ENGLISH ARMY
But, of course, I was chiefly interested in hearing their views about the English troops. Before they met them, the Germans were full of contempt. English soldiers were hirelings, and certainly could not stand up to such troops as the Germans. A week’s fighting sufficed to bring round their opinion to the exact opposite. Every English private, they said, fights like a sergeant and shoots like Buffalo Bill. In every branch of warfare they used to acknowledge the superiority of the Old Army. “Each single Englishman has to be dug out separately,” they said. When Russians were captured, whole armies at a time, they used to get impatient. “What is the use of that,” they said. “A thousand Russians are equal to ten Frenchmen and one Englishman.” Our colonel, in a speech he made to the regiment in May, 1915, said, “In a few months, perhaps weeks, we shall have finished with the Russians, but,” and here he turned to me, “I don’t think we shall ever get finished with your country.” I need scarcely say that I altogether dissociate myself from this estimate of Russian and French troops. The battles which broke the Austrian front at Rava Ruska in 1914, and the victories of Brusiloff in 1916, were among the most brilliant operations in the war. The French soldier it would be impertinent for me to praise, except perhaps to say that this war has added fresh glory to an army which already had the most splendid traditions of any in Europe.
GERMAN PRISONS
And finally comes the subject of the treatment of prisoners. The evidence as to Russian prisoners is conflicting. Cossacks received no quarter; they were always killed. I have heard many vile stories on this point; let one suffice. Once two hundred Cossacks were caught and told to line up with their faces to Russia. They were very glad, and thought they were going to be exchanged. Then, without a word being said, a machine-gun was turned on them from behind, and they were all shot. There are stories of great cruelty to other Russian prisoners, Hindenburg being especially prominent in this. When Russian prisoners were quarrelling in their barracks, he had the artillery turned on them, “to quiet them,” as he said. For further stories of this kind I need only refer to the official papers of the Tsar’s Government. On the other hand, I know that the Germans wanted to keep the Russian workmen in Germany after the war in order that they should take the place of the men Germany had lost on the battlefield. The Russian labourers were said to learn quickly, and to do a good day’s work when under German direction. Employers had the strictest orders to show every kindness to their Russian prisoners. I had a talk with an escaped prisoner of war, and he had nothing but good to say of his treatment in Germany. He praised the order, punctuality, and cleanliness of German life, and was determined to go back there after the war. It is possible that those prisoners who were willing to work were better treated than the others who stayed in the camps. A doctor who had lived in the prison camps, and who had been exchanged, gave the most terrible account of the treatment which the Russians received there. He said they were worst treated of all, because the Russian Government were so slow in taking reprisals; while the English were the best treated, because our Government were the promptest in reprisals. This referred to the year 1916, while Mr. Asquith was still Prime Minister.
The Germans used captivity for political purposes. They would throw French, Belgian, and English together, and then issue gleeful reports that these “Allies” were always fighting. From my experience of prison life I know exactly how this was done, because the Russians tried the same methods on us. You have only to pamper the French and to starve the English, and the mischief is done. A starving man is an irritable man, and it takes a slight thing to make him an angry one.
With regard to the treatment of English prisoners I have no first-hand information. From the very beginning rumours were rife in Bonn that they were being badly used. These stories were told with great satisfaction, as if it were right to do so. The Germans themselves used to relate how English prisoners were incited by cruelty to revolt so as to have an excuse for shooting them. German soldiers used to tell me how naïve the English soldiers were. “When they were taken prisoners they wanted to shake hands and be friends. And they had just been killing our men, too. We always used to give them a good drubbing with the butt-end of our rifles. It is what they deserved for killing Germans.” Let me add that at Cassel I met a German soldier who had been captured by the English and exchanged. He was full of gratitude for the kindness he had received. His captors gave him of their best before passing him on to the rear. When their transport reached Southampton station, a Red Cross nurse asked the officer if she might be allowed to give them some refreshment, and permission was readily granted. At Netley he had been much better off than at Cassel. There had been plenty to eat and drink, and, what was more, you could always help yourselves too.
The German is an inordinately vain man, and he likes to impress people (“imponiren,” he calls it). The English soldiers refused to be impressed. Their hard, indomitable temper filled the Germans with envy and despair, and the more brutal among them went to the utmost lengths in the endeavour to break the spirit of our men. I only once saw an English prisoner. It was at Cassel. He had been taken ill on a working-party, and was walking back to his camp. As he passed through our ranks, he bore himself with downcast eyes indeed, but with such pride and dignity that we all seemed to be mere recruits, and he the only true soldier present.
At the Front
EQUIPMENT
Well, then, in the middle of August, 1915, we started for the Russian front. Our equipment even at that time was so bad that I am surprised Germany has held out so long. My tunic was made of shoddy; it tore easily and cockled up most pitifully in the rain. Leather was scarce in Germany and had to be quickly tanned, so what we received was inferior in quality and soon perished. Our helmets were of a variety of materials, some of aluminium, some of cardboard, but none of the good stout leather that was used before the war. The “pickelhaube,” as the spiked helmet is called, is the only good point about the German uniform. It is delightfully cool and airy in summer, and so flexible that it will fit any shape of head. The rest of the German uniform is an abomination of discomfort. The round fatigue-caps, besides giving one the appearance of a convict, are hot and oppressive, as no ventilation is possible in them at all. The tunic has every fault such a garment could have. It is made not only to button close, but to hook tight round the neck. When you are on the march and have the heavy knapsack pulling at the coat, and so making the throttle more painful still, the strain becomes almost unbearable. We were never allowed to unhook the collar on the march except when we had special orders to do so. There are only two pockets in front, and two others in the tail of the coat. This means that when you are in full uniform it is almost impossible to get at these pockets, and, as the soldier spends so much time lying about on the ground, the things you put there nearly always get broken. The army knee-boots are instruments of torture. They are roughly made, and are full of unevennesses of surface that rub painful sores, while the folds that form about the ankles are equally uncomfortable. They were stuffy in summer, heavy, and a serious impediment to quick movement. Low boots and puttees are infinitely preferable. Some of us wished to go to the front in low boots and leggings, but on account of the shortage of leather this was forbidden. Leggings could only be worn by officers. I had a pair of knee-boots made for me of fine smooth leather, but even then, under ideal conditions, they were anything but comfortable. In addition, we had to carry in our knapsacks a pair of low boots, to act as “slippers”; that is to say, to be worn to ease our feet when we were off duty. It was found, when we arrived at the front, that most of us had thrown these boots away rather than be bothered with their extra weight. German soldiers thought that the English kit was very much better than theirs. They were amused because every English soldier was provided with a razor. Even officers told me that it was folly to shave at the front.