Mark Strelley Fryar A case of Barbed Wire Disease ??

I've written about my relative Captain Mark Strelley Fryar 1892- 1931 before. 

In my eyes, he was a war hero and a good leader but others may have seen it differently with a touch of ignorance or dismay probably due in hindsight to lack of understanding of war caused neurosis.

Born in Derbyshire of a mining background he was destined to work in the family mining interests. After completing school and attending Malvern Officer Training College he had prepared to enter the mining business training up under his father, Mark Fryar at Denby and with his uncle at the Messrs Barber, Walker and Company Limited.

Mark from a 5th Bttn photo

In May 1911 he joined the 1/5th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiments).  This territorial regiment was mobilised for war service on 5/8/14 when Mark was 23. Less than 4 months after landing at Ypres he was wounded at Dickebuse. He returned to the Front.

Mark's story is recorded in "A Lack of Offensive Spirit" The 46th (North Midland) Division" by Alan MacDonald p392-4. He was captured at Gommecourt in 1917. Initially, he was missing in action after the horrific events of the Somme on the 1st of July 1916-one of the bloodiest battles in history. 

On the night of the battle ....Owing to smoke he and his Captain were separated from the rest of the Battalion. Captain Lewes was hit three times and while Fryar and his men took other action to secure their safety they needed to lay low until cover of darkness or reinforcements appeared. The Germans kept bombing them until 11am and sent an English speaking soldier to say he would take them prisoners. They were out of ammunition and by 12.30 they were being shelled by their own forces. He talked with the injured Lewes and they decided to give in asking the Germans to help them with their wounded. They would not and just looked on. They carried the semi- conscious Captain out but he died the next morning. Then... He was sent to a POW camp or two during the next few years of the war.

Initially his mother, Louisa received word saying “ I‘m afraid I can give you very little hope.”

 A month later she received a telegram saying he was a prisoner of war at Gutorsloh, Germany. Mark’s Prisoner of War transfer cards are marked with red circles indicating multiple escape attempts. He moved between Custria  (Fort Zorndorf) and Schwarmstedt camps (30 days in the cells for escaping) then to Schweidnitz where after several months he escaped with 23 others and a partner named Bush. The upshot of this was that he got 78 kilometers away but was caught taking a train.

A Red Cross Transfer  record- the red circle indicates he is prone to escape

The prisoners involved in the Schweidnitz tunnel escape were taken to Holzminden POW camp. A few months later he was court-martialed by the Germans for escaping by the tunnel and for forging passports used in the escape. (He served 47 days in the cells for escaping)

Like many of his fellow captives Mark was eligible for internment in Holland. Having been captured in 1916 he was entitled to be interned after two years captive to a neutral country like Holland. Here they would be bound to conform to laws and regulations for the rest of the war by their personal honour and good behaviour “on parole”.

Authorities were becoming aware of “barbed wire disease”, a new medical phenomenon of war. About 10% of prisoners made a concerted effort to escape, and about three times that attempted breakouts.

Military staff POWs felt a deep disillusionment, enhanced by the solitary confinement for punishment, overcrowding and harsh living conditions. They were going stir crazy. It was considered that men captured for more than two years would be suffering from barbed wire disease and should be offered internment in a neutral country. Many of his fellow prisoners refused this eligibility because one, it meant they had to sit out the war and two, they did not get to escape to fight another day. Many wanted to return to their unit to fight or fly again.

Even though the officers were able to enjoy orchestras, workshops, sports, and theatre, the physical response to being behind barbed wire for prolonged stretches of time would send the prisoners stir-crazy. Solitary confinement that was issued after the prison break would further deepen their disillusionment. The Hague Convention states that prisoners must be treated humanely. Officers were not put to work. They were to be treated with the same board, lodging, and clothing as the troops who captured them.

German officers often violated these conventions. The Commandant at Holzminden, Niemeyer, for example, was well known for the way prisoners were harshly treated. The men survived because of Red Cross parcels even though 1 in 5 were lost in transit! Letters home show that Mark asked for his mother to send him a parcel from Fortnum and Mason. I wonder if it ever arrived.

He became a Captain during his incarceration and would take his role seriously writing reports when necessary .

Mark believed that the delay in going to Holland was caused by the Germans dragging out the court-martial for their part in the Schweidnitz escape. This delayed his and others' transition to Holland and he believed it was in breach of the Hague Convention Agreement. And he let the management know via a letter to the Dutch Ambassador requesting that the British Government investigate the delay. Family believed he was depressed by this delay as letters back home revealed during 1918. We now know this was probably part of the psychological distress that Prisoners of War  suffered. It is also known that internees  suffered the same effect.

Part of the military code was that you were expected to escape whether English, NZ, Aussie or Canadian. Since the other big escape from Holzminden the Germans were more harsh. Another of Fryar’s report from the Officer’s Camp at Holzminden was about the random shooting of two Aussies, Lt Alexander Wallace Couston 10th Battalion AIF and 2^nd Lt Cyril Boyd Fenton RFC in Oct 1918. https://schweidnitzpowcampwwi.blogspot.com/2021/04/another-escape-remembered-anzac-day-2021.html As I said before, I liked his leadership. It seemed he created quite a stir. He’s not writing his report to condemn the men but as a condemnation of the behaviour of the Germans during the men’s escape.

He was eventually interned in late October 1918. Mark went to Holland with fellow escapees Asquith, Burrow, Bush, Moorhead, Patton and Murphy.  Most were repatriated on the 26th of November 1918 after the Armistice was reached.

Officer's statements were obtained upon repatriation. These explain the circumstances of their capture and recapture. Many of Mark's, part of Mark's capture statement describes his capture while serving with the 5th Sherwood Foresters.

His experience of war made it difficult to return to normal life and his father's colliery business. In 1915 his uncle had died and this put more pressure on Mark to assist in the business. All the blasting and confined spaces involved triggered what we now know to be PTSD. Rumors and perhaps some  misunderstood as to why and how  he was captured, escaped, captured and treated after the tunnel escape.

He was caught, perhaps a little misunderstanding as to why he was court-martialled by the Germans and not the English, may have persisted in his local village and family. In April 1919 he had received word that his statements regarding his capture by the enemy had been investigated and it was considered no blame at all on him in the matter.

 After the war he could not settle and returning to the colliery meant claustrophobia. Anxiety caused by the constant blasting in the mine unsettled him. He was given time to recover by his father but in the British way after 12 months he was expected to pull himself together and get back to work. This caused friction with his family assisted by persistent rumors about his capture and court martial.

Post-war mental illness was probably exacerbated by his lack of work and idleness. Rumours persisted and he was known to drink too much. Some incidences occurred unbecoming of the gentleman he was.

In 1924, he was acquitted of breaking into a garage at Stubbington and stealing five motor tyres and two tins of petrol. He denied he was the person seen leaving the garage at midnight, and that the evidence was circumstantial.

Acquittal- Gloucester Citizen 8/10/1924

 In 1926 he was charged with being in the Wesleyan Church after dark for unlawful purposes having forced the door. The judge satisfied that it was a drunken episode and in exchange for damages and expenses Mark was accordingly discharged.

More trouble - Mansfield Reporter 18/6/1926

At age 39 in 1931, he died- a bachelor. He had been living between Long Bennington and Denby and after a visit to the pub was involved in a car accident while on a cycle. He died of head and internal injuries   

He was buried with military honours.

Notes from a talk given by Jill Sparrow to a local group

Such a shame that, in hindsight Mark was probably suffering undiagnosed trauma. We now understand more about these war neuroses, probably initially caused by shell shock from his part in the Somme battle and exacerbated by barbed wire disease. Studies show that mortality rates of POWs in the 1920s and 30s were five times that of other veterans. An added cost of war.

Remembrance Day 2025

Lest we Forget

Mark's grave in Denby with his sister Molly

11/11/1918 Armistice at Holzminden

11/11/1918 Armistice at Holzminden (Repatriation part 2 )

Holzminden Officers' Camp

At the announcement of Armistice most of our men were in Holzminden POW camp where the men had been  held since being rounded up after their escape from Schweidnitz. Some had been involved in prisoner transfer and were being held in Holland.

Holzminden, located in Lower Saxony, was the location of  largest POW escape of the war. Our men had arrived there and were in solitary confinement when it occurred. On the night of 23^rd/ 24^th July 1918,  24 POWs escaped through a tunnel that was  9 months in the making and 10 of those  escaped recapture. This did not sit well with the Commandant Hauptman Karl Niemeyer who until then had a perfect record for escapes.   

Margaret Clarke and family, relatives of Eric Fulton  one of the recaptured Schweidnitz POWs from Australia have generously shared his memoir  and photographs which contained some recollections of his time there and his departure at Armistice.   Jaqueline Cook in her book “The Real Great Escape” also wrote about the days surrounding the men leaving the camp.

Prior to the news of pending Armistice,  the men were bored by their idleness but managed to break this boredom by playing football, hockey and tennis.  Although better fed than the local Germans and the staff they were malnourished. However, sometimes the prisoners could use their food items supplied by the Red Cross to bribe the guards for better treatment or contraband items.

                          A group shot supplied by De Selincourt's (right seated) family Holzminden

 Realising the end was nigh, the very unpopular and possibly evil Commandant Niemeyer commissioned a photographer to portray the camp in a most favourable light. The allied officers posed in a series of casual scenes. You could say he was preparing the propaganda. Eric Fulton in his memoir described Niemeyer as a “particularly nasty piece of work “.

Some shots made it look like the men were just killing time or enjoying sport. These shots of our men standing around posing for the photographer were not just commemorative shots for Niemeyer, several shots were purchased by the officers to collect their friends’ signatures etc.

In  the weeks leading up to the end of the war there were very real fears that the lager would be stormed by the villages desperate for food.  Some of the guards began to arm themselves against the event.

After the announcement of Armistice  delivery of over 2000 Red Cross parcels of food for the POWs was raided by townsfolk and only 200 made it to the camp in one week alone.  Our men  relied on the Red Cross for food. However, release was not immediate and the reality was that times were tough both in and outside the camp. Food was running short and winter approaching.

Our men and other POWs were suffering from malnutrition and were being struck down by the presence of Spanish influenza which had been in the camp since January 1918. Their immune system from this influenza pandemic was certainly compromised.

Niemeyer fled the camp two days after Armistice.  He never got to answer for his war time behaviour. 

Fulton in his memoir told of a love story between a female staff member and his Aussie mate ‘Brolga’ Hill. “After declaration of peace” when the men had added freedoms, he says “Brolga got out and met his Fräulein and had a whale of a time.”

When there are  more than 300,000 prisoners to repatriate from Europe It was always going to be a logistics nightmare.  There were significant delays for Holzminden man who arrived home much later than their colleagues who were interned in Holland. By Mid- November they expected to know that they would leave any day or by the end of November at the latest. However, it was a period of delays, discomfort and frustration.

Jacqueline Cook in her book “The Real Great Escape” states that the POWs celebrated with Armistice dinners with printed menus. Some of the menus remain as they  were passed around to each other for signing. While the men waited, they had  freedoms to take photos and  leave the camp “on parole”  during their free time. They  explored the river and the town which was already decorated in anticipation of their own troops returning from the war. Some POWs left the prison deciding to walk themselves to the nearest exit point.  

 

Here is Rickards Parole card issued in July 1918.

Rickard's Parole Document Holzminden

 

One night, in anticipation of the repatriation orders,  the man had a good night on the town using up the camp currency on alcohol. This was around the 4th and 5th of December. However,  the departure date was extended. Soon they were running out of food with the Red Cross parcels drying up and the letters from home not getting through. Next, they were told they were to leave on the 9th and 10th of December by train. That didn’t come to fruition. When they didn’t leave there was some discontent.   Camp items were  smashed up and bonfires lit. The  POWs sabotaged the fire hoses by cutting them and in all it was not a good look.

 Finally, it  took a senior officer to get action from the local train station. It worked,  and on 11^th  December the men marched in formation out of the Holzminden  compound to their train home.

 As Fulton recounts the happy day when they were released men from Holzminden. They were moved by train to Holland. Imagine their excitement to be greeted at the border by some English ladies who have travelled from England to ensure the first people to greet them upon leaving captivity were some of their own. Each was presented with a small silken Union Jack as a memento. Next, they spent three days in Holland, visiting shops and  mixing and drinking with the excited Dutch who treated them quite hospitably.

From Rotterdam,  they boarded ships and were escorted around under- sea mines to the estuary at Hull.  As with the Schweidnitz POWs, they were met with a declaration from the King on the wharf and a banquet of delicious delicacies provided by the local women. Of our 24 tunnellers, 6 returned via the internment camp and the rest returned between 14^th December and 6^th January.

Wearne in a short memoir  wrote 

“On the 10^th December 1918, we entrained for Holland. We arrived at Rotterdam on the 12^th December 1918, and embarked on the S.S. Takada on the 15^th December 1918 arriving at Hull on the 14^th December 1918.”

Upon return to Britain each man received a King's welcome home letter, 2 pounds and a voucher for two months leave. 

Extract from Fulton's memoir c 1980

 They were given leave while they awaited demobilisation. After giving their “capture statements” and contemplating whether they would reenlist or re-join their units everyone went their separate ways.

For Australia and New Zealand Royal Flying Corps members demobilisation was slower due to their being no longer attached to the AIF or the New Zealand Infantry. Passage home was going to be slow so the men took advantage of the time and hospitality of various friends and relatives around England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.  All those addresses and signatures became invitations to “see my home town ”. A trip back to the “old country” would be a long time coming for most.  Eventually passage home for the Canadians, Aussies and NZers was available by ship via a long sea journey home. A lot of returning men didn’t make it back to the Antipodes until mid-1919.

Fulton tells of one last retaliation at the camp for their treatment by the Germans.  Some cans were hidden in the wall of their prison home. Think of unwanted cans of soup, cabbage etc which were punctured and put back into the wall cavity. Fulton’s plan was that they would announce themselves at some later stage to those military personnel who are going to be housed there sometime in the future.

So, what became of our tunnelers post war? As we’ve seen from our “tunneller” stories some remained with their units and continued have a career in the  Military, Air Force, Navy or Merchant Marines. Some went  back to start their careers or marry their sweethearts after they were demobbed. One died of Spanish Flu. It is interesting to see who returned to their homelands for good and who moved to the countries of their POW friends they had met in camp in either  Canada, New Zealand, Australia or England.

      Prisoners needed to be repatriated from all over Germany- the officer camps have orange dot

Some of our research has revealed friendships which were fond and rekindled. For some and not unusually they never talked of their time in the POW camp or indeed the war to family. Many never wanted to join in regimental reunions such as Anzac Day etc. As with a lot of WWI soldiers- best forgotten or experiences never understood by their families. There have been reports of reunion dinners organised by the English and Canadian men. As for ANZAC reunions, these have generally been in their battalions or district marches and events  rather than POW groups.

Some like Fulton , Howes, Wearne, Copeland and Harker we have found have been open about their war time experiences of flying, planning escapes and life at the POW camp. We have fine examples of some very articulate  memoirs that they have been persuaded to write  much later in life.

We are mindful of the fact that so much has been preserved and needs to continue to be preserved by the many generations in between the 1914 and now. Their story needs telling. One of our team is in the process of writing it based on the research of many who share the passion.

Thankfully we’ve had the opportunity to pull together this part of history. Thanks to all those generations who have  jealously guarded the relics of this story and who have shared with us and researched with us  to give insights into the story of capture, transfers, POW life, escapes, repatriation and  other antics.

Repatriation Part three follows ......

Remembering Armistice 11/11/1918   Remembrance Day 2022