The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1918-11-08

and we could not nSure out why, {
man told us he thought the water was
poisoned, and a Russian doctor, VINO
! was a prisoner, slipped US word about
it also. So, after that, very few OF
us drank water from the hydrant.
was scared stiff at first, because had
had some of the water, but after that
l did not touch hydrant water.
1t was q good thing for us that
there was always plenty of snow in
Germany, and even luckier that the
Huns did not shoot us for eating it.
It was about the only thing they did
not deprive us Oft was not verboten.
| I thought knew what tough coolies
were, in the trenches, but they were
regular mollycoddles compared to the
pets we had in the prison camps. After
we boiled our clothes we would be
| free from them for not more than two
hours, and then they would come
back, with re-enforcements, thirsting
for vengeance.
The camp at Neustrelitz was sur
rounded by big dogs, which were kept
! just outside the barbed wire. We had
them going all the time. Every once
| in a while, some fellow would make
an awful racket, and the next thing
we knew, there was Fritz coming like
| a shot, with musket at his hip, just
us they carry them in a charge, and
! blowing whistles at each other until
they We're blue in the face. When
ever they thought some one was es-
Gaping, they ran twice as fast as 1
ever saw them run, except when the
Foreign Legion was on their heels
at Dixmude.
When they got up to the dogs, they
would first talk to them and then kick
them, and after that, they would rest
their rifles ON the wire and yell
"Zuruck!" at us. We all enjoyed this
innocent pastime very much, and we
were glad they had the dogs.
There were some things the Huns
did that you just could not explain.
For instance, one of the Russians
walked out of the kuche, as we We're
passing, and we heard a bang! and
the Russian keeled over and. went
west. Now, we had not done anything
and the other Russians said he had
behaved himself, worked hard and had
never had any trouble. They just
killed him, and that is all there was to
1t. But not one Of us could figure
out why.
After we had been at Neustrelitz
for three weeks, they drilled us out of
the camp to a railway station, and
stood US in the snow for four hours
waiting for the train. We were ex-
hausted and began falling, one by
one, and each time one of US fell, the
sentries would yell, "Nicht krank ]"
and give US the rifle butt. We had |
our choice of standing up and dying
or falling down and being killed, and
it was fine choice to have to make.
The cars finally pulled in, and as
usual, the windows were smashed, the /
doors open, and the compartments just |
packed with snow. When we saw this,
we knew we were going to get worse
treatment, even, than We had been I
getting, and many of us wanted to die.
1t had not been unusual for some of
the men to tell the Germans to shoot
them too, and it seems as though it
was always man who wanted to live
who did get it and went west.
However, all of us nearly got killed
when we reached Wittenberg. When
the train stopped there, we saw big
of sliced bread on the sta
ion platform and we all stared at it.
Na ctr
then we made a rush for it. But when
we got nearer, we saw that there were
four sentries guarding it and four
women issuing it out to the German Il
soldiers. They would not give US any,
If course.
So we stood around and watched the
Huns eat 1t, while they and the women
laughed at us, and pretended that
hey were starving and would groan
md rub their stomachs and say, ,
NIGHTS I'll essen" to each other, and
hen grab a big hunk of bread and
at It, What we did not say to them
vas very little indeed. We were GER
ainly wild if any men ever were.
Then some Of us said we were 60
ng to get some of that bread II we
rent west for it. So we started
ght, and while they were attending to
ONE of us, the others grabbed and hid
II the bread they could. They rousted
s. back into the cars and we were !
ust starting to divide up the bread G
yhen they caught us with it and took Z
. away. We were wilder than ever +
hen, but we could not do anything. c
1t got colder after we left Witten- a
erg, and the snow blew into the cars t
trough the windows and doors until t
re were afraid to sleep for fear of $
reezing. 1t was the worst night / u
ave ever seen, and the coal bunl1ers c
q the Yarrowdale seemed like pal
ce compared to the compartments,
ecause we could at least move around
the ship, while in the train we could G
OF move at all. and were packed so "
ose that we could not even stretch b
lr legs and arms. Some of the men r.
ID die, but not In my compartment, A
rough most of us were frost-bitten n
bout the face. X
yvo 4hor>-ht Tint r'~r+ ---c--,d rovor ~