The British Interned in Switzerland

by Henry Philip Picot

Moreover, there were difficulties inherent to the situation, which no amount of goodwill on the part of the Swiss would enable them to overcome unaided. The mentality of the British soldier, who, in the absence of his own officers, would probably prove refractory to the enforcement of a discipline to which he was unaccustomed, was a factor to which the Swiss had not given enough consideration. The language difficulty, too, although not insuperable—for the Staff were fairly well conversant with English—was still an obstacle to understanding, and there were many matters connected with the daily life of the British soldier, his customs and habits, which were outside the ken of the Swiss, and for which light and leading could only come from their own officers.

The preliminary experience gained in the treatment of our Allied comrades, the French and Belgians, would doubtless prove of value, but that value had to be discounted, for in their case the language difficulty was entirely eliminated, French being the language both of themselves and of their hosts. In thought, customs and habits, likewise, there was no marked difference between our Allies and the inhabitants of that part of Switzerland in which they were located. The same applies to the Germans, for they also were located amongst a population speaking their own language.

I seized the earliest opportunity of talking over these matters with Major Dr. Mercanton, the Directing Medical Officer of the region in which Château d'Oex was situated, and pointed out that a strict adherence to the letter of the regulations affecting the position of the British officer in his relations to the men would inevitably add to the perplexities of his Swiss colleagues. Further, that the men would not readily give their adherence to a system which subordinated them entirely to the Swiss, and prevented them from addressing themselves to their own officers when in difficulty.

I suggested that the junior British officers should be given specific duties in the camp in connection with its interior economy, and that the senior British officer should be given a position more befitting his rank and standing. He gave his assent to the former proposition, but the actual application of this concession was made in a very cautious manner, the position and duties of these officers remaining very vague and undefined, whilst those of the "S.B.O." were not immediately changed in any material fashion. The thin edge of the wedge had, however, been inserted, which I felt would finally open the doors to a fuller understanding.

On returning from Château d'Oex to my headquarters at Berne, I called on Colonel Hauser, and urged upon him the necessity of amplifying, if possible, the concession made in favour of the junior officers, which I characterized as much too vague to be of permanent value, though useful as a basis for future developments. He seemed at first to regard with some dismay the line I had taken, and demurred to the creation of a precedent which might have far-reaching consequences. He pointed out that any change in the status of British officers would inevitably lead to a change in that of all interned officers, whether French, Belgian, or German, and he was not prepared to proceed far along that line. He added that he had every confidence in the good sense of the British officer, and was persuaded he would not abuse any privilege conceded to him, but he had to regard the internment as a whole, and not as affecting one special section. Finally, he asked me to be satisfied for the present, and to await results.

To this I assented with the best possible grace, realizing that radical changes could only be effected in the light of experience, and that time alone would show whether my views as regards the necessity for closer co-operation between Swiss and British officers in the camps was essential or otherwise.

In August, 1916, a second large contingent of British Ps. of W. arrived in Switzerland, the well-known mountain resort of Mürren being assigned to them as an interned centre. Mürren lies in the Bernese Oberland, and is situated in one of the German-speaking cantons. The conditions regulating the internment at this spot were in many respects more favourable than at Château d'Oex, for the whole camp was very compact, with a front of about one kilometre in length as against the ten kilometres of Château d'Oex. The officers had the further advantage of being housed in a first-class hotel, the accommodation of which could hardly have been bettered, and the fact of their all being lodged under one roof under the direct supervision of the "S.B.O." proved of inestimable value to all concerned.

Lt.-Colonel F. H. Neish, Gordon Highlanders, and Captain Dr. Llopart, the directing Swiss Medical Officer, quickly reached an understanding by which all such details as clothing, pay, institutes, workshops, Red Cross and Y.M.C.A. work, religious instruction, etc., were to be dealt with as purely British matters by the "S.B.O." and his officers, without interference on the part of the Swiss authorities, whilst the administration and discipline of the camp were to be reserved, as of right, to Captain Llopart and his Staff. This arrangement also admitted of some co-operation between the Swiss and British officers for disciplinary purposes. This sub-division of duties gave scope to the long dormant energies of our officers, and proved of incalculable benefit in reviving in them a feeling of responsibility, which the conditions of their captivity in Germany had partially atrophied.

As soon as the camp had had sufficient time to settle down, Colonel Hauser paid it a visit of inspection, and I was much gratified on his return to Berne when he expressed to me his keen satisfaction at the spirit prevailing, and his astonishment at the rapidity with which all ranks had adapted themselves to the novel conditions of their internment. Mürren, to use his own words, "showed signs of becoming the model camp of Switzerland."

I now pointed out to him that we should, in all probability, obtain equally good results at other centres where progress had not been so marked, if the system evolved at Mürren, which, of course, was in no small degree the result of the experience gained elsewhere during the preceding three months, was made applicable to all British camps throughout Switzerland. I was not unmindful, in doing so, of our previous conversation on the subject of Château d'Oex, when he had asked me not to attempt to proceed too fast at that place, and to await the results of the small concessions I had obtained for the improvement of the position of the "S.B.O." and other officers, in so far as their relation to the men and to his own Medical Staff was in question.