GERMAN EX-SOLDIERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22142, 22 June 1935, Page 13

GERMAN EX-SOLDIERS

VISIT TO BRIGHTON BRITONS' FRATERNAL GREETING LONDON. June 20 " Welcome Brothers," shouted hundreds of British ex-servicemen, many of whom had been prisoners of war in Germany, when a train arrived at Brighton to-day with 29 German exprisoners of war, the first German exsoldiers to officially visit England since the war. The Germans were members of the War Prisoners' Association, and went to Brighton in response to an invitation by the British Legion to visit the cemetery, where a number of their comrades were buried. The Mayor and Legion officials officially welcomed the Germans, after which British Legionaries. mam wounded and maimed, and some blind, accompanied by their wives and children, and also by widows, rushed to shake hands with the visitors. Within a few seconds each German was surrounded by a group of former enemies. British Legionaries displaying Mons Stars, marched through the streets alongside Germans wearing Iron Crosses. German standards, bearing the swastika, fluttered alongside British Legion banners as the procession passed the Germans' hotel amid cheers from the large crowd. Herr Gievens, vice-president of the German War Prisoners' Association, referring to the Prince of Wales' suggestion for an exchange of visits between British and German ex-soldiers, said: "Every one of us is ready to grasp an out-stretched British hand. The Prince is the man of the moment, both in England and in Germany."