Schweidnitz POW Camp repatriation- A Christmas time homecoming. (Repatriation Part 1)

 

A group shot of the men of Schweidnitz from Desbaret's collection

The story of the repatriation of our men has been divided into three parts.

Schweidnitz POW Camp repatriation- A Christmas time homecoming. (Repatriation Part 1)

Part one deals with the men repatriating from Schweidnitz POW camp.   Ironically, when our men escaped Schweidnitz  men were transferred out of Holzminden into Schweidnitz.  Some who had transferred in in January 1918 with many of our tunnelling men were still there …if they hadn’t escaped in the meantime.

Much of the information for this part was taken from an article by JB Sterndale Bennett MC as reprinted in The  Great War … I was there! Part 47.  “A Prisoners View of Germany Our Happy Christmas Homecoming” Further information is provided from Lt Eduard William Desbarats’  memoir shared by his grandson Alexandre Desbarats.

Taken from an article by JB Sterndale Bennett MC as reprinted in The  Great War … I was there! Part 47.  “A Prisoners View of Germany Our Happy Christmas Homecoming”

When the news of Armistice came, there was obviously confusion. Some expected retaliation from the guarding soldiers. Others expected there would be “the infuriated populous” and starving German peasants perhaps invading the camp. Then there were the humiliated, defeated soldiers returning to their homes. The Schweidnitz POWs were advised to await orders.

Taken from an article by JB Sterndale Bennett MC as reprinted in The  Great War … I was there! Part 47.  “A Prisoners View of Germany Our Happy Christmas Homecoming”

 

 

The allies could probably have walked out of prison but being hundreds of miles from the border they decided to stay. It was an uncertain time with fear of danger as it had been a bitter defeat for the Germans and the locals were suffering much hardship. Sterndale Bennett reports that after Armistice the German soldiers ripped off the Imperial Eagles from their helmets and cut off their epaulets.  

Red Cross supplies increased for the POWs but it was an embarrassment of riches. The POWs who were relying on these parcels to be fed shared their biscuits and  chocolates with the little starving children in the town on their parole walks.

The men still suffered food shortages and they were uncertain as to when they were leaving. During the four weeks they waited to be free the POWs spent seeing life in the countryside around Silesia. Freedoms were extended to the men to leave the camp by day and some made friends and socialised freely with local German families. 

When their turn came, they were to leave 25 at a time. Those imprisoned the longest would be let out first. Sterndale Bennett reports that when they departed for Danzig by train they were farewelled by villagers with flowers and rousing cheers as they left. They boarded their ship at Danzig, now Gransk, Poland on the Baltic Sea.  Once there they were greeted by music and bands on board.   

They crossed the North Sea landing at Leith near Edinburgh in Scotland. Some arrived on Christmas morning and  they were greeted by residents of Edinburgh with a breakfast in the quayside sheds and the Gordon Highlanders playing them ashore.

The Gordon Highlanders playing to some other returning interned men at Leith 

From there they moved to Scarborough where they spent a Christmas where they supped on  Christmas fare in a fine hotel. Their happy homecoming was followed by a medical check over, the receipt of £2 pounds and a  voucher for two months paid home  leave. Each was presented with a  welcome home letter from the King.

Over 31,000 men were repatriated via Leith. People of Leith gave a right royal welcome to the returning men by  lining the streets,  cheering and shaking the men’s’ hands.  In turn, on the ships,  the men stood crowded on the deck waving their hats and hankies as they approached the wharf.

On the day Captain Sterndale returned he reported that the first to land "by universal wish of all on board" was the very popular and gallant Captain Blaikie

Captain Blaikie was popular with the men

Most of the other repatriated men arrived back, either via Dover, Hull or Leith.

Edouard  Desbarats,  a Canadian from the Royal Navy Air Service was captured in Disparu 20^th September 1917 who had been a POW at Schweidnitz since transferring in from Holzminden with another 90 men on 19^th January 1918. He had been incarcerated since being shot down during the Third Battle of Ypres in Sept 1917.

 Edward Desbarets  supplied by grandson Alec

He wrote a memoir of his time and recorded those last days post Armistice in his memoir. They had been told they would leave around Christmas. However, some had been ordered out separately to assist in other repatriations.  While waiting however,  they had been able to cash their Cox’s Cheques and enjoy some local hospitality.

“The very first thing we bought was a sack of onions the four of us finished them in one sitting then we bought a cake that looks mouth-watering. A dreadful disappointment the frosting tasted like black bacon fat.”

On another occasion they were told that “up in the Reisenberg there was a castle with a restaurant that serves good meals so a group of us walked up the river to the big defile through which passed the road to Prague Praha (Prague )and found the Schloss Kynsburg -a  frowning mass of towers and battlements way up on the hill overlooking the road. It had been built by a robber baron in the 12th century to levy  toll on merchants passing through the defile.”There they found “a clean restaurant serving soup roast pork apple sauce baked potatoes with hot rum punch all for 5rm.”  (1/- was equal to 25 Reich marks). Desbarats and his friends found it to be an agreeable day out despite the 15 mile walk each way. Returning via the coal mining district they stopped for” black beer and plum and cherry brandy.”

In his memoir Desbarats recounted meeting some of Von Mackensen’s army returning through Schweidnitz. Although “they felt very sore about their defeat” they put it down to a “betrayal by the home front”. In Desbarats words “ give us 20 years” they said “and we will show you” “1918+20 = 1938”.

Desbarats left a little later than Sterndale Bennett who was in the Christmas day in Leith contingent. Desbartes reported that the final parcels from the Red Cross were full of magnificent  “proper Christmas Dinner” which was much welcomed by the remaining men. Desbarats embarked on a special train on Boxing Day via Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin and Swinemunde. The train trip to Swinemunde was quite eventful with protests by students and their train needing to be rerouted around the outside of Berlin because sailors revolted and were attacking the Reichstag. They were welcomed by one of their own- Gus Edwards who had been deployed out of Schweidnitz.

Excerpt from Edward Desbarets memoir supplied by grandson Alec

They said  goodbye to Germany embarking on a Danish ferry for Copenhagen. They were treated to a “splendid meal with Carlsberg “.  After landing at the ferry port at night and then train to Copenhagen they stayed in a hotel for the night and had  a quick walk around Copenhagen.

At a resort hotel high above the beach, they were treated to a well- earned wash, pamper and massage. After  the R&R, sleep, showers and hospitality they spent New Year’s Eve in Copenhagen and then on board the ship to take them to Leith. Here they  celebrated New Year’s Day with turkey, pudding and champers. 

Excerpt from Edward Desbarets memoir supplied by grandson Alec

Being Canadian, he too would have to wait months for passage home. Luckily Desbarats was able to catch a last-minute cancellation and was on his way home in February after a little bit of R&R and shopping for suits and coats.

Thanks to Desbarats’ well written memoir we get insights into the last glimpses of London before the expats returned home. Having left London in the summer of 1917 he had returned in winter to “sleet, fog, rationing, no hotels, no friends.”  No doubt some were asked to sign up again with promises of promotion etc. Debarats complains of “no friends”. After being cooped up with a man in a POW camp or being covered in mud on the battlefields downtime would’ve felt quite odd.

After having organised  his departure in February,  Desbarats was given leave and he went visiting.

Imagine after all that captivity,  strolling around London free as a bird, buying clothes and gifts for those at home, meeting up with relatives seeing parts of the British Isles never seen and maybe never to be seen again.

 Remembrance Day 2022 of the Armistice on 11/11/1918

 

 

Morale lifts with each Red Cross Parcel

Thinking back to World War I ……what was worse than your son or loved one being away fighting in the war?  Death and injury rates highest but what a feeling of helplessness to be told your relative is missing- in- action or a Prisoner of war POW being held in the enemy territory.

Relations living thousands of miles away in Australia, New Zealand , or Canada would be trying to think of ways to ease the pain to keep them alive or warm. I’m thinking it would take months to transport goods to individuals.  The deliveries from Britain would have been a little shorter.  Some families were hard pushed finding food  and clothing for themselves let alone for the POWs. In true war time spirit people mobilized under the auspices of the Red Cross charity to provide food, clothing etc to the men.

We now know in hindsight that the Germans were suffering their own shortages of food. Food supplied by the Germans to their prisoners/soldiers was very meagre- only a small amount of meat and vegetables to make a watery soup or stew. It was a starvation diet so if they were lucky they got some sort of soup, potatoes and black sour bread. They could not be supplied with any more as the Germans did not have food themselves and there was none to spare.

Originally the British Government was sending food but this was stopped by the Germans. There were fears that the food contained all sorts of secret contraband such as compasses etc. Many shipments were destroyed. Later the International Association of the Red Cross and the order of St John collaborated to coordinate relief for the British POWs through a Central Prisoner of War Committee.

 

A Replica package

 

Back in the home front the Red Cross parcels provided vitals for sustenance to the prisoner. In some cases these were paid for by relatives or donations. Parcels included clothing, food, soap and toiletries.  Cigarettes and games such as draughts, cards and dominoes were included. Parcels were sent fortnightly to the POWs. Some would go astray and men would share amongst themselves. Occasionally men sent letters to their families requesting specific items of warm clothes and coats.  Further afield people did their best to ease the discomfort by knitting and selling gloves and socks.

Money was collected to fund purchases of  food and  cigarettes etc. Over 395,000 parcels and 36,000 clothing parcels were  distributed by Australian Red Cross alone.  

The standard parcel contained

3 tins of beef

2 tins of cheese or loaf goods

1 tin of dripping

2tins of milk

a quarter of a pound of tea

a quarter of a pound of Cocoa

2 pounds of biscuits

50 cigarettes

 

Donations collected for the Central Prisoner of War Fund from those at the home front exceeded £674,908 in fact over £5 million was spent.

New Zealand relatives had the choice of buying a choice of parcels for 4 shillings or 6 shillings for a toiletries and clothing parcel.  

Sometimes parcels were searched and at other times the German guards would steal the contents of the parcels. When Lt Alan Barrington Hill arrived home  in Australia on 31 March 1919,  an article written in the Sydney Morning Herald  saw Hill  complaining of the mess Commandant Neimeyer made of their parcels.  During his stint in Holzminden POW camp after the 24 attempted their escape he complained that Neimeyer used to mix the contents of the Red Cross and other parcels “so that they were unusable”.

Letters from loved ones were also facilitated by the Red Cross and often there were requests to family members for much wanted supplies. Michael Bowes Lyons writes

June 27^th Wednesday [1917]

1^st ENGLISH PARCELS..... four parcels from England. Three large tongues, some biscuits, butter, which arrived good but melted, a lot of toilet things which will be very useful, especially the soap of which I had none. The biscuits were too delicious. The tongue will be invaluable. The other parcel was cigarettes unfortunately!

June 28^th Thursday [1917]

Life is really very thrilling just now, one expects things and letters every day. Food is still of great moment & we have to do a lot of economising, but things are not half so bad as they were. We don’t really feel hungry now but a healthy longing for food. We have been doing very well in coffee & cocoa & tea lately & meats for the last few days including breakfast...... A dozen eggs are coming for Simonds which will be wonderful if they aren’t bad.

 July 2^nd Monday [1917]

Two parcels from London, six tins of sausage, two of milk, three Veal & Ham pies & three tins of salmon, quite the best I’ve got so far.

Our men were officers and as such did not have to work.  They had plenty of spare time. They were able to request athletic equipment, balls, books etc.

An officer named Goldsmith upon returning to New Zealand gave an interview in the Auckland Star on 4 January 1919. He told of his use of items to plot an escape. Occasionally the POWs used the food in parcels to bribe the guards to help them escape. For example two cans of dripping and a tin of bully beef could get you through the gate after dark. Another time a set of roller skates was swapped in exchange for a quarter pound  packet of tea or coffee.

Red Cross  were also sending out medical supplies. Once such parcel  was an embarrassment of riches when local medical people had not seen these items in months. The supplies were put to use and shared in the town.

Sometimes a prisoner would be moved around a lot and it would take months for parcels to get through. The New Zealand Herald reports that Capt Avey said that it took 4 1/2 months before his parcels arrived for him. In this time he lived merely on the German rations supplemented by supplies from the fellow British officers.

A letter from NZer Lieutenant Gordon Robertson who was also in Schweidnitz writes home of the hardships “ this is the last place on earth you want to come to”. He complains that he has to be supplied with food by relatives in England the German allowance being too meager to afford any sustenance.

 

Local news of the need for supplies

The arrival of food parcels from home provided a welcome boost to morale . For those who had relatives in England supplies were more varied as parcels could be sent more swiftly to the men. As an added advantage for the officers, they were able to cash cheques on their own Banks which enabled them  to order cheese in cans and butter from Denmark and bread from Switzerland.

Red Cross Xmas passage 1917

Captain Sterndale reported that after the Armistice on the 11th of the 11th and the officers were waiting repatriation, Red Cross parcels were still getting through. Upon seeing the hardship in the town the officers would stuff their pockets with chocolate and biscuits to give to the local children. While out on their walks, hungry children with hollow faces would follow the men as though they were the Pied Piper.  Towards the end of the war he guesses that 75% of the parcels got through and that even though many never got past Holland his feeling was that the Germans would not have stolen them.

Canadian Edward Desbarets wrote of his love of receiving the packages .

Excerpt from Edward Desbarets memoir supplied by grandson Alec 

Even so close to leaving the camp on 26^th December 1918, Desbarets writes in his memoir of the much appreciated final parcel of Christmas food and the postcard from the Red Cross girls!

 

 Excerpt from Edward Desbarets memoir supplied by grandson Alec 

Australian Lt RH Richardson in a letter back home from Schweidnitz sent some time in 1918 expresses the dependence on food parcels from home and gives great praise to the Red Cross for their help to the Prisoners of War.  

Australian soldiers from Schweidnitz were grateful: Punch (Melb) 10/10/1918

Thank you RED CROSS for your role in both wars and continuing today.