Initial commit of ebook 78203 filesHEAD main

author: www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> 2026-03-13 18:08:09 -0700
committer: www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> 2026-03-13 18:08:09 -0700
commit: 894755087d9bb98be0f7b6bdd8ac3c5581332a7b (patch)
tree: b9b8bdb47d6154353858c7568c9db569776ba68c /78203-h
2 files changed, 1127 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/78203-h/78203-h.htm b/78203-h/78203-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..66d8742
--- /dev/null
+++ b/78203-h/78203-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,1127 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html lang="en">
+<head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
+    <title>
+      The Horrors of Wittenberg | Project Gutenberg
+    </title>
+    <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover">
+    <style>
+
+body {
+    margin-left: 10%;
+    margin-right: 10%;
+}
+
+h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {
+    text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+p {
+    margin-top: .5em;
+    text-align: justify;
+    text-indent: 1em;
+    margin-bottom: .5em;
+}
+
+hr {
+    width: 33%;
+    margin-top: 2em;
+    margin-bottom: 2em;
+    margin-left: 33.5%;
+    margin-right: 33.5%;
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;}
+@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} }
+
+hr.r5  {width: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 47.5%; margin-right: 47.5%;}
+hr.r30 {width: 30%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 70%; margin-right: 0%;}
+hr.r65 {width: 65%; margin-top: 3em; margin-bottom: 3em; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;}
+
+div.chapter {page-break-before: always;}
+h2.nobreak  {page-break-before: avoid;}
+
+table {
+    margin-left: auto;
+    margin-right: auto;
+}
+
+.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */
+    /*  visibility: hidden;  */
+    position: absolute;
+    left: 92%;
+    font-size: small;
+    text-align: right;
+    font-style: normal;
+    font-weight: normal;
+    font-variant: normal;
+    text-indent: 0;
+    color: #A9A9A9;
+} /* page numbers */
+
+blockquote {
+    margin-top: 0;
+    margin-bottom: 0;
+    margin-left: 10%;
+    margin-right: 10%;
+}
+
+.center   {text-align: center; text-indent: 0;}
+
+.right    {text-align: right;}
+
+.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
+
+figcaption   {font-weight: bold;}
+figcaption p {margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: .2em; text-align: inherit;}
+
+/* Images */
+
+img {
+    max-width: 100%;
+    height: auto;
+}
+
+
+.figcenter {
+    margin: auto;
+    text-align: center;
+    page-break-inside: avoid;
+    max-width: 100%;
+}
+
+/* Transcriber's notes */
+.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA;
+    color: black;
+    font-size:small;
+    padding:0.5em;
+    margin-bottom:5em;
+    font-family:sans-serif, serif;
+}
+
+.fs70 {font-size: 70%}
+.fs80 {font-size: 80%}
+.fs150 {font-size: 150%}
+
+.no-indent {text-indent: 0em;}
+
+h3 {font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; word-spacing: .3em;}
+    </style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78203 ***</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 85%">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" data-role="presentation">
+</div>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+
+<h1>
+<span class="fs70">THE</span><br>
+HORRORS<br>
+<span class="fs70">OF</span><br>
+WITTENBERG
+</h1>
+
+<hr class="r65">
+
+<p class="center no-indent">
+  <span class="fs150">OFFICIAL REPORT</span><br>
+  <span class="fs70">TO THE</span><br>
+  BRITISH GOVERNMENT.<br>
+  <br>
+  <br>
+  <br>
+  <span class="fs80">LONDON:<br>
+  C. ARTHUR PEARSON, LIMITED,</span><br>
+  <span class="fs70">Henrietta Street, W.C.</span></p>
+  <hr class="r5">
+<p class="center no-indent fs70">
+  1916.
+</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="GOVERNMENT_COMMITTEE_ON_THE">
+    GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE ON THE<br>
+    TREATMENT BY THE ENEMY OF<br>
+    BRITISH PRISONERS OF WAR.
+  </h2>
+</div>
+<br>
+
+<p class="right">
+  <span style="padding-right: 2em"><span class="smcap">18, Carlton House Terrace, S. W.</span>,</span><br>
+  <em>6th April, 1916</em>.</p>
+
+<p class="no-indent">
+  <span class="smcap">Sir</span>,
+</p>
+
+<p>I have the honour to state that the Chairman of this
+Committee, Mr. Justice Younger, has prepared the
+enclosed Report on the conditions obtaining at Wittenberg
+Camp during the typhus epidemic of last year.</p>
+
+<p>The information upon which this Report is based has
+been collected from prisoners of war repatriated from
+Wittenberg, and especially from Major Priestley,
+R.A.M.C., Captain Vidal, R.A.M.C., and Captain Lauder,
+R.A.M.C., who were sent to the camp soon after the
+outbreak of the epidemic and who were only recently
+released from Germany. The Committee considered it
+advisable to hold back the Report until the evidence of
+these officers was available.</p>
+
+<p class="center no-indent">
+  I am, Sir,<br>
+  Your obedient Servant,<br>
+  (Signed) <span class="smcap">Adelaide Livingstone</span>,
+</p>
+<p class="right"><em>Hon. Secretary</em>.
+</p>
+<p class="center no-indent">
+  <em>The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.</em>
+</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="REPORT_ON_THE_TYPHUS_EPIDEMIC">
+    REPORT ON THE TYPHUS EPIDEMIC<br>
+    AT WITTENBERG CAMP.
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="r5">
+
+<p class="center no-indent"><em>Evidence from the Survivors.</em></p>
+
+<p>Now that Major Priestley, R.A.M.C.,
+Captain Vidal, R.A.M.C., and Captain Lauder,
+R.A.M.C., have been permitted to return to this
+country after a prolonged detention in Germany
+still unexplained, the Government Committee
+on the Treatment by the Enemy of British
+Prisoners of War are in a position to submit for
+the consideration of His Majesty’s Government
+their report upon the conditions of the Camp at
+Wittenberg during and prior to the epidemic of
+typhus which devastated it in the first six
+months of 1915.</p>
+
+<p>The Committee had already in the course of
+their inquiries gathered much detailed information
+as to the state of things which obtained
+at Wittenberg during the fever, but until the
+information in their possession could be
+checked, corrected and supplemented by the personal
+testimony of the above three officers, the
+Committee refrained from making any report,
+so appalling did the conditions disclosed to them
+appear to be.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span></p>
+
+<p>Major Priestley, Captain Vidal and Captain
+Lauder are, it should at once be stated, the only
+survivors of the six sent by the German authorities
+to take up at Wittenberg Camp the place of
+duty abandoned by their own medical staff
+when the presence of typhus manifested itself
+amongst the prisoners under their charge.</p>
+
+<p>Those officers have now detailed their experiences
+to the Committee, who feel that a report
+upon the whole situation ought no longer to be
+withheld, although definiteness on points of
+detail may still be lacking by reason of the fact
+that the professional records of the epidemic and
+its incidents kept by Major Priestley, Captain
+Vidal and Captain Lauder were taken from
+them before they were allowed to leave Germany,
+and that a promise made to Major Priestley
+and Captain Vidal that theirs would be
+returned to them after copies had been transcribed
+remains unfulfilled.</p>
+
+<p>The Committee, however, have the less hesitation
+in deciding not to wait for records which in
+fact may never become available, for the reason
+that the accounts of their experiences given by
+Major Priestley, Captain Vidal and Captain
+Lauder fully confirm those statements in the
+possession of the Committee, to which reference
+has already been made.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span></p>
+
+
+<h3><em>Appalling Conditions at Wittenberg Camp.</em></h3>
+
+<p>The Camp at Wittenberg is built on a flat,
+sandy plain devoid of trees or shrubs. The
+total area of the camp is about 10½ acres, and it
+is surrounded by the usual wire entanglements.
+It is sub-divided into eight companies or compounds,
+intended to be separated from each
+other, but not so in practice. Every compound
+contains on an average six wooden bungalows in
+which the men are housed, each bungalow in
+turn being divided into two compartments or
+barracks, originally constructed, it is believed,
+to accommodate 120 men. In fact, however,
+there were frequently before and during the
+epidemic 180 to 200 prisoners in a barrack, so
+that the overcrowding was most serious.</p>
+
+<p>In the early stages of the war and during the
+fever the Camp was very full. The British
+prisoners numbered between 700 and 800.
+There was a much larger number of French and
+Belgians, but the Russians always greatly preponderated
+over all the others. It is believed
+that before and during the progress of the
+typhus there were at least 15,000 prisoners in
+the Camp, and there may have been as many as
+16,000 or 17,000—an enormous population for
+so restricted an area as 10½ acres.</p>
+
+<p>The winter of 1914-1915 was extremely severe
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span>and the cold at Wittenberg intense, but the
+heating arrangements for the Camp were altogether
+inadequate. Although there were two
+stoves to each bungalow, frequently during the
+winter there was a great shortage of fuel, while
+the stoves were so constructed that it was only
+if they were both constantly stoked with all the
+coal they could possibly hold that a bungalow
+was reasonably warmed. Often there was no
+coal for either stove, and the temperature was so
+low that the men had always to keep every
+window shut to husband what little warmth
+there was. This greatly aggravated the evil of
+the overcrowding above referred to.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, the men were insufficiently clothed.
+From most of the British prisoners their over-coats
+were taken on the day of their capture;
+none were given them in exchange. Their
+remaining clothes were often in rags; some of
+the men had even to use their blankets as clothing.
+Occasionally a prisoner had received a
+thin cotton shirt, but there were many with
+neither boots nor socks; many others had their
+feet wrapped in straw. They were provided
+with no change of underclothing, and there
+were no means of washing the scanty clothing
+they had, for, at that time, no wash-house
+existed in the Camp. For personal ablutions
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span>there was only one trough or tap to each compound,
+and that was frequently frozen. No hot
+water was available except that which came
+from the cook-house. As a consequence the
+state of the prisoners beggars description.
+Major Priestley found them gaunt, of a peculiar
+grey pallor and verminous. Their condition, in
+his own words, was deplorable.</p>
+
+<p>The food with which they were supplied was
+bad and insufficient. The Committee are well
+aware that the difference between German food
+and cooking and that to which British soldiers
+are ordinarily accustomed induces prisoners to
+magnify deficiencies in this respect. But after
+every allowance on this head is made, the Committee
+are left with a record of suffering, owing
+to the lack of wholesome food, which they cannot
+but deplore. It was the men’s food which was
+so bad and deficient. During the whole period
+the medical officers were well provided for at a
+price of 1·50 M. a day. There was no general
+scarcity, a fact which makes the treatment of
+the rank and file all the more difficult to justify
+or excuse.</p>
+
+<p>When Major Priestley arrived at Wittenberg
+Camp the allowance of bread was one kilo loaf
+for ten men. Breakfast for the men, he says,
+consisted of black (acorn?) coffee and bread.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span>The bread contained a high percentage of
+potato and was most unpalatable. Sometimes
+a thin soup was given for breakfast in place of
+coffee. The midday meal consisted of a soup
+made of potato flour, horsebeans, soja flour,
+some form of grease and a minimum of meat.
+Men would go for days without finding any meat
+in their bowl. Sometimes the midday soup contained
+a powerfully smelling sun-dried fish, at
+other times dried plums, etc. In the evening
+there was more thin soup containing margarine.</p>
+
+<p>Before the outbreak there was a men’s canteen
+at which bread and some other articles
+could be bought, but this was closed with the
+departure of the German guards on the outbreak
+of the typhus, and was not reopened until after
+their return when the epidemic was over.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Camp food improved, but since the
+month of May the English had become largely
+independent of it, for from that time they
+mainly subsisted on parcels sent them from
+home. No parcels, however, reached the Camp
+until May, and the Committee are satisfied that
+the German food previously supplied was, apart
+from its bad quality, quite insufficient to maintain
+vitality or enable an ordinary man to resist
+disease.</p>
+
+<p>And the spread of the typhus, when it came,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span>was much facilitated by a camp regulation, not
+confined to Wittenberg, which enjoined that the
+prisoners of all nationalities should be mixed
+together. Normally there was only one mattress
+for every three prisoners, and every British
+prisoner was compelled to have one French and
+one Russian prisoner to share his mattress with
+him.</p>
+
+
+<h3><em>Outbreak of the Epidemic.</em></h3>
+
+<p>Now, typhus, as was fully recognised by the
+Russian doctors themselves, was unfortunately
+to some extent—but through no fault of their
+own—latent amongst some of the Russian
+troops, and it is a well-known medical fact that
+lice are the great carriers of that disease, while it
+is, of course, notorious that the men of all armies
+in the field, including the British, are plagued
+with lice. As a protection against typhus,
+therefore, the separation of the infected was an
+elementary precaution. But at Wittenberg no
+adequate measures were taken even to free the
+prisoners, on their arrival at the Camp, from the
+lice. The only provision for personal cleanliness
+there made for the men was one cupful of
+soft soap issued at intervals of many weeks to a
+room containing at least 120. In consequence
+the men became increasingly verminous, and
+that condition, coupled with the cold and want
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span>of proper nourishment, was undoubtedly the
+principal inducing cause of the epidemic which
+supervened.</p>
+
+<p>And the German authorities, although they
+were not ignorant of the danger, did nothing to
+prevent or minimise the spread of infection.
+That they knew it might become general
+throughout the Camp is undoubted. German
+N.C.O.’s warned the French, shortly before the
+outbreak, of the risk, and when, during the
+course of the typhus, Captain Vidal, in order
+that its spread might be restricted as much as
+possible, asked a German officer, himself standing
+safely outside the Camp, if the remaining
+healthy English could be placed together in one
+compound, his request was insultingly refused.</p>
+
+<p>The medical and surgical arrangements were
+under the charge of Oberstabsarzt Dr. Aschenbach
+and his German assistants. At the outbreak
+of the epidemic there were no British
+medical officers at Wittenberg. There were a
+number of Russian, and there may have been
+some French doctors; of this the Committee are
+not certain.</p>
+
+
+<h3><em>Decampment of German Military and
+Medical Staff.</em></h3>
+
+<p>The epidemic broke out in December, 1914.
+Thereupon the German staff, military and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span>medical, precipitately left the Camp, and
+thenceforth, until the month of August, 1915,
+with the exceptions detailed later on, no communication
+was held between the prisoners and
+their guards, except by means of directions
+shouted from the guards or officers remaining
+outside the wire entanglements of the Camp.
+All supplies for the men were pushed into the
+Camp over chutes. The food for the hospital
+and medical officers was passed in on a trolley
+over about 20 yards of rail, worked by winches
+at either end, so as to avoid all contact between
+the prisoners and the outside world. No
+medical attention during the whole time was
+provided by the German staff.</p>
+
+<p>Of the happenings during the early weeks of
+the outbreak the information before the Committee
+is supplied by witnesses other than the
+medical officers who have recently returned, and
+accordingly the one observation the Committee
+make with regard to this period is that, when
+the typhus first appeared, the only hospital at
+the Camp consisted of two wooden huts
+capable of holding about 100 patients, and that
+at the instance—as the Committee believe—of
+the Russian medical staff, the German authorities
+were induced to permit a part of Compound
+No. 8 to be used for the purpose of an improvised
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span>hospital, the accommodation at the old
+hospital having already become quite inadequate.</p>
+
+
+<h3><em>British Medical Officers, unlawfully detained in
+Germany, substituted for German staff.</em></h3>
+
+<p>The arrival of the British medical officers at
+the Camp came about in the following way.
+From the month of November, 1914, 13 English
+doctors had been detained at Halle. They were
+none of them required for attendance upon their
+own men, and it is difficult to understand how,
+consistently with the Geneva Convention, their
+continued detention was justifiable. Indeed, in
+direct defiance of the provisions of that Convention,
+these doctors were treated as ordinary
+prisoners of war, and the Committee cannot
+resist the suspicion that they were deliberately
+detained by the German authorities so that they
+might be made available, if need be, for work of
+danger in relief of their own staff. Be that as
+it may, after three months’ wrongful detention
+these doctors were, on the 10th February, 1915,
+informed that they were to be distributed
+amongst the other German Camps, and particularly
+that six were required for the Camp
+at Wittenberg. By arrangement amongst
+themselves the six sent there were Major Fry,
+Major Priestley, Captain Sutcliffe, Captain
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span>Field, Captain Vidal, and Captain—then
+Lieutenant—Lauder. No reason was given for
+the order that they should go to Wittenberg,
+and it was from the guard on the train that they
+first heard of typhus there.</p>
+
+<p>On arrival at Wittenberg they were marched
+to the Camp. They visited the different compounds.
+They were received in apathetic
+silence. The rooms were unlighted; the men
+were aimlessly marching up and down; some
+were lying on the floor, probably sickening for
+typhus. When they got into the open air again
+Major Fry broke down. The horror of it all was
+more than he could for the moment bear. Later
+in the evening Major Priestley and Captain
+Vidal were directed to go to two temporary hospitals
+outside the Camp, Major Priestley to the
+Kronprinz Hospital and Captain Vidal to the
+Elbarfin Hospital. There were no infectious
+diseases at either hospital and the general conditions
+at each were satisfactory. These officers
+were kept there until the 7th March, 1915.</p>
+
+<p>Of the four officers left on the 11th February
+at the Camp itself, Captain Lauder alone survives,
+and the conditions, as he describes them,
+during the period between the 11th February
+and the 7th March are full of horror. The
+wonder is that any prisoner escaped infection.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span></p>
+
+
+<h3><em>The Horrors of the Epidemic.</em></h3>
+
+<p>Captain Lauder found, for instance, that
+while in the bungalow there was normally one
+mattress to three men, in the improvised hospital
+there were no mattresses at all. This, of course,
+was known throughout the Camp, and in consequence
+there were many typhus patients scattered
+over the compounds who were determined
+not to come into the hospital if they could help
+it. In one compound alone Captain Lauder discovered
+50 hidden cases of typhus. Further,
+when a patient was brought from the compound
+to the hospital, either the mattress on
+which he had lain was brought with him, or it
+was left behind in his bungalow. If it was
+brought with him his former companions were
+left without anything to sleep on; if it was left
+behind, his still uninfected companions were
+left to sleep upon the infected mattress, and it
+was almost inevitable that they should catch
+the disease. Again, in the absence of stretchers,
+all the typhus cases had to be carried down to
+the hospital on the tables on which the men
+ate their food, and there was no possibility of
+washing these tables, because, as above stated,
+there was practically no soap in the Camp.
+Moreover, the German authorities at first refused
+to allow the whole of Compound No. 8 to
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span>be used for typhus patients. They required that
+these should be mixed with other sufferers—a
+regulation for which it seems impossible to suggest
+any justification. The result simply was
+to spread the infection to those already afflicted
+in some other way.</p>
+
+<p>During the first month the food ration for
+each patient was half a petit pain and half a
+cup of milk each per day. The only soup to be
+got was from the Camp kitchen, but that came
+up in a wooden tub without a cover, and it
+arrived at the hospital—so one of the prisoners
+says—full of dust and dirt. It was hopeless
+diet for patients in a fever. In truth the ration
+was not a ration at all, it was a pretence. It
+was not even possible to give the patients warm
+water with their milk.</p>
+
+<p>The Camp conditions were too much for each
+of the four medical officers who were left there;
+two of them, Major Fry and Captain Sutcliffe,
+very soon sickened, and they died of typhus
+about a month after their arrival. Captain
+Field was attacked later by the disease and also
+died. There is no doubt in the minds of the
+Committee that the conditions to which the
+Camp authorities had reduced the Camp and
+the prisoners they had abandoned was directly
+responsible for the deaths of these devoted men.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span>Lieutenant Lauder was finally stricken with the
+disease on the 7th March, after having for three
+days, with a temperature due to typhus, stuck
+to his work, there being no one then to take his
+place. He alone of the officers attacked finally
+recovered. When convalescent he bravely resumed
+his duty.</p>
+
+<p>On March 7th, Major Priestley and Captain
+Vidal were directed to return to the Main Camp.
+They were met there by Captain Field. Major
+Fry and Captain Sutcliffe were then dying.
+Lieutenant Lauder, as above explained, was in
+the early stages of typhus.</p>
+
+<p>Two Russian medical generals were in command
+in the hospital. There were then about
+1,000 cases of typhus in the Camp and fresh
+cases were coming in at the rate of about 50,
+and sometimes more, a day. There were at that
+time about 150 British cases.</p>
+
+<p>The British sick were lying scattered amongst
+the French and the Russians, both in the Compound
+No. 8 and in the other compounds of the
+Camp. Being sometimes dressed in French,
+Belgian or Russian uniforms they were difficult
+to recognise. They were lying in their clothes
+on the floor or on the straw mattresses above
+described. In the beginning there were no beds
+in Compound No. 8; there were not even, as has
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span>been shown, mattresses for all. Major Priestley
+saw delirious men waving arms brown to the
+elbow with fæcal matter. The patients were
+alive with vermin; in the half-light he
+attempted to brush what he took to be an accumulation
+of dust from the folds of a patient’s
+clothes, and he discovered it to be a moving mass
+of lice. In one room in Compound No. 8 the
+patients lay so close to one another on the floor
+that he had to stand straddle-legged across them
+to examine them.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Vidal’s description is even more
+appalling. It was impossible, he says, to obtain
+bedpans for the British patients, and consequently
+in cases of delirium, and even in less
+serious cases, the state of the mattress was indescribable.
+Even such a thing as paper for
+sanitary purposes was almost unprocurable.</p>
+
+<p>The difficulty in the way of obtaining sufficient
+drugs and dressings was for a long time
+extreme. Camphorated oil, Captain Lauder
+says, could never at Wittenberg, contrary to
+his experience in other German Camps, be
+secured in adequate quantity, yet this was practically
+the only stimulant available. Day after
+day a list of medical requisites would be sent
+out, and only a third of the things requested
+would be supplied. Bedsores were common. In
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span>several cases toes or whole feet became gangrenous,
+and sufficient bandages were not available
+to dress them. One of the patients now
+returned to this country, Private Lutwyche, of
+the 1st Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers, had in
+May to have one leg amputated below the knee,
+and in July the other leg amputated at the same
+place, in both cases owing to gangrene. Had
+dressings at the proper time been available, both
+feet would, in all probability, have been saved.
+And his case does not stand alone. The officers
+are quite satisfied that the post-typhus gangrene
+which was so common was largely due to
+the fact that for so many patients there were
+neither socks nor anything else to keep their
+feet warm.</p>
+
+<p>In the earlier stages of the epidemic there
+was practically no hospital clothing available
+for the British prisoners. There was only a
+small sulphur chamber for disinfecting purposes.
+When a patient’s outer clothing was
+taken off to be sent to the disinfector he had
+to be left in his shirt, as no other clothing or
+shirts were supplied. Each patient brought his
+blankets from the Camp with him, and as no
+covering could be provided for him while disinfection
+was taking place, it was impossible
+adequately to disinfect his clothing unless he
+was to be left naked.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span></p>
+
+<p>As regards the washing of patients in hospital,
+this was entirely out of the question.
+Until a supply of soap was obtained by Captain
+Vidal’s efforts from England at a later date
+there was no soap forthcoming. The only supply
+was a small quantity secured from the
+officers’ canteen, and that was kept for the very
+worst cases.</p>
+
+
+<h3><em>The Work of the British Medical Officers.</em></h3>
+
+<p>It was to Major Priestley’s great powers of
+organisation, the devoted labours and strong
+personality of Captain Vidal and, after his
+recovery, the splendid work of Captain Lauder,
+that gradual improvement in the conditions was
+due. An observation ward was instituted in
+Compound No. 8 and placed in charge of Captain
+Lauder. Major Priestley took over the
+treatment of typhus in the hospital, and Captain
+Vidal, in addition to other duties, was
+placed in charge of the surgical ward. Major
+Priestley at length obtained permission to
+collect, and he did collect, all the British typhus
+patients in one bungalow of that compound.
+He secured for his patients what bedding, hospital
+clothing, urinals, etc., he could, as these
+filtered daily from the hands of the Germans
+outside into the storeroom. He arranged that
+the milk and the soup should arrive in special
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span>vessels before the bungalow; he obtained for
+each patient about three cupfuls of milk per
+day, and for the convalescents a thin soup and
+some white rolls. Clothing, beds and bedding
+were gradually collected, so that the patients
+could at last be put into clean clothes, and their
+own were disinfected in a movable steam disinfector
+that after a time was working. As the
+cases decreased in number the appalling overcrowding
+of the hospital in the beginning at
+length disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>In all this work Major Priestley, Captain
+Vidal and Captain Lauder were splendidly
+supported by the many English prisoners who
+volunteered as nurses. Many of these devoted
+men caught the infection and died of the fever.</p>
+
+
+<h3><em>German doctor awarded the Iron Cross for
+English doctors’ services.</em></h3>
+
+<p>On one occasion only during the whole course
+of the epidemic did Dr. Aschenbach enter the
+hospital or even the Camp. His visit took
+place about four weeks after Major Priestley’s
+arrival and after some kind of order had been
+evolved. He came attired in a complete suit of
+protective clothing, including a mask and rubber
+gloves. His inspection was brief and rapid.</p>
+
+<p>For his services in combating the epidemic
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span>Dr. Aschenbach, the Committee understand,
+has been awarded the Iron Cross.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the German guards outside the Camp
+were infected by prisoners to whom, contrary
+to orders, they persisted in selling things. These
+men were placed by the Germans in a hospital
+outside the Camp, and one of the German
+medical staff, an Alsatian as it happened, was
+sent to attend them. At a later stage in the
+outbreak this young man came to the hospital
+but simply to take bacteriological specimens for
+research work at Magdeburg. He helped in no
+way.</p>
+
+<p>With these exceptions no visit was paid to
+the Camp during the whole outbreak by any
+member of the German Medical Service.</p>
+
+
+<h3><em>Brutality of Wittenberg townspeople.</em></h3>
+
+<p>The dead were buried in a cemetery formed
+out of a part of the Camp. The Germans sent
+in a certain number of coffins every day into
+which the bodies of the dead were put and
+carried out by their comrades through a gate
+in the barbed wire. There was not sufficient
+room for burial of so many and the coffins were
+piled one upon another, but the Committee do
+not think there was any special danger in the
+arrangement. What the prisoners found hardest
+to bear in this matter were the jeers with
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span>which the coffins were frequently greeted by the
+inhabitants of Wittenberg, who stood outside
+the wire and were permitted to insult their
+dead.</p>
+
+
+<h3><em>Dearth of Medical Apparatus.</em></h3>
+
+<p>During the first two months the typhus was
+hæmorrhagic typhus; it was of a milder type
+later on.</p>
+
+<p>There were between 250 and 300 English
+cases and there were 60 deaths amongst them.
+The deaths amongst the French and the Russians
+were, of course, much greater in number. The
+medical officers and the nursing orderlies
+suffered the most severely; the mortality among
+them was high.</p>
+
+<p>The cases of post-typhus gangrene were very
+numerous, largely the result, in all probability,
+of the inadequate heating of the wards at night,
+and, as above stated, of insufficient covering.</p>
+
+<p>It was in the earlier days often necessary to
+discharge the patients from hospital before they
+were fit to be removed. Some were hardly able
+to walk, but it was essential to make room for
+fresh patients, whose need was greater.</p>
+
+<p>In many cases these men had to go back to
+their barrack room and lie on the bare floor,
+as no fresh beds or mattresses were provided
+for a long time, and the mattresses taken by
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span>them into the hospital had to be destroyed owing
+to the state in which they were.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Vidal says that the conditions were
+thoroughly realised by the German authorities
+without any effort being made by them to
+bring about an improvement. Representations,
+usually through the French and Russian doctors,
+owing to the marked hostility which was always
+manifested towards the English by the Camp
+authorities, were again and again addressed to
+the senior medical officer, but usually without
+result.</p>
+
+<p>After the middle of April, however, beds and
+clothing were, as above appears, gradually
+obtained for the hospital, and as the weather
+became warmer the cases rapidly decreased in
+number. With the decrease in the patients,
+the supplies became adequate, so that now every
+patient in the Wittenberg Hospital, whatever
+be his ailment, has a bed and proper hospital
+clothing.</p>
+
+<p>The last English typhus case occurred in the
+middle of May; the last Russian case in July.</p>
+
+<p>By the end of July all cases were convalescent
+except those suffering from post-typhus
+gangrene.</p>
+
+<p>During the epidemic an adequate steriliser
+for clothes was built outside the Camp by the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span>Germans, but the work was not pressed, and it
+was not ready for use until a fortnight after
+the last case of typhus occurred amongst the
+British. Its presence there now will, however,
+probably prevent any recurrence of the epidemic.</p>
+
+<p>In May also several new hospital bungalows
+were built behind the wire entanglements which
+were then moved back so as to surround them.</p>
+
+<p>Each of these bungalows has three stoves, and
+in them beds are provided with wood-shaving
+mattresses, sheets, blankets and pillows.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately the epidemic was over before
+these bungalows became available.</p>
+
+
+<h3><em>Responsibility of the German Authorities.</em></h3>
+
+<p>As is obvious from this report, the conditions
+of the Camp were such that it was not possible
+for the American Ambassador or his staff to
+visit it until after many months. It was, however,
+visited by Mr. Lithgow-Osborne on the
+29th of October, and by Mr. Gerard himself
+and Mr. Russell on the 8th of November, and
+their reports are on record.</p>
+
+<p>All accounts before the Committee testify to
+the great further improvements in the Camp
+and its management effected by the Germans as
+a result of these visits.</p>
+
+<p>The Committee fully recognise that at the
+beginning of the war when the sudden and it
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span>may have been unexpected rush of Russian
+prisoners overwhelmed the authorities, every
+allowance must be made for defects of all kinds
+in prison camps, many of them hastily improvised.
+They have accordingly looked in every
+direction to see whether any justification or
+excuse can be suggested for the treatment to
+which these Wittenberg prisoners were subjected
+during the period of their visitation.
+They can find none.</p>
+
+<p>Outside the Camp the Committee can discover
+no indication of any scarcity either of
+food or of medical or surgical appliances which
+could account for the failure of the German
+authorities to supply their sick prisoners with
+a sufficiency of both.</p>
+
+<p>At the Kronprinz Hospital and at the
+Elbarfin Hospital as early as February the
+supply of medical requisites was adequate.
+As has been stated, the medical officers in the
+Camp were throughout the epidemic amply provided
+with food at an extremely moderate price
+and apparently without difficulty. After the
+outbreak had spent itself and the German
+guards had returned to the Camp, Major Priestley
+and Captain Vidal were on several occasions
+allowed to visit the town of Wittenberg under
+escort, and even during that period they found
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span>displayed there abundant supplies of every
+requisite.</p>
+
+<p>Yet for months the plague-stricken Camp was
+starved of the barest necessaries of existence
+and of the simplest drugs, and was not even
+provided with surgical dressings for the
+patients’ wounds.</p>
+
+
+<h3><em>Habitual cruelty of the German Staff.</em></h3>
+
+<p>The Committee are therefore compelled to
+look elsewhere for an explanation of the
+criminal neglect of which, as it seems to them,
+the German authorities were guilty. And they
+find it in the history of the administration of
+the Wittenberg Camp from the very commencement.
+Incredible as it may seem, the action
+of the officers and guards in precipitately
+deserting the Camp and thenceforth controlling
+its caged inmates with loaded rifles from the
+outside, was only in keeping with the methods
+and conduct of these men throughout.</p>
+
+<p>The cruelty of the administration at Wittenberg
+Camp from the very commencement has
+become notorious. Savage dogs were habitually
+employed to terrorise the prisoners; flogging
+with a rubber whip was frequent; men were
+struck with little or no provocation and were
+tied to posts with their arms above their heads
+for hours. Captain Lauder reports that many
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span>of these men went so far as to look upon the
+typhus, with all its horrors, as a godsend; they
+preferred it to the presence of the German
+guards.</p>
+
+<p>And the callousness during the outbreak even
+of so prominent an officer as Dr. Aschenbach is
+illustrated by an incident related by Captain
+Lauder. Shortly after their arrival at the
+Camp, Major Fry, with Captain Lauder, was
+begging Dr. Aschenbach, standing outside the
+entanglements, for some medical requisite
+urgently required. One of his staff with Dr.
+Aschenbach was apparently favourably inclined
+towards the request, but it was curtly refused
+by Dr. Aschenbach, who turned away with the
+words “Schweine Engländer.”</p>
+
+<p>To the Committee an incident like that, with
+all that it implies, speaks volumes.</p>
+
+<p>The effects of such methods as have been
+described were manifest even on October 29th,
+1915, when, as has been stated, Mr. Lithgow-Osborne
+visited the Camp. In his report of
+that visit, after remarking that the authorities
+of the Camp regard their prisoners as criminals
+whom fear alone keeps obedient, Mr. Osborne
+proceeds:—</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>“In no other Camp have I found signs
+of fear on the part of the prisoners that
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span>what they might say to me would result
+in suffering to them afterwards”;</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class="no-indent">and Mr. Gerard, speaking of his visit on the
+8th of November, says:—</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>“The impression gained after careful
+examination of the Camp and long conversations
+with the prisoners was even
+more unfavourable than I had been led
+to expect.”</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The Committee accordingly are forced to the
+conclusion that the terrible sufferings and privations
+of the afflicted prisoners during the
+period under review are directly chargeable to
+the deliberate cruelty and neglect of the German
+officials whose elementary duty it was, in the
+words of the Geneva Convention, to respect and
+take care of these men, wounded and sick as
+they were, without distinction of nationality,
+but who acted as if neither that Convention nor
+even the ordinary instincts of humanity had any
+place in their scheme of things.</p>
+
+<p>The Commandant during the whole time was
+General von Dassel. The Committee believe
+that he has now been removed from a position
+which he always was unfitted to occupy. Dr.
+Aschenbach, however, remains medical officer,
+and while the Committee recognise that the
+material conditions at the Camp are now not
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span>unsatisfactory, that improvement is the result
+of constant pressure which ought never to have
+been necessary, and no confidence can be felt
+that so long as Dr. Aschenbach is there the
+prisoners will have the medical care to which
+they are entitled. It is a serious matter, as the
+Committee think, that the German authorities
+should still retain in such a position of responsibility,
+and it is outrageous that they should
+have decorated an officer capable of such neglect
+as that for which Dr. Aschenbach must one day
+answer.</p>
+
+
+<h3><em>Gallantry of British Medical Officers and
+Volunteer Orderlies.</em></h3>
+
+<p>The Committee turn to a more agreeable topic
+when they draw attention, if they properly
+may, to the splendid work of the British Medical
+Staff and orderlies during the epidemic. Major
+Priestley’s work has already been referred to in
+this report: it was beyond all praise. Captain
+Vidal was, in the words of one of the prisoners,
+the idol of the Camp; and Major Priestley says
+of Captain Lauder that he cannot sufficiently
+express his admiration for his pluck and skill
+and for the unobtrusive way in which he did his
+duty. It was he who, at the beginning, bore the
+brunt of the outbreak.</p>
+
+<p>The Committee have seen Captain Lauder as
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span>well as the other officers, and they feel sure that
+he fully deserves that high tribute.</p>
+
+<p>And all these officers concur in praising the
+splendid bearing of the orderlies. They each of
+them volunteered for the work; they tended
+prisoners of all nationalities. They all of them,
+with full understanding, for they were all
+warned, risked their lives without a thought,
+and many of them died at their post. The Committee
+hope to be able in due course to supply
+His Majesty’s Government with a full list of
+these heroic souls.</p>
+
+<p>The Committee feel that every one of these
+officers and men as truly offered his life for the
+sake of others as any soldier on the battlefield,
+and they venture to hope that the devoted service
+of such of them as survive will be duly remembered
+at the proper time.</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+  (Signed) ROBERT YOUNGER,<br>
+  <em>Chairman</em>.
+</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">(<em>On behalf of the Government Committee on the
+Treatment by the Enemy of British Prisoners
+of War.</em>)</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;"><em>6th April, 1916.</em></p>
+</blockquote>
+<br>
+
+<hr class="r30">
+<p class="right fs70">
+  <span class="smcap">LONDON: JAS. TRUSCOTT &amp; SON, Ltd.</span>
+</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter transnote">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes">
+    Transcriber’s Notes
+  </h2>
+
+<ul>
+  <li>pg 11 Changed: Normally there was only one matress<br>
+  <span style="padding-left: 2em">To: Normally there was only one mattress</span></li>
+
+  <li>pg 16 Changed: thre was practically no soap in the Camp<br>
+  <span style="padding-left: 2em">To: there was practically no soap in the Camp</span></li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78203 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/78203-h/images/cover.jpg b/78203-h/images/cover.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4fbd9a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/78203-h/images/cover.jpg
author	www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org>	2026-03-13 18:08:09 -0700
committer	www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org>	2026-03-13 18:08:09 -0700
commit	894755087d9bb98be0f7b6bdd8ac3c5581332a7b (patch)
tree	b9b8bdb47d6154353858c7568c9db569776ba68c /78203-h