CRIME OF WITTENBERG CAMP

Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 127, 30 May 1916, Page 2

CRIME OF WITTENBERG CAMP

INHUMAN GERMAN CRUELTY MOST TERRIBLE STORY OF THE 3 WAR. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON,- 21st April. Wittenberg Camp was devastated by a. typhus epidemic during fclie^fivst six months of 1915. Russians, French, aaid English to the number of about 17,000 were herded together in a space of under eleven acres. One Russian, Frenchman, and Englishman were directed to sleep on one mattress, with the result that the typhus germs brought originally by the Russian prisoners of war, were carried by lice to the other prisoners. In an incredibly short space of time tho camp was a stricken plague spot. The German medical men ran away, and the German guards refused to enter the camp, while medical supplies in sufficient quantities were refused by the German authorities. Six British doctors fought gallantly against the epidemic, and three of them gave up their lives. When they asked for- medical requisites, the Germans only i-eplied with mutterings of "pigs of Englishmen," and the Kaiser showed his appreciation by conferring the Iron Cross on the leading German medical officer in charge of the camp. . The horrors of Wittenberg Camp deserve never to be fefgotten so long as, the English tongue is spoken. The terrible and inhuman cruelty of the • Germans prove that they havo made no pro, gress in the path of civilisation since- the hideous atrocities practised in the Thirty Years War.

The report is signed by Mr. Justice Younger, and is based on information collected from, prisoners of war repatriated from Wittenberg, and especially on. information given by Major Priestley, Capt. Vidal, and Cant. Lauder, of the R.A.M.C. Overcrowding ut Wittenberg was serious right from .the start. 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 th© typhus .there were at least 15,000 prisoners in the camp, and there may have been as many as 16,000 or 17,000 —wi enormous' population for so restricted an area as 10-j- acres. The men passed a. terrible winter. There was very little coal,' they had no coats, and the food was bad and insufficient. \ And the spread of typhus, when it came, was. much facilitated by a camp regulation, not confined to Wittenberg, which enjoined .thai the prisoners of all nationalities should be mixed together. Normally, there was only one maitress for every three prisoners, and every British prisoner was" compelled to have one French and one Russian prisoner tjj I share his mattress with him. Now,'] typhus, a3 wits fully recognised by -tho Russian doctors themselves, Was, unfortunately, to some extent—but through no fault of their own—latent among 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, inchiding the British, are plagued with lice. As a protection against typhus, therefore, the separation of the infected is a-n 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 mado for the men was 4me cupful of soft soap issued at intervals of many weeks to a. room containing at least 120. GERMAN STAFF DEPART. The epidemic broke out in December, 1914. _ Thereupon Dr. Ascheni>ach and his assistants precipitately left the camp, and thenceforth until the' mont.li of August, 1915, with the exceptions detailed later, no communication was held between the prisoners and their guard 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 trolly over about 20 yards of rail, worked by winches at, either end so as to avoid all contact between tho prisoners and the outside world. No medical attention during the fyhole time was provided by the German staff.. ' On iOih February, 1915, six British R.A.M.C. officers were sent to Wittenberg. They were also prisoners of war, and had been detained in spite of the CJenevH Convention. Their names were : Major Fry, Major Priestley a Captain Sutch'ffe, Captain Field, Cap'tin Vidal, and Captain (then Lieut.) Lauder. No roason was given for the order that they should go to Wittenberg, and ,it was from the guard on the train that they first hoard of typhus there. A SCENE OF HORROR. On arrival at Wittenberg they were marched to the cawp. They visited the different compounds. They wore 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. v When they got" into the open air again Major Fry broke down. The horror of it all was more he could for the moment bear. Later in the evening Major Priestley and Captain Vidal were, directed to go to the temporary hospitals outsido the camp, Major Priestley to tho Kronprinz Hqqpital and Captain" Vidal to the Elbarfin Hospital, at which places they were kept until 7th .March, 1915. Of 'the four officers left behind Captain Lauder alofce survives, and the conditions as he dareribes them during the period between 11th February and 7th March are full of horror. The wonder is that any prisoner escaped infect jon.

The camp conditions were too much for each of the four medical officers who were, left there; three of them—Major FryT Captain Sutcliffe, and Captain Fioldrr-were attacked by the disease and 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 w;ib directly responsible for the deaths of these devoted men. Lieut. Lauder was finally stricken with the disease on 7th Marcd, 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 lie bravely resumed his duty. On 7th March Major Priestley and Captain Vidal v;exe directed to ro-t-urn to the main camp. They were met there by Captain Field. Major Fry imd Captain Sutcjiffe werp then dyingLieutenant Lander, as above explained, whs ii| the rnn-ly stages of typhus. Two Russian medical generals were in command in t.ho hospital. There were then about 1000 cases of typhus in the camp, and fresh cases were coming in at the rate pf about 50, and sometimes more, a day. There were at that time sonic 150 British cases.

The British sick were lying scattered jiinoiig the French and the "Russians, lying sometimes dressed in French, Belgian, or Bussinn uniforms, which made them didicult to recognise. Major Priestley saw clclirioj^ men waving arms bvowu t» Use elbow with faecal matter. The patients were aliye with varmjn,;

in the half light he attempted to brush what lie took to lie 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 to examine them. The doctors could not obtain a sufficient supply qE drugs or dressings, and the terrible state of affairs continued for some time. Major Priestley, Captain Vidal, and {Captain Laudet worked hard and devotedly, and a graaual improvement set in. THE KAISER'S DECORATION. On one occasion only during the wliolo course of tho epidemic did Dr. Aschen^ bach enter the hospital or even tho 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 liis services in combating the epidemic Dr. Aschenbach,. the Committee, understand, has been awarded the Iron Cross. 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 nst sufficient room for burial of so many, and the coffins werei 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 xvhich the coffins were frequently greeted by the inhabitants of Wittenberg, who stood outside the wire and were pevniited to insult their dead. During the first two months the typhus was haemorrhagie typhus; it was of a milder type later on. There were between 250 and 300 Euglish cases, and there were sixty dea.ths among them. In the earlier days it was often necessary to discharge the patients from hospital before they were fit to be removed. In many cases these men had «to go back to fcheir barrackroam and lie on" the bare floor, as no fresh beds or mattresses were provided for a long time. Captain Yidal Bays that the conditions were / thoroughly realised by the- German authorities without any effort being made to bring about an improvement. "PIGS OF ENGLISH." Incredible as it may seem, the action pf the officers and guards in precipitately deserting the canip and thenceforth controlling its cased inmates with loaded rifles from the outside was only in keeping with the methods and conduct of these men throughout. The crnelty of the administration at Wittenberg Camp from ths very beginning 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. And the callousness during the outbreak even of so prominent an officer as Dr-. Aschenbaoh is illuserated by. an incident related by Captain Lauder. Shortly after their arrival at the camp, Major Fry, with Captain Lauder, /was begginp Dr. Aschenbach, standing outside the entanglements, for some medical requisite vrrge-ntly 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 Englaander. ' Mr. Justice Younger is forced'to the conclusion that the terrible sufferings and privations of the afflicted prisoners during the period under -xeview were 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 aiqk 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 yon Dassel. The Committee believe that he • has ww been removed from a. position which he always was unfitted to occupy, In conclusion, Major Priestly, Captain Vida|, and Captain Lander are specially, thanked for their work in fighting the epidemic, and the report concludes :— "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 hopes to be able in. due course to supply His Majesty's Government with a full list oE 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 tho battlefield, and they venture to hope that the devoted service of such of them as survive will be duly remembered at the proper time."

It wa« stated at the Petone Borough Council meeting last evening that a boat which had foundered in the Petone boat, harbour yesterday afternoon had been insecurely moored by its owner, and that the accident was not due to defects in the shelter.

The extra cost of freights owing to the war was brought home to councillors of the Petone borough last night, when they were asked to meet charges amounting to £249 13s 8d in' excess of the estimated transit expenses on a gasholder ordered prior to the war.

A charge of having used her hquse as a private hospital without authoirity under the Act, was preferred against Johanna O'Connor, a registered midwife, at the Magistrate's Court in Gisborne last week. Defendant, for whom Mr. Burnard appeared, pleaded guilty. Sorgt. Murray stated that defendant was a registered midwife, and was authorised to have one patient in her house at a time, but on the occasion in question she had .had three'patients. She had previously had a license for another house, but had not renewed it when she changed her address, Mr. Bijrnari} said, that witness had allowed her ' license to lapse, as she had not intended to carry on the work. _,Owing, however, to the shortage of maternity nurses,.defendant had taken- one or two patients, but since the occasion in question had ceased to do so. His Worship in imposing a penalty of £1 and costs 9s, commented on the necessity for the licensing of private houses used Hs hospitals, to facilitate the business of inspection.

An innovation in connection with the very common practice of " shouting" fur'a friend or friends on the tramways is to be introduced in Chn'stphurch under regulations, and the conductors will be empowered to refuse to lake money from passengers wishing to pay fares for others, unless these can easily be identified. The Press states that this rule ha,s bee.v rendered necessary^by ■passengers refusing to assist the conductors to identify the person or persons they have " shouted " for.