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[Page 5]
5. to the parade ground, and when we arrived there the Commandant told us that the English were not soldiers; they were "Spotsmen." Some of the men were detailed to work in fitters shops; some as carpenters and the others as labourers. The workshops were situated just outside the village, and the winds that blew across chilled us to the bone. The labourers had various duties, such as unloading and loading machinery and coal. One day the Commander rode across on his horse to one of our sergeants and pointing out a Turkish soldier in the distance asked him if it was one of the English trying to "flight." On being told that it was a Turkish soldier, he said "Ach, my seeing is not good."
Things went very quietly for about a month and then, one morning as we were marching through the village we saw the Commandant waiting for us on one of the street corners, when we passed him the sergeant in charge gave the order "Eyes right", and saluted him the same as we do one of our own officers; he then started to shout "Stop, stop,' we halted, and then he told us that it was very good but that the sergeant did not give the command loudly enough. He then said "I vill go to the next street, and you vill march past and the sergeant vill repeat his order" On this being done he said "Dat is very good."
Nothing of any importance happened for the next three or four weeks, but one morning a Commander stopped one of our fellows and asked him what he had for breakfast the chap replied "Salt and water, Sir"; he said "Vat is dat?" the chap again replied "Salt and water"; he then pulled an English-German dictionary out and found out what he meant. He then ordered the man three days imprisonment for saying that soup was salt-water. At the expiration of the four days the man was released and carried on work as usual. The Commandant came across him during the forenoon and said "You are zee man that