ANGLO-GERMAN MARRIAGES ON THE RHINE

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 136, 6 December 1919, Page 11

ANGLO-GERMAN MARRIAGES ON THE RHINE

A Leeds soldier, says The Times of 19th September, who has recently returned from the Rhine has made a remarkable statement on the way in which British soldiers there have been fraternising with German girls. He states that he went to Cologne Cathedral and there saw 23 British soldiers being married to German women. The cathedral was full of people, and a German to whom he expressed surprise told him it was quite a common thing to see British soldiers marrying German girls.

The soldier went on to say: —"One man who came home with me told the colonel that he would forfeit his gratuity and all his pay if they would allow him to remain in Cologne to marry a German girl. Tho colonel said he could not do that, but explained that when he had been demobilised at home he could get a passport and return to Rhineland. That man is returning to Germany. When I told him what I thought about it he remarked that he had taken a fancy to a girl with plenty of money, and as he had no ties in England he might ac well marry her. Any night in Cologne you can see our men with their arms round German girls, and young officers seem as keen as the men. You can see dozens of them at the dances."