Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1915-07-25
Out of Eleven Hundred,
Only Thirty-Scycn
Were Left.
Taken BY GERMANS
Deserted BY Their Fellow
Soldiers, Berlin
Says.

Correspondence of the Associated IrcSs)
GOETTINGEN, Germany, July %.
Late in February the Firth Royals,
one of the crack Canadian regiments,
HOO strong. left Montreal en- route
for England and the great European
war. Less than four months later,
after weeks in the trenches at lprrs,
only 81 of those l,lOO men were
known to remain alive and they are
prisoners in the great military camp
here.
Ovcrpowered by the gases waited to-
! ward their positions, deserted 10y cor
ored troops supposed to come 10 lhe'r
support. AN but deCinated ny inc
deadly German fire, he little pahd
of four noncommisstOned OFFICERS anu
80 privates was easy prey. helole
they regaincd consciousness they were
in captivity.
The thirty-scyen at GoettinGen hope
hat some of their brave regiment
may have escaped and may sun Dc
fighting. but they do not believe IT,.
They were on the outskirts OF the gas
columns that swept over the liencnes'
and they escaped with their lives he
cause they did not have to breathe
the noXiOus fumes in their lull
strength.
Many of them have as yet not been
able to establish communication WIN
their families in far-ott Canada anu
are not sure whether mothers, wives
and sisters know that they have es-
capped death,
The men portray the fight at y pres
AS one of indescIibable horror, they
chafe at confinement n the lack OF
assurance that England * winnings
they express in varying degrees sur
prise that the Germans are not the
~"barbarians" they had believed them
to be.
Harry Aiming, a Montreal boy.
serves as well as any other memhe'
Of the little group to describe thelI
feelings as they now LOAF ABOUT III
captivity. -
''There isn't any question he
said. but that we all have had to re-
wise our opinion about the Germans,
though not all of us were prepared
TO believe all we had heard n read
about them. The worst thing ABOUT
being in a prison camp is the mac
tiyity. and for that the Germans nat
urally are not responsible.
The food is fair, though as a mat
ter of curse mOnOtonOuS | TOR one
haven't any complaint, though ! man
age to get a good many extra Things
iron flEltlu W plVN' 'NN "iN''
imagine that the mar who hasn't any
friends and who doesn't get any eX'
tras does a certain amount of SUI
fering.
But mail. none and packages
come regularly and reasonably quick
We all have to admire the thorough
ness of the German system in vogue
here. Those Of us who are able to
take matters philosophically appre-
ciate that, though being prisoners of
war Is far from being a joke, we are
well treated on the whole. Those who
are the least unhappy are the ones
who are able to sit back, confident
that England is going to win and thai
this can't last forever
Another member Of the Fifth Roya
gave a brief glimpse into the relations
among the allies. lie said
Let me tell you that the French
as fighters have proved a big disap-
pointment to us. Whenever the two
have been together-French anC
English and Canadians-it has beer
the latter two who have had to bear
the brunt OF the work.
"The Belgians, OF the other hand
have proved the finest little fighters
in the world. If the French were any.
where near as good, with their mum
bers, the war would be over
what do YOU people think of The
colored troops" The Canadian wa!
asked. as two oddly clad soldiers
black as ebony, and speaking a hOr
rible iargon OF French, sauntered by
the barracks.
"They're towards"
cat Ypres they sent up a lot o
those s~o-called soldiers to relieve us
and they promptly turned and ran
We had to shoot a lot of the beggar
ourselves to prevent generalization.
Aside from the Fifth Royals, tn,
Canadian troops now imprisoned a
Goettingen belong to the 4Sth High
landers of Toronto and the Second
Bluffs. There are approximately 10!
Of the former left out of the origina
100 and less than that number o
Bluffs.