The British Interned in Switzerland

by Henry Philip Picot

In January, 1918, on the appointment of a Commissioner by the "B.R.C.S.," London, to supervise and co-ordinate Red Cross work in Switzerland, the "B.L.R.C.O." transferred to that gentleman the special branch of their work affecting interned prisoners, and all expenses in that connection were thenceforth met by the "B.R.C.S.," London. The average monthly expenditure thus incurred amounted to frs. 22,000, the chief items of which were: frs. 6,300 for medical comforts, frs. 10,000 for technical training, and the balance for miscellanea.

I have at the opening of this chapter referred to the labours of the Swiss Red Cross and other Swiss Societies, vis-à-vis of French civilians and other victims of the war. Little appears to be known in England of the extent and importance of the work of these Societies. Perhaps I can best give an idea of its scope and character by recounting some of my personal experiences.

On one occasion, at Zürich, I met a train conveying French "grands blessés" released from Germany. It was composed of third-class carriages converted for Red Cross purposes into a hospital train, and was staffed by military doctors, nurses, and orderlies, of Swiss nationality, assisted by ladies from the French Embassy at Berne. These Swiss Red Cross trains cannot be compared with the luxurious conveyances maintained by us in France. At the same time, they were thoroughly practical, and appeared to meet all the requirements of the sick. The men no doubt must have regarded them as "trains de luxe," after their experience of railway travel in Germany. What a picture these wounded presented! In one carriage there were twenty-seven men with only three legs between them, but they were cheery, full of joy at their escape from captivity, and very disinclined to speak of their past experiences. These they evidently sought to forget. One man, whom I questioned as to some detail of German camp life, replied that, on crossing the frontier, he had turned over the page of his prison life, and all memory of the past had left him—the present was good enough, and was all he cared to think about. Altogether they were quite irrepressible, and the conclusion I came to was, that the average French soldier has to be very ill—even unto death—before his spirits succumb to his physical condition. He has fortunately the faculty of imparting his cheeriness and philosophy to those around, so that a visit under what might have been depressing circumstances proved, on the contrary, exhilarating. There were several cases of men in the last stages of consumption, whose one anxiety was to see the soil of their beloved France once more before the end came. About these men the French ladies were greatly concerned, and they could only hope that this supreme consolation might not be withheld from their dying compatriots.

Such attentions as these were by no means confined to the French. Similar scenes occurred whenever Allied or enemy prisoners were repatriated via Swiss territory. The services of the Swiss Red Cross were more particularly brought home to me when a party of 70 British and Indian soldiers, and 250 Serbian officers, arrived from Austria. Our own men came under the category of "grands blessés"; the Serbians were being exchanged, and were in good condition. They were met by Sir Horace and Lady Rumbold, my wife and daughter, and other members of the Legation, who accompanied the train from Olten to Bienne. We found the Swiss Red Cross very much in evidence. A military doctor was in charge of the train, with a staff of Swiss nurses, and everything was being done to make the men feel they were amongst their own friends again. The "B.L.R.C.O." had provided a sufficiency of underclothing to give every British soldier a complete outfit, and when these had been distributed, I think the happiness of our countrymen was at its zenith. They were wearing Turkish fatigue uniforms, but of their other garments, the least said the better. The sole British officer was clothed in a parody of a civilian overcoat. He, likewise, was only too glad to accept an outfit, as he had absolutely nothing with him but the garments in which he stood.

On visiting the cot cases, I came across two Indian soldiers, one of whom, a man of low caste, who had served as a transport driver, appeared to be very cheery, and to all outward appearance in good health. I spoke to him in his own language, and asked why he was in bed. In reply, he turned aside the bed covers, disclosing the stumps of both legs amputated high above the knee. I was much taken aback, and could only ejaculate, "You have done well by the Sirkar," a remark which met with the response, "Oh, that is of no consequence, I would have done better if I could." The other, a high caste man of the Zemindar class, seemed to be ill at heart rather than of body. I tried to cheer him by speaking of his early return to India, and of the sunshine of his own country, but nothing I could say gave him any comfort. I found it difficult to account for the extraordinary contrast in the mentality of the two men, and can only surmise that the indignities put upon the Zemindar, when a prisoner of war in Turkey, had lowered his morale to such a degree that, from the caste point of view, he had already ceased to exist. He had, in his own eyes, lost standing, and, consequently, all that made life worth living. The transport driver, on the other hand, had been inured from birth to a want of consideration, and was quite regardless of any ill treatment or indignity at the hands of the foreigner and enemy. He had, therefore, retained his morale, and gloried in the fact that he had done his duty by the "Sirkar," and would become the object of its solicitude in the future.

I had also the privilege of being present at Schaffhausen when some 500 French civilians were repatriated from Germany. The convoy consisted of aged men and women, young women and children, with a sprinkling of men of military age suffering from tuberculosis—as decrepit and woe-begone a crowd as could well be imagined! On arrival at the railway station, they were taken in hand by representatives of the Municipality, local doctors, and ladies of the French and Swiss Red Cross. The sick were quickly sorted out and driven to hospitals in the town, where they were destined to remain until either the end came, or they were sufficiently restored to continue their journey. Many, I fear, never set eyes on beautiful France again. The rest were marshalled in batches, and then led off through the town to hostels, whence, after receiving a bath, and being re-clothed in more seemly garments, they were re-assembled in a large hall for a much needed meal. The difference in the spirits and appearance of these poor people, after receiving this first attention at the hands of the Swiss and their own compatriots, was indeed good to see. Their dazed and tired look had been replaced by one of smiling content. They had even found their tongues, and at the end of the first meal they had really enjoyed since their captivity they responded enthusiastically to the speeches of welcome addressed to them by their Swiss hosts and by a well-known French Deputy, Monsieur Arago, who had travelled from Paris to convey a message of welcome from the French Government. The proceedings ended with the singing of the "Marseillaise," which, coming from this sorely tried company, was overwhelming, and brought tears to the eyes of many. Cheered and encouraged, clothed and warmed, they were then marched through streets full of the townspeople, who showed every sign of goodwill and sympathy.

What such receptions must have meant to this convoy, and to those which followed on practically every day of the week for months, can only be known to the beneficiaries themselves; but that they served to cement a feeling of brotherhood as between race and race is, I believe, undeniable, and is all to the good. It must always be remembered that the difference of race and language of the Swiss people did not connote any difference of feeling or action towards the prisoners of war or interned civilians, and, to my mind, the sense of a possible all-world-brotherhood had one of its happiest demonstrations in the dealings of the Swiss towards these unfortunate sufferers of the war.

CHAPTER V
THE FOUNDATION AND ORGANIZATION OF THE "BRITISH SECTION"
OF THE "BUREAU DE SECOURS AUX PRISONNIERS DE GUERRE" AT BERNE

During the winter of 1914-15, Allied and Swiss organizations were created at Berne for the despatch of food and clothing to prisoners of war in the Central Empires, the most important of which were the "Bureau de Secours aux Prisonniers de Guerre," and the "Comité Bernois." The former was founded by Monsieur Poinsard and Madame Pageot (wife of the French Military Attaché), in the interests of French prisoners; the latter by Madame Valentin (a Swiss lady), under the ægis of the Swiss Red Cross Society, in the interests of Belgian prisoners.