Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1919-04-17
Operations Without Anestheties
One Method Of Torturing
British Officers.
FED ON ERsATz RATIONs
Captain cilllland Declares Many Men
Were Driven Mad by Confinement
s Wounded Given No Medical
Attention for Months.

New Y0rk.-Capt. Horace G. Gill
land, British officer and author, now
in this country, tells thrilling story
OF the c0ld-blooded treatment accord
ed him while a prisoner in Germany
from October 1914. until April. 1917,
when he escaped.
An officer in the Loyal North Lam
eaShire regiment of the British regu-
hr army, Captain Gillihnd, landed in
France on August -. 1914, with the
nrst division of the British eXpedi-
sionary force. He served with that
division until October when, at the
first Ypres battle. In the La Bassee
engagement. he was made prisoner.
His company had been ordered. 80
strong, to hold a corner In front or
In Rassee while the hard-pressed Eng
HSh withdrew before a numerically
orerpowering German force. They
held for % hours, and, when the men
In gray finally stormed over the
trenches held by the khaki-clad troops,
there was only Captain Gilllland and
three enlisted men alive. All four
were desperately wounded.
I'VE were ordered to the rear" said
Csptain GllIiland, land commenced
crawling along as none of us could
walk. Our captors were enraged at
The resistance we had made against
them and refused us Red Cross mid.
One of the men, unable to crawl fast
enough an account Of his wounds, was
bay0neted by German soldier a few
.fe4 In front of me. Before we got to
In Bassee had become separated
from the other two men and ] have
never heard of them since.
Given No Medical Aid.
n was suffering from bullet
wound in the ankle. and serious
shrapnel wound in the chest which
had driven splinterS of my ribs into
sRy lungs In spite of my condition, |
aid not receive medical aid of any
SOFT; in fact. 1t was year and eight
months before the Germans even ex-
an'ned my wounds.
From October until December ! !
was i'm prison In Lille, and then | was
transported with a batch of other
prisoners. British officers and men and
French. both regular and colonials to
3lunden, in Hanover That trip the
men that went on it will never forget.
AT Efunden, which vase not the
Rorxt prison camp saw, was placed
in q room, 30 feet by 20, in company
With 16 Russian officers, the idea be-
ing. you see, that British officers
should not have even the small COM
fort Of talking TO their countrymen.
"We were not allowed to read or to
smoke, and man after man went mad.
You cannot conceive of the hate that
rises in your heart when you are
10eked In like that. hate not only for
roar eaptors. but also for the men
rOniined with you. ! have seen men
in my room go stark raving mad be-
eause the walls Of the room persisted
In being square. You can hardly read
ize that here. can you?
Il kept trying to escape but was too
weak with wounds and scurvy. They
rave me no medical attention, and
The food was awful.
@FTnaiiy got letter home in
secret code that my mother sent to
the foreign office and finally It
reached the American embassy in
Berlin. Ambassador Gerard acted at
once. His visit to Munden in April.
1915. resulted in our being transferred
10 Bishofswerda in Saxony. fairly
decent prison.
Used No Anesthetic.
Il was transferred half dozen
times after that until April. 1916,
found me again at Bishofswerda.
There the Swiss Red Cross commits
siOn saw me and ordered the Germans
4 10 give me medical attention. At this
time ] weighed about lob pounds,
where had formerly weighed 1917.
II was sent to a hospital In Ores
den where surgeon operated. taking
4