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[Page 16]
I stood in, but later on, two small blankets were served out.
We were marched every day, Sundays included, to work on barges and sand-hills. It was our duty to throw sand or gravel from the barge to a platform on a line with the top of the deck, four men were usually placed in the barge to throw the sand on to the first platform, built of planks with a steel plate, and two men would throw it from the platform to the wharf, and the sand shovelled into a small truck by three prisoners who would then convey it to other prisoners about 100 yards away. Each truck was met by two prisoners who would then throw the sand, after being tipped on to the side of the line, to two other men who had to seeit was kept clear of the line. Now the hardest part of the work, which no doubt the German officers had well worked out, was when a man fell ill or was perhaps to weak to keep working, which disorganized the whole work, whereupon the German N.C.O. complained to the guards, saying they must keep the men going to time, and the guard would stand over a weak man and worry him until he fell exhausted or until the day's work was finished. It was quite a common thing to see a guard knock a prisoner down for not being able to keep up with the others. I very often advised the boys when they were too sick or too weak to move, just to lie down and stand a few kicks, as the guards willingly kicked a man when he was down, but if unable to frighten a man to work, they generally let him lie. If men could not do enough work to satisfy the guards, he would have to work with the Russians after we had finished, as they generally worked different hours to us. Whenever If a Russian fainted, I have seen the German Corporal in charge of them set his dog on to them. The French girls also had to work