"The Germans we saw almost all regarded us kindly, though many of them had something of mockery in their looks. We now began to see a few of the French inhabitants. They are splendid. Willingly they give us all they can spare, and much that they cannot. Were it not for the fact that they are not allowed to give, and that all their gifts have to be sub rosa, we should, I think, want for little....
"Then came the first unpleasant incident. A poor Frenchwoman rushed out and gave a loaf to one of us. One of the guards, a boy of about nineteen, snatched it out of his hands, and threw it on the pavement in front of the woman.
"At Phalemphin station we were all included in a party of eighty. We were addressed in English by a German officer. The gist of his remarks was that we were to be marched to our destination, and that any man who tried to escape would be incontinently shot, also that any man who did not behave would be punished....
"After this day, Saturday, April 28, for more than five and a half weeks, day in and day out, we left our prison between 6.15 and 6.40, struck work and returned for dinner between 11.15 and 1.30, according to the job, left the prison at 1.30 (if we had not arrived for dinner until after 1 we got extra time), and struck work any time between 5.30 and 10.30....
"In our (British) lines if one (a prisoner of war) has to work extra time, one always gets time off to compensate, also one has plenty of food to work on. Here, extra work carried no compensations. The work, especially latterly, was mainly unloading trucks, pushing the trucks about, and packing the contents of the trucks in various stores.
"In the yard were always parties of French and Belgians working, and, if allowed, they would have given us their souls. At the commencement of our stay, however, we were told to take nothing from the French, and it was certainly not many days before we found it was almost impossible to take anything from them because the penalty was so great. Whenever the French and the Belgians did get a chance they availed themselves of it....
"Let us never forget that we also got things from the Germans. Until we reached Phalemphin we had received no rough or cruel treatment whatever....
"At Douai our gaolers were without exception friendly and kind; at Lille our gaolers were taciturn, and when they did speak, though loud and threatening in words, laid hands on no man. We were, therefore, expecting no man-handling, and it came as a fearful shock. It is my impression that man-handling began in about four days' time, but it may be that some smaller incident, such as being thumped in the back by the guard, had passed unnoticed as being mere playfulness on their part.
"As to man-handling, it began slowly and increased in frequency, and I think in severity, as the time went on, until, to me at any rate, it became somewhat of a nightmare. Within a week of our arrival at Phalemphin the guard would rush at, beat, strike, or kick any man who had a pipe or cigarette in his mouth while we were being counted in the yard....
"Suddenly the man in charge in that part of the yard appeared. It was the first time I had seen him. Judging from first impressions, he was a quiet, self-contained, steady kind of man, rather like the great 'Agrippa' in 'Shock-headed Peter' to look at.... Suddenly the man changed, and with a sudden rush was amongst us.