Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 38]
quite near the barrack, which was about thirty yards away, and then sing out at the top of our voices, "Rusky", which drew the attention of the German N.C.O. who would see Rusky just disappearing round the corner of the barrack, when he would give chase, but Rusky was nearly always successful in dodging the N.C.O. If caught, he would be given seven days imprisonment.
The Russians tried all ways and means to dodge work in the camp, and it was surprising to see large numbers hobbling about with sticks, to make the Germans think they were cripples. Some of them used to come to me and ask me to put bandages on them, and when they fell in on parade, they would go to the German officer in charge, show him the bandage and say, "Rusky Kaput," meaning "Rusky's done." They came so often that I used to say, "Come on Ruskie, you want "Nicht Arbeit Bandage". Rusky would laugh, and sometimes offer me money.
I saw a German N.C.O. while on one of these parades, take out his bayonet and strike with it amongst a lot of men for not forming up in line as he wished them to do.
Occasionally a Russian would try and hang himself with thin rope we [indecipherable] in the hospital and Italians would try and cut their throats. I remember being asked to attend an Italian prisoner who had cut his throat, and after dressing it, I was removing some of his clothes when I discovered that he had tried to disembowel himself. We had a thin rope in the Hospital with which a Russian hanged himself.
One great drawback in this camp was that we had no recreation or even reading rooms. Just before I escaped, a Commissioner came from Switzerland to inspect the camp, whom I understood was to be