Alexander diary, 1917-1918 / Roy Alexander - Page 213
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[Page 213]
The dismal little procession filed out of the gates, the Italian priest in his black vestments ahead, then the plain deal case, a strong bayonetted guard following. The cemetery is through the pines on the edge of big rye-fields, over a thousand wooden crosses, Jewish triangles, & Mohammedan crescents rise from the ground.
Brandenburg was the scene of a typhoid outbreak in the winter of 1915-16, when the Germans abandoned the camp and left hundreds of Russians to die. They are all buried here.
There is also the grave of Genower, a British sailor. In March 1917 Genower, a Frenchman and five Russians were in the "Strafe" barrack one night when the wooden hut caught fire. Because the sentry had no orders to let the prisoners out he calmly watched them (or rather heard them) burn to death, bayonetting back into the flames one poor wretch who was endeavouring to squeeze through a tiny window. All 7 were burnt, of course, to ashes. On our return we were soundly rebuked by the Fishwives for attending a "Froggies" funeral!