Britsh POW on/about Dec. 15, 1916 on board a Swedish steamer. Taken by a submarine

[knittinganddeath]

28 minutes ago, corisande said:

Nice when we can get a result. He is Lt Thomas Huss of 3rd Welsh Regt ... now the challenge is to find more

Respect! Where/how did you find these?! I tried so hard last night but only had a Huse to show for it.

[Felix C]

Many, many Thanks to Everyone. It has been quite an experience. Appreciate this site and its members. 

[corisande]

1915 Jan 1. Joins Masonic Lodge at Penarth. He is Deputy Manager of a Dry Dock

1915 Jun 8 Commissioned 2nd Lt in 3rd Welsh Regt

1917 Jun 1 Promoted Lt

1919 Mar 29 . 3rd Welsh E.—Lt. T. C. S. Huss is placed on the ret. list on account of ill-health con-tracted on active service.

 

[added masonic info]

Edited 12 November , 2021 by corisande

[corisande]

 Where/how did you find these?! I tried so hard last night but only had a Huse to show for it.

Like much in Red Cross site, its indexing tends to stry. What they shovel up when you type in Huss, does not include Huss, in fact Huss is in the group/folder above that one

 

[corisande]

@Felix C we know now who he was, and that he was born in UK of Swedish parents, but we do not know what he was up to in Sweden

As far as I can see from LG he did not  have a "Special Appointment" which is the way one can normally pick up if an officer was on a "spying mission". Not all Special Appoints were for that , but a number were, and at that point in the war I would have expected to see him with one.. His name is "difficult" to research on LG because it confuses OCR

His Officer file is with TNA as  WO 374/35971

Edited 11 November , 2021 by corisande

[corisande]

How about this from NZ Papers

[Felix C]

Brilliant find Sir. Brilliant. There is a book in Swedish regarding intelligence activities in Sweden during the Great War. Wonder if Huss is mentioned.  Have to *** at the lack of operational security in the Press knowing his career particulars.

 

Edited 11 November , 2021 by Felix C

[charlie2]

A great result!

[Swinesheadvillage]

Hi

Standing on the shoulders of a giant here I can only offer a wiki entry on the Chateau, which mentions Thomas:-

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Château_de_la_Sône

Kind Regards

Derek

[corisande]

Where he lived post WW1 in France, Ch de la Sone , has its own web site - click. He clearly had a bob or two

 

He died in Sep 1944 in Swissville,  Beach Road, St Saviour Jersey. He left £63,000 which was a bob or two then

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

Great work!

Used to walk past that address to get back to University Hall in my first year in uni.

[corisande]

On 20/07/2006 at 21:44, Doug Johnson said:

According to Mrs Pope-Hennessy, Celle Schloss was not a PoW camp but an internment camp for civilians and former officers.

Perhaps  @Doug Johnsonhas something on Huss ?

It appears that the Germans treated Huss as a Civilian internee rather than a military one

[corisande]

It appears that Celle Schloss was "mixed" officers and civilians

[Felix C]

Strange after a long difficult search and finally finding the information sought there is a bit of a let down in emotion after the initial burst of satisfaction. Well my reaction.  

[corisande]

We have only scratched the surface here, as to what happened here. Though I doubt , without a lot of research in NTA, any progess could be made

I have researched Casements Irish Brigade - an attempt to get Irish POWs to fight for the Germans. Both British and German Intelligence seemed very good at knowing who was on ships

For example this man McGoey was taken off a Swedish ship at Kirkwall and mysteriously reappeared in London

Or this man https://www.irishbrigade.eu/other-men/christensen/christensen.html who had dealings with the British Ambassador in  Norway

There clearly was a lot of spying going on in Norway and Sweden, but as far as I am aware, nothing substantial has been written  about the area in WW1

Your man was one of the cogs in the machine

[knittinganddeath]

14 minutes ago, Felix C said:

Strange after a long difficult search and finally finding the information sought there is a bit of a let down in emotion after the initial burst of satisfaction.

So sorry to hear this! :-( I wish that I could send you some of my excess happiness, I was on a total high yesterday from this thread. Possibly also in part because my imagination went wild after the NZ article posted by corisande and I began casting various actors for the roles in an imaginary TV drama series...

However, there is definitely something of the "thrill of the chase" that can't be replicated IMO, especially when one realises that there is a real possibility of solving the mystery.

[JWK]

Thomas/Tomaso was a man of many talents:
 

Quote

 

Famous Athlete granted commission in Army

Mr. T.C.S. Huss, who has lately been obtaining experiences with the Inns of Court Officer’s Training Corps, has been granted a commission as second-lieutenant attached to the 3rd Welsh.

Mr. Huss is the son of the well-known Cardiff Docks merchant, Mr. Charles H. Huss. He has a well-deserved reputation as an all-round athlete. He is a fine amateur boxer, and has put up some good bouts with the leading local professionals, and has competed for both the English and Welsh featherweight amateur championships.He is also the holder of several medals and trophies won in amateur competition. Before the last Olympiad at Stockholm he won the English trial at Stamford Bridge for the standing broad jump, beating the heading Varsity and other cracks and doing 9ft 7,5in. – a figure he has beaten many times at practice. The following year he was beaten by the fraction of an inch in the English championship in the same event. In most other sports he has done well.

Mr. Huss is a very fine linguist, speaking fluently French, Spanish, Italian, Genovese dialect, German, Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish. He had travelled extensively all over Europe, and no doubt his abilities as a linguist and his travels will be of great help to him in his military duties.

 

Popular Officer’s return

Lieut. T.C.S. Huss, who has just been invalided home from the front suffering from gas poisoning and a severely sprained leg whilst trying to rush a German trench at Ypres, has been accorded an enthusiastic reception by his many friends. Lieut. Huss, who is now on leave, rendered great help to the wounded after the terrific battle of Dixmude.

 

Newspaper clippings from https://vihussar.se/fotoalbum/fotoalbum-linje-13-a/

[corisande]

Thanks. interesting story. It looks as if he had travel bug  well before WW1

I tried to find an obit, but failed. I assume that because he died in Jersey when it was under occupation, that no obit was written, and if it had been, it would not have been as frank as the NZ story

[corisande]

TNA have this curious fie

Complaint: Mr. T.C.S. Huss. Code 17 file 6190

Ordering and viewing options

This record has not been digitised and cannot be downloaded.

You can order records in advance to be ready for you when you visit Kew. You will need a reader's ticket to do this. Or, you can request a quotation for a copy to be sent to you.

• Book a visit Request a copy

Reference:	FO 371/21619/6190
Description:	Complaint: Mr. T.C.S. Huss. Code 17 file 6190
Date:	1938
Held by:	The National Archives, Kew
Former reference in its original department:	File 6190
Legal status:	Public Record(s)
Closure status:	Open Document, Open Description

[corisande]

And from the Internet Archive and Inns of Court OTC

He was apparently captured by Turks and escaped

--------

HUSS, Thomas Charles Sebastin 

4/3405, 26/4/lS; dis. 26/4/15; Welch R., 8/6/15: S,F,Ii : Lieut.: 
p by Turks and escaped, re-captured by " U " Boat.

Edited 12 November , 2021 by corisande

[JWK]

If you click "See other formats" top right at that Internet Archive page you get the "original"

Thomas is on page 211, and the meaning of all those symbols on page 70 and 71.

[He was signed up, and discharged on the same day?]

S.F.It. : served in "Salonica, Macedonia, and the Balkans", "France and Flanders", and "Italy"

p = "prisoner of war"

 

 

Edited 12 November , 2021 by JWK

[corisande]

He certainly moved around

He was commissioned into 3rd Welsh, but would not have served abroad with them. So must have been attached elsewhere. But there is nothing in LG. To indicate where

[JWK]

As @knittinganddeath said: there's enough stuff for a book, or a 10-part TV series at least!

Speaking 9 languages (including Genoese!); having family-connections to UK, Argentina, and Sweden; top athlete (but spraining his leg when rushing towards a German trench); POW of the Turks and escaping; captured by the Germans in a U-boat off Sweden, and then "welcomed" to Germany by the Kaiser's brother (why?); why was he in Schloss Celle, and not in Ruhleben (looks like he was treated as a civilian, not an officer); etc etc etc

Interesting character for sure!

[corisande]

POW of the Turks and escaping;

I cannot find any reference, but I know that getting information on Turkish POWs is difficult

 

captured by the Germans in a U-boat off Sweden,

When you think about it, sending a U-boat to stop a Swedish ship to caprure him and his mail is really odd. It/he must have been really important to divert a U-boat from operational duties

[charlie2]

8 minutes ago, JWK said:

captured by the Germans in a U-boat off Sweden, and then "welcomed" to Germany by the Kaiser's brother (why?);

A double Agent?