FOUR MONTHS' MISERY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24736, 13 October 1941, Page 6

FOUR MONTHS' MISERY

ENGLISH YOUTHS' ORDEAL IN VICHY CONCENTRATION CAMP (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 12. Four English youths who were seamen on a ship which was torpedoed in' the Atlantic have reached Scotland after four months in a Vichy concentration camp. They are all under 21, and one of them said: "We and seven others were in a lifeboat which was cast ashore in French West Africa. Native police kept us in grass-covered huts throughout the tropical ramy season, and ljfe was an absolute misery. Our diet consisted of bread, rice, and water, and occasionally goats' meat, and we bartered clothing for scraps of food smuggled into the camp. Native troops kicked us and struck us with the butts of rifles when we complained. "F° ur of us escaped," he said. we followed the railway several miles to the coast, where we found a canoe and waited for more moderate seas. A French padre found and fed us, but the native police arrived and marched us back to camp. Our punishment was to carry water for four days without hats in the blazing sun. The strain was too much, and we were sent to hospital. We were finally taken to the frontier in a lorry and dumped in British territory." The youths added that conditions m West Africa were generally very bad. Food was scarce, bread was rationed, and butter, cheese, and wine were unobtainable. The Germans had worked the people up to expect a British invasion. The police and military were onti-British, and the total number of Britons imprisoned in French Guinea was 42 from two ships.