FRENCH CAPTAIN'S ESCAPE FROM THE GERMANS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 23 January 1915, Page 7

FRENCH CAPTAIN'S ESCAPE FROM THE GERMANS

A French officer,- Captain Poul.Guillaud, of the Bth Regiment of Infantry •(Territorial) left: Folkestone this morniiigV writes a. correspondent from nrider -date' November 9,-»tt>-.rejpin his regiment.. •; He was tak'eli prisoner by the Germans, at Lille and' j removed to Douai. ''After a few days' captivity, he escaped on October 31,-and made his way' -through Brussels into Holland, arriving .■. at Folkestone from Flushing yesterday.". During! his .captivity at Douai he came into contact with a number of- British. officers, to whom he announced that he intended "to escape. Ort the day he left six of. these- officers asked; him to send the. message : -'"Well, but prisoners .of war"*. io' their friends in England,' and a scrap:':of. paper-was handed to. him bearing certain names and addresses. The'' captain's first thought on 'arriving in England was to redeem his promise to the captured officers. He stated! that there were a number of British prisonat Douai when he left, and that'they were .sent out in batches of about 20 to sweep up the mud in the streets. "But in spite of the menial tasks to which thev were put/' he said, "these British .prisoners walked about with their heads 'high in the air as though the whole world belonged .to them." In the course of his- journey from Douai through Brussels to the Dutch frontier ,' Captain Guillaud saw manv trains filled w"ith soldiers going east. He also saw a great manv filled with wounded and a number tarrying- dead bodies which were to be burned. . _ While in Douai he made a copy'of the following notice, which though originally intended for Cam.br ai was pp.sted up in. all the streets - . 'The American Committee of Instruction on the political situation at' Munich considers, it true that England alone is the immediate, cause of this terrible .war. England'"alone' bears 'the."-whole resp'dhsibiliity,. According to ,the official docu. merits England has not ceased to make use. of the .allied hostilities of France and Russia, promising to these Powers eheis. getic assistance. Probably neither France .nor. Russia would have allPwed itself to be dragged into this war if England had •not assured ,them of the assistance of , her entire naval and . military forces.: Englaiid has put herself on the side of regicide Scrvla, and has fallen the part of the Russian autocracy and barbarism. It is she alone who is: responsible for the lamentable fate of Belgium and its unfortunte inhabitants., whom she has so cruelly deceived. It was under pressure from England, and encouraged by_her confidence in the aid promised by England, that Belgium refused to accept the peace that Germany bffercd her. Faithful to her traditions and her history, England abandoned this unhappy country- At the present moment England is presented to the eyes of the whole world as the onlv obstacle to peace. It is under her pressure that France aud: Russia are compelled to pull her chestnuts out of the fire. AH'the heavy sacrifices made by tliese Powers wiU not possess for them the least value. Cambrai, 29-8-1914. |