IN THE GERMAN WAR HOSPITALS

Manawatu Times, Volume XL, Issue 14068, 26 November 1918, Page 7

IN THE GERMAN WAR HOSPITALS

HOW THE ENEMY TALKED WHEN HE WAS SICK. The following remarkable story of German admissions and German boastfulness is told in "Pearson's" by Charlotte Festman, a Swedish nurse, who was engaged for some time on the Emdcn Military Hospital, Berlin : It was at the end of the summer of .1017 that I went from my home in Sweden to see my brother, who was then ill in Berlin, —where he had been engaged for several years past in business. I had been engaged in the nursing profession in my own countr}', and I went to nurso my brother. He was suffering from an internal complaint, and was beyond recovery. He died a week after I reached Berlin. At my sister-in-law's request I remained on in Berlin with her, and shortly after my brother's death I took up work in the Emden Hospital, the largest military hospital in Berlin. I was put to work in a wing where officers recovering from wounds or who had only been slightly wounded were received. I may mention that I had been edueated in Germany, had subsequently lived in Berlin for some years with my brother, and could speak German fluently. There were 20 beds in this wing. Eaeh bed was in a small private ward. There were ten nurses in the wing, and as none of these cases were serious I did not find my work particularly hard. A PRUSSIAN BOOR. Our most troublesome patient was a Count Verstler, a major in the Death's Hussars, who was admitted to the hospital the day of my arrival. I and another nurse looked after him. He was a typical Prussian, and I can only describe him as a beast of a man. He was suffering from a slight wound in the abdomen which necessitated his being kept quiet, and he had to have an extremely restricted diet. Having to stay quiet and live on diet that he disliked made him extremely irritable, and he would frequently give vent to his temper by abusing the nurses in most unmeasured language. Two or three times the hospital orderlies had to be summoned to hold him down in bed when he wanted to get up, which we had received strict orders not to allow him to do. On one occasion when a nurse put his bowl of milk and rice, which he had to have at 7 o 'clock, on the table beside his bed, he took the bowl up and hurled it across the room.

But it was not his temper or his bad language that made me take a dislike to him. It was the way he talked in his quiet moments that made me regard him with feelings of repugnance. I may mention that he could never be left alone, a nurse always had to be with him in his ward night and day. At times he was morose and silent, but at other times he would talk a great deal. When in a talkative mood he would pour out abuse on the British and French, but more especially on the British. When speaking of the British he would frequently stop talking for a moment, spit out, clench his huge fists, and shake them in the air as if in a paroxysm of rage. He told me he had kept an exact aceount of the British he had killed. "I have killed fourteen of them myself, "he said. THE INVASION THAT FAILED.

Ho gave me rather a remarkable account of a landing of ten thousand troops in England that had been planed by the General Staff in 1916. He said that the troops for this expedition were to consist of men who had been sentenced to lons' terms of imprisonment or to death. If any of them ever got back to Germany again they were to receive free pardon. They were to be landed in England simply for the purpose of looting and killing and creating terror. "I volunteered with ten other men to go with this expedition," said Count Vcrstler, "but it never came off, worse luck, and it doesn't look as if it ever will. But if it does, God help England when we get there." He only stayed about three weeks in hospital, and I was very glad when he left. I heard later on that he was killed in the attack on Cambrai. A number of officers in my charge knew England very well. One of them who was in a Westphalian regiment made a rather interesting confession to me. He was an extremely silent man; he looked unhappy and troubled; it was evident he had some worry on his mind, and I came to the conclusion that the trouble was in some way connected with a girl, for I used to hear him in his sleep frequently mutter the name "Gerty." Sometimes he would sit up in. his bed and shout out: "Hello! Gerty, dear, is that you?" and then he would fall back into a troubled slumber. Often I heard him say in . his sleep, "Oh, Gerty, dear, Gerty, shall I never see you again?" Well, ( thought there isn't much doubt that Gerty, whoever she may be, is troubling you. One afternoon he told me all about her. He had met her at a boarding-house at Folkestone a few months be-fore the war. The girl's people, however, for various reasons, strongly objected to her marrying this German officer. To cut a long story short, they got married secretly. After they were married the officer returned to Germany, meaning to put his affairs there in order to sell a small property which ho owned in Westphalia, and then to return and settle down with .his wife in England, for she did not. wish to live in Germany. He was just about to ret am to England when the war broke out, and he was compelled to .Join his regiment. '' I fried io get brigaded with the armies that were being sent to the Eastern front." lie said, "but Ludendorff decided to send all the Westphalia ns to the West, and I was not allowed to exchange into another rogin;. nt. I have hated fighting against the British, but I could not help it. Often 1" wished that I could get killed, but I simply couldn't. T have only twice been slightly wounded." Captain Klein, of the German Air Service, was a patient at. the Ereden for a weel< or so. It was Captain Klein who led the second daylight raid on Eondon in July last year. Tip also knew England well, and had several friends then 1 , but he had no compunction about taking part in air raids on England. T!" told a nurse that when he was leading the daylight raid on London he

flew ever the house in the Eastern Counties where he had once stayed as a guest. SOME BADLY-EUN HOSPITALS. "I could have given those people," he said, with a laugh, '' a startling reminder that I was in the neighbourhood again, but I had no bombs to waste for sueh a purpose." Captain Klein was decorated with the Iron Cross by the Kaiser, after the July raid. He was killed lately in France. Sometimes the German Empress and the Crown Princess would visit the Emden. Usually we received about 24 hours' notiee of their coming, but the Crown Princess on one or two occasions paid us a surprise visit. The Princess did this purposely to see if the hospital was being properly conducted. There were several military hospitals in Berlin which were not, especially some of those which were .privately managed. The Princess was the means of getting several of these hospitals closed. On one occasion she paid a surprise visit to a hospital for officers run by some well-known ladies in Berlin society. The first room she entered was a'large one on the first floor. When she opened the door she say three or four officers seated at a table playing cards and drinking champagne. On the knee of one of the officers a nurse was seated smoking a cigarette. By the fireplace two other nurses were standing. One was clad in an officer's uniform — the officers themselves were all wearing dressing gowns. The party were all laughing and talking very loudly when the Princess entered the room. Her sudden and unexpected appearance gave the occupants of the room a considerable start. The Princess stood looking about the mom for a few moments, and then, without saying a word, took her departure. The Princess subsequently had inquiries made into the conduct of a number of hospitals, several of which were closed later on and others brought under very strict supervision. THE MAN WHO OFFENDED THE EMPPESS. The Emden, however, was a very well-conducted hospital. As a. rule, when the Empress talked to any officer he would say nothing more than "Yes. Your Majesty," or "No, Your Majesty." It was etiquette for the Empress to do nil or most of the talking. But on one occasion T heard an officer make a remark to the Empress that: rather look Her Majesty aback. The officer was a Captain Bevgstorf. lie was a huge Bavarian. He was a good-natured kind of person, and not altogether devoid of a sense of humour, and like many Bavarians, entertained by no means a great opinion of the dignity or majesty of the Hohen/ollerns. He entered the Emden a few weeks before the German offensive in March began. He had been slightly wounded in a small night attack. When the German Empress began talking to him about the coming attack she said that she hoped that he would be able to take part in it.

"Every officer we have," she said, "will bo wanted." "Yes, Your Majesty," replied the officer. '' We are going to win this tim#, X am sure," continued the Empress, smilingly. "We arc, I hope," replied Captain Bergstorf; "indeed, Your Majesty, we might 1 •'! sure of victory only for twothings. '' "And what are they?" asked tin? Empress. "The French and British armies," answered Captain Bergstorf. The Empress was greatly taken aback by this reply. It was very unexpected, and it much annoyed her. She made no further remark, but left: the ward at once. I said to Captain Bergstorf afterwards: "You have offended Your Majesty, I think, by what you said." He broke into a hearty laugh. "I expect so," he answered, "and it Avon't break my heart if I did. I'm a Bavarian, you know, not a Prussian, and I don't care 'a little bit of dust' as we say, about the Hohenzollerns. "