see Grieve. It was -now past half-past eleven. He told me that the working-party -were all well away already and that the thing was -going well.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The hour’s law for the working-party was strictly -adhered to, and at 12.30 the supplementary working-party -began to go through. They, too, were all through -by about 1.15.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At 1.10 or thereabouts I began my duties of assembling -those on the waiting list. Two or three passed -through all right, and then the orderly on the orderlies’ -side of the attic hole passed the word back that there -was a hitch. He would let Grieve know when it was -all clear again.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The next man due to go through had overweighted -himself and his pack to such an extent that the delay -proved perhaps a blessing in disguise. If we had let him -go through as he was, he would probably have stuck in -the tunnel, would most certainly not have forded the -Weser, and could, in any case, not have marched for -more than three days. We sent him back with some -stern advice to remove a dozen tins or so from his pack, -discard his stick, and take off his hobnailed boots which -had made an infernal clatter in the passage. A few more -such performers and the secret would be out!</p> - -<p class='c008'>No news came through from the tunnel, so I decided -to turn in for an hour or so, and Grieve arranged for a -message to be sent to me if the coast was clear before -that time.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I took a turn up and down the corridors before I lay -down. There were the sentries outside walking up and -down, with their chins sunk on their breasts and their -rifles slung on their backs, wonderfully as usual. It was -odd to think that within a hundred yards our fellows -were wriggling away through the rye. Clearly nothing -had been suspected so far. It was a calm night and -fairly dark.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I lay down knowing that there would be heaps of -work to do the next day, whatever happened, and that -I should want my wits about me. But I could not -sleep, and at about 2.30 I went upstairs to see Grieve -again. He reported there was no change in the position. -We tried to get an answer from the orderlies’ quarters, -but there was no reply. It was rather baffling. At -3 o’clock we held a council of war with Captain Sharp, -who was one of those due to go through early in the -list, and we agreed—although it was against the instructions -given us, which had been that the orderlies should -alone be responsible for letting anyone through the attic -hole—that Sharp should go through to reconnoitre. -He did so, and came back in about a quarter of an hour’s -time to report that no one was about, and that the -tunnel was empty<a id='r10' /><a href='#f10' class='c016'><sup>[10]</sup></a>.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> -<div class='footnote' id='f10'> -<p class='c008'><span class='label'><a href='#r10'>10</a>. </span>It was never found out exactly what caused the check and I do not think it ever will be.</p> -</div> -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>It was rather a nasty moment. We had a sudden -new suspicion of insecurity and a feeling that valuable -time might have been lost. It now wanted about two -hours to dawn, and so far we reckoned that only 24 -were out of the camp. It did not look very promising -for most of the waiting list.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the absence of the orderlies—we hardly felt justified -in giving them further orders—we sent through -the next five officers on the waiting list, headed by Sharp, -allowing five minutes between each. They did not return, -so we concluded that the tunnel was still clear and that -they had got away, thus bringing the total number to -29. About half a dozen more had followed at regular -intervals, and it was getting on for half-past four, when -the last—Captain Gardiner of the A.I.F.—came back to -report that the tunnel was blocked and passage impossible. -According to his report the tunnel was reverberating -with groans, curses, and expressions of encouragement. -Someone apparently was stuck in front and was urging -those behind him to get back in order to let him out. -Those behind, on the other hand, like the Tuscans in -the famous Lay, were crying “Forward” in no uncertain -tones, and urging him to get out and on with it. It had -clearly become a hopeless impasse. It seemed best, -therefore, at this juncture to call a halt and clear the -course before daylight, so as to defer the chance of discovery -till the last possible moment. Recommendations -were therefore passed along to evacuate the tunnel.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But here arose another difficulty. Those now labouring -in the tunnel were not used to its ways. It was -hard enough to wriggle along in a forward direction, -but withdrawal, with a heavy pack in tow, was an even -more strenuous proposition. It will be remembered -that the working-party, with muscles attuned by long -practice, had experienced the utmost difficulty in pulling -out the sacks of earth when the rope method broke -down. And to get the packs out was an absolute -necessity, for otherwise there would be a complete block -both before and behind, which would result in the foremost -unfortunates being entombed until the tunnel was -discovered and they were dug out.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The situation called for desperate measures, and fortunately -the right man was at hand. A New Zealand -officer called Garland, who was high up on the waiting -list, came up to the rendezvous to prospect. He happened -to be about as strong physically as any other two -officers in the camp, and possessed the biceps of a -Hercules. He at once volunteered to go down and try -to pull out the rear-most man.</p> - -<p class='c008'>After about half an hour he succeeded in doing so, -and the two collaborators in this severe physical exercise -crawled back through the attic hole completely exhausted -and dripping with sweat.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There still remained four men stuck in the tunnel, -it was already getting light, and in an hour and a half—at -6 a.m.—a German N.C.O. was due to open the -outside door and call the orderlies. It was essential, -therefore, to get everyone back into the building before -that time. If the alarm of the escape was not raised -before 9 o’clock <i>appel</i>, the 29 fugitives now at large -would have all the better opportunity of making cover -some distance away from the camp before they lay up -for their first day out.</p> - -<p class='c008'>An hour past a look-out from an upper window at -the end of one of the corridors had reported that two -figures had been seen in the dim half light of the dawn -making off through the rye-field. It was guessed that -these would probably be the last pair out before the -accident had happened in the tunnel which had barred -further passage. If this couple could gain the Duke of -Brunswick’s hunting woods—some three miles distant—before -the hue and cry was out, they could lie up -snugly and safely, and their predecessors would be in -all the better plight.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The work of extracting the remaining four went on -slowly and laboriously, and by a quarter to six two more -mudstained objects had been salved and had been sent -back, cursing bitterly, to their rooms to get rid of their -mud and cover their traces. It appeared that the tunnel -had caved in about five-sixths of the way up—at the -bottom of the slope up to the final exit. Stones loosened -in the traffic had found their way to this—the lowest -point in the whole tunnel, and were blocking further -progress. A landslip on the most modest scale would -be quite enough to block up the tiny hole.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There was now nothing left to do. The two officers -still in the tunnel with the volunteers assisting them -to get out would have to be left to take their chance. -Everybody else went back to their rooms and to bed, -hugging themselves in anticipation of the 9 o’clock -<i>appel</i>, and the fireworks which would inevitably ensue -when the Feldwebel of B house reported with a rueful -countenance that according to his reckoning there -“failed” (<i>fehlen</i>) no less than twenty-nine <i>Herren</i>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This hope was, however, frustrated, and the bubble -burst two hours too soon. The two last men in the -tunnel were eventually retrieved, and emerged from the -plank entrance with their rescuers to find the door at -the orderlies’ entrance open. The under-officer had -duly called the orderlies some twenty minutes previously -and had gone away suspecting nothing. Their obvious -course was to obey instructions and go back to their -house by the same way as they had come. But for -some reason they failed to do so and ran out very -foolishly into the cookhouse in the enclosure, where -they met Niemeyer out for an inopportune early morning -stroll. Their salvage party meanwhile had gone -back by the proper way.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In ten minutes the whole of the camp staff had appeared -on the scene. The two officers, of course, refused -to say anything or to explain their muddy condition. -Even then Niemeyer failed to tumble to what -had actually occurred. But a few minutes later an -excited farmer appeared at the postern gate and led the -whole party to where, amid the trampled rye in which -a dozen different tracks were visible from the camp -windows, a gaping hole brought recognition and late -wisdom to Milwaukee Bill.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“<i>So, ein Tunnel.</i>”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Tunnel. The same dangerous word, common to -either language, which had been whispered for so long -by the one side, now ran like electricity through the -ranks of the other.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The next question from Niemeyer’s point of view -was, how many? The fat Feldwebel went off and counted -an expectant house. He found everybody unusually -wide awake and good humoured for that hour of the -morning. The fat Feldwebel was himself thoroughly -amused by the eventful happenings since his last appearance -in the house, and he merely chortled good-humouredly -as name after name elicited no response. -He returned to the rye-field to report to Niemeyer an -absentee list of 26. In his excitement he had forgotten -to count the “Munshi’s” room, from which all three -occupants had flitted.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Then came the real moment. Niemeyer’s jaw -dropped, his moustachios for a brief instant lost their -twirl, his solid stomach swelled less impressively against -his overcoat. Just for a moment he became grey and -looked very old. But only for a moment. The sound of -laughter in the upper corridor windows floated down -to him and roused action and the devil in him forthwith. -As an initial measure he put all the windows at that end -of the building out of bounds and told his sentries to -fire at once if a face appeared. Then he had the outer -doors of both houses locked. Then he placed a sentry -over the tunnel head and stalked away to the Kommandantur -to ring up the Company Captain in Holzminden, -inform the police, report events to Corps -Headquarters at Hanover, and issue emergency orders -“for the safety of the camp.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>These were posted up in both houses and caused -considerable amusement. Briefly, they permitted the -officers remaining in the camp to eat, sleep, and breathe, -but that was about all. “No one,” so ran the order, -“when inside the building was to move from his own -room. Conversation with other officers in the corridors -or by the notice boards was forbidden. Officers were -not allowed to stand about at the doors of the buildings. -No officer belonging to one house might enter the -other. Officers were not to walk about in groups of -more than two.” And so on.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Of course we had amply expected all this. Indeed, -there was ground for congratulation that things had -panned out up to the present without murder being -done. Stringent orders had been issued that, in the event -of the escape only being discovered at the 9 o’clock <i>appel</i>, -there was to be no laughter or demonstration calculated -to aggravate. Months before, the more serious-minded -had discussed the prospects of someone being shot in -the Commandant’s first wild ebullition of fury and -baffled rage at the defeat of all his precautions. It was -one advantage of the premature discovery of the escape -that what shooting was ordered was confined to the -windows.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Twenty-nine. The magic number flitted from mouth -to mouth and was shouted across from B house to A, -who cheered heartily on hearing the figure. It was indeed -a good number and constituted an easy record for -Germany, if not for all time. <i>Neun und zwanzig.</i> Long -ere now it had permeated to the town, and the road outside -the camp was strangely peopled with unusual -figures of both sexes and all ages, anxious to view the -scene of the occurrence, and most of them no doubt -vastly pleased at the discomfiture of the notorious bully, -Hauptmann Niemeyer. Always the camp had been the -diversion of a Sunday evening stroll for the burghers -of Holzminden; now we played daily to crowded -houses, until the Commandant, in his exasperation, put -the confines of the camp out of bounds to civilians. -Those who had been stuck in the hours of the dawn -exchanged experiences and friendly recrimination. Personal -disappointment was merged in the general triumph. -For triumph it was. Twenty-nine loose in Germany. -Twenty-nine. He would have been a bold man who -would have breathed that number in Niemeyer’s hearing.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The sentries grinned as they echoed it. Kasten, the -fat old Feldwebel, laughed as he notched it on the next -(mid-day) <i>appel</i>. And Niemeyer tried to digest it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>He was not very successful. We were let out of the -barracks after mid-day. No attempt was naturally made -to fall in with the newly posted camp regulations, and -serious collisions with Niemeyer, as soon as he came -abroad, were inevitable. There was at the bottom of -everybody’s mind a feeling that the time had at last -come to be rid of him, that now the star of the Great -Twin Brethren might at last wane and the wrath from -Hanover or Berlin descend on the discredited favourite -for being unable either to keep his gaol-birds at home or -to keep order in his own house. But bloodshed was to be -avoided. It was a difficult policy, to annoy by pinpricks, -to goad an already maddened creature, but to keep, as -a community, within the law. But it was the right -policy, and one which commended itself to the new -senior British officer, Colonel Stokes Roberts, who succeeded -to the position vacated by Colonel Rathborne, -now well on his way to freedom.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Accordingly the red rag was discreetly held out, and -Niemeyer retained just enough self-control not to draw -and flourish a revolver. All the available cells were -filled within the first few hours with candidates for three -days’ arrest. Their crimes were imaginary and were not -stated. They might have failed to salute at 40 paces, -they might have laughed, they might merely have -happened to be standing somewhere in Niemeyer’s path. -It did not matter. They had certainly all broken the -latest camp regulations.</p> - -<p class='c008'>All the orderlies were taken off duty and set to dig -up the tunnel. The tin rooms and parcel rooms were -closed until further notice. I myself, whose complicity -with the plot was highly suspected, was removed from -my own room and bundled unceremoniously into one -of the large rooms on the top floor of A house. The -windows of the cells were barricaded up and made quite -dark by day and the lights in them were kept on all -night. Every German in the camp personnel was put -on to sentry duty and sentries paraded the passages -three times in the night. The use of the bath room -attendant for this purpose precluded baths. In a word -we were “strafed,” and the camp knew once more the -open warfare which had prevailed for the first unforgettable -month of its existence.</p> - -<div id='illo142' class='figcenter id007'> -<img src='images/p_142_facing.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Orderlies digging out the tunnel between Kaserne B and the outer wall.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The inconveniences of such a state of affairs were -lightly borne, and even relished, by the large majority. -The Tunnellers had scored too heavily for us to mind -doing scapegoat for them. It was a pleasant thought -that all twenty-nine were still abroad, and that there was -a reasonable certainty of a fair proportion of them getting -over and putting a stop to Niemeyer’s run of -atrocious good luck in the matter of escapes. Apart -from the hue and cry which had already been raised -through the North German press, the fugitives had -everything in their favour. They had had months to -deliberate on their route and travelling tactics; their -packs had been stocked at leisure so as to combine the -maximum of nutrition with the minimum of weight; -their civilian disguises were adequate for their purpose. -Most of them were going to trust to their legs to -carry them over the border and would be only night -birds of passage, lying up during the day. But Colonel -Rathborne possessed a knowledge of German and a -superb civilian suit, over which he had put pyjamas in -going through the tunnel, and which would be able to -set casual interference blandly at defiance. He was -walking due south to Göttingen and was there going -to entrain for Aachen <i>viâ</i> Cassel and Frankfurt. If all -went well with him and his forged passport passed -muster, he would be over the frontier in under three -days. And later, when six days had gone by and he -had not returned, the camp knew that the spell had been -broken and that an Englishman was over from Holzminden. -But we said nothing to the Germans.</p> - -<p class='c008'>However, before six days had passed a good number -of the twenty-nine had already been rounded up and -brought back to camp. As they were kept in the -strictest isolation, it was only possible to hear their -stories by bribing the cell attendants to bring written -messages from them. If bribes failed, the message was -concealed somehow in their trays of food. Every officer -in detention cell had to have a friend to feed him—i.e. -cook his food and see that it was delivered to him; -otherwise he existed in semi-starvation on the German -ration. It was the usual thing, preparatory to an attempt -to escape, to arrange for your feeding arrangements in -“jug”; and the penalty of recapture was shared to the -full by the luckless partner, who thus had double work.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Sharp and Luscombe were the first pair back, as they -had been the last pair away. They had had two days and a -night out and had been caught passing through a village -at night about 15 miles down the Weser. Sharp reported -that at his search on being brought back to the camp, -Niemeyer had vented his spleen on him by picking a -valuable gold watch to pieces with his pocket knife, and -by giving instructions for his civilian clothes (which included -a brand new coat from England) to be ripped to -ribbons. Every day brought in some fresh recapture, -and, the cell accommodation being completely inadequate -to cope with the numerous criminals, the town gaol was -drawn upon to afford relief.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was a sad blow to the camp when some of the -foremost spirits in the adventure—Mardock, Lawrence, -Butler, and Langren—were brought back after being -out about ten days. Butler had stolen a bicycle and was -caught on it while passing through a village. The others -had been taken in the vicinity of the Ems. All these -separate captures used to be described at length and with -appropriate embellishments in the Hanoverian press. -Thus in one organ it was stated that the refugees were -all wearing British uniform; another had it that British -naval uniform was the mode, with the buttons altered; -yet another explained that the prisoners had escaped in -civilian disguise procured from British friends outside -the camp. To be sure, we had British friends outside -the camp—what prisoner-of-war did not? But one -could imagine the burghers of Hanover reading this -sort of stuff and commenting on the lax policy of the -Government towards enemy aliens!</p> - -<p class='c008'>A detective from Berlin had arrived shortly after the -escape and displayed the usual aptitude of his species in -examining the tunnel. Several hours elapsed before he -found the door in the partition. This was all in Niemeyer’s -favour, since a mere Commandant, a layman in -the science of crime, could not reasonably have been -expected to guess the secret which had temporarily -baffled the expert. Such acuteness would have been -unseemly and unprofessional. The detective took a -large number of photographs<a id='r11' /><a href='#f11' class='c016'><sup>[11]</sup></a> and made a large number -of notes, and the two parted on the best of terms. -When Niemeyer had bowed the important visitor off -the premises, he turned his attention once more to the -safe keeping of the British officers still remaining under -his wing.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> -<div class='footnote' id='f11'> -<p class='c008'><span class='label'><a href='#r11'>11</a>. </span>Three of these are reproduced in this book.</p> -</div> -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>For several days he achieved a crescendo of fury and -malevolence and maintained all the outward characteristics -of a mad bull. Unfortunately he had not in -any way fallen from grace. A staff officer from Hanover -specially sent down to examine the affair was, to -our disappointment, an apparently appreciative witness -of his behaviour. We had calculated that von Hänisch -would by now have discovered a flaw in his chosen instrument, -and that the attitude of the chief might be -seen to be reflected in his subordinates. But we were -out of our reckoning. The captain from Hanover used -even to accompany Niemeyer in his periodical incursions -into the camp precincts and stand stolidly by while the -latter blackguarded every Englishman within reach or -hearing.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Possibly Niemeyer had got ideas from reading Don -Quixote on his dull evenings. One of his favourite -amusements during this period was to make fierce onslaughts -with his stick on the washing hanging out to -dry on the wire fence between the two main buildings. -He would lunge at some unoffending under-garment, -spit it, brandish it violently in the air, and then trample -on it. It was against the regulations for washing to be -hung on the wire, and the Commandant sacrificed his -personal dignity to see that these regulations were unflinchingly -obeyed.</p> - -<p class='c008'>His behaviour towards the orderlies was a delightful -contrast. Usually domineering and foul-mouthed towards -them beyond the ordinary, he was now honey-tongued -good fellowship itself. The orderlies were all -employed digging up the tunnel; and Niemeyer used -to stand by them for hours at a time, asking the men -questions about their homes in England, their wives and -children, and generally trying to put himself on the best -possible terms with them.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Niemeyer was looking desperately hard for a scapegoat. -It is to be remembered that no one had been -caught actually <i>in</i> the tunnel, and every officer recaptured -stoutly refused to say how he had got out. There was -no tangible evidence of any conspiracy. Consequently -unless an admission of complicity was wrung from one -of the orderlies, the charge of doing damage to German -property, levelled against a number of unconvicted and -unconvictable persons, would lose weight, however circumstantial -the evidence; and it was punishment to the -hilt which the Commandant, in his wounded pride, -yearned after. But his clumsy overtures took in nobody. -The men knew that he was trying his hardest to pump -them and gave nothing away.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='X' class='c006'>CHAPTER X<br /> <br />CLOSING INCIDENTS</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>Niemeyer had often, in more peaceful days, jocularly -remarked that the conduct of the British officers was -making him an old man before his time. Such of us -as in these days were brought face to face with him -began to get a comfortable feeling that this indeed was -the case. He was reported to be 62; and by this time -he was looking every day of it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The actual <i>casus belli</i> on which the senior British -officer decided to force the issue was the treatment, on -the day after the escape, of an R.F.C. officer called -Phelan. This officer had on his way down to the cells -been brutally kicked by a sentry under the approving -eye of a particularly odious Feldwebel of the best Prussian -pattern surnamed Klausen, and known familiarly as -“Dog Face.” The act had been witnessed by at least -six British officers and the evidence duly taken down. -The senior British officer therefore gave the Phelan -incident pride of place in a summary sent to Niemeyer -of various individual and collective injustices visited on -the members of the camp since the discovery of the -tunnel, and added a curt ultimatum that unless these -grievances were promptly redressed he would be unable -to be responsible for the further conduct of the British -officers.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This was an extreme step and had never, even in this -turbulent camp, been employed before. For the senior -British officer to disclaim authority over his own brother-officers -implied, legally speaking, that he regarded the -conditions of imprisonment as too monstrous to be -covered by the accepted rules of the Hague Convention, -and that in fact he looked upon the Commandant not -as his sentinel in an honourable captivity under the -rules of war, but as his gaoler in a common gaol, where -international conventions did not apply. Once this -attitude was taken up, the ordinary courtesies of military -etiquette would have to be abandoned, salutes not -offered, passive resistance everywhere adopted. Uniformity -of conduct would be an absolute essential, and -elaborate precautions were taken to warn the camp by -word of mouth—paper would have been too dangerous—exactly -what procedure was to be followed if the -order went forth that diplomatic relations had been -broken off with the Huns.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Adjutant’s position in those stormy days was an -onerous one. It was the essence of the whole British -policy that the senior officer’s orders should be carried -out to the letter. Due allowance had also to be made -for the incalculable perversity of the “half per cent” -to whom reference has already been made. Both of -these duties fell to the Adjutant of the camp working -through the Adjutants of the houses. Written instructions -were impossible on account of the risk. It was -necessary to warn personally every one of the 500 odd -officers in the camp and to explain when, and if necessary -why, action was to be taken in accordance with -“scheme of resistance A or B.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>No reply was received to the ultimatum, and it was -decided therefore to put into execution a general scheme -of passive resistance. On the morning after the expiry -of the ultimatum the entire camp shuffled late and listlessly -on to 9 o’clock <i>appel</i>, wearing, for the most part, -cardigan jackets instead of tunics, and innocent of all -headgear. When the German officers appeared, no one -saluted or paid the slightest attention to them. Ulrich -hesitated, grasped the situation, and went straight back -to the Kommandantur to report. He returned with a -message from the Commandant to the senior British -officer that if he could arrange for an orderly <i>appel</i> in -an hour’s time he (the Commandant) would be glad to -discuss matters and examine the list of grievances submitted.</p> - -<p class='c008'>So far, so good. The word was circulated for a perfect -<i>appel</i> at 10 a.m. But at 10 o’clock, after the conclusion -of an <i>appel</i> which, for correctness of dress and -demeanour, would have satisfied the soul even of the -late lamented Lincke, Niemeyer strode on to the middle -of the parade ground and disillusioned us:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Well, yentlemen,” he bawled out, “You have -broken the camp regulations, so you must be punished. -There will be no sport for three days.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The camp was too flabbergasted even to boo or groan. -We had trusted him and paid the obvious penalty. The -whole incident was typically Prussian.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Colonel Stokes Roberts did the only possible thing -under the circumstances and countered with an order -for another passive resistance <i>appel</i> at 5 o’clock. Once -again tunics and caps were discarded and the long rows -of ragamuffins stood listlessly awaiting the pleasure of -their gaolers to come and count them. There was likely -to be trouble this time, for the authorities would be -forewarned, and it was noticed that the guard were standing -paraded in front of the Kommandantur. It was just -a question of how far our friend would dare to go. -The action of the British was seen from the Kommandantur -and the German officers did not even come on -<i>appel</i>. An interpreter was sent out to order all officers -to go back to their houses. As we trailed off the parade -ground Niemeyer appeared at the head of about a dozen -sentries with bayonets fixed and roared to us to get -into our houses “right away.” As there was only one -door in each house this was an impossible feat, and the -disreputable crowd merely grinned at the sheepish -sentries and the Commandant fulminating from one -barrack to another. The British acted creditably up to -their allotted part of brainless, dejected criminals, and -there was no demonstration or provocative action as we -gradually melted away into our respective barracks.</p> - -<p class='c008'>One officer, however, who had on board rather more -than was good for him, did his best to promote bloodshed. -He dropped a large faggot from an upper window -in B Kaserne which missed Niemeyer by inches. Beside -himself with rage, the Commandant ordered the -nearest sentry to fire, indicating the only officer then -within sight, a lame flying officer, as the target. The -man, who was really not to be blamed, fired up the -staircase up which the officer was making all haste to -retreat, missed him by a few inches, and splintered a -window. Then the doors were closed and we breathed -again.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The counter-charge of mutiny was brought by Niemeyer, -when in company with the Hanover staff -captain he interviewed Colonel Stokes Roberts that -evening. The camp had publicly mutinied, and the -mutiny would have to be made the subject of a special -report. The senior British officer desired nothing better. -A special report, he suggested, might eventually result -in bringing facts to light. He begged the Commandant’s -permission to forward two letters to the Dutch Legation -at Berlin and to the <i>Kriegsministerium</i>, which contained -point-blank accusations of misconduct against the Commandant. -By German law Niemeyer was bound to -forward these letters, however much he disliked their -matter. It did not, however, at all follow that he would -do so, and accordingly, to prevent any possibility of -miscarriage, duplicate letters were smuggled out of the -camp into the safe keeping of the love-sick typist with -injunctions to deliver the goods. The letter to the -<i>Kriegsministerium</i> asked urgently for an inspection of -the camp by a responsible superior officer.</p> - -<p class='c008'>So far the campaign had proceeded satisfactorily; the -case sooner or later would be put against Niemeyer -without delicacy or reserve before the supreme German -military authority. Then the whole history of the camp -could be bluntly narrated, the damning Black Book -hauled up from its hiding-place in Room 24 of B house -and presented for inspection and comment. The cards -were in our hands now, if we had the opportunity of -playing them. Only the tribunal must be reasonably -impartial and Niemeyer must not be suffered to interpret. -Too many a good chance had gone begging ere -this in the camp’s history, simply because the Commandant, -in conducting an interview, had systematically -interpreted black as white and adroitly diverted the -discussion from the subject of himself. It had been an -unfortunate coincidence that whenever a representative -from the <i>Kriegsministerium</i> in Berlin had visited the camp -either he had been unable to speak English or the senior -British officer of the time had been unable to speak -German. The Commandant, with his fluent knowledge -of English, had invariably provided the convenient -bridge and the interview had accordingly failed miserably -in its object.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Until the visit from the <i>Kriegsministerium</i>, conditions -remained much as before, except that we gave orderly -<i>appels</i>. Our policy was to lie low and await whatever -Daniel the <i>Kriegsministerium</i> should deign to send us. -Niemeyer seemed determined to make what hay he -could while the sun shone. His way of doing so took -the form of gross personal discourtesy to the senior -British officer. On the day after the letters to the Dutch -Legation and German War Office had been handed in, he -stalked on to <i>appel</i>, went up to Colonel Stokes Roberts, -and asked him in a menacing tone if he took full responsibility -for all that had been written in them. On -an answer being given in the affirmative, he became -violently abusive and ordered the Colonel to produce -another speaker in his stead, as he would have no more -to do with him. He then proceeded publicly to insult -Colonel Stokes Roberts in a manner absolutely unprecedented. -Colonel Roberts, after the first salute, had -been standing, as was customary, at ease in the orthodox -manner. Niemeyer suddenly bellowed to him to stand -at attention. “I guess you’ll speak to me at attention. -Put your heels closer—CLOSER.” It was the very -last straw and made cheeks flame and ears tingle in the -agony of furious humiliation.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Niemeyer persisted in his demand for another “speaker” -to represent the camp, only giving away his -lamentable ignorance of our military customs in even -formulating the request. As a joke, the names of some -of his most avowed and outspoken enemies were submitted -for his approval. Prominent on this list was the -name of Lieutenant Beyfus, a barrister of repute, a -prisoner of three years’ standing, and, on frequent occasions, -an able exponent to Niemeyer on the rights of -the individual in captivity. Niemeyer, whose sense of -humour failed him in these days, furiously repudiated -such a preposterous nomination.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“No, no,” he fumed; “I will not have ze Beyfus; -get me another.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>We were paying for the tunnel; but every day that -passed now without someone being brought back increased -our hopes that it had not been dug in vain. -Colonel Rathborne was by now certainly over. “Munshi” -Gray, Bousfield, three others of the working-party, -and four not of the working-party were still -abroad; and it was a fortnight since the night of the -escape. Further, the opening of the big allied offensive -on August 8th put new heart into us. The first day’s -advance showed a great slice on our well-conned maps -that looked indeed like the moving warfare for which -we had, in our own far-off day, so often made preparation -in vain. Also we heard on reliable authority that a -Bavarian regiment moving from the Bulgarian to the -Western Front had mutinied at some place quite near; -and such of the more Left of the German papers as we -were permitted to read were full of their proposed -campaign for the autumn session of the Reichstag. It -was a more healthy atmosphere altogether than in the -terrible days of March only four and a half months ago.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Any suspected officers in either Kaserne received -short shrift in these days, and were bundled unceremoniously -from their rooms into safer quarters on the -ground floor of A Kaserne, where the lower windows -were never open and the flies and staleness of the -atmosphere were correspondingly oppressive. Billets in -this way were found for any officers who had been -known to have escaped before and who were referred -to feelingly by Niemeyer as “the yentlemen.” These -particular rooms used to be visited two or three times -in a night by a Feldwebel with an electric torch, which -he used to flash on the occupant of each bed in turn, -thereby effectually waking everybody up. Here lay the -afore-mentioned and eloquent Beyfus, whose recent -arrival had prevented his obtaining a place in the tunnel -scheme, but whose record made him a marked man -with the authorities. Here I myself lay, after yet another -enforced migration from the attic floor in A -house, and in accordance—so lied the official intimation—with -orders from Hanover. And here also lay -Leefe Robinson, V.C., whose gallant spirit Niemeyer, -with subtle cruelty, had endeavoured for months past -to break. That Robinson’s untimely death on his return -from captivity was assisted indirectly by the treatment -which he received at the hands of Niemeyer no one will -deny who was in a position to witness that treatment.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The handling to which Leefe Robinson was subjected -was so outrageous that it was communicated to the -home authorities in a concealed report (in the hollow -of a tennis racket handle) <i>viâ</i> an exchange party. Robinson -had come from Freiburg in Baden, where he had -made an attempt with several others to escape. “The -English Richthofen”—as Niemeyer, with coarse urbanity, -called him to his face—was at once singled out as -the victim of a malevolent scheme of repression. He -was placed in the most uncomfortable room in the -camp, whereas his rank entitled him to the privileges -of a small room; he was caused to answer to a special -<i>appel</i> two or three times in a day; and he was forbidden -under any pretext to enter Kaserne B. On the occasion -of a visit from some Inspecting General, and on the -pretext of all the rooms having to be cleaned up and -ready for inspection by 9 o’clock <i>appel</i>, Robinson’s -room was entered by a Feldwebel and sentries at 7.45 a.m., -and Robinson himself was forcibly pulled out of bed -and the table next to the bed upset on the floor. Two -hours later Niemeyer was introducing “the English -Richthofen” to the august visitor with a profusion of -oleaginous compliments, and four hours later Robinson -was in the cells for having disobeyed camp orders. -Truly most damnable and cowardly persecution.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Notwithstanding all this, the Chamber of Horrors -(as the room devoted to the criminals used popularly -to be known) was the scene of many a humorous incident. -Restricted space caused the bed of the eloquent -Beyfus to be very near the door. On the flooring just -inside the door lay the mat upon which Beyfus used to -stand to undress. Whenever the Germans came into -the room Beyfus always contrived that the door should -impinge upon some part of his person and seized the -occasion to call every German within hail—the Commandant, -of course, for choice—to witness the unprovoked -attack upon his blushing modesty. Great effect -was added when the harangue was delivered in the -passage and only in shirt and slippers.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Spanish “flu,” which descended in those days in -an all embracing form on the camp, brought some compensating -humour. In the first place, Niemeyer got it -at once and was reported, quite incorrectly, to be dying. -The wish, both amongst Germans and British, was -doubtless father to this rumour. Then all the orderlies -got it at the same time and the officers swept and garnished -for themselves. And finally, when the disease -had filtered through from the orderlies and taken fair -hold of the officers, every room in both barracks was -filled with the groans of those who thought they were -about to die. As a matter of fact not more than a dozen -were at all seriously ill, and these recovered quite rapidly.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The long expected visit from the <i>Kriegsministerium</i> -representative synchronised with the tail end of the -outbreak and came at precisely the wrong moment.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the first place, I was sick. It should have been my -business to warn the senior British officer of the visit, -and arrange for an English officer to interpret his remarks -at the interview. Unfortunately, and through -nobody’s fault, nothing of this sort was done. Colonel -Stokes Roberts was sent for at a moment’s notice and -had his hand forced. Niemeyer once again acted as -interpreter, the blinkers were kept on throughout, and -the visitor went away satisfied that the complaints made -by the British had been grossly exaggerated, that Niemeyer, -in spite of his reputation, was, after all, a very -pleasant fellow, and that there was nothing to report on -unfavourably in the conduct of the camp.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Thus the rebellion at Holzminden petered unsatisfactorily -out; it had been no one’s fault that the chance -had come and gone untaken. But it was evident that -it would not come again, and that the last final effort to -remove Niemeyer had been as fruitless as the first. On -the other side, the charge of general mutiny was not -pressed, and legal proceedings were reserved only for -those implicated in the tunnel. Gradually the sombre -camp resumed its normal working. A new Adjutant -succeeded to office, and I, together with other suspected -criminals, was transported to a camp of more fancied -security. Under the new Adjutant some form of co-operation -in the general interests with the German -authorities became once more possible.</p> - -<p class='c008'>His predecessor, bundled out of the camp with two -other officers at two hours’ notice, had the pleasure, -before leaving, of firing one Parthian shot at the Commandant. -The evening before, an unsigned postcard -had been received from the Hague. It ran simply—“Cheeroh -old bean,” and was addressed to Colonel -Rathborne’s late mess-mate. We communicated the -substance of this postcard to Niemeyer, and it was some -consolation, before we shook the dust of Holzminden -off our feet for ever, to see the confession of defeat -written plainly in his face. Once again—and for the first -time since the original discovery of the escape—speech -fairly failed him.</p> - -<hr class='c015' /> - -<p class='c008'>Events, however, were moving too rapidly now for -it to be a matter of great consequence to Niemeyer -even that he should have let a full-blown Lieutenant-Colonel -slip through his fingers. His own hour was -near to striking. As the British advance in September -continued without respite and the inevitable end came -ever nearer, so this disreputable old man changed his -tactics accordingly. He very rarely came within the -precincts of the camp; but he saw the Adjutant almost -daily, and at every interview some concession or other -long striven for was now readily given. He even began -to prepare the ground for a <i>volte-face</i> in his Prussian -creed and politics. The picture of the Kaiser vanished -from the wall of his sanctum. He became the strangest -and most undignified contrast to the swaggering bully -who had ruled this roost so long. And finally when, -on the conclusion of hostilities, the <i>Arbeiter und Soldaten -Rat</i> took over the military direction of affairs in the -town, he was suffered to disappear unmolested and cover -his tracks as best he might. It is not known what has -happened to him; by some he is stated to be in arrest -at Hanover, by others to have removed himself and -his ill-gotten gains to a neutral country. It is quite -probable that we shall never hear of him again, for he -had no murders to his charge and may not be included -by the Supreme Council in the punishable class<a id='r12' /><a href='#f12' class='c016'><sup>[12]</sup></a>. But -it is certain that he will never again walk up Bond Street -or show his face in Milwaukee. He must rest on his -laurels and be content with his European reputation.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> -<div class='footnote' id='f12'> -<p class='c008'><span class='label'><a href='#r12'>12</a>. </span>Both the Niemeyers were on the Black List.</p> -</div> -<hr class='c017' /> - -<hr class='c015' /> - -<p class='c008'>To give some idea of the actual difficulties of the final -exit and escape, it may be well to include the following -graphic account from the first man through:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“The kits of the first (working) party were got down -in the daytime. I had been chosen to cut out, and as -soon as the ten o’clock roll-call was over in the rooms, -L., C., and I (we were going to ‘travel’ together) went -off through the swing doors, the hole into the eaves, the -orderlies’ quarters, and so into the tunnel.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I left my room at about 10.15 p.m., and in ten -minutes I was worming my way along the hole for the -last time, noting all the old familiar ups and downs and -bends, bumping my head against the same old stones, -and feeling the weight of responsibility rather much. -I am not ashamed to say that I did a bit of praying on -the way along. When I got to the end, into the small -pit which we had dug to drop the earth of the roof into, -I put my kit on one side and got to work with a large -bread knife. It was of course pitch dark. I was kneeling -in the pit, digging vertically up. The earth fell into my -hair, eyes, and ears, and down my neck. I didn’t notice -it much then, but found afterwards that my shirt and -vest were completely brown. By about 11 p.m. I had a -hole through to the air about 6 inches in diameter. It -was raining, but the arc lamps made it look very light -outside. I found, to my delight, that we had estimated -right and that I had come up just beyond a row of beans -which would thus hide my exit, with any luck, from the -sentry. By 11.40 the way was open, and I pushed my -kit through and crawled out. The sentry nearest us had -a cough, which enabled me to locate him, but as he was -in the shadow of the wall and not in the light of the -electric lamps I could not see him. This made it a bit -more uncomfortable, as I didn’t know but that he was -staring straight at me. I crawled to the edge of the rye-field -and looked at my watch. It was 11.45 p.m. Just -at that moment the rain stopped, a bright full moon -shone out and an absolute stillness reigned. The rye -was very ripe and crackled badly, and so, after a whispered -consultation with L., I decided to crawl in a southerly -direction down the edge of the rye-field, keeping under -cover of the gardens.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“If there had only been the three of us to escape we -could have barged straight through the rye, but we had -to think of the hordes behind us, and could not afford -to take risks.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“We reached the end of the cover afforded by the -gardens and were debating what to do, when luckily -the rain started again, and we crawled through the rye, -the noise of the rain pattering on the rye being sufficient -to drown that made by our progress.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“When through the rye, we stopped to put on our -rücksacks, and then made for the river Weser which we -had to cross. Close to the river bank we found four or -five large hurdles. Piling these one on top of the other, -we made a raft, on which we ferried across first our kits -and then our clothes. The water was warm, but the wind -cold. We dressed and started again. It was by this time -about 2 a.m. C. thought he heard a shot, and we were -afraid that the Boche had spotted someone getting -out.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“As we rounded the spur of a hill, and the lights of the -<i>Lager</i>, which looked so pretty from outside, were shut -from our view, we said good-bye to Holzminden <i>Kriegsgefangenenlager</i>—a -good-bye which unhappily turned out -for us three to be only ‘au revoir.’”</p> - -<hr class='c015' /> - -<p class='c008'>In all ten escaped. Rathborne, as stated, was over in -three days, and was able to report in person on the state -of affairs in one camp in the Xth Army Corps in which -he had held a responsible position. Gray, Bain, Kennard, -Bennett, and Bousfield among the working-party, Purves, -Tullis, Campbell Martin, and Leggatt amongst the others, -followed in the course of a fortnight. Most of them had -had some near shaves and were “all in” on arrival. -Bousfield—an old Cambridge 3-miler—had on one occasion -to out-distance his pursuers by running for it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Those who had been recaptured were kept in cells -until early in September without trial, although repeated -protests were made to the Commandant and higher -authority. They were then released to await court-martial. -The accused being many and rolling-stock being -valuable, the Court came to Holzminden to judge them. -On the morning of the trial a lawyer came to represent -the prisoners, and a representative of the Netherlands -minister at Berlin also came to act in their interests. -All the prisoners were tried together and were sentenced -to six months’ imprisonment on a combined charge of -mutiny and damage to property, the punishment to be -carried out in a fortress. As it happened, and although -the trial took place so early as 27th September, this -sentence was never carried out. Whether this was due -to the military situation or to some other cause is not -known. The signing of the Armistice removed finally -all possibility of the imprisonment ever being carried -into effect.</p> - -<div id='illo162' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_162_facing.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Group of recaptured officers in a room at Holzminden.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>It was unfortunate that while the Holzminden tunnel -was under construction another tunnel was in progress -at Clausthal, where the twin brother Niemeyer was -Commandant. It is now known that the tunnel there -would have been completed in about a week from the -date on which the Holzminden escape took place. The -“Poldhu” had been busy between the camps, but, no -exact synchronisation being possible, it remained simply -to go full steam ahead in each camp and trust to luck. -As was anticipated, the Holzminden escape led to a very -serious search at Clausthal, and the tunnel was discovered -just as it was approaching completion. The tunnel of -Holzminden was, however, so much the bigger affair -that there was a rough justice in this award of -Fortune.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='XI' class='c006'>CHAPTER XI<br /> <br />MAKING GOOD</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The officers’ Lager at Stralsund lay on an island, or -rather on a twin pair of islands, called Greater and -Smaller Danholm, separated from the mainland by a -narrow strip of water over which a permanent ferry plies -to and fro. On the further side of these islands and -separated from them again by a wider channel, perhaps -two-thirds of the width of the Solent at its narrowest -point, lay the pleasant shores of Rügen. The blue sea -and the wooded slopes of this fair island recalled to the -home-sick prisoner the beauties of her smaller sister of -the Wight.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Hither in the summer of 1918 came 500 odd hungry -British officers, the unwilling guests of his then Imperial -Majesty Wilhelm II. They were a not inconsiderable -part of the many taken in the three gigantic German -offensives between March 21st and May 27th. They -came in big batches from the sorting-out camps of Rastatt -and Karlsruhe—the former place a memory that will -endure for their lives with those who were there—or in -little driblets from the hospitals whence they had been -discharged.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Hither came also in September 200 officers from -Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), the last of their illusions gone. -They had been sent from various camps to that place, -the stepping-stone for internment and happier things. -They had stayed there two months. Their parcels, -which should have been forwarded to them, went persistently -“west.” In many cases even their luggage had -gone to Holland. They had been taken for walks and -had viewed the promised land. And now, at the eleventh -hour, the congestion of sick at Aachen had necessitated -their removal and they had been side-tracked to the -Baltic—to wait and wait, and begin the dreary round -again. They moved our sympathy. They had had two -and a half years of it, and now they had as little to eat -as, and not much more to wear than, the new arrivals. -But one of them had a typewriter.</p> - -<p class='c008'>And hither came also a little party of three from -Holzminden Camp in Brunswick, transferred, as I have -previously explained, as suspected persons to a camp of -really reliable security. Major Gilbert, Lieutenant Ortweiler, -and myself had been told one morning that we -had an hour and a half in which to pack. We packed -and went. Stralsund was like a rest cure.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is indeed a pleasant spot. A channel, narrow at the -entrances, broadening to ninety yards in the middle, -divides the islands. Standing on the bridge which spans -the channel at its narrowest, one looks west to Stralsund -town. Whether with the setting sun behind it or with -the morning sun full on it, it is beautiful. Venice viewed -from the sea could hardly be prettier. The dome of -the Marianne Kirche dominates the town, and the bat-coloured -sails of the fishing vessels could be just seen, -with an occasional motor-boat, moving in the blue Sound. -In Greater Danholm the chestnuts are magnificent. There -is one avenue of trees which meet each other overhead -as in a cathedral nave. And there was one little segregated, -fenced-off spot which for no particular reason we -called King Henry VIIIth’s Garden—the name seemed -to suit. One could take half an hour walking round the -camp.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But it is not my intention by painting too glowing a -picture to alienate my reader’s sympathy. The place was -good, but German. The buildings were good, but had -held Russians. The air was good, but there were smells. -We had been long-time prisoners—veterans, we considered -ourselves, in this horde of “eighteeners.” And -it would be cold, very cold in winter.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We had a fortnight’s holiday, revelling in the unexpected -beauty, the much less uncomfortable beds with -their extra sheet, the open-air sea bath in the mornings, -the freedom and scope of movement, the almost latent -wire, the inoffensiveness of the German personnel, the -unobtrusiveness of the Commandant, the beer (liquorice, -but still beer of a sort), the exchange of news with the -new prisoners and the picking up of old threads, the -sight of the sea from our landing window, the games -on real grass....</p> - -<p class='c008'>And then, in quite a different sense, we began looking -round.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We learned that the authorities were quietly and -politely confident that the place was escape-proof. They -expected attempts. Oh! yes. “We know it is your duty. -We should do it ourselves.” And conventionalities of -the sort that are common when German officers of a -decent type—and there were such on this island—find -themselves in conversation with Englishmen. “But it -cannot be done—no one has ever escaped from here. -True, it might be easy to cut the wire and get on to the -main part of the island, but we have our dogs. If you -swim to the mainland you will be recognised and brought -back. Even if you get across to Rügen you have to get -off it and you would be missed. We have our seaplane -to scour the sea. The ferry is guarded....” and -so on.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Subsequent events appeared to justify this view. Attempts -were made, and failed in quick succession. In -each case the objective was the same, though aimed at -by different methods—the open sea and the Danish -island of Bornholm or Danish territory elsewhere. Two -officers, yachtsmen born, cut the wire one night, swam -out towards Rügen, boarded an empty fishing vessel -about 200 yards out and got clean away. They stranded -off the north-west corner of Rügen and were recaptured. -Three others commandeered a boat which had been left -unpadlocked in the channel, rowed to the mainland, and -separated. Two were recaptured immediately, the third -was at large some days and was eventually arrested some -way down the coast. I did not learn his story. Another -party of three attempted to paddle over to Rügen on a -cattle trough. They selected a stormy night, were upset -fifty yards out of the channel, and got back, unobserved, -with difficulty, and, as one of them could not swim, -rather luckily.</p> - -<p class='c008'>So far as the German precautions went, the net upshot -of these attempts was that stringent orders were issued -about leaving boats in the channel or on the shores of -the island unpadlocked. For the rest, the Commandant -was satisfied with his second line of defence, the water, -which was moreover (it was now mid-September) growing -daily colder and more unattractive.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Such was the position when the Holzminden trio began -to put their heads together. I do not think any of us -seriously entertained the idea of an escape by water. -We were all hopeless landsmen, and Gilbert at any rate -could not swim. A “stunt” by sea necessitated a combination -of luck, pluck, opportunism, and, above all, -watermanship. Our armament, such as it was, was of a -different kind. We all knew German, Gilbert and I indifferently, -Ortweiler fluently. We had the wherewithal -to bribe. We could lay our hands on a typewriter. We -knew the ropes of a land journey by railway. G. and O. -had both been “out,” the latter more than once; and -I had heard these things much discussed. Moreover, -Gilbert, being a Major, had secured a small room which -he invited me to share, and Ortweiler was a member of -our mess. In a deep-laid scheme privacy is almost an -essential. Greatest asset of all, the Germans were not -suspicious and they left us alone.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Our idea, very much in the rough, crystallised as -follows: together or separately—as events might dictate—to -bluff the sentry at the main gate, and at the ferry; -to get on to the mainland and there travel by train to -the Holland frontier; and to have our preparations so -thoroughly made that, on paper at least, our plan was -bound to be successful.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Our first idea was to co-opt three or four others and -go out as a party of orderlies with one of us disguised -as a German sentry in charge. Individual officers had on -several occasions already been into the town with a party -of orderlies on some “fatigue” or other in order to have -a look round. Our idea was to concoct some imaginary -fatigue which would take us not only into the town but -out of it, where we should have an opportunity of -assuming our real disguise and separating on our respective -routes. We got so far as to fashion out our -bogus rifle in the rough, but before very long we discarded -the whole idea for various reasons. The rifle -would be too difficult to imitate to pass in broad daylight. -We could not be certain of securing the uniform -of our sentry; all the sentries on duty in the camp were -likely to be personally known to one another. Difficulties -of taking our disguise with us, difficulties of hitting on -the right sort of “fatigue” to disarm suspicion ... the -“cons” had it emphatically.</p> - -<div id='illo169' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_169_facing.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Facsimile of the original permit-card copied by Lockhead.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Moreover, in the interval the looked-for “key” had -presented itself. Gilbert had succeeded in removing a -workman’s “permit” from his coat pocket while he was -working in the camp. This “permit” entitled the civilian -in question to visit the camp and its environs between -given dates, name and business being duly stated, and -the permit signed by the Camp Commandant. Printed -in German print on a plain white card, it appeared not -impossible of exact imitation. Our hopes were more than -fulfilled. Lieut. Lockhead, one of the party weather-bound -en route for a neutral country, had, we knew, -performed yeoman service in this line when at Holzminden. -We showed him the card. Within two days -he had accomplished an exact replica, including the signature, -so good as to be undistinguishable from the -original. Our hopes rose. It remained to complete the -remainder of our essential equipment—civilian clothes, -German money, forged passports, maps, and compasses. -With the two former I was entirely unprovided. One -passport, forged on an old model, was in Gilbert’s possession, -but we doubted its efficacy in northern Germany. -The two latter articles I was content to leave to the last -moment, when I should have definitely decided on my -route. One had the feeling that it was absurd to spend -hours on acquiring articles necessary only for the last -lap, when one might be stopped at the gate—a curiously -illogical reasoning, as these things, or at least one of -them, are indispensable for even a short journey across -country ... but there it was.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was at this point that the event occurred which led -me definitely to abandon my Holland scheme and decide -for the Danish border. A German private soldier came -into our room one day to do some work. He was in -uniform but was on leave in Stralsund, which was his -home, and in the then prevailing shortage of labour he -was lending a hand to his erstwhile master.</p> - -<p class='c008'>No “escaper” ever omits a chance—provided he can -speak German at all—of profiting by a conversation with -someone from outside the camp. Indeed, this was so -well known to the authorities that in most camps anybody -coming in from outside was escorted by a sentry -and not left alone during the period of his stay in the -camp. Stralsund was an exception, possibly because the -English had been there so short a time, possibly because -of the Commandant’s complacent idea as to its security. -Be that as it may, I had this fellow fairly quickly sized up. -It turned out his job was doing sentry on the Denmark -border.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Is it dull there?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Frightfully.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Do many get over up there?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh yes.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“What? Prisoners?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“A few, but smugglers and deserters mostly. We -pretend not to see them.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Here was an eye-opener! I threw caution to the winds -and found that I had not mistaken my man. He was a -genial rascal, venal and disloyal to the core. Before he -had been in that room half an hour he had committed -himself far too deeply in the eyes of the German law -for me to have any fear that he would turn round and -blow the gaff on <i>us</i>. He told us (Gilbert had come in -by that time) of a slackly guarded frontier, with wire so -low that you could walk over it; of the exact route from -Stralsund to the last station outside the <i>Grenz-Gebiet</i> -(border territory); of the innocuous passage of an ordinary -<i>Personal-Zug</i> (slow train) without the complications of -passport-checking or examination over the dreaded Kiel -Canal. He came in next day with some civilian collars -and ties and an inadequate railway map, and on each day -he went out the heavier by sundry woollen and flannel -clothes, cigarettes, soap, chocolate, and cheese. He gave -me in return about 30 marks in German money. He -had promised to do even more, but he made some excuse -that his leave was up and we saw him no more. Probably -he funked it. Viewed as a commercial deal, the balance -was in his favour; but he had given us information that -was beyond rubies. Our hopes rose higher, and by this -time Gilbert and I were more or less definitely committed -to the Denmark scheme.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We had not long to wait for an opportunity of seeing -how our passports should read. I will say no more. -Even at this distance of time, immeasurably magnified -by the intervening events, there still may lurk the long -arm in German law, and we need not doubt that there -are still too many souls in Germany attracted by the -thought: <i>Wie soll ich Detective werden?</i> (How shall I -become a detective?) to make it altogether safe for those -concerned if I were to be more explicit in print. Suffice -it to say that our tools were of tender years, cheaply -bought, and therefore on both accounts the less deserving -of retribution<a id='r13' /><a href='#f13' class='c016'><sup>[13]</sup></a>. I had sold my field service ration boots -for 45 marks, through the agency of Ortweiler. I had -therefore collected about 75 marks, and this was, of -course, ample for my requirements. I was all the time -anxiously on the look-out for civilian clothes. I had got -a pair of old blue trousers from Captain Clarke of the -Merchant Marine. I had an old pair of ration “Tommy” -boots which on comparison with the home-grown article -might just “do.” I had shirt, collar, and tie. I wanted -hat, coat, and, in view of the lateness of the season, some -sort of overcoat.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> -<div class='footnote' id='f13'> -<p class='c008'><span class='label'><a href='#r13'>13</a>. </span>This chapter was written over a year ago and times have changed. We borrowed the passport off a glazier’s boy who used to come into the camp. And we sold our boots to one of the camp canteen officials who was distinctly venal.</p> -</div> -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>By great good luck the hat, or, as it happened, cap, -materialised. A new naval suit with cap had arrived for -a merchant skipper who had gone to Aachen for a medical -board with the hope of exchange. As soon as we had -heard he had been passed and gone over the border, -G. and I promptly closed for the suit, of which we had -secured the refusal, with his <i>chargé d’affaires</i>. Shorn of -its buttons the suit made a smart civilian costume for -Gilbert, and shorn of its badge the cap became merely of -the naval type of headgear so common amongst German -boys or men of the working-class. I had always decided -I would shape my rôle according to the clothes which I -could find, and I now decided that I should travel 4th -class, as some sort of mechanic. For a coat I had to fall -back upon a brand new English coat sent out from home -and confiscated by and restolen from the Germans. I -made it as shabby as I could in the short time at my -disposal but even so it was far too smart to pass for my -class of “character” except at night. I therefore decided -that if travelling by day I would wear over my coat a -very old dark blue naval raincoat which had been given -me. I was thus equipped. I might possibly have done -better if I had waited, but the completion of my arrangements -had to synchronise, as far as possible, with that -of the others. I had also been able to copy a fairly good -map of northern Schleswig, showing roads and railways, -and, by great good luck and at the eleventh hour, I -secured what I believe was the last compass but one in -the whole camp. The shortage of these articles seemed -extraordinary, when one reflected on the abundance of -them in most of the old camps of longer standing. To -the donor on this occasion I am eternally indebted, as I -could not have managed very well without it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>From one of the camp personnel I had elucidated the -fact that the Hamburg train went at 6.40 in the morning. -From another source we heard there was also a train at -6.43 in the evening.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Gilbert meanwhile had been busy with the typewriter -which he had secured with great forethought from its -owner in the Aachen party. The “<i>Ausweis</i>” forms were -completed, each according to our own particular specifications.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Mine ran as follows:</p> - -<div class='size90'> - -<table class='table3' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='53%' /> -<col width='6%' /> -<col width='40%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c003'><i>Personal-Ausweis</i></td> - <td class='c003'>⎫</td> - <td class='c004'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c003'><i>für</i></td> - <td class='c003'>⎪</td> - <td class='c004'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c003'><i>Karl Stein</i></td> - <td class='c003'>⎬</td> - <td class='c004'>on the outside,</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c003'><i>aus</i></td> - <td class='c003'>⎪</td> - <td class='c004'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c003'><i>Stralsund</i></td> - <td class='c003'>⎭</td> - <td class='c004'> </td> - </tr> -</table> - -</div> - -<p class='c008'>and on the inside: on the left-hand side, my photograph—(I -had been photographed in this very camp by the -Germans and I had been wearing at the time an old -Indian volunteer tunic which in the photograph looked -much like a German tunic. This was pure chance and -very lucky).</p> - -<p class='c008'>On the right side, my particulars:</p> - -<table class='table4' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='30%' /> -<col width='30%' /> -<col width='15%' /> -<col width='23%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c002'> </td> - <td class='c002'>Karl Stein.</td> - <td class='c002'> </td> - <td class='c004'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002'><i>Date of Birth</i>:</td> - <td class='c002'>4/6/1880.</td> - <td class='c002'> </td> - <td class='c004'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002'><i>Place of birth</i>:</td> - <td class='c002'>Stralsund.</td> - <td class='c002'> </td> - <td class='c004'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002'><i>State belonging to</i>:</td> - <td class='c002'>Prussian.</td> - <td class='c002'><i>Height</i>:</td> - <td class='c004'>1.60 metres.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002'><i>Chin</i>:</td> - <td class='c002'>Ordinary.</td> - <td class='c002'><i>Eyes</i>:</td> - <td class='c004'>Brown.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002'><i>Mouth</i>:</td> - <td class='c002'>Ordinary.</td> - <td class='c002'><i>Hair</i>:</td> - <td class='c004'>Brown.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002'><i>Nose</i>:</td> - <td class='c002'>Large.</td> - <td class='c002'><i>Beard</i>:</td> - <td class='c004'>Moustache.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002'><i>Particular marks</i>:</td> - <td class='c002'>None.</td> - <td class='c002'> </td> - <td class='c004'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002'> </td> - <td class='c002' colspan='3'><i>Authentic Signature</i>: Karl Stein.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002'> </td> - <td class='c002' colspan='3'>(A very lame and halting hand this!)</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002' colspan='4'>“Herewith certified that the owner of the pass has subscribed</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002' colspan='4'>his name with his own hand.”</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c002'> </td> - <td class='c002' colspan='3'>(<i>Signed</i>) Lieutenant of Police, Stralsund.</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p class='c008'>The stamps affixed to the passport—two on the photograph, -one on the right-hand side—were an amazingly -clever imitation by Lockhead (the friend who had already -helped us with the forging of the permit-cards). He did -these stamps by hand through some purple carbon paper -that I still had with me from an old army message-form -book, and to be believed they should be seen in the -original.</p> - -<div id='illo175' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_175_facing_1.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_175_facing_2.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/p_175_facing_3.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>G. took infinite trouble with the filling up of these -passports. He had acquired a good flowing German hand -and he filled the particulars in himself, with a flourish -for the signature of the Police <i>Leutnant</i> at the bottom. -He also filled in the permit-cards. We had each two -passports, one made out as from Stralsund, and the other -as from Schleswig. We should naturally show the Stralsund -one in the Schleswig territory and <i>vice versâ</i>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We were now ready, or as ready as anyone is until -the actual time comes to go, when there are always a -thousand and one things to be thought of.</p> - -<hr class='c015' /> - -<p class='c008'>It was arranged amongst ourselves that Ortweiler -should have the first shot, as he stood easily the best -chance of effecting escape. Accordingly, on Monday the -14th October he made his exit. He was well made up -with a false moustache stuck on with some very diluted -form of spirit gum, and fiercely curved at the tips. It -was only tow, but it served its purpose in the dark. Our -duty was to patrol the avenue leading to the main gate -between 5 and 6.30 p.m., to mark down what dangerous -Germans had left the camp, and to stop O. if anyone -who was likely to suspect him hove in sight.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I should mention here that from the barrack selected -as dressing room to the main gate is about 200 yards. -From the main gate on to the ferry is another 350 yards. -After dark at this time of year various Germans living -in the town were likely to be leaving the island for the -night, and the ferry was thus constantly on the move. -Our object was primarily to avoid the more dangerous -Germans, e.g. an officer or the Interpreter, who knew -us all well by sight.</p> - -<p class='c008'>All went well. I gave the signal “all clear” at about -6.30 and G. and I piloted Ortweiler out, slowing down -as he passed us 40 yards from the main gate. We saw -him take out his card and hand it to the sentry, who -then let him through the postern. It had worked! We -breathed a sigh of relief. Just as we were going back, -we met the Interpreter homeward bound for the ferry. -He was too close behind O. to be exactly safe, so I -engaged him in conversation. He was in a hurry and -I could only think of something rather fatuous to say, -but I held him up a minute or two and that may have -caused him to miss Ortweiler’s particular boat<a id='r14' /><a href='#f14' class='c016'><sup>[14]</sup></a>.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> -<div class='footnote' id='f14'> -<p class='c008'><span class='label'><a href='#r14'>14</a>. </span>I have since heard that they went over the ferry together.</p> -</div> -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>We “cooked” Ortweiler’s <i>appel</i> at 8 p.m.—this is a -familiar device for concealing escape. The result was -that the barrack Feldwebel did not report his absence till -next day at 9 a.m. roll-call. He had thus twelve hours’ -clear start, by which time he was most of the way to -Berlin. We thought him almost a certainty to get over -with his fluent knowledge of German, and he did, in -point of fact, escape into Holland, <i>viâ</i> Berlin, Frankfort, -and Crefeld, after a night’s thrilling experience on the -actual border which would be a story in itself.</p> - -<p class='c008'>G. and I were naturally elated, the more so as from -enquiries it transpired that the authorities had absolutely -no suspicion of how O. had got out. Owing to repeated -wire-cutting and escapes into the island, the guard had -been increased and placed outside the wire. No one had -passed the sentries who had not the proper credentials. -Of that they were quite convinced. It was believed that -he was still hiding in the camp. We hugged ourselves.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Friday of that week, the 18th, the day selected as -“<i>der Tag</i>,” was an unforgettable one. Our kit had to -be packed and labelled; final arrangements made about -feeding in the event of recapture; compromising documents -of any sort had to be destroyed; at the last moment -I realised that I had no braces, no German cigarettes, -and no matches. To crown all there was a barrack hockey -match which we could not very well avoid.</p> - -<p class='c008'>During the day it so happened that we were twice -invaded by Feldwebels. On the first occasion the door -was locked and we had to throw a map into the corner -and then open the door, an action which would in itself -have been of damning suspicion in most camps. On the -second, the Feldwebel found G. cutting sandwiches of -German <i>Kriegs Brot</i> (war bread). G. had to explain that -it was a new attempt to make <i>Kriegs Brot</i> palatable, and -invited the Feldwebel to come and see the result at dinner -time. Doubtless he came, but there were no sandwiches -and no us. At 4 p.m. we had our high tea—four Copenhagen -eggs each and tea and jam. At 5 p.m. the roll -was called, and immediately after it we started transferring -our disguise under cover of the growing darkness to the -barrack from which we were going to make our final exit.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It had been arranged after some discussion that Gilbert -should leave not before dark, and not later than 6, and -that I should give him ten minutes clear before leaving. -This would give me little time to catch the 6.42 train -to Hamburg if I was at all held up (a forecast which -was verified by events); but there was no help for it. -It was necessary that Gilbert’s disguise should be assisted -to the full by darkness.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We had let a few friends into the secret and these -were cruising about like destroyers up and down the -avenue, reporting the departure of dangerous Germans. -Gilbert did not eventually get off much before 6, and -it seemed a long time before the leader of the convoy -reported that G. was safely through the gate. I gave -him ten minutes, conscious mainly of the fact that I had -forgotten any German I had ever learnt, and then stepped -forth.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I was Karl Stein, firm of Karl Stein & Co., Furniture -Dealers, Langestrasse, Stralsund; I had been into the -Kommandantur to arrange about a new contract for -officers’ cupboards. I knew the shop because I had seen -it the day before when I went to the town hospital -under escort with a party of officers for massage. I needed -no massage, of course, but had only done this to acquaint -myself with the geography of the town.</p> - -<p class='c008'>With a blank stare I passed several brother-officers -walking up and down the avenue and reached the gate. -My great moment had come, but the sentry simply -looked at my card carefully, said <i>schön</i>, and handed -it back. I walked very fast down to the ferry. There -was no boat on my side and I saw I should have to wait -some minutes. The sentry at the ferry examined my -card and handed it back. How should I avoid the two -Germans who were already there on the jetty waiting -for the boat? I decided to have a violent fit of coughing.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I must here mention that my knowledge of German, -acquired during captivity, was not such as would enable -me to support a cross-examination of more than a minute -or two. I had, however, practised the “pure” German -accent with assiduity. In point of fact I hardly spoke a -hundred words on the journey, and some of these were -not absolutely necessary.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At last the ferry boat came over, empty. I got in and -sat in the bows. There was an English orderly working -the bow oar—I had seen him the previous day. I kicked -him, and he realised what I was and shielded me as much -as he could from the other occupants of the boat, which -was now gradually filling. It was a long five minutes -and I continued my violent fit of coughing, leaning over -the side as if in a paroxysm. There were two Germans -in the bows and one of them touched me on the shoulder -and suggested that I should trim the boat by sitting in -the middle. I complied meekly, feeling really very -wretched indeed.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At the last I thought I was really done for. The -German adjutant got into the boat. He didn’t know me -by sight, but I thought it was more than likely that he -would suspect me. Mercifully he began to talk to some -lady typists from the camp who had just preceded him.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We shoved off eventually, almost full. I continued -coughing till we got across. When the boat discharged -I went ashore almost last. I gave them a wide berth in -front, and as soon as I was clear made off at my best -pace for the station. Now I was Karl Stein of Schleswig, -carpenter, ex-army man, and recalled for civilian employment, -catching the train for his native country. -I tore up my “permit” and dropped it in the road—one -month off my sentence anyway.</p> - -<p class='c008'>As I expected, I just missed my train. I had no watch, -but the clock on the Marianne Kirche showed me I should -be late. I reached the station about 6.50; it was rather -full of people. I wondered if Gilbert was away in that -train ... and then, vaguely, what the chances were of my -being nabbed before the next went—this, I noted, was -at 6.40 the next morning (Saturday). I think if there -had been any outgoing trains that night I should have -taken them, even though they led me east instead of -west. But as it happened there were none. I went into -the men’s lavatory in the station, shut myself in a closet -and reflected. I thought at that time to my horror that -I had forgotten my matches, so I denied myself a smoke—my -matches turned up later and I needed what few -there were. I solaced myself with a slab of chocolate.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The position was not encouraging. Our information -about trains was correct. Our friends would not be able -to camouflage our absence, which would certainly be -discovered by 8 p.m., reported by 9 p.m. It was more -than likely that they would telephone to the station. -I determined not to be in the station at all between 9 -and 12. If I was arrested next morning, I was. In the -meantime it was good to be free.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was a beautiful October night in Stralsund. I braced -myself up and begged a light for a cigarette from a -youngster at a street corner, and then strolled along the -streets that led from the station to the Kirche. I knew -these now quite well enough not to get lost. I sat on a -bench and looked across the moonlit water, which near -the station runs right in in a broad and lovely sweep. -I lit a pipe from my German cigarette and smoked comfortably. -Should I get off next morning?...</p> - -<p class='c008'>I was cooling down now, and wandered down past the -Marianne Kirche to a cinema in the Langestrasse. A boy -there told me the booking office was shut. I wandered -round and round till one o’clock. I sat for a long time -on my old bench overlooking the water; at another place -I entered a private garden and sheltered for an hour -under a wall right on the water’s edge. It was blowing -fairly fresh.</p> - -<p class='c008'>About one o’clock I returned to the station and entered -the waiting room, full of recumbent figures, mostly -soldiers and sailors. I got hold of two chairs and tried to -sleep. There was a sailor on the other side of the table.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At 4 o’clock I got up and had a cup of coffee. The -waiting room was now fairly full of people, most of them -presumably going by my train.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I had by now a two days’ growth of beard and my -moustache was fairly long and well down over the corners -of my mouth. Moreover, I had had a fairly sleepless night.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In my pockets I carried three large sandwiches of -German bread with English potted meat inside, about -twenty slabs of Caley’s marching chocolate, a box of -Horlick’s milk tablets, a spare pair of socks, some rag -and vaseline, my pipe and tobacco, English and German -cigarettes, my compass, money, and papers. I had an old -German novel in my hands which I pretended to read -with great assiduity. Half an hour before the train was -due to start, I went to the booking office. I was surprised -to hear my own voice. “Fourth to Hamburg, -please.” I had no idea what it cost, so I tendered a -20-mark note. The ticket cost only seven marks! I went -back to the waiting room, and a few minutes later faced -the barrier. No questions, no suspicion. I breathed again -and wondered what that Commandant had done. Wired -to Rostock perhaps....</p> - -<p class='c008'>My carriage was not over-full at the start—four or -five women and two elderly men. I had no trouble with -them. Their conversation began and maintained itself -exclusively about food, but they were cheerful enough.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Before Rostock the carriage had filled up and I with -British politeness was strap-hanging. An old woman -began asking me to shift her <i>Korb</i> (basket). I could not -exactly understand what she wanted and must have looked -rather foolish. However, I did the right thing eventually.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We changed at Rostock. I was half expecting trouble -but nothing happened. A porter told me the platform -for the Hamburg train. I got this stereotyped question -fairly pat.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To Hamburg the train was overflowing; we were over -40 in a tiny compartment. I was wedged in against the -window, strap-hanging. At one intermediate station a -young soldier got in with a goose hanging out of his -haversack. He immediately became the centre of an -admiring throng. He was a cheerful youth and bandied -repartee with all and sundry—I could not catch his sallies, -which were in low German and greeted with roars of -laughter. I suppose he was the son of some farmer and -had “wangled” this goose, which would probably have -fetched 150 marks in the market, to take back to his -mess-mates. He got out just before Hamburg. I could -not have asked for a better foil.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Hamburg! I had never hoped for even so long a run -as this. Was there really a chance?... In any case, I was -now well clear of the Stralsund zone. I began to realise -that the heavy week-end traffic was helping me and -that I was indeed no more than a needle in a haystack. -I ate a sandwich and an apple which I had bought at -Lubeck.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We ran into the big station at about 2.40 in the afternoon—it -was very full. It did not take me long to find -the “departure” notices, Kiel 3.10. I took my place in -the “queue” for the fourth class booking office. Behind -me two women had an altercation as to priority of -place in the “queue.” I was rather afraid they were -going to appeal to me. I had no wish for the rôle of -Solomon at that moment.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I booked direct to Flensburg—about four marks’ worth—and -made my way downstairs to the departure platform, -which was indicated clearly enough. I did not like the -odd quarter of an hour which I had to wait before the -train came in. I was not very happy about my dark blue -waterproof. I could not see anything approaching its -counterpart. If one stands still, one can be examined at -leisure; if one moves up and down, one runs the gauntlet -of a hundred restless eyes, any one pair of which may -at some previous date have had first hand cognisance of -a typical naval rubber-lined English waterproof....</p> - -<p class='c008'>Then I blundered. There was a coffee-stall on the -platform. I went up to it and asked for a cup. I had -drunk nothing since 4 o’clock in the morning. Fortunately -neither of the <i>Frauleins</i> in the stall paid any -attention to me. Just then I saw the notice “<i>for soldiers -and sailors only</i>” printed up in big letters. I should have -known that, but no one had noticed anything.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When <i>would</i> that train come in?</p> - -<p class='c008'>It came at last. I chose the carriage with fewest -soldiers in it, and most women, and made for my strategical -position by the window. But it was impossible -to avoid men altogether. I had one strap-hanging next -to me from Hamburg to Kiel. Everybody started chattering -at once. How could I keep out of this all the -way to Kiel without suspicion? Of course, they were -talking about food—various ways of dishing up potatoes.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I looked out of the window, pretending to be interested -in the country. It was impossible even to pretend -to read in that crush. A man on the seat was forcibly -expressing his views to two <i>Frauleins</i> on the new (10th) -War Loan. They giggled.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I often wonder if those Hamburg folk then had any -notion that another fortnight would see the Red Flag -floating in their midst.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At Neumünster we had an invasion. The carriage, -full already, became packed. Four girls of the farmer -class—sisters, I judged them—got in at my window. -I lost my place of vantage and was relegated to the -middle of the floor. I felt a pasty-faced youth quite -close to me sizing me up....</p> - -<p class='c008'>Fortunately the farmer girls riveted all attention for -half a dozen stations. They were in boisterous spirits -and screamed with laughter at their own jokes. They -spoke dialect and I could not understand them, but I -grinned feebly in unison. When they got out, I recovered -my post by the window. Bless them, anyway, -for a diversion.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At the next station an elderly man who was sitting on -a basket immediately in front of me said something to -me directly. He was not in any way a formidable -character, but he spoke villainous dialect and I could -not make head or tail of his question. He was referring -to something in the station. I said <i>Ja</i> and looked out of -the window in a knowing way. But I could not risk a -second question. I felt the pasty-faced youth’s eyes on -me again, and I made a bee-line for the lavatory. When -I emerged I took up a fresh position.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The train was emptying as we approached Kiel, and -for a time I got my head out of the window and enjoyed -the draught. Then a little girl standing by me asked -me to pull up the window again. I had my second -sandwich.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We ran into Kiel at about 6 o’clock. There was no -difficulty. A guard, in answer to my question, pointed -at the Flensburg train. The carriage I got into was not -lit at all and almost empty. What a relief to sit! A girl -came in to check my ticket, and I went to sleep. We -went over the canal in the dark. There were two men -in my carriage. I woke up at some wayside station -and asked if it was Flensburg. They laughed and said -Flensburg was two hours away yet. I muttered sleepily -that I was a stranger, and pretended to drop off again.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I reached Flensburg about 10.30 p.m., and thought -of the unforgettable scene in <i>The Riddle of the Sands</i>. -I was no less depressed than Carruthers on that occasion. -I was very thirsty, but it was a poky little station and -there was nothing in the shape of a waiting room or -coffee-stall. I lingered on the platform and saw a porter -who appeared to be closing down for the night. I asked -him what time the train to Tondern went next day. -He first said 6 o’clock, but then reflected that the next -day was Sunday and there would not be a train till eleven. -He added that the train went from the other station. -So there were two stations in Flensburg! My sentry -friend had not told me this. I asked him where the -other station was and he directed me. My German at -this juncture was so abominable that I think he must -have been a Dane.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At the other station, which I found to be the main -one, there was a fairly large crowd in the booking hall. -They were waiting for the in-coming 11 o’clock train -from the north. Entry to the platform and waiting rooms -was barred. The train came in, the crowd dissolved, and -the station was shut up for the night. I had got to put -in twelve dreary hours in this place.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I took risks that night in Flensburg, risks that might -have been fatal further south. I argued that here if anywhere -one might expect to find a scrubby-faced man with -a nautical cap and overcoat. I walked for about an hour -past the quays, past the two main hotels, then up towards -the church and down again to the quays. I could -find no public drinking-fountain, which was what I was -looking for, but I had learned the rough geography of -the place.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There was a low barrier leading on to one of the quays. -The gate was locked but I climbed the barrier and sat -down on a bench. Behind me was one of those pavilions -such as are seen on an English pier-head; in front, a -steamer moored alongside. Both were quite deserted. -Here at least I could sit and find solitude.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I took off my boots and attended to one of my toes -which I had rubbed playing hockey the day before—what -weeks ago it seemed! I went through my pockets -and—joy!—found my matches. I smoked a luxurious -pipe. Then, still in my socks, I boarded the steamer -and searched her for water without success. She was -fitted up for passengers and for a moment I entertained -the idea of stowing myself away on her.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Just as I had finished putting on my boots again a -man—a night-watchman I suppose he was—came on to -the quay from the left. He must have been attracted -by some movement. I confess I thought it was all up.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“What are you doing here?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Nothing.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“But you have no business to be here at all.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Silence implied assent. He beckoned me after him. -He was not a Prussian, this man, whatever else he was. -Perhaps he was afraid of me. He appeared to be taking -me into some form of building on my right. I pretended -to be coming along after him, but I swerved to the right, -scrambled over the barrier and ran for 200 yards down -the street. Fortunately there was no one about. I was -not followed. I was thankful I had got my boots on -in time.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I passed the first hotel and saw a woman with a man -carrying her bag go in and ask for a room. She got one. -I followed in after her and asked for a bed. The proprietor -said he was full up and shut the door in my face. -Could a two days’ growth of beard make such a difference -in a man? I was rather hurt.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But worse was to follow. I entered another hotel and -saw some German sailors being given the keys of their -bedrooms by a Fraulein. I asked her for some coffee. -“No.” “Water?” “No.” “Nothing to drink?” “No, -nothing.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>I came to my senses and fled....</p> - -<p class='c008'>I went up towards the church, which stands on the -top of a steep hill. There are some gardens sloping down -the hill. I found an old sort of summer-house in one -of these and went to sleep. It was about 1 a.m., and -none too warm.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I was up at dawn and started again on my weary pilgrimage -of the streets of Flensburg. How I hated that -place! I half thought of altering my plan and doing the -rest of the journey on foot. It was about 70 kilometres -to the frontier.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I passed three military policemen in half an hour and -wondered resentfully what they were doing in such large -quantities on a <i>Sunday</i> morning.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At about eight I got to the station, and ate my last -sandwich. Assuming that the porter had been right the -previous night, I had got to put in three hours more -dreary waiting. There were no overhead notices, but I -noticed a useful-looking collection of time-tables stuck -up on big boards in a little alcove just out of the booking -hall. If I could get behind the rearmost of these I could -put in much of my time unobserved. People might come -and people might go, but they would never dream that -I had been there all the time.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I examined the time-tables. I could make nothing of -the Sunday trains, but I found the name Ober-Jersthal. -That had been the station given by our informant at -Stralsund as the last station outside the <i>Grenz-Gebiet</i>. -In the maps we had seen in the camp we had never been -able to verify this place. Ober-Jersthal must be on the -main line running up the east Schleswig coast. So far -so good, but at what time would this train go? It could -not be the same train as the Tondern train, for Tondern -is west Schleswig.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I wandered on to the platform. The bookstall was -open and I bought a paper and also a Pocket Railway -Guide. The Guide had a good map. I saw from this -that the Tondern and Ober-Jersthal lines branched off -at Tingleff—possibly the two trains went in one as far -as Tingleff. I had not long to wait for corroboration. -At the cloak-room I heard a man ask the attendant what -time the train went for a station which I knew to be -north of Ober-Jersthal on the same line. The answer -was 11.3. There could be no doubt of it now. I booked -for Ober-Jersthal.</p> - -<div id='illo189' class='figcenter id008'> -<img src='images/p_189.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>SKETCH MAP<br /><br />OF<br /><br />N.W. GERMANY AND FRONTIERS<br /><br />Shaded area = Neutral country<br /><br />X = Point where the author crossed the frontier</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>I had still an hour to wait. It passed somehow. I went -into the waiting room and got my first drink for 29 hours, -a glass of beer; it was washy stuff but went down -wonderfully well. There were a lot of <i>Matrosen</i> (sailors) -in the waiting room. Some of them stared at me and I -began to have the Hamburg platform haunted sensation -over again. I pretended to read my paper fiercely for -half an hour and then went on to the platform. I began -to regret that I had not had a shave that morning.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The train came in punctually. There was no incident -till Tingleff, about 20 kilos northward. There I saw the -passport officials waiting on the platform. I had almost -forgotten about this part of the business....</p> - -<p class='c008'>I took a sudden resolution and left the train. I -reckoned that I had not more than 40 miles to walk -from this point, and by alighting here I might dodge -the passport men altogether. But I was undeceived. -An official was waiting at the entrance to the sub-way. -He looked an easy-going fellow and was engaged in conversation -with someone. He took my passport, glanced -at it, and handed it back without a word. He did not -even look to compare my face with the photograph. -The great moment which Gilbert and I had rehearsed -countless times had come and gone.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I hurried through the sub-way, and saw another passport -official talking to the ticket collector. I handed in -my Ober-Jersthal ticket. The man looked up in some -surprise, but I was ready for him:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I have shortened my journey.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“<i>Ach! So.</i>”</p> - -<p class='c008'>He asked no more questions. If he had, I doubt if I -could have answered them. I was conscious only of one -great wish, to be rid of the railway for good. I struck -due north out of the station and found myself in a <i>cul-de-sac</i>. -I was so overjoyed to be quit of the rail that I -plunged into the fields. I had not gone very far before -I had reason to repent. There was water everywhere, -and I made very heavy weather of it. My objective was -Lügumkloster, about 20 miles north-west from Tingleff, -and I reckoned that it could not be very long before I -struck the main road. After about two hours—it was -now two o’clock in the afternoon—I found the road. -There were very few people about, and those I met gave -me good day civilly enough. If questioned at this -point, I was going to have been a South German staying -with relatives in Flensburg and out for a cross-country -ramble—an improbable enough story.</p> - -<p class='c008'>My hopes had risen and it all seemed reasonably plain -sailing now. The people were not suspicious. I had my -map with a few important names ... my compass ... I might -even do it in the next night.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I wondered exactly where old Gilbert was at this -moment. It never even occurred to me that he had been -caught, but such, as afterwards transpired, must have -been the case<a id='r15' /><a href='#f15' class='c016'><sup>[15]</sup></a>.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> -<div class='footnote' id='f15'> -<p class='c008'><span class='label'><a href='#r15'>15</a>. </span>Gilbert had been caught actually on the border the night before, under the impression that he was already in Denmark. He was thought at first to be a smuggler!</p> -</div> -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Passing through one village I met some French -prisoners. I gave them good day and told them who -I was. They invited me to come into their room in the -farm where they were working. They were able to tell -me what village I was in, Dollderup, and this was a great -assistance. I thanked them in execrable French, gave -them one of my remaining cigarettes, and told them -what news I could—they had heard nothing for months. -I don’t think anything on the whole journey was more -difficult than framing those few simple French sentences.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The signposts made the journey easy after that. At -3 p.m. I had 18 kilometres to go to Lügumkloster. -I turned off the road, lay down in some young fir trees, -took off my boots, ate some chocolate, and had half an -hour or more’s sleep.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I started again towards dusk. I was feeling very fit -now and full of hope. If only I didn’t muck it on the -frontier....</p> - -<p class='c008'>The signposts did their duty nobly. There was a keen -wind from the north and the road was good. I had been -out just two complete days.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In one village a soldier with a rifle came out of a house -just as I passed it. He replied to my “<i>Guten Abend</i>” -courteously.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I reached Lügumkloster, I suppose, about half-past -nine or ten. It is a big rambling village, and I made a -bad mistake here on leaving it. I meant to take the -Arrip-Arnum road, which runs roughly north-east. -I took a road running north-east, but after about an -hour’s walking I found it was leading me gradually more -east than north—I had not noticed that the wind had -shifted from north to east. I decided to leave the road -and make due north on the compass, trusting to pick -up the right road later on. Then began a trying time. -The ground was terribly wet and intersected with continual -wired ditches. I tore my clothes rather badly here -and I don’t think my trousers at the end of my journey -would have stood another rip. However, I kept due -north, tacking as little as possible to avoid the ditches, -and eventually reached the road. It was, I supposed, -about 2 a.m. I estimated I was still quite ten miles -from the frontier. There was a strong wind, and I had -not enough matches to spare to look more than once or -twice at my map. Added to this, the signposts, previously -so well-behaved, became infuriating. They only mentioned -names which I had never heard of, or at least had -not committed to memory.</p> - -<p class='c008'><i>Slog! Slog! Slog!</i> I was getting tired. A man passed -me with a cart. What on earth did <i>he</i> think he was doing -at that time of night?</p> - -<p class='c008'>There was lots of water about and I did not go -thirsty. My cap made an effective cup.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A light railway running parallel to the road—this -was the <i>Klein Bahn</i> (light railway) the fellow had told -us of.</p> - -<p class='c008'><i>Slog! Slog! Sl—.</i> What on earth was that? A sentry -box on the roadside, and in the box a sentry yawning -and stretching himself. On each side of the road a belt -of barbed wire running east and west.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I took these things in vaguely, disconnectedly. Had -I miscalculated and was I over the border after all? He -hadn’t even challenged....</p> - -<p class='c008'>A mile later I crawled into a little hollow by the roadside -to rest and get warm. I was getting strangely light-headed. -I remember addressing myself as a separate -entity. I pulled myself together and sat down to think. -“I must go back and have another look at that wire. -It can only be a protective belt for military purposes.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>I went back. The wire was there sure enough. So -was the sentry box, but I didn’t go up to it. The -wire was like the rear defence lines one had seen in -France.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I retraced my steps. I still had the idea of picking -myself up from the hollow where I had left myself.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I continued my way, praying for the night to end. -With the dawn, I felt I should be able to think clearly -again.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Arnum 4 kilometres.” The signposts were German -enough, anyway.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Arnum, I had made out from my map, lay about three -or four kilometres away from the point of the salient -where I meant to cross the border. It was nearly dawn -and I saw that I could not get over that night.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was getting light as I reached the village. I left -the road and struck west across the fields, up on to some -high ground.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Somewhere in front there was Denmark.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I chose a hiding place in some young firs and -heather. I was sheltered from the wind and was fairly -comfortable.</p> - -<p class='c008'>One more whole day! What an age it seemed! I got -out my railway map and looked at my position. I could -not be more than five or six kilometres from the frontier. -Somewhere in the valley to the north-west stretched the -line of sentries. I decided to sally forth while it was -still light in the late afternoon, take my bearings, and -go over at dark.</p> - -<p class='c008'>As I lay there I heard footsteps. A boy came by -singing and passed within two yards of me. He didn’t -see me. Just as well perhaps....</p> - -<p class='c008'>I took off my boots, rubbed my feet down, and had -some chocolate.</p> - -<p class='c008'>About noon it started raining and went on for about -three hours. I got wet through, but welcomed the rain -on the whole as it would get darker sooner.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I was now thinking quite connectedly, and, it being -impossible to sleep, I went over in my mind again and -again what I meant to do, and what I knew already about -the frontier.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I suppose it was about 5 when I started out. I reckoned -there would be about one more hour’s daylight. I steered -due north-west across fields and marsh land for about -three kilometres. Suddenly, to my right—about 400 -yards off—the sentries’ boxes came full in view. There -was no mistaking them, about 200 yards between -most of them, and quite 300 yards between the two -opposite me.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I plumped down in the heather where I was standing, -and watched them. I saw a sentry leave his box and -walk about 20 yards up and down. I could see nothing -that looked like wire. Only marsh and heather in between....</p> - -<p class='c008'>Looking from where I was into Denmark, there was -a farmhouse immediately between the two sentry boxes. -I could take my course on that—it would be silhouetted -long after dark.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I waited till it was quite dark, and then started off, -taking no risks—crawling. I came to a ditch with wire -on each side of it. This was the only wire I saw. When -I judged I was well through the line, I got up and walked -to the farmhouse. A tall figure answered my knock. -I began in my best German....</p> - -<p class='c008'>He shook his head to indicate that he didn’t understand. -I could have kissed him.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At last we hammered it out.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“<i>Engelsk Offizier. Fangen. Gut.</i>”</p> - -<p class='c008'>He beckoned me in with beaming face.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I had made good in just 72 hours. Beginners’ luck!</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c018'> - <div><span class='small'>CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY J. B. PEACE, M.A., AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c005' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>Transcriber’s note:</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c019'>Page 33, ‘A.M.’ changed to ‘a.m.,’ “and garnished by 10 a.m.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Page 76, ‘door-way’ changed to ‘doorway,’ “in their own doorway”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Page 77, second ‘the’ struck, “actually entered the tunnel.”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Page 92, ‘ryefield’ changed to ‘rye-field,’ “the rye-field was reached”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Page 111, ‘Lieutenant’ changed to ‘Leutnant,’ “the Feldwebel-Leutnant Welman demanded”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Page 116, ‘he’ changed to ‘be,’ “It should be added that”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Page 137, ‘rye field’ changed to ‘rye-field,’ “through the rye-field”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Page 139, ‘rye field’ changed to ‘rye-field,’ “the rye-field to report”</p> - -<p class='c019'>Page 170, closing double quote inserted after ‘Prisoners?,’ “What? Prisoners?””</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Tunnellers of Holzminden, by -Hugh George Edmund Durnford - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TUNNELLERS OF HOLZMINDEN *** - -***** This file should be named 52308-h.htm or 52308-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/2/3/0/52308/ - -Produced by MWS and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet -Archive/American Libraries.) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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