Rifleman Stanley Petty No 204642 11th Kings Royal Rifles

[TonyWBaxter]

Can anyone help?

My wifes granddad Rifleman Stanley Petty No 204642 11th Kings Royal Rifles. We have a photo copy of a letter from King George dated 1918. It welcomes him back to UK as it appears he was a POW. His medal card has a qualifying date of France 7-7-1915. He was first in the ASC No ?56442 Awarded the Victory, British and Star medals. A class Z is mentioned, which I don't understand Alas I know nothing more about his Batt or Coy. As I say can anyone help?

[Doug Johnson]

Tony,

Answers as far as I can; the MIC is the first step only. The MIC has the reference to the medal rolls which need to be accessed (not on line) to give his Coy (the battalion was the 11th) and possible an enlistment date though I am not an expert on these. See here for information. Class Z means discharged to reserves which would be the bulk of those discharged in 1919. The letter is a standard printed one (including the signature) and usually have the recipients name in pencil at the top. The star was the 1914-15 star as opposed to the 1914 star. The two appear identical apart from the date on the scroll in the middle.

Finding out about his time as a PoW probably means waiting until 2014. The ICRC has a card record system which has outline details of where a PoW was though this only usually list head camps and few spent any time at a head camp. Work camps are not mentioned. The date of 2014 is when the cards are supposed to be available on line. Presently they are not suitable for access by the public and only Red Cross officials have access. They will apparently let you have details now providing you have £125 to spare and can't wait. The details may include the date of capture which will then allow you to ask for details of what the 11th KRRC was doing at the time so you can identify where he was captured. The head camp name will allow you to ask about the camp though most large camps have already been asked about on this forum so there is quite a lot of information already available. Without this information your quest is probably stalled though a search of FO383 on line at the NA and WO161 prisoners reports may reveal something. There are some early lists of prisoners but I would think that these will date before he was taken prisoner. There is no central list of PoWs except for the Red Cross index.

Doug

[TonyWBaxter]

Hi Doug

Many thanks

Tony

[MBrockway]

Tony,

Firstly: a big welcome to the Rifles family here on the Forum!

That's good advice from Doug, but I'm afraid the KRRC medal rolls will not show his company, just his battalion.

Enlistment dates only appear on the Silver War Badge (SWB) lists and Stanley definitely was not awarded the SWB as he was discharged to Class Z Reserve. Class Z basically means he was demobilised back to civvy street, but with an obligation to return to the Colours if hostilities were resumed - don't forget there was considerable nervousness that a revitalised Germany would attack again after a short peace.

It is definitely worth getting hold of Stanley's medal rolls as they will show ALL the KRRC battalions he served in and reveal if he was transferred internally at all. Here's my own grandfather's entry:

You'll see this reveals he served in 12th and 16th battalions.

You need to know this in order to try and work out where he might have been, though of course you also need to be able to date any transfer too, otherwise you still have two possible places he might have been - one for each battalion. This is where I am with my own grandfather!

Let's assume for now that Stanley only served with 11th KRRC though.

Looking at Stanley's MIC I see the following:

• Initial overseas service was as S4 056442 in the Army Service Corps
• Date of Entry into Theatre (France & Flanders) of 07 Jul 1915
• Transfer into the KRRC with new Service Number of A/204642 (this prefix is important)

11th KRRC arrived in France on 21/22 Jul 1915, so Stanley was still in the ASC when he went overseas.

There's no mention of 11th battalion on his MIC. Is 11th Battalion mentioned on the King's letter? If not, then what is your source for 11th Battalion? Do you have his medals?

If you are 100% certain that Stanley was in 11/KRRC, then you can find out about 11/KRRC and the 20th (Light) Division on the Mother Site here:

LLT: King's Royal Rifle Corps (all battalions)

LLT: the 20th (Light) Division

You should also splash out on a copy of Capt V.E. Inglefield's History of the Twentieth (Light) Division, which is an excellent overview of what Stanley's division did and where.

You could also get hold of the 11th KRRC War Diary from the National Archives, which is downloadable in chunks of about 1-2 months each. Trouble is, you don't know exactly when he was captured. Also mentions of private Riflemen by name are very rare, so it's highly unlikely the WD will tell you when Stanley was captured.

The KRRC A/204xxx Service Number range may help a little with reconstructing Stanley's service.

From some other recent research which Andy & I are still completing, this SN range (and its Rifle Brigade equivalent - B/204xxx) seems mainly made up of men transferred in from the ASC and the Army Ordnance Corps sometime between September 1915 and September 1916.

I am provisionally interpreting this as the result of a re-evaluation trawl through the support corps looking for men who might now be deemed suitable for Front Line combat duties, where on their initial enlistment they had been graded not quite fit enough. By late 1915, I don't think the Medical Boards were quite as fussy perhaps!

It is probable that Stanley had transferred into 11/KRRC by September 1916.

As regards when he might have been captured, I have some surprisingly helpful news there too.

Here are the 11th Battalion casualty figures for 1915:

... and for 1916:

A later table gives a total to date figure of Other Ranks Missing from arrival in France on 21 July 1915 to 01 July 1917 of 23. There's no PoW figure, so I assume those 23 Missing include PoWs.

Sadly by 30 Sep 1917 the Missing to date figure has jumped to 66 as Passchendaele began to take its toll.

Heavy losses were also endured by the battalion during the German Counter-Attack at the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917 with 296 ORs Missing. A large number of these belonged to "A" Company who were enveloped by the Germans when the Division to the right collapsed and the enemy rolled up the flank. Further losses were sustained in a fighting withdrawal all the way back to Brigade HQ before the enemy advance was halted.

A further 220 Other Ranks were Missing after the Kaiserschlacht in March/April 1918.

Of course many of the Missing would not be PoWs.

Summarising the above, it appears that 11/KRRC lost no members captured by the enemy before 1917, with only small numbers after then until two large groups of men were captured during enemy offensives at Cambrai in Nov 1917 and the Kaiserschlacht in Spring 1918.

It is probable that Stanley was in one of those two groups.

If you can get access to The Times on-line archive (try through your local library) it would definitely be worthwhile searching the Casualty Lists published after Cambrai and the Kaiserschlacht to see if he's listed either as Missing or Prisoner of War. You may strike it lucky.

Another option would be to look for a Notice in the local paper for Stanley's home town. Relatives often placed such notices when word came out from Germany that a man was safely held as a PoW.

HTH!

Good luck and let us know how you progress!

Cheers,

Mark

I've had a look through the KRRC Chronicle to see if he's mentioned, but with no success.

[Doug Johnson]

I assumed his service record is not available, is that correct?

Doug

[Doug Johnson]

Mark,

Would the medal roll be for the KRRC or the ASC? Presumably for the ASC for the star and the KRRC for the others (Tony- references would be on the card).

Doug

[MBrockway]

Tony,

Well having written that great long post above, I then did what I should have done first and had a look to see if Stanley Petty's Service Record had survived the Blitz in 1940 ... and it has!

You're very lucky cos this sort of information is like hen's teeth!!!

You definitely need to join Ancestry to get the lot - 19 pages (some duplicated)

Summarising ...

• Stanley was a Cook in the Merchant Service employed by Orient Steam Navigation Company of Tilbury Docks
• Single
• Born: 1892
• 5'8", 128 lbs, Chest 37"
• Home address: 8 Bath Cottages, Anglesea Road, St Mary Cray, Kent
• Next of Kin: Mrs Clara Petty, ?Mother
• Trade: Baker
• Attested 30 Jan 1915 into the ASC, aged 22 years 10 months at Bromley, Kent
• Medical Grade: A1
• Reported ASC Depot, Aldershot where he became a Baker
• Overseas Service: BEF 07 Jul 1915 - 07 Feb 1919 (good details)
• Home Service: 30 Jan 1915 - 06 Jul 1915 and 08 Feb 1919 - 08 Mar 1919
• Awarded 1st Good Conduct chevron: 12 Feb 1917 (at 16 Field Bakery
• 24 Dec 1917: COMPULSORY TRANSFER in the Interests of the Service, under AO.204/1918 [Edit: that should be 1916] to the KING'S ROYAL RIFLE CORPS for posting to 11th Battalion, in the rank of RIFLEMAN ... TO RETAIN A.S.C. RATE OF PAY
• Reported Missing: 24 Mar 1918
• Captured: 24 Mar 1918 at Ham (on R Somme near St Quentin) during German Kaiserschlacht Offensive that began on 21 Mar. 11/KRRC were making a fighting withdrawal from bridgeheads on the far bank of the Somme Canal at Voyennes (W of Ham), retreating through the village towards Longuevoisin
• War Office receive formal notification he is Prisoner of War on 30 Aug 1918
• PoW Camp: Munster 2
• Allied POW Repatriation Transit Camp: 08-09 Dec 1918
• Discharged to Class Z Reserve: 09 Mar 1919
• Discharged from Class Z Reserve: 31 Mar 1920

Looks like he was a well regarded Baker in the ASC until the serious manpower shortages after Passchendaele caught him up and swept into the KRRC where only 12-13 weeks later he was captured.

Also he was graded A1, so it must have been his Trade specialism that kept him in the ASC. I imagine a good baker would be very important to the BEF!

My dates were out in my first post, but the basic hypothesis was sound!

Fascinating detail! Also very useful for me since it has illuminated the work I'm in the middle of on the KRRC A/2xxxxxx prefixes. Very timely

Cheers,

Mark

[MBrockway]

I assumed his service record is not available, is that correct?

Doug

No - it is! And it answers all the Qs I raised in that epic first post!

Moral: look for the obvious first!

Cheers,

Mark

[MBrockway]

Mark,

Would the medal roll be for the KRRC or the ASC? Presumably for the ASC for the star and the KRRC for the others (Tony- references would be on the card).

Doug

Doug / Tony,

Roll references are ...

1914-15 Star Roll: M/2C, page 38

BW&VM Roll: M/101 B17, page 2207

I agree: we would expect the Star to be on the ASC Roll and the others on the KRRC roll. M/101 B17 is definitely a KRRC Roll.

Not sure about M/2C being the ASC Star Roll though - my grandfather (12/KRRC and 16/KRRC) is on the KRRC Star Roll with reference M/2, page 532.

I don't the complete KRRC Star Rolls yet so cannot check - apologies.

This is to a certain extent superseded by the discovery of his Service Record anyway though.

Cheers,

Mark

[TonyWBaxter]

All

Many Thanks.

I've printed all the replies and will read them and try to take it all in.

Tony

[Doug Johnson]

Tony,

The info from Mark now helps explain his time as a PoW. From capture in March 1918 he was almost certainly held behind the lines and worked until he dropped from starvation or fatigue, a process which may have taken several months which is why the first indication of him being a PoW was August, some five months later. This was contrary to all agreements but by that time Germany was desperately short of manpower and had thrown everything into winning the war in that one last effort and therefore anything was justified. The work would be in digging trenches, collecting and burying the dead, carrying shells for the field guns etc. From there he was sent to Münster II (or 2) which was also known as Rennbahn (translates as race track which it had been before being taken over for PoWs). There is a fair amount about this camp already on this site but I will add more if I have any. The spelling is important as there is a Munster elsewhere in Germany (the camp being Munsterlager) and two more head camps at Münster (I, known as Haus Spital, and III which was the Kaserne which was built as an army camp). The name is therefore possibly one of three forms so a search needs to include all three. All the Munster camps had lots of working camps attached, a fair proportion of which were involved in mining so unless he was classed as unfit for work it was out of the frying pan and into the fire!

Doug

[Doug Johnson]

Having entered a PoW transit camp early in December 1918 he was not repatriated until Feb 1919. That seems like a long time as most men from the western front end would have been back in the UK before Christmas. There has to be a reason for the delay and it may be that his profession as a baker was once more in demand. Illness is a possibility but I would have thought that if he was well enough to transfer from Münster he should have been well enough to travel all the way home.

Doug

[MBrockway]

Tony,

..

From there he was sent to Münster II (or 2) which was also known as Rennbahn (translates as race track which it had been before being taken over for PoWs). There is a fair amount about this camp already on this site but I will add more if I have any. The spelling is important as there is a Munster elsewhere in Germany (the camp being Munsterlager) and two more head camps at Münster (I, known as Haus Spital, and III which was the Kaserne which was built as an army camp). The name is therefore possibly one of three forms so a search needs to include all three. All the Munster camps had lots of working camps attached, a fair proportion of which were involved in mining so unless he was classed as unfit for work it was out of the frying pan and into the fire!

Doug

Doug / Tony,

Here's a detail of his Index Card from the Repatriation Transit Camp (darkened to make the faded ink clearer):

I left off the umlaut in Munster 2/Münster 2 deliberately in my summary post, but clearly there could be an umlaut under that broad pen stroke.

I think the "2" supports Doug's reading that it should be Münster.

You'll also notice there's a Date Stamp of 8 FEB 1919 in the Date of Arrival at the Camp box. This is crossed out and the date 8.12.18 written in in manuscript next to it. I took this to be a correction due to the hand stamp being incorrectly set. Clearly the manuscript date ties up with the 9 DEC 1918 stamp in the adjacent Date of Departure from the Camp box.

Looks like he was only in the transit camp long enough for a quick check up.

Cheers,

Mark

[Doug Johnson]

Mark,

Overseas Service: BEF 07 Jul 1915 - 07 Feb 1919 (good details)

Home Service: 30 Jan 1915 - 06 Jul 1915 and 08 Feb 1919 - 08 Mar 1919

That would seem to suggest that these figures are also incorrect. Presumably if the wrong date was entered for the transit camp but later corrected then the above dates may have also been entered incorrectly but not amended. Is that possible, the dates seem strangely co-incidental if not? I also think that the leave period for returning PoWs was longer than four weeks. My Grandfather's dates would match the Dec and March dates, though he arrived back somewhat later in December.

Doug

[Doug Johnson]

Mark,

From the dates it would appear that this was a reception camp back in the UK rather than a transit camp out in the field. Is there any indication of which one it was?

Left 'France' 7th Dec 1918, arrived UK reception camp 8th Dec 1918, left camp 9th dec 1918, left the service to reserve 9th March 1919. This sort of time period would be 'normal'.

Doug

[TonyWBaxter]

Doug, Mark

You've been fantastic. I couldn't have found all this out.

Many thanks

Tony

[MBrockway]

Mark,

Overseas Service: BEF 07 Jul 1915 - 07 Feb 1919 (good details)

Home Service: 30 Jan 1915 - 06 Jul 1915 and 08 Feb 1919 - 08 Mar 1919

That would seem to suggest that these figures are also incorrect. Presumably if the wrong date was entered for the transit camp but later corrected then the above dates may have also been entered incorrectly but not amended. Is that possible, the dates seem strangely co-incidental if not? I also think that the leave period for returning PoWs was longer than four weeks. My Grandfather's dates would match the Dec and March dates, though he arrived back somewhat later in December.

From the dates it would appear that this was a reception camp back in the UK rather than a transit camp out in the field. Is there any indication of which one it was?

Left 'France' 7th Dec 1918, arrived UK reception camp 8th Dec 1918, left camp 9th dec 1918, left the service to reserve 9th March 1919. This sort of time period would be 'normal'.

Doug

Doug,

I can't follow your logic here?

Stanley seems to have been returned from enemy hands and arrived at a transit camp probably in the Base Area in France on 08 Dec 1918. He leaves that camp the next day 09 Dec 1918. The clerk at the Camp makes a minor error with the wheel on the Date Stamper but corrects it - probably straight away, and almost certainly the next day at the latest when the Depart Date is stamped in.

Three weeks after the Armistice seems pretty reasonable to get out of Germany given the chaos in Germany then prevailing.

He then stays in the Infantry Base Depot area in France until 07 Feb 1919 when he travels back to the UK.

Technically he remains in service until he is Discharged to Class Z Reserve on 08 Mar 1919 but is actually On Furlough from 08 Feb 1919 (see the Form Z.11) so to all intents and purposes he was demobbed when he got off the boat in Blighty.

All this seems to tally correctly with the dates in my earlier post which was lifted from his Military History Sheet here:

I'm not sure why you think any of these dates are wrong? Why do you think he left France on 7 Dec 1918? Have I missed something? I've gone through the Service Record again several times very carefully and I can't see where you've got that from? A lot of the pages are barely legible though as you know, so maybe you've spotted something I've missed?

Cheers,

Mark

[Doug Johnson]

Mark,

There are several things that point to the dates being wrong;

* All PoWs, except those who were seriously ill were back in the UK before the end of Jan 1919 with the vast majority being back before the end of 1918(A tremendous result considering the lack of transport in Germany). My Grandfather came from much further east in Germany, a much more difficult place to repatriate from, and came out through a transit camp at Viborg in Denmark but was back before Christmas. Münster was much closer and they would have come back either through Holland (more likely) or France and would have arrived back in the UK within a couple of days of leaving the camp. Given the position of Münster it is possible that no transit camp was involved and they detrained and went straight onto a waiting ship.

* Transit camps overseas were not recorded in a service record but the UK reception camps do often appear (as Ripon in my Grandfather's case). The camp dates therefore almost certainly refer to the UK reception camp.

* The furlough period was two months and appears to have started in January.

My suggestion is that, in compiling the service record dates, the date stamp for the reception camp played a significant part and was either taken as read and the correction missed or the correction was not made at the time. It seems co-incidental that the date stamp says 8th Feb 1919 and the end date for service overseas is the 7th Feb 1919. Military records almost invariably record two events on two subsequent days (my Grandfather's records state that his service in France ended on the 31st October 1914 and his time as a PoW started on the 1st November 1914. It would seem more likely that he was taken prisoner on the same day his service ended!

Everything therefore points to the dates being wrongly entered in the service record and that his service overseas ended on the 7th December 1918, a date which I can readily accept as being correct and fits with the general pattern of returning PoWs, rather than the 7th February 1919 which seems wrong and would make him one of the last to return.

Doug

[MBrockway]

Doug,

The subject of returning POWs is a new area for me, whereas it is your specialism, and what you say has to carry a lot of weight, so I've gone through the Service Record yet again, with a really fine tooth comb this time and a lot of tweaking with the contrast settings!

I managed to reveal this very faint entry with date 07 Dec 1918:

It's the bottom entry. Can you make it out?

It seems to be something like "Rep?? Hull" - I'm conjecturing Repn. Hull? or possibly Report Hull?

On his Protection & Identity Certificate (Form Z.11) there's a Date of Dispersal of 08 Feb 1919 but unfortunately no Dispersal Unit stamp. That form states that 28 days Furlough will begin from the Date of Dispersal (this is pre-printed). Form Z.11 was used by all demobilising soldiers though while only the POWs got the extra leave you mention, so I can see how his furlough may have started earlier than this.

08 Feb 1919 is also the start of his Home Service in the Military History Sheet (see my earlier Post). Frustratingly that missing Dispersal Unit stamp means we have no evidence whether he was in France then or in Yorkshire!

The next date of interest is on his Demobilisation Disability Statement (Form Z.22). There's mention of a medical examination at Ripon with a date of 14 Feb 1919. However that same Form is signed by a witness S.Gale, Pawnbroker, St Mary Cray also dated 14 Feb 1919. St Mary Cray is Stanley's home town in Kent. It would be difficult (but not impossible) to travel between Ripon and Kent on the same day and dealing with paperwork would not be high on my priority list on finally getting home if I'd been him!

I wonder whether the Form Z.22 was completed by Stanley and witnessed by the pawnbroker on 14 Feb 1919 and Stanley simply used the same date for his medical exam at Ripon? Being in Ripon on 14 Feb seems particularly suspect when we remember the Form Z.11 has him beginning his 28 days of Demobilisation Furlough on 08 Feb 1919 (and probably even earlier based on him being a returning POW).

Perhaps Stanley's story may have been ...

• repatriated via Hull on 07 Dec 1918
• passed through a Repatriation Camp on 8/9 Dec 1918
• stayed in camp/barracks/depot near Ripon over Xmas
• had a medical there
• possibly began the extra POW's furlough in early Jan 1919
• finally dispersed on 08 Feb 1919
• arrived home at St Mary Cray in Kent on (or before) 14 Feb 1919
• discharged to Class Z Reserve on 09 Mar 1919

That seems to still fit the evidence - apart from his BEF service ending on 07 Feb 1919. Perhaps he was still regarded as being under Command of BEF, France while being processed even when actually in the UK?

That sort of anomaly is the sort of thing the Army delights in! It's certainly the simplest explanation and let's the rest of the evidence align very well with what you've described as the typical returning POW experience.

What do you think?

Cheers,

Mark

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Mark,

Pleased you found that. I do not have access to the service records so I have not been able to check. The last entry reads Ripon, Hull. This was one of the big PoW repatriation camps although Ripon is not actually at Hull, Hull being the port where he entered the UK. This was exactly the same route as my Grandfather.

NB the entry above the last reads "Camp not Stated" this is in connection with his PoW entry and is quite normal.

He would have been home by about the 10th December 1918. There were so many PoWs returning that they were turned around and booted out very quickly. My Grandfather's records actually have the railway warrant copy in them. My Grandfather's records also have the disability statement in them and I figure this was sent to them afterwards for them to complete and post back. Unfortunately I can't read my paper copy but if you have ancestry access you could look and see (Pte Edgar Thomas Johnson, 1/14th London)

The 7th Feb 1919 date just looks like an error derived from the wrong date stamp. The date stamp would have been made before the other entries.

Doug

[MBrockway]

Summarising ...

• 24 Dec 1917: COMPULSORY TRANSFER in the Interests of the Service, under AO.204/1916 to the KING'S ROYAL RIFLE CORPS for posting to 11th Battalion, in the rank of RIFLEMAN ... TO RETAIN A.S.C. RATE OF PAY

For the benefit of some other Pals who are interested in transfers of ASC men, I thought I'd post the actual image of this entry in Stanley's Service Record:

I've darkened the contrast in the hope of making it easier to read.

My transcription is ...

"A" I.B.D. (i.e. Infantry Base Depot)

F.R. 24/12/17.

A.S.C. Section C/6480/256.

COMPULSORILY TRANSFERRRED in the Interests of the Service, under A.O.204/1916 to the KING'S ROYAL RIFLE CORPS for posting to 11th Battalion, in the rank of RIFLEMAN ............. 24/12/17

TO RETAIN A.S.C. RATE OF PAY

AUTHORITY:- A.G.'S C/406/1 dated 20/8/17

Pt.11 Ords. (possibly Orde.)

C/4/18.

ALLOTTED NEW NO. A/204642

G.H.Q.

3rd Echelon.

19/1/18

<illegible signature>

Capt.Qr.Mr.

for Colonel

Officer i/c A.S.C.Section.

Cheers,

Mark

[MBrockway]

Pals,

For info the full text of Army Order AO 204/1916 is available here:

AO 204/1916 published 9th June 1916

Courtesy of Pal themonsstar.

Cheers,

Mark

[MBrockway]

Doug / Tony,

I left off the umlaut in Munster 2/Münster 2 deliberately in my summary post, but clearly there could be an umlaut under that broad pen stroke.

I think the "2" supports Doug's reading that it should be Münster.

Cheers,

Mark

Tony,

There's material likely to interest you about Münster 2 (including picture) and the POW experience in this Topic here:

Pte Charles Hollox, Civil Service Rifles

Cheers,

Mark

[Doug Johnson]

Some photographs of Rennbahn;

Doug

[Doug Johnson]

(Cd 7861) Miscellaneous No 11 (1915) Reports by United States Ambassador Officials on the Treatment of British Prisoners of War and Interned Civilians at certain places of detention in Germany.

Münster, April 6, 1915

In or near Münster there are three camps for soldiers, under a general “Gefangenen Inspektion”

Camp No I is some distance from the city in open country. It consists of two blocks, or quadrangles, and a large lazarette, in which two British medical officers, Captain A. M. Rose and Lieutenant W.P. Croker, are employed. There are also a considerable number of British sanitary soldiers. This camp contained a total of 6,389 non-commissioned officers and soldiers, of whom 262 were British. The British soldiers were distributed in small numbers in rooms with men of other nationalities, principally Belgian and French, with whom their relations do not appear to be good. Obviously these men would be better satisfied if they could be segregated and each nationality kept by itself.

Camp No II consists of four large quadrangles which have been built in the racecourse. In these quadrangles British soldiers as a rule occupy rooms by themselves. In this camp there were 11,093 prisoners, of whom 451 were British. The living room opened on the large central court, in the middle of which are the kitchens, latrines and bath-houses. In one “block” a room had been arranged as a Catholic chapel and another used as a theatre. Each block had its own band of music, made up of men of all nationalities.

Camp No III was located in an Infantry Barracks which had been in the course of construction and had never been occupied previously. Some of the rooms are below the ground level, and are not well lighted. Here there are 4,491 prisoners, of whom 226 were British. The kitchen and latrines are some distance from the barracks.

In all these camps the cooks were French, and although the food which I tasted seemed fair, the British soldiers complained of both its quality and quantity, especially in regard to the bread. The canteen facilities are restricted, but anything in the way of food (or tobacco) which comes from abroad may be received. Smoking is permitted except in the barracks. Facilities are provided for those who wish to work. Large parties are employed in agricultural work and in road-making, and many small parties go into the city, under guard, to work at trades. Few of the English soldiers have trades and among them there seemed to be a general disinclination to do work outside the camp (in the field or coal mines), because of the impression that in so doing they would be considered as giving assistance to the enemy and in consequence forfeit their pay as soldiers. In consequence, they are called on to do at least their full share of work in the camp, but on enquiry I could not ascertain that there had been any real discrimination against them ot that they had been made to do dirty work, such as cleaning the latrines, etc, any more than their fellow – prisoners.

Several men complained that they had received bad treatment from German soldiers, but I found that this had occurred in isolated cases only, and the German soldier had been punished when his conduct had been brought to the attention of the officers. Several men who had come, more or less recently, from other camps complained that packages and letters had not been received, but such complaints were the exception and not the rule. Many wounded men were hopeful of an exchange, and a few who complained that they were ill said that it was difficult to get the doctors to pay proper attention to their case. The general heath of the British soldiers seemed to be good. The washing and bathing facilities appeared adequate, and so did the latrines,although as the trench system is in use these might become objectionable in warm weather.

Warm water was generally available, but the men complained that the allowance of soap was insufficient.

Protestant religious services in English have been held in all these camps by a German pastor.