HIDDEN IN WARDROBE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19608, 9 April 1927, Page 2 (Supplement)

HIDDEN IN WARDROBE.

YEARS. BRiTISHp "TROOPER'S PLIGHT. rrr ■* • {EVADING GERMAN SOLDIERS. COtTKAtS EOUS' FRENCHWOMAN. It has often been said that the most stories of the war are those of tmen whose ■ adventures took place on the enemy's side of the line. Certainly there has been no more extraordinary case of brave men and women coming triumphantly through years of ceaseless peril 'than the story of Trooper Patrick Fowler, of the. I.lth Hussars, and the heroic Frenchwoman .who concealed him in a in her house, literally in the Imidst of his enemies, for nearly four jyears. Thai narration has now been supplemented"' by -' Trooper Fowler's own jstory.

As his Christian naEßrsuggests, Trooper iFowler- is^aihlrishman, and he was already :a veteran soldier when "he went out to '(France with the "Old Contemptibles." |!After the battle of Le Cateau, and in the Trooper Fowler and two other jtnen of the.llth. Hussars lost touch with ! their-regiment.' "We did not know the {country," said Trooper Fowler, "and ■wandered about looking for some of our iown o'.clock one night back in Lo Cateau. We iididn't realise it was Le Cateau till we Isaw German guns in position. When day'lighta tarae-.*wer .found wo • were well inside the' CrerJß&ri lines and hopelessly cut off, '■ so we'hid 'our 'horses in the yard behind ra. screen of blankets. About three days ;later the Germans came looking round the houses, and so we proposed trekking. "About midnight we got to,a farm and Jay down in a -barn, where the farmer .found us in the morning, He brought us coffee and food, but he seemed rather ; scared about_uSj so we trekked again, this lime separately, making for St Quentin. II was-'still in my uniform, hut had an old 'postman's cost:'over it, I struck the rail- | way arid^'walked 1 along- it to Bertry Sta- ; tion, where there were German troops. ilvTear there L met a man who could speak ; English': His was ip' jjiviliah' clothes, but I £fte¥wards- that he was a Geri man. I asked him the way to St. Quentin, arid he told me to go into Bertry and 1 give myself up to the commandant. I got away from, him and went in the oppps site direction, towards Cambrai, and hid in a wood.' There I saw Louis Basquin, iMadame Belinoht-Gobert's son-in-law, and . some other people cutting wood. He told ■me there were Germans about and took me to a haystack, where I could hide. He jcama for 1 mfe* at night, took me to his house,-and gave me coffee and food. #

. "His house was too small; for him to llceep me there, so he took me to the houso iof Belmont. Gobext. .She was a W! to P oor people. ) int toJiid« me in her house 16 swav a r f&ur-rooined cottage, and an 1 unmarried" daughter, Angele, lived with I her. The girl worked in a weaving mill and when 4he Germans took away the ' machinery.'from the factory she worked ion her'sewing, madhine at home, i "My. hiding-place was the wardrobe. It | had two Moors and a partition down the i middle. On one side there were drawers; . the other side was the hanging cupboard, ' .where I ipcnld sit with my knees tucked , up. Th'oj'cloor at the side where the was ' left Tojpen for ventila : 1 at'd^J^uld ft fasten.my door from the jinside. T&9 J GeEmails' were often in the room and could see' into the' part of the i wardrobe where the - drawers were. I ; suppose iJhey thought nobody wpuld dare to hide soldier in a house whete | thay„-weci& billeted. "TJie. (gjmmandaht had "been told, no doubt by? the German I met, who could, ' speak English, that there was a British | soldier in the vicinity,and he had his men seartfeitig for me everywhere. Several ! times hels'ent the town crier round with

; his bell warning any-Englishman who was ! about to "give himself up, under penalty |of beingiffihot. After I had been in the house about a week an interpreter came ' to tell Madame Belmont-Gobert that eight i inetfWerfi going to be billeted there. Two I all artillery regiment ! &nd• felf SntehiiEy: regiment arrived, and a i the.headquarters staff was sent rriuiid , 'to I *p6int {OQt the billets. As he ' came in at one door I went out at the other and walked straight into a regiment Ikied up on the road. I was wearing dungarees over my uniform and had i on a paie-of sabots. I stood and watched them-for a moment—they were inspecting horsea—-and then walked on till I came i to the house ol Louis Basquin. An Inquisitive Dog. ''Troops were always being billeted on Madame Belmont-Gobert. After the First j Battle of Ypres she had them for three , Weeks, and-some of them never went out I except for their meals, and then I took j the chance of .getting out of the wardrobe and running round the. room for exercise. ' I was,.often in the wardrobe for four or tfi|^' i with the Germans : cittinjj'-fotjnd %he; fire a; few feet from me. 1 If ,jey®Q coughed it Would have been I .alLtiffc l r.''"''\ . *• * • "Oria narrow* escape I had was when a ; woman" cim'e in with a dog. I was sit- | ting at the table with a short stick in my

hand and had just time to hop into the ; cupboard, but hadn't time to close the s door behind me. The dog put. bis ncse in and I gave, him a poke with the stick to ! make him go away. He howled, but the i woman', never, dreaming there was anyi body hidden in the wardrobe, took no ! notice. j .-'Very-few people indeed knew thai j Marrlamot,Belmont-Gobert was hiding a I British'-soldier,.-It - was such a dangerous | thing; to do that even friends and neighi boars- were not -let into the secret.

j '.VTbo Germans made the civilians work ; for them, and if I had been able to pass ; myself off as a Frenchman I would have ! let. tfrem take me for one of these jobs so j as to-get nearer tpa 1 line and have a better ; ch^nce t! pf ; getting through. Once some I British poisoners captured at Peronne : were brought into Bertry. With the help 1 cf Louis Basquin I managed to speak to i a corporal and asked him if there was j any chance of getting through the line 3. ; He told me the Germans were getting all ! they wanted now, and that gave me new hopes .that the-war would soon be over." Fowler bad been hidden by " Madame- Belmont-Gobert for almost i 18 moftths, the Germans took the whole of ' her houSe for billets, and made her move i into a smaller cottage. Iliis enforced j move -to a house of one roonf, with a loft above,! ■ where -troops were billeted, put | her wonderful courage and constancy to : a new test. It would have been perfectly 1 natural if % she had thought that it was ! impossible for her to keep Trooper Fowler any longer, but neither then nor at any ■ time did,she ask to be relieved of the i desperate task she had so bravely undertaken.' During the night' Louis Basqum ! and Trooper Fowler moved the furniture, j including the famous wardrobe, to the smaller house, and there he was kept Lidi den till the British troops entered Bertry 1 in October, 1918. This very small houso i ndded greatly to madame's difficulties, ' but in one respect it had a decided advans r iHiding in Fields. j "ft suites!' itte better in one way," ! 3 , 6wler i 'sa.id'; "it was on the outskirts of i and -I could get out more easily -into tho--fields. When the; Germans upi had gone to bed I used to jump out j .the wanirobe and lie down on a bed ! * blanket.. Tho GerTint V.FVu lP CQWie down a ladder to get '' - s soon as 1 heard a i' *J»Br the wardrobe .• *OS way into always to clear out siana vrem jparauiai-

tions. Something or other was always being requisitioned from the poor, French people, and then the Germans searched the houses to see that nothing was hidden. One time it was mattresses that were being taken, and some people, rather than give them up, ran out and hid them in the fields. When I heard they , were coming to Madame Belmont-Gobert's I cleared off into the fields, and while I was there I found a mattress that someone had hidden. There were two Germans watching to see who would come for it. I pretended I hadn't seen it and walked on. • "Whatever they could get to eat they shared with me. But, apart from the great risk they ran by helping to feed an English soldier, everybody had more than enough to do to keep themselves. For example, the Germans took most of the eggs, and the people weren't allowed to kill a hen. Madame Belmont-Gobert had two hens, and bad to give the Germans an egg a day. If she missed a day she was fined a mark. Once a German came to the house to collect one of these fines —two marks. We didn't see him till he passed the window, and I had just time to sljjip into the wardrobe. Madame went to the wardrobe, got two marks out of it, handed over the fine, and off the German went" Not only had Madame Belmont-Gobert more than her share of the troubles everyone had to struggle with during the occupation, but the state of her health made her self-imposed task of hiding an English-

roan more difficult and dangerous, as it certainly made it more heroic. Once when she' was alone in the house with Trooper Fowler—except for the> Germans billeted upstairs—she had a nervous collapse. He carried her into another room and put her on a bed. If any of the Germans had corns down while he was attending to her it would hav& been all up with them both. After that it was always arranged thkt there should be iiomeone else with Madame when there were troops billeted on her.

'*Yet," the trooper remarked, "she would never admit that she was frightened at having me hidden in the house. She never even suggested that I should go somewhere else. Many a time. I suggested that I should leave, but she always said 'No.' Things became worse when the Germans were bringing up troops morning, noon and night for the great March offensive, for then an order came out that all doors had to be left unfastened, I suppose so that they could put troons into the houses at any hour of the night. As a matter of fact, I very seldom slept during the night at any time. I used to sleep in the wardrobe during the day."

The last phase of all was not without its special dangers. Watching from the loft of the little cottage Trooper Fowler saw the German headquarters coming back and the civilians being sent further to the rear—sure signs that the British were advancing. Then came orders to the inhabitants to evacuate Madame Bel-mont-Gobert and her daughter were among those who refused to leave, but there was no cellar in her cottage, and. as it was thought there would be fighting in the village, they took refuge in the cellar of another house. \

"We spent two nights there," said Fowler, "but the people of tho house did not know who I was. As a matter of fact, only a few shots were fired in Bertry. The first British troopsi to enter were Canadian cavalry, and they were followed by the South African Scottish, of the 66th Division. As soon as the first man—a sergeant—entered I came .put. He held me up with his rifle. 'l'm English,' I said. 'We don't know anything about you,' he replied. I went and put on my old uniform and was sent back to corps headquarters—under escort —but on the way there I met a staff officer who had been seconded from my regiment. lie knew me and sent word to corps headquarters and Colonel Anderson, of the 11th Hussars, came and took me back to the regiment. I was given a month's home leaye, but before 1 went home 1 went back to Bertry to say goodbye to Madame Belmont-Go-bert and Angele and Louis Basquin. After my leave I rejoined the regiment in Germany. and from there I got my discharge. 'i