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diff --git a/78203-0.txt b/78203-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e11091 --- /dev/null +++ b/78203-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,699 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78203 *** + + + + + Transcriber’s Note + Italic text displayed as: _italic_ + + + + + THE + HORRORS + OF + WITTENBERG + + OFFICIAL REPORT + TO THE + BRITISH GOVERNMENT. + + LONDON: + C. ARTHUR PEARSON, LIMITED, + Henrietta Street, W.C. + + 1916. + + + + +GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE ON THE TREATMENT BY THE ENEMY OF BRITISH PRISONERS +OF WAR. + + + 18, CARLTON HOUSE TERRACE, S. W., + _6th April, 1916_. + + SIR, + +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. + +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. + + I am, Sir, + Your obedient Servant, + (Signed) ADELAIDE LIVINGSTONE, + _Hon. Secretary_. + + _The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs._ + + + + +REPORT ON THE TYPHUS EPIDEMIC AT WITTENBERG CAMP. + + +_Evidence from the Survivors._ + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +_Appalling Conditions at Wittenberg Camp._ + +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. + +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. + +The winter of 1914-1915 was extremely severe 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. 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. + +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. + +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. + +And the spread of the typhus, when it came, 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. + + +_Outbreak of the Epidemic._ + +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 of +proper nourishment, was undoubtedly the principal inducing cause of the +epidemic which supervened. + +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. + +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. + + +_Decampment of German Military and Medical Staff._ + +The epidemic broke out in December, 1914. Thereupon the German staff, +military and 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. + +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 hospital, the accommodation +at the old hospital having already become quite inadequate. + + +_British Medical Officers, unlawfully detained in Germany, substituted +for German staff._ + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + +_The Horrors of the Epidemic._ + +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 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. + +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. + +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. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + +_The Work of the British Medical Officers._ + +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 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. + +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. + + +_German doctor awarded the Iron Cross for English doctors’ services._ + +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. + +For his services in combating the epidemic Dr. Aschenbach, the +Committee understand, has been awarded the Iron Cross. + +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. + +With these exceptions no visit was paid to the Camp during the whole +outbreak by any member of the German Medical Service. + + +_Brutality of Wittenberg townspeople._ + +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 which the coffins were frequently greeted by the inhabitants of +Wittenberg, who stood outside the wire and were permitted to insult +their dead. + + +_Dearth of Medical Apparatus._ + +During the first two months the typhus was hæmorrhagic typhus; it was +of a milder type later on. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 them into the hospital had to be +destroyed owing to the state in which they were. + +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. + +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. + +The last English typhus case occurred in the middle of May; the last +Russian case in July. + +By the end of July all cases were convalescent except those suffering +from post-typhus gangrene. + +During the epidemic an adequate steriliser for clothes was built +outside the Camp by the 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. + +In May also several new hospital bungalows were built behind the wire +entanglements which were then moved back so as to surround them. + +Each of these bungalows has three stoves, and in them beds are provided +with wood-shaving mattresses, sheets, blankets and pillows. + +Unfortunately the epidemic was over before these bungalows became +available. + + +_Responsibility of the German Authorities._ + +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. + +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. + +The Committee fully recognise that at the beginning of the war when +the sudden and it 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. + +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. + +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 displayed there +abundant supplies of every requisite. + +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. + + +_Habitual cruelty of the German Staff._ + +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. + +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 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. + +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.” + +To the Committee an incident like that, with all that it implies, +speaks volumes. + +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:— + + “In no other Camp have I found signs of fear on the part of the + prisoners that what they might say to me would result in suffering + to them afterwards”; + +and Mr. Gerard, speaking of his visit on the 8th of November, says:— + + “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.” + +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. + +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 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. + + +_Gallantry of British Medical Officers and Volunteer Orderlies._ + +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. + +The Committee have seen Captain Lauder as well as the other officers, +and they feel sure that he fully deserves that high tribute. + +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. + +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. + + (Signed) ROBERT YOUNGER, + _Chairman_. + + (_On behalf of the Government Committee on the Treatment by the Enemy + of British Prisoners of War._) + + _6th April, 1916._ + + + LONDON: JAS. TRUSCOTT & SON, LTD. + + + + + Transcriber’s Notes + + pg 11 Changed: Normally there was only one matress + To: Normally there was only one mattress + + pg 16 Changed: thre was practically no soap in the Camp + To: there was practically no soap in the Camp +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78203 *** |