OFFICERS IN TATTERS

Evening Star, Issue 16993, 15 March 1919, Page 5

OFFICERS IN TATTERS

" GUESTS '\ OF THE GERMANS. Grateful for the darkness that hid -his rags, a young British officer arrived at his home in the West End of London after seiVing four monihs as a prisoner of war in Germany. Ho was wearing the remnants of his puttees upside down, "to make thorn fit somehow"; there were long and "deucedly awkward" rents in his breeches which he had tried to pin together; his tunic was torn where it was not patched; and the soles were hanging from his boots. " I hare been obliged to stay in bed till I could get another uniform," he said. ' I am one of 200 or 300 scarecrows who three or four months ago were smart-looking British officen-. I was taken in the Arras push last August, and now I'm trying to realise what a good meal and clean clothes mean to a human being. Look at this," he added, producing a dark, evil-looking, sour-smelling substance the size of one's fist. "That's a bread ration for a day. Not pleasant, you say. Well, mot so long ago I would have given a lot of money for another piece like that one. We had a loaf among 12 of us, 1 and, as the man who carved kept the last piece, there was some very delicate carving. This stuff (presenting a queer-smelling compound) they gave us for coffee, and these (offering quaint lumps resembling clay) they called dried fruits.' The officer's relatives sent him two parcels weekly, costing in all more than £SO. He received three, and in one of these the tins had been tampered with and the contents spoiled. " We had no change of linen except what wo could get in parcels from home," he continued, '.' and our bedclothes were not changed for more than two months. We could' not get a proper bath, and some of the fellows were walking about with open wounds, their ill-nourished condition preventing the sores from healing. I was lucky enough to get some nails knocked into'my boots, but most of the fellows were walking about in paper filippers. It's good to smoke again. We smoked eome very funny stuff while guests of the Germans. More than, once I have made a cigarette of puper and tea leaves. Just before we left the Guards took off their helmets and badges, and wore soft caps, and a full priva:e was installed as commandant. They all suddenly became very polite. But it was a fine sight at Danzig to see two British cruisers. German civilians and soldiers came uo to our boat, and we threw them biscuits. They fought for them like staving rats—-wi'll-dre •fed people, too. In the boat were 1.200 returning prisoners, and I am t-old that on the first day thev consumed 1.2001b of meat, 1,000 -loaves of bread, and 3001b of butter. As a result, of course, we were all ill after starving so long; but it was worth it, especially the butter."