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[Page 70]
possessed a small tin of meat and several rations of black bread. Later the soup arrived and with it the odious smell of decomposed fish and vegetables, which sickened me. The Russians and many Englishmen, ate the stuff greedily and with apparent relish. Regrettably these Englishmen had had no parcels, which apparently had been held up for some weeks, so they were compelled to eat anything in the way of food. I met several men who had spent months with me in Setettin. One fellow had a stick and crutch and allowed me the use of them. I found it very difficult to walk with such crude makeshifts, however; I managed to get along somehow. The latrines are nearly half a mile distant and the sand is frozen and dangerously slippery. My first journey in the dark occupied two hours and needless to say I was quite exhausted by the time I regained the hut. My old friends Sergeant Johnson and Corporal Wilks visited me later. They inspired me by promising that they would find me a pair of crutches. This cheered me considerably. I eventually retired for the night and spent an awful eight hours of misery, caused by the cold and hard boards. My bones were protruding horribly and my left knee was stiff; thus adding to my inconvenience. Under ordinary conditions of health I would not have minded the roughness, but when one is weak and crippled this suffering is intense.
18th – 20th On the 18th. I received two thin filthy blankets and a palliasse filled with wood shavings and infested with vermin. The soups are abominable. I intend to suffer hunger until my parcels arrive again. Johnson gave me two sticks and I was able to get about a little. Several of us were inspected by the Hun doctor and marked for internment in Switzerland – the second occasion in six months.- The medical papers are forwarded to Berlin for confirmation before anyone is allowed to proceed to the frontier. There are many men here at present, who were marked for exchange twelve months ago. The ice if now thawing rapidly and will soon expose a waste of sand and filth.
21st – 31st Numbers of men have returned from reprisal camps, 600 arriving in one day. Thousands of parcels have arrived recently but the bread is mostly mouldy and unfit for human consumption. The men are all in a frightful state, starved, sick, filthy; their clothes