I had in the interval visited the camps at Château d'Oex and Leysin. I was met at Château d'Oex by the Swiss military and civil authorities, great pleasure being manifested by both at the prospect of entertaining British troops. This health resort is too well known to need any description. It suffices to say that it is situated at an altitude of 1,066 metres in one of the most beautiful valleys of Switzerland, and has a reputation as a sports centre second only to that of Gstaad, a few hundred feet higher in the same valley. The near proximity to the Lake of Geneva, with which it is in touch by means of a mountain railway, makes it a favourite resort of Swiss and foreign visitors. Excellent accommodation had already been bespoken by Captain Dr. de la Chaux (Swiss Army), who had been appointed to take charge of the camp, all the smaller hotels and pensions being reserved for our officers and men. Unfortunately, no hotel sufficiently large to accommodate all the officers under one roof was available, as the two main hotels, the "Grand" and the "Rosat," had expressed their inability to lodge officers at the regulation price of frs. 6 per diem. Their managers very naturally preferred to cater for the better paying visitor. Apart from this, no exception could be taken to the class of accommodation provided.
Having satisfied myself of the suitability of Château d'Oex, with its outlying villages of Rougemont and Rossinières, as a camping place for the Interned, I now passed on to Leysin via Montreux and the Rhone Valley, and mounting up by its electric railway, reached the beautiful plateau of meadow lands, on which so many hotels and châlets have been built expressly for the treatment of consumptives. A medical staff of distinguished specialists is maintained there in association with the hotels, the organization as a whole being that of a combined huge hospital. In peace time it is crowded with patients from all quarters of the globe, but at the time of my visit very few civilians remained, and the doctors were busily engaged in adapting its resources to the use of its new military clientèle. The doctors had donned their uniforms as officers of the Swiss Army, and the place was rapidly assuming the aspect of a small garrison town. Many of the hotels were already occupied by French and Belgian soldiers, of whom, sad to say, there were already 1,200 in hospital. Swiss soldiers were also in evidence, and I here became aware for the first time of the fact that the Swiss as a people are far from being immune to tuberculosis.
Arrangements were already being made for the accommodation of 200 British officers and men, Colonel Hauser having calculated that about that number of consumptives would be likely to arrive with the first party of British. No one could pass through Leysin without being impressed, as I was, by the beauty of the surroundings, the detailed perfection of its organization, and the purposeful construction of its hotels and châlets built so as to receive every ray of sunshine. Nothing struck me so much as the optimistic spirit which appeared to prevail amongst all classes of the sick alike; every one seemed easily moved to joy and laughter, ready to amuse and be amused, and I left with the feeling that of all people none were so brave as the patients of Leysin. Where this spirit prevailed, our men could not help but thrive, and any anxiety I may have had on their account was completely dispelled by my first visit to this sanatorium.
CHAPTER IV
RED CROSS ORGANIZATIONS IN SWITZERLAND
—THE BRITISH LEGATION RED CROSS ORGANIZATION
On the outbreak of war, the attention of various Swiss charitable societies was at once concentrated on work connected with the provision of comforts, clothing, and necessaries for the large body of Swiss citizens who were withdrawn from civil employment to take their place in the Army. Amongst the best known of these societies were:— "La Croix Rouge," "La Société Suisse le Bien du Soldat," "Les Unions Chrétiennes des Jeunes Gens de la Suisse," "La Ligue Pro-Captivis," "La Société Suisse des Aumôniers," "La Société du Mogen David Rouge."
Around these societies local branches rallied all over the country; and, as the war progressed, and the needs of the belligerent nations gradually came to light, they extended their field of interest so as to embrace the pressing needs of French civilians from the occupied regions of Northern France, interned prisoners of war, and hospitals in France and Germany. The work of the "International Red Cross Society of Geneva" is too well known to need more than a passing reference here. It would require a volume to describe the immensity and importance of its labours.
As many British visitors, delayed at Berne owing to difficulties of transport, were anxious to show their appreciation of the courtesy extended to them by the Swiss during their enforced residence in the country, Lady Grant Duff (then Mrs. Grant Duff), the wife of H.M.'s Minister, assembled working parties at the Legation for the purpose of assisting the Swiss Red Cross, and the results of the first series of these working parties were forwarded to Madame Hoffmann, the wife of the then President of the Swiss Confederation. It was not long, however, before rumours of the dire straits of the French wounded reached Switzerland. The hospitals, it was said, were full to overflowing, and the nurses were at their wits' end to find the simplest requisites for these first victims of the war. The needs of the Allies had, therefore, to be given first consideration, and Lady Grant Duff sent out an invitation to her countrymen in Switzerland to co-operate with her in the provision of clothing and requisites for these hospitals. The response was immediate, and showed that every British man, woman, and girl in the country was ready to come to her assistance.
To give effect to this intention, the "British Legation Red Cross Organization" was founded by Lady Grant Duff at Berne, and around it twelve groups, representing the chief centres of British life, were affiliated. The Organization was placed under the management of Lady Grant Duff, with my daughter as her assistant. The groups were left to their own devices as regards their formation and character, and were presided over by H.M.'s Consuls. Decentralization was carried to its extreme limit, each centre undertaking responsibility as regards local finance and administration, whilst Berne reserved to itself the right of determining the pattern and quality of the article required from any one centre, at any given moment, a system which tended to co-ordination, and the specialization of each group in the class of work for which it was fitted, by its relation to the sources of supply and the aptitude of its workers. The general output was forwarded to Headquarters at Berne for examination, storage, and final despatch to hospitals, both French and British. There was a good deal of friendly rivalry between the groups, and I remember Lady Grant Duff telling me that she one day paid a surprise visit to a working party and was met with the remark: "Is it true that … makes better shirts than we do?" The answer given was: "Yes, perfectly true; but then you make much better pyjamas."
Berne, in short, acted as a clearing-house, and was thus well equipped for meeting demands requiring immediate attention. On one occasion a traveller arrived unexpectedly from Boulogne and notified at 6 p.m. that he would take a consignment to France, provided it could be ready for despatch by the 8.30 p.m. train of the same day. The articles were packed and deposited at the railway station by Lady Grant Duff on her way out to dinner. Amongst the many hospitals to which help was sent were the "Hôpitaux Militaires" of Besançon, Pontarlier, Nancy, Aix-les-Bains, Nice, and others in the Vosges. Bales of underclothing were also consigned to the Canteen at Lyons for distribution to the wounded; to the Cardinal of Rheims for distribution to that martyred city; and to the "Œuvre des Éclopés" at Paris. An interesting and important work was the complete outfitting in underwear, dressing-gowns and slippers of the "Urgency Case Hospital," a movable ambulance created and organized by Miss Evelyn Eden, which commenced operations at Bar-le-Duc in 1915. Regular despatches of hospital clothing and requisites were also made to British hospitals at Boulogne, Calais, and elsewhere. Another consignment was sent at the special request of Lady Wemyss to a hospital ship in the Mediterranean. As regards British requirements in France, it was found advisable to send bales to Paris, where they were distributed by the late Sir Henry Austin Lee, who gave himself infinite trouble in arranging for their transit to the most needy hospitals.