The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1919-04-12
Operations Without Anesthetics
One Method of, Torturing
British Officers.
FED ON ERSATz RATIoNS
Captain GiillIand Declares Many Men
Were Driven Mad by Confinement
--Wounded Given No Medical
Attention for Months.


Of the cold-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 Ian
cashire regiment of the British regu-
lnr army. Captain Gilliland, landed in
France on August IL, 1914, with the
first division of the British expedi-
tionary force. He served with that
division until October when, at the
hrst Ypres battle, in the La Bassee
engagement, he was made prisoner.
His company had been ordered, $40
strong, to hold q corner In front Of
La Bassee while the hard-pressed Eng
lish withdrew before numerically
overpowering German force. They
held for % hours, and, when the men
In gray finally stormed over the
trenches held by the khakiclad troops,
there was only Captain Gilliland and
three enlisted men alive. All four
were desperately wounded.
I'VE were ordered to the rear" said
Captain Gilliland. "and 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 aid.
One Of the men, unable to crawl fast
enough an account Of his wounds, was
bayoneted by a German soldier few
feet in front Of me. Before We got to
La Bassee T had become separated
from the other two men and I have
never heard of them since.
Given No Medical Aid.
II was suffering from bullet
wound in the ankle and serious
shrapnel wound in the chest which
had driven splinters Of my ribs into
my lungs. In spite OF my condition, l
did not: receive medical aid Of amy
sort; Id fact,:. IT was. a, year and eight
months before the Germans even ex-
afhfned my wounds. -
"From October until December II
was in prison in Lille, and then I was
transported with batch Of other
prisoners, British officers and men and
French, both regular and colonials, to
Munden, in Hanover. That trip. the
men that went on it will never forget.
= AT Munden. which was not the
worst prison camp saw, + was placed
IN a room. 80 feet by 30. in company
with 16 Russian. officers. the idea be-
Ing, you see, that British officers
Should not have even the small com.
tort Of talking to their countrymen.
1--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
locked in like that, hate not only for
your captors, but also for the men
confined with you. have seen men
in my room 90 stark raving mad be-
cause the walls Of the room persisted
in being square. You can hardly real
lie that here. can you?
II kept trying to escape but was too
weak with wounds and scurvy. They
gave me no medical attention, and
the food was awful.
rFFinally got letter home in a
secret code that my mother sent to
the foreign office and finally II
reached the American embassy In
Berlin. Ambassador Gerard acted at
once. His visit to Munden In April,
1915. resulted in our being transferred
to Bishofswerda in Saxony. a fairly
decent prison.
IT was transferred half a dozen
times after that until April. 1915
found me again at Bishofswerda.
There the Swiss Red Cross commits.
sion saw. me and ordered the Germans
to give me medical attention. At this
time weighed about 103 pounds,
where I had formerly weighed 1875.
II was sent to d hospital in ORES.
den where q surgeon operated. taking
the bone spllnters from my lungs.
That, I think, was about the cruelest
experience I went through as a pris
oner. Although there were plenty Of
anesthetics In that hospital they re-
fused me any sort Of relief. / was
tied hand and foot on an operating
table and for two hours and twenty
minutes 7 lay there while that surgeon
worked over me. had q mental
breakdown when it was all over, but
7 don't think you will wonder at that.
I will say one thing-the surgeon
knew his business"
Captain Gilliland described how ne
was sent back to Bishofswerda to re-
cuperate, where things were fairly
easy for few weeks until Roumanla
declared war.
II finally escaped from a train with
three other men," Captain Gllllland
said. eve leaped from the right-hand
side of the car and the guards were
unable to shoot at US on that account
We had previously cut the signal cord
and they could not get the train
stopped. We walked 140 miles in FIVE
days without food, and finally sneaked
across the Dutch border. In getting
across the border German sentries
srfjIos1 fuo of nv cOrnrasses and vvound-