THE BOOKMAN

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 48, 25 August 1917, Page 10

THE BOOKMAN

SOME MORE WAR BOOKS,

"Sixteen Months in Four German Prisons." By Henry C. Mahoney. Sampson Low, Marston and Co., London; and George Robertson and Co. Proprietary, Melbourne.

Tho treatment of British civilian prisoners by the Germans is, on the face of it, truthfully chronicled in this narrative. Mr. Mahoney had left London for Warsaw to take up an appointment under the Russian Government on 31st July, 1914, in the belief that tho then existing trouble between Great Britain and Germany would blow over. In that, in common with the majority of the British people, he was mistaken. On arrival at Berlin he found that ho could proceed no further on his journey, so decided to turn back. He was actu-' ally on board the last train out of Berlin with British refugees when he was arrested as a spy. His photographic apparatus and personal baggage, amounting to £400 in value, he lost for good. He had a verj narrow escape from being torn to pieces by a mob at Wesel through which he was passing under guard. Not until the guard was much reinforced was he able to reach the prison, and this caved his life. From Wesel he was sent to Sennelager, then to Klingelputz, and, finally, to Ruhleben. From the last-named prison camp he made his escape. How he did this he wisely does not disclose. For prudent reasons he does not mention names of some Germans whom he found to be humane, and sympathetic towards himself and. fellow-prisoners, because he knows that they would be punished by the authorities. It is to be inferred from his story that many of the Germans he met would have been kinder to th'i prisoners had they not been afraid of incurring official displeasure, and very probably severe treatment, by exalted officials. A great deal of Mr. Mahoney's narrative has evidently been censored, for there are frequent blanks in the text, sometimes amounting to nearly a page, and this appears to have been done after the- book was made up into pages. The chronicle is all through a record of refined systematic cruelty, on the part of officials from tiho highest to the lowest, and it seemed that malice was inculcated ingrained in them, j especially towards the British, by tho Government itself. When, as Minister for the United States (then neutral), Mr: Gerard visited Ruhleben he was " bluffed " by the Germans into reporting more favourably on the condition of prisoners than was actually the case; but subsequently he had his eyes opened. At Sennelager the prisoners were put out in the open, corralled in wire-netting, and left exposed to the weather. Some of them died from exposure, and their dentlis were attributed to natural causes. Mr. Mahoney gives a picture of the treatment meted out to a party of Belgian priests, all old men, that makes the blood run cold with horror, and then makes it boil with indignation. The behaviour of the priests recalls that of the early Christian 'martyrs in Nero's day. The priests bore all the torture without a word of rebuke or protest to their tormentore. Before publication Mr. Mahoney made a statutory declaration to the effect that, liis narrative was true in 'every particular, free from exaggeration or hyperbole. A facsimile of this affidavit is attached to the book, which is a terrible indictment of the character, speaking generally.

"My '75.'" From the French of Paul Lintier. William Heinemann, London.

This is really a diary of the war written by a young French artilleryman whose genius was never allowed to mature. He was born at Maycnne on 13th May, 1893, and his first literary essay appeared in a review which he "himself founded. He was wdunded in September, 1914. Recovering, he returned to the front, and was killed in action at Jean de Lincourt, on the Lorraine frontier. In these tensely-interesting sketches dealing with the. initial stages of the war, the author makes no pretence at literary distinction, but is content to tell his story in simple, direct farhion. Allowing for the inevitable loss through translation, thess sketches an brilliant in their way, and the reader, is not wearied by long, descriptive passages. Students of the war—particularly the human side—should certainly add this invaluable volume to their war library.

"Adventures of a Despatch Rider." By Major W. H. L. Watson. William

Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh,

"To the perfect mother—my own." Thus, with characteristic feeling, does Major Watson dedicate this little book, and ■ thus do most, of the soldier-writers who have been engaged in this present war similarly honour their mothers first, last, and all the time. The writer was in the fighting around Mons, at Le Cateau, and at the Aisne, and was in the great retreat. Of this last he gives a most vivid description, in quite a few forceful sentences, but they tell the story in a way that leaves for ever a ghastly impression on thb mind. There is a strong current of humour running through the book, and its writer is revealed as one who can see the funny side of things, even at the most critical moments of a lifetime. Clearly printed maps enable the reader to follow the despatch rider in his travels from point to point on duty, and otherwise.

"The Great Boer War." By Sir Conatv Doylo. Thomas Nelson and Sons, London and Edinburgh. Sixteen editions of Sir Conan Doyle's "Great Boer War" have been called.for, and this is described as tho final edition. Between now and 1902—when 'the' war was "wiped up," so to say—much interesting material for the writing of a complete a.nd more accurate history of the campaign has become available; also, the mists of passion having cleared away, men can now take a less distorted 1 view of this, greatest African war than they could while it was in progress. We know the Boer better now, and his knowledge of -us (at any rate as reflected in men of the Botha-Smuts school) is clearer than it ever was. In this cheap and excellently-written history, , much food for thought is provided for students of the great war now in progress. -