Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XXII. English Prisoners from Ypres
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
CHAPTER XXII
ENGLISH PRISONERS FROM YPRES
UP betimes for early Mass and away across Artois’
desolate plains to Douai ! At the headquarters of the
Chief Command we were met by Captain Liibke with
his car, and he introduced us to two other participants in the
day’s excursion, Councillor Göppert and the Austrian battle-
scene painter, Professor Hans von Hayek, Thereupon we
jumped in and tore away past Pasteur and Joan of Arc, before
whom we had no further occasion to stop. We were through
the town in a twinkling, and drove out under the Porte de
Roubaix, following in a north-easterly direction the long
unbroken street connecting Lille with Roubaix.
At the latter place we came across 250 English soldiers who
had recently been captured, together with a number of officers,
all of whom were to be conveyed to Germany in the afternoon.
The men were lodged in a large hall, probably a dismantled
restaurant. There was no furniture, but large beds of straw
had been spread out on the floor, especially along the walls.
Here the men could fix themselves up for the night. They
certainly had nothing to complain of. One " Tommy," who
had a slight wound in the head, was just being treated by an
English doctor, who was also a prisoner. An adjoining room
with a glass roof contained long rows of tables and chairs,
where the prisoners took their meals. Here I photographed
a couple of groups, and the reader will be able to see for him-
self that the English soldiers in German captivity look neither
downcast nor ill. In one picture they even have a rather
cheeky and lively Frenchwoman, inclined to stoutness, sitting
between them, and I must admit to their honour as serious
soldiers, that it was she who begged and prayed to be allowed
to be photographed with her allies and customers—for the
noble lady was no less a person than the chief waitress, and it
was she who saw to it that the prisoners were amply and well
fed.
348
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
