ESCAPE FROM GERMAN PRISON

Evening Star, Issue 16409, 27 April 1917, Page 8

ESCAPE FROM GERMAN PRISON

BRITISH OFFICER’S STORY. coinsrnoNs at crefeld. Captain H._W. C. Lloyd, D.5.0., of the v iltiliire Regiment, who was taken prisoner 1 the autumn of 1914, has just returned to England after two years 'in the officers’ prison :amp at Crcfeld, from which ho escaped in January, 1917. • Last Juno Captain Lloyd, with a Russian officer, made an unsuccessful attempt to escape from Crefold. They were court rnarliallcd, at Di «seldorf and sentenced to three sleuths’ imprisonment, not for attempting to >scaj>3, but for having cut their way through t cellar. The officers appealed against the lentence, and were ordered to go before a District. Court Martial at Munster. They en;aged a German barrister to defend them, jut he did not put in an appearance. At Uunster they were charged with mutiny, and he sentence was upheld. On the ground that they had been unable to defend themselves, their barrister not having put in an appearance, they/ again appealed, and on January 25 they were sent to Munster, where the appeal was to be heard, arranging on this ocuasion to take their barrister with them, For safety the officers were sent to Munster luring the day and imprisoned for the night in a cell. At the court martial on the folowing day the sentence of imprisonment was piashed, and a fine of 30 marks substituted. The some night the officers, with a guard of three soldiers, left Munster by train for Crefeld. On the journey they mot a Russian officer from Hanover, who was escorted by two soldiers, so that the guard was increased to five. When the train halted at a junction Captain Lloyd escaped. He had worked out the details of his scheme previously, and they were based on experience gained on the occasion of ius first visit to Munster. He proceeded to make his way across country in a north-westerly direction. He ran and walked all night (Captain Lloyd represented Cambridge in cross-country running in 1910-11-12), and at dawn reached a village which he recognised on the map. He liid all day in a big pine forest, and started again at night”, travelling in a westerly direction. —Misled by a Band.— At 1 o’clock the next morning ho arrived it a village clcso to which was a fairly wide river, and as ha passed through the streets to heard a band playing. This was the Kaiser’s birthday, and he took it that the band was playing in honor of that event. Concluding that he was still in Germany, he retraced his steps, although the weather was bitterly cold, and on his way met two men who flashed electric torches in his face and asked him if he was a Russian soldier. Ho replied that he was not, and they then ordered him to go with them. They spoke in German, and ho imagined that ho was still in Germany until one of the men said: “You know yon am in Holland, don't youH’ ; Suspeeling this to be a trap, ho rcp-lod that, lie odd nor know where be was, but the men goc out their electric torches again ana shone them on their uniforms, which he immediately recognised as Dutch. He spent that night in the guard room, and on the next day want to hospital, as his feet- were frost-bitten, do the bitterly cold weather which prevailed throughout his escape Captain Llc-yd large.y attributed his salvation, lie frost was into a:-o throughout, so much so that the trousers ot Ins uniform froze stiff from the kaoo, and he had to cut them oft with a it ICC. —Bad Food at Crefeld.— i Captain Lloyd states that while of late the iod supplied at Crcfeld has gradually gone in an bad to worse, the treatment of” the prisoners has improved to a corresponding ik’ijfee. For the last year the prisoners, ail aliiocrs, have had no batter or milk. There are just over 200 English officers in this tamp (including two brigadier-generals), 400 French officers, and 600 Russian officers, they have one good meal a day, -which generally consists of soup , and fish. On one day a weak, however, they are given a small slice 3i meat, and on Sundays they occasionally aave pork. Captain .Lloyd emphasises the fact that the British officers depend entirely an the parcels which come from England. English people with friends at Crefeld will bo relieved to knoyv that the parcels arrive regularly. He believes that every parcel sent to him reached its destination. The parcels are opened in the presence of the prisoners, and they arrive intact. They generally take about a month in transmission. Grigmallv the officers were allowed to order parcels from English firms, but this has now been slopped, and the only parcels allowed arc those received from relatives. The camp is overcrowded. In some cases there are nine officers in one room, but the conditions are not harsh, and apart from the food there is little cause for complaint. A cinematograph has now been installed in the camp. °