IN GERMAN HANDS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 85, 4 November 1918, Page 7

IN GERMAN HANDS.

CRUELTY TO AUSTRALIAN PRISONERS. Private Potter, who for some time was a prisoner of war in Germany, has. returned to his home at Granville, (N.S.W.) After being wounded at Fleurbaix he was captured by the Gt*rnla'ns. He was taken to Dulman, and subsequently to- Russian Poland. Here the prisoners were made to work in the fields from 5 o'clock in the morning, returning to camp at Midnight. Private Potter was camped in a disused pigstye, which was overrun with vermin. The food was bad. They struck work owing to the, bad food, 'and icy-cold water was thrown over them. It was a bitter winter in Poland, and they were all frost-bit-ten. (After five months they were taken back to Dulman. Private Potter tried to escape, and travelled for three days and nights. He subsisted on wfantever he,\could get out of the ground—raw potatoes, beet, and turnips. When he was hear the Holland border some children gave the alarm. He was captured and taken back to Dulman. He received 21 days' solitary confinement on bread and water. After five days he feigned sickness, and he was moved to another camp. The food supplied to the prisoners was very bad, and had it not been for the Red Cross parcels they would have starved. They ate rats when they could catch them. The black bread supplied by mans contained about 20 per cent, of sawdust. "It wa s terrible," added Private Potter. His lungs became alfected, and was ultimately returned to England.