R L Anderson

[Doug Johnson]

1777 Pte Reginald Letham Anderson 1/14th London (London Scottish) was wounded and taken prisoners on 1st November 1914 (with my Grandfather). He was sent to Güstrow for the rest of the war, or so I thought. In his records there is a reference to him being at Mannheim in 1916. The authorities wrote to his next of kin informing them of this change, which was acknowledged by his mother stating that he was back at Güstrow by 27th July 1916. It has to be an error but co-incidentally I know he was probably not resident in the camp from after the end of May 1916 to around the beginning of August 1916, also his mother said that he enjoyed his journey south which seems to confirm that he was away at that time but I refuse to believe that he went to the camp at Mannheim. Mannheim is about a week’s journey away from Güstrow, crosses several army area boundaries and is a head camp in itself. There is no logic in sending a man that far and then sending him back again a couple of month’s later. Also, several of the London Scottish were away from the camp at around the same time and I think they were out working at the time, probably on a farm or farms.

Extract from War Office Casualty Card

Anderson, R.L.

510122, Pte. 14th London Regiment. Previously No 1777

7.12.1914. D.A.G. Missing 1/11/1914

19.12.1914. F.O. Capt. Ypres. 31.10.14

12.6.1916. P/W Help Committee. P/W Mannheim.

1.9.1916. From Mans. Correspondence. P/W Gustrow.

Jan .1917. German Identity Form recd. Bullet wound left knee.

18.12.18 Embarkation Officer. Repat. P/W arrd. Leith per S.S. “Lacrux”

3.2.19. A.F.W. Bullet L. Knee 30/10/1914

Anyone know what D.A.G and A.F.W. mean?

His records are quite interesting as he was asked to complete a form relating to his experiences as follows;

Government Committee on the Treatment by the Enemy of British Prisoners of War

Statement of Extraordinary experience in German Internment Camps

1777 Pte R.L. Anderson 1st London Scottish,

Home address; 191 Loughboro’ Road, Brixton, London, S.W.9.

Question 1; Were you treated brutally yourself or did you see anyone else treated brutally? If so, when and where?

Answer; I saw others brutally treated at Güstrow, November 1914.

Question 2; Do you know the name of the German soldiers or officials who committed such acts?

Answer; Underoff: Deichmann. Others I do not know the name of.

Question 3; Did you see or hear of any order that the prisoners were to be subjected to any special punishment, collective or individual? If so, what was it’s effect, and was any reason given for it?

Answer; Yes, prisoners being tied to the stake.

Question 4; Were you confined in any working camp where the conditions were specially bad as regards accommodation, nature of work or general treatment? Give the names of every such working camp and, if possible, the name of the parent camp.

Answer; No.

Question 5; Give the name, if you know it, of the commandant or of the Feldwebel or unteroffizier in charge of each such working camp while you were there.

Answer; No.

Question 6; Have you any other statement favourable or the reverse to make with regard to your treatment as a Prisoner of War?

Answer; Hauptman von Klitzen coming to the camp as Camp Captain made a great deal of difference on the good side for the British.

The questions were printed and the answers written by hand on the original

Has anyone come across any other of these completed forms?

There were also statements from the PoW Committee relating to conditions in Güstrow which were a bonus as they provided some new snippets of infromation.

I also read another record the other day and a note written on a scrap of paper had on the back “list of repatriated PoWs by corps” from the camp at Ripon. Sadly it had been torn off above the list!!!!!

Doug

[corisande]

Has anyone come across any other of these completed forms?

NA have a series of transcripts available online. I have a number of similar transcripts of questions asked to returning POWs. Like wo/161/98/407

My particular interest was the questions they asked about the Irish Brigade, but the bulk of the questions are similar

[Doug Johnson]

This is not a report from WO161 which were not questionnaires. There were lists of questions but these were for the use of the interviewer of which there were two different ones, the camp one and the hospital one; the camp one being as follows (though the questions may have differed from time to time);

Name, Rank, no., and Regiment.

Home Address

Name of Camps

Dates between which confined

No of prisoners. (a) Total, ( British

Name of Commandant(s) and second in command. Characters.

Accommodation. (a) Lodging, ( Heating, © Washing facilities, (d) Sanitary arrangements, (e) Hospital for sick.

Food. (a) Supplied by Germans, ( Canteen; good or bad; nature of, © Things to be purchased? Prices – fair?, (d) From England or elsewhere: in what state did it arrive?

Clothing. Any issued by G.: what, how often?

Exercise. Facilities for. Games allowed.

Recreation. Indoors. Smoking: when, where; ever stopped? Why?

Religious Services. Any held, by whom?

Employment. How prisoners employed. Any payment for work. Any attempt to force prisoners to make munitions: own knowledge or report.

Discipline. Steps taken to inform prisoners of regulations. What acts considered offences. Punishments: nature, duration. Any ill effects of same.

General Treatment. Any complaints of. Cruelty. Any actually seen. Heard of? Get names if possible. Any difference made between different nationalities: if so, in what way?

Illnesses. Any epidemic? Informant ever in camp hospital? When? What for? How treated?

Postal Arrangements. Letters and parcels received? Regularly? By whom opened? In presence of address or not? Anything taken out of parcels? Anything prohibited? How often allowed to write letters? Or only postcards? Any special complaint made under this head?

Visits of American Ambassador. How often? Allowed to speak alone to prisoners or only in presence of German officers. Any special preparations for? What? Any improvements after visits.

General Conditions. Any improvements in during informant’s stay? In what respect? When?

Any other information not covered by above.

Opinion of Examiner as to intelligence and reliability of witness.

This one is a form filled in by the prisoner, probably at home. It is almost certainly post armistice when the need to understand the conditions in the camp had passed but there were still rumblings of war crimes trials.

I have several hundred reports from WO161 and FO383 but have not seen anything like this one before which is why I am interested to see if anyone else has.

Doug