WAR ADVENTURE

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 126, 22 February 1938, Page 2

WAR ADVENTURE

German Prisoner OFFICER NOW A PRIEST Dominion Special. Service. Auckland, February 19. Exciting experiences as a German prisoner of war who escaped from n British camp at the close of the war only to be recaptured after nine days of freedom were recalled by the Rev. Father Bernard Wobken, S.M., of the Marist Fathers’ mission staff at Cawaei, Fiji, who arrived in the Mariposa to attend the New Zealand Catholic centenary celebrations. How he lay hidden tinder a floor for 36 hours before hie escape, marched from darkness till dawn, and eventually walked into the arms of an armed guard all formed a story that he said now seemed like a strange romance. As an officer in the German Imperial Guards Regiment, Father Wobken saw service in, the front line, and fought against the Australian troops ,at Paschendaele and Ypres before being taken prisoner by. Canadian soldiers during the Battle of Langemarck on July 31, 1917. First confined at Abbeville, he was later taken to the British military prison camp at Boulogne, where he worked for 20 months. Objection After Annistice. While the war raged he was content to work as a prisoner. On being told after the Armistice that as Germany could not pay her war debts the prisoners would be kept for several years to assist in rebuilding warscarred France, he resolved to make a break for liberty. Two months were spent in preparation for the escape. On breaking free from the camp his destination was the scene of his original capture, . Langemarck. There he intended to swim the treacherous River Schelde, crossing into the neutral territory of Holland. Moving only at night he usually judged to hide himself in a forest during the day, making use of his maps to plan his route. To avoid other camps, he usually made a wide circuit round them bn seeing their lights. On the ninth-night, however, with only another day of skulking in prospect, he unwittingly came on a Chinese working camp. Finally, just a year after the war had finished, he was set free and returned to his home in Mappen, Hanover.

“It was not against the treatment we received in the camp that I revolted,” said Father Wobken, “but against the principle of being held prisoner after the war was over. Now a.s I look back’l feel convinced there was never any hatred toward one another among the men in the lines, and that the_war was fought against their wishes. Germans always admired the British soldiers as much as the British admired uS.” Career as Priest. Father Wobken studied for the priesthood after the war, being ordained a priest in 1931. Volunteering for work in the mission field he was appoined to Fiji, but first came to New Zealand for three months in 1932 to learn to speak English at St. Patrick’s College, Silverstream, Wellington. In Fiji he spent four years at the Sacred Heart Cathedral. Suva, and during the last two years he has had charge of the educational centre of the mission at Cawaei, where there are five different schools.

An expert photographer, Father Wobken produced a film in the various islands, devoted to natives’ customs and dances, and their life before civilisation had its effect on it. The film took two years to make. Father Wobken is to tour through New Zealand. before returning to Fiji in about two months.