WW1: Prisoners of War

We commemorate the fallen on the war memorials but so many others served and suffered, they came home but their lives were changed forever.

Ernest Larder of Strubby

Ernest Edward Larder was one of eleven children born to farmworker Allen Larder and his wife Mary Ann of Strubby. In 1911 Ernest was living in Well and working as a groom. Private Larder had joined the 4^th battalion Lincs. Regiment on 12^th December 1915, aged 21.

Mrs Larder, formerly Lily Dixon, learned of her husband’s plight via letters home from his comrades, hearing the news unofficially that her husband had been badly wounded on or about March 22^nd 1918 and had been taken prisoner by the Germans. Desperate for information of his situation she arranged for a letter to be sent on her behalf requesting information on 8th April.

On 15^th April the military sent a receipt of enquiry form to Mrs Larder:

………..so far as is known he is still serving with his corps. All casualties to soldiers (including wounds and dangerous illness) are reported home by cable, as far as possible, immediately after their occurrence, and no such information has been received in this office in regard to the above-named soldier. It may be assumed that there are no special grounds for your apprehension on his behalf. Should any information be received it will be at once communicated to you – his next of kin.

The letter offered little reassurance and eventually the unofficial information was proved accurate, Ernest was captured at Croisilles on 22^nd March 1918 and held as a Prisoner of War.

Using Private Larder’s service records, Lincolnshire Regiment history and a wide range of other published material quoting first hand experiences we can piece together the experiences of Ernest and his comrades from the bginning of the Spring Offensive.

Ludendorff Plan – Croisilles March 21^st to 22^nd 1918

The Ludendorff offensive started on 21^st March 1918. Following the signing of the treaty of Brest Litovsk, and the official end of the war with Russia, the Germans were now in a position to concentrate their troops on the Western Front. The Germans launched the offensive, with at least 64 divisions along a front of about 54 miles, they were met with just 19 divisions. Ernest fought within the 59^th division, noted by Major Simpson as having seen some of the heaviest fighting during the early stages of the attack. The Battle of St Quentin began shortly before 5am on 21^st March 1918:

Due to poor visibility the British exhausted their ammunition blindly, leaving their guns useless when the enemy became visible.  The fierce fighting continued for two days, a furious attack at 4pm on 22^nd March left the 4^th battalion exposed, by 8pm the Germans were reported to be swarming around them attacking from both front and rear. The order to withdraw came in the early hours, the men moved back across 5-600 yards of open country under heavy, close range, machine gun fire.

During the centenary commerations the Imperial War Museum issued a Podcast featuring the recollections of the men who experienced the “German Spring Offensive” of March 1918. The words of the men themselves really bring home their experiences.

In the trenches at night, when the wind was in the right direction, we could hear the German trains and transport rumbling up their great army that was going to sweep us into the sea. We were grim, we were determined. Behind us lay the old Somme battlefields, every yard soaked with British blood shed through almost two years of hard battle.                                              _{NCO Richard Tobin: IWM}

All the shelling and all the machine guns had ceased firing – there wasn’t a shot being fired. We remarked it was too quiet to be healthy and we all felt that here was the German Army poised to attack and we were going to be in the brunt of it _{Private C Cain: IWM}

The German attack began in the early hours of the 21^st March

When we went to bed we felt quite certain that something was going to happen the next morning. Well, I went to sleep and I woke up with a feeling of incessant noise in my head and everything seemed to be vibrating, the ground and my bed. I opened my eyes and then really said to myself, ‘Well now, this the beginning of the thing.’ I struck a match and lit the candle to see what time it was and it was five o’clock. And then I said to myself, ‘Well it’s no good lying here, I might as well get dressed.’ So I got up and by this time the concussion of the shells had blown the door, the wooden door, off my dugout and blown my candle out and I dressed in the dark. I remember saying to myself, ‘Well I’d better put on my best tunic because whether we’re killed or not, the probability will be that one will either be wounded or captured and it’s no good being captured in an old tunic, I might as well put on the new one.’ _{Arthur Behrend of the Royal Garrison: IWM}

When we got up this morning at about four o’clock we were awakened by a terrific barrage coming from the German lines they had put up what some people have said was the most terrific barrage of the war. Anyhow, when we heard all this going on, orders came to put on gas masks. So we stumbled out of the hut into the complete darkness and there was a mist all round as well – which added to the confusion and sense of isolation – and then waited for orders.                                  _{British private M Cundall: IWM}

They [the German Soldiers] broke through in a mass formation…… ….We fired as much as possible until the infantry came to us and they said the Germans was coming. I made an oath and I said, ‘Oh God, this is the end.’ And actually I thought it was the end of the war, as far as we were concerned. After four years against them that we had lost the war, this is the end. After all the lives had been sacrificed. _{NCO W. Daniels: IWM}

They advanced, you see, it was fine then – a beautiful day no fog, no gas, no nothing. Just a few odd shells. And some of our people were coming back, retiring from in front of us and then we just waited. Then all of a sudden, we saw the Germans come over the hill – waves of them – I should think about half a mile away, something like that. Probably a little more. They were in machine gun range. So we only had a couple of guns but the infantry had several Lewis guns and we were down to nothing there was only me and one bloke on this one gun, the other gun I don’t know where that was, it was somewhere. They came down this slope and we just fired at them. _{Frederick Plimmer: IWM}

The British were ordered to fall back…………

I went via my dugout because I had my secret code in the dugout and one or two secret papers. And so I ran down the steps and I burnt my code. I then started running towards my nearest guns and just at that moment the whole of the mist rolled away, almost like a curtain and I saw more Germans than I’d ever seen before in my life. They really rather reminded me of men almost coming away from a football match. _{Douglas Wimberley IWM}                                                                                          

Eventually an officer came along and he said, ‘Oh well, they’re through on our right and every man’s for himself.’ And so of course that was us. So of course we picked up everything they’d got to pick up and cleared off back, best you could, best you could. That was all you could do. It was absolutely disorganised. You didn’t know who was who and where you were and where you was going. Off we still went and really disorganised. Nobody knew where anybody was, where your battalion was or nothing about it.  _{William Dann: IWM}

There was masses of Germans, they come over like hoards. They come over and overwhelmed us and so I was taken prisoner at 2 o’clock and I was in the German trenches with them until 8 o’clock at night. Then we got up behind the line and they were collecting all the prisoners – the German guards were – and we had to march back to St Quentin, then. I always remember one German soldier, a young chap he was, he was marching by the side of me, and he patted me on shoulder and I’ll always remember what he said. He said, ‘Brave Englander’, he said, ‘brave Englander’ and patted me on the back. _{Royal Engineer Thomas Cass: IWM}

Major Simpson’s publication does not convey the depth of feelings the men experienced …

We had lost ground of a valuable nature… huge quantities of stores and ammunition and many prisoners but the glorious spirit of our officers and men knew no defeat   _{Major General Simpson’s “History of the Lincolnshire Regiment”}

I doubt Private Ernest Larder had much glorious spirit at that point, physically and mentally exhausted, wounded, he was now a prisoner of war.

Allied Prisoners of War in German Captivity: March 1918

Labour Corps at the front

Dr Heather Jones has written extensively on the experience of Prisoners of War. Despite the meticulous planning of the Ludendorff offensive no plans were made to deal with the large numbers of prisoners it yielded.

The sheer numbers of captured men at this time, estimated to be around 75,000 British between 21^st March and 5^th April 1918, led to a breakdown on the processing systems of the prisoners.  Corralled in caged areas the prisoners now faced harsh conditions behind the lines while they waited in holding camps to be reassigned to labour corps. 

The Red Cross notification cards were not completed and the postcards home to enable the prisoners to notify their families were not given out. This lead to the desperate wait for news that Lily Larder’s letter revealed. Food parcel distribution processes also broke down costing the men badly needed provisions.

Lack of food, long marches and little shelter all added to their misery. Germany’s desperation for labour building the roads and railways, needed at the front, led to the prisoners being placed close to the front under fire, ignoring the agreements on labour corps made with the allies in 1917. 

During the early years of the war the German authorities had only used the Russian prisoners close to the front line, but the British and the French used German prisoners in labours corps at the front which led to a series of reprisals from the Germans. British and French prisoners in German captivity were sent to the Eastern front to endure harsh conditions and encouraged to write letters home, blaming their own authorities for placing German prisoners in danger. Eventually agreements were put in place over the treatment of prisoners in working parties, which implemented a 30 kilometre rule as the required distance from the front lines.

The Allies used colonial troops and civilian prison internees for the labour required close to the front, the British used a lot of Chinese labour. Following the release of the Russian prisoners in early 1918 the German military were desperate for labour to support the new push.

Very similar stories emerged from men being captured during this time, the captives were beaten and made to work with live shells and retrieve German wounded from beyond the front lines. Little food, protection from the elements or sanitary conditions were available to the prisoners at this time. On 23^rd March the German army command issued a directive that newly captured prisoners could be put into labour corps on the front line, prisoner needs were not allowed to interfere with military objectives.

The pressure on the guards to get the work done, and the numbers of prisoners so overwhelming, that they resorted to violence to try to control them as the threat of revolt was ever present. Beatings became so common place that orders were issued reminding the guards that they were forbidden and damaged the labour force.

British Government Committee interviews reveal that rations were inadequate during these months:

Many of the men were fading shadows the prisoners were literally starving and many of them became weak and ill already for want of nourishment. Common sight to see them fall over. _{“Violence against Prisoners of War” Dr Heather Jones}

One British man recalled the scene vividly:

I think it was a sergeant took us over and he marched us back. We went a mile or two back and he took us to a wire cage, at Villers I think it was. There were a real mixed bag in there: all sorts of units had got mixed up, hundreds of us. And it was muddy and filthy. We laid on the ground and when we could sleep, we tried to sleep but we didn’t get much. And each night of course some of the poor chaps couldn’t stand it, they died of exposure. But the guards used to come in on a morning and look round and see if any had died during the night, pick them up, take them out and they dug a long sort of trench at the side of the wire cage and each morning the dead were thrown in there. They were just thrown in, a bit of soil on top of them. I don’t know how many we lost there but quite a few because a lot of them weren’t in very good condition; they couldn’t stand it. _{Walter Hare: IWM}

Working in the charge of men already brutalised by war, enduring harsh conditions themselves, the labour corps prisoners recall their experiences:

We were marched out to work, we were marched out every morning and picks or shovels were handed out to us and we used to then march to a place called Bullecourt, perhaps a mile and a half away. Yes, working in the vicinity of Bullecourt we also worked at little villages near-hand and occasionally at Croisilles, which was a railhead in those days. We worked mostly on the railway sidings at Croisilles, unloading trucks of all sorts of material. It was pretty grim and I tried to keep as cheerful as ever I could but each day some of our lads fell by wayside. And if I remember correctly, we were – when we set out as working party – a party of probably about 50 or 60. By the end of February, early March, we were reduced to probably 35. _{Ernest Wilson: IWM}

We worked from early morning ‘til dusk and were then marched back to the compound and given our daily ration of bread. A small loaf, but this was for three men. The bread we thought was made from potato meal and probably a little flour added. We prisoners used to say it was 90% sawdust. Daily, we became weaker and weaker. By this time, we were seeking other sources of food supplies than that issued to us by the Germans and which appeared to be getting less and less. We found in the early morning a snail-like creature, stuck to the bark on the willow trees. We gathered these, and also some nettle leaves. On getting back to the camp at night, we would boil the snails and chop them up with boiled nettle leaves, making a sort of paste to spread on our bread. I can’t say that the snails had any particular taste, but they did at least supplement our scanty rations in some small way. _{Private H Turner: IWM}

One captured German soldier was carrying a letter for home in which he described the conditions of a French pow labour unit:

I see these pitiful creatures working every day; their faces haggard, numbed. They advance harassed by fatigue, their insides ravaged with hunger. Five men receive one loaf a day. They sleep in a barracks on the bare ground without a blanket, having only their clothes as covering. And it is every day, every day the same suffering. If you could see them! A spectacle of misery, of horror. I am not yet hardened enough by war to look on indifferently. I am seized with rage at seeing such things….       _{“Violence against Prisoners of War” Dr Heather Jones}

Transportation of prisoners

Private Ernest Larder’s records do not contain the individual details of his experiences in captivity, however his service records do contain a memo dated 1938 from the Ministry of Pensions:

A copy of a statement compiled from the records of the Government Committee on the Treatment by the Enemy of British Prisoners of War on the conditions prevailing at Czersk and at Schneidemuhl is attached.

In addition to these records International Red Cross records also record Ernest Larder at Parchim Camp in August 1918. Despite the news reported home Ernest is recorded as “nicht verwundet”, not wounded in the camp records.

A map of the location of these three camps underlines the large distances that prisoners of war were transported, by the Allied and the German authorities.

Many records of the transport system survive, prisoners were frequently transported away from the front on the trains that the troops and provisions had arrived in.

In France and Germany in particular there are extensive records of the hostility shown to the prisoners by the civilian populations at the stations. Trains arriving full of prisoners often followed trains leaving with loved ones and those returning the wounded. The filthy, exhausted prisoners were an easy target for the rage and frustration of those on the platforms.

The reaction of the civilian populations to the prisoners of war changed throughout the war and across Nations. The intervention of military and civilian authorities inflamed and managed much of the interaction with propaganda and orders. 

During the early days of occupation the French response to German prisoners was particularly violent, the prisoners were in the hands of their guards, many of whom left them to the mercy of the civilian population. Prisoners felt they were displayed at stations although other reports suggest that the carriages were opened for ventilation purposes.

Prisoner and Civilian Interaction

German soldier Gustav Schubert, captured by the French in 1914, recalled his journey across France in a train wagon which had been used to transport horses, the stench of urine stinging their eyes:

Schubert’s statement, given on repatriation, does go on to mention that, even in France, once the prisoners arrived at their destination the civilian population gradually became less hostile and curiosity took over. Prisoners were offered fruit and cigarettes in exchange for buttons as souvenirs.

In England the arrival of the first prisoners at Frimley Common was a curiosity in 1914

Most of the people crowded round the prisoners and their curiosity quickly warmed into friendliness to the point of giving them cigarettes, apples, cakes and bottles of ginger beer, which the prisoners accepted very thankfully                    _{British journalist M McDonagh : “Violence against Prisoners of War” Dr Heather Jones}

Such “flabby sentimentality” on the part of the British public was condemned in the “War Illustrated” in October 1914.

Similar scenes were reported in Germany in 1914, prisoners were greeted in Munich with gifts of beer, sausages and tobacco as had been the custom in the Franco Prussian war of 1870. The exchange of souvenirs also took place in Germany and was specifically condemned. Orders were soon issued that prisoners were not to receive gifts at stations and trains in Germany and France were sealed if stopped for long.

As the war progressed, loved ones were lost and reports of atrocities from repatriated prisoners of all nations were widely reported. Situations such as those above and the Christmas truce of December 1914 caused the authorities of all Nations to encourage more “patriotic behaviour” urging the civilian populace think of their loved ones fighting the enemy. Large propaganda campaigns pushed the message home and any reports of mistreatment were widely disseminated.

In Germany pamphlets gave accounts of terrible killings and mutilations of their men at the hands of the allied armies. Such stories gave rise to wounded Allies complaining that they had been refused food and care by the German Red Cross when the trains stopped. Nurses in particular bore the brunt of these charges. There are many conflicting accounts of such stories and many prisoner recollections praise the German Red Cross nurses warmly. Some cases of neglect by the nurses were proved but it is important to understand the situation in which these women were working.

In 1914 some German women were accused of greeting the French prisoners too warmly, resulting in the issue of the following order:

Parchim – recorded as holding Ernest Larder in August 1918

International Red Cross records show Private Larder at Parchim camp in August 1918. Parchim is recorded as a distributing camp, built on a former cavalry drill ground. The enclosure was 3 miles in circumference and at times there were 45,000 men on the register. Some of these men were working in occupied territories. The distribution camps were placed close to the rail links to enable the distribution of prisoners to where they were needed.

McCarthy is very clear that the entire atmosphere of the camp emanantes from the commandant.

As a transit camp Ernest Larder may not have actually resided at this camp for long. Certainly his final camp was listed by McCarthy as one of the worst type.

The commander at Schneidemuhl stated that “it was better for the guard to use his musket or bayonet on the prisoner, rather than the prisoner should be tried by court martial and sentenced to long years of imprisonment”                                         _{Daniel McCarthy: The Prisoner of War in Germany} 

Schneidemuhl –place of internment for Private Larder – Departed 3^rd Dec 1918

Czersk Camp – recorded as holding Private Ernest Larder:

Private Larder’s service records show that he was classified as 20% disabled on demobilisation but there is no further information to provide details of his experience as an individual at the current time. Records show that both Ernest and his wife Lily died in 1972.

Raymond Snowshall of Alford

Raymond Snowshall was born in Alford in 1895, the son of Henry and Sarah Snowshall. In 1911 the family lived in South St, Sarah was a widow with four children at home.

He was one of those “deemed to have been enlisted” on March 2^nd 1916 under the new Military Service Act.

In letters home from France Dorothy Higgins exchanged details of the local military tribunals with her father, confirming that Raymond Snowshall was the subject of the article below:

The appeal was dismissed and the son complained against the decision, remarking that there were five brothers in Alford who had got off.

Raymond Snowshall was called up on November 3^rd 1916, he left for France in February 1917.  On 11^th April 1917 Private Snowshall was fighting with the 2/5^th Lincolns as the advanced towards the Hindenburg line. Orders were given to attack the enemy trench from Hargincourt to Malakoff Farm as the enemy were retiring. Reports of retirement were false with heavy casualties being sustained.

Private Snowshall was recorded as being captured at Hargincourt on 11^th April 1917 he was held in Minden Prisoner of War Camp, where he remained until November 1918.

Minden was a parent camp, used for the distribution of working parties for labour across Germany. Conditions at the camp itself were poor and it is specifically noted by US Embassy appointed inspector Daniel McCarthy as the worst.  A summary of McCarthy’s report on Minden appears below.

Private Raymond Snowshall was repatriated to Hull on the SS Takada on 29^th November 1918. In 1926 he appears in Kelly’s Directory as living in Finsbury Street, his business – a chimney sweep – but Raymond did not fully recover from the hardship he endured in the war.

The focus on Ernest Larder and Raymond Snowshall has resulted in a focus on the German prisoner of war camps and labour corps, the latter being the harshest of all conditions. US Embassy inspector Daniel McCarthy underlines the importance of the camp administrators in determining the atmosphere in which the prisoners of war were housed. Overcrowding and poor sanitation resulted in many of the camps becoming disease ridden and conditions were dire for such prisoners, but this was not just the situation for Allied prisoners as the information below shows.

Allied Prisoners of War

Recent research into the story of Sister Nellie Clark from Bilsby has revealed that in Serbia Austro Hungarian prisoners were suffering in terrible conditions. The experiences of Sister Clark and her colleagues at Lady Paget’s Hospital in Skoplje provide an insight into the difficulties of caring for overwhelming numbers of prisoners in an impossible situation.

Austro-Hungarian Prisoners at Lady Paget’s Hospital

When Sister Clark and her colleagues arrived in Skoplje in November 1914 there were Austrian prisoners within the hospital compound.

The British soon discovered the prisoners to be weak from recurring fevers, bronchitis and lack of food. Many Serbians were also suffering from lack of food, clothing and habitation. As prisoners in such poverty the Austrians were targeted, many were wounded and then faced losing their great coats and anything else of value to their captors.

Nurse Scott, also at Lady Paget’s Hospital, was shocked to find that around Skoplje some 5,000 Austrian prisoners existed.

The poor creatures were allowed to sleep wherever they could, and were to be found in sheds, basements and stables where they huddled together in a desperate effort to keep warm. It was this situation which enabled the swift onset of the Typhus epidemic in March 1916.      _{Flora Scott( Private papers): IWM}

Nurse Scott was less guarded in her letters

Many member of the nursing team succumbed to Typhus including Lady Paget herself. During this period Nurse Scott spent 7 days alone in charge of 300 men:

It was terrible at times I felt so helpless. I did not know where to go and what to do first. I began to wonder if it was really worth going on. We were so short of food, water and fires. It was too awful to see the poor creatures suffering and it want yet helpless to give. The cold was intense, and there were deep snows yet I could only give each man one army blanket. The convalescent Austrian orderlies helped. It was wonderful what a little nursing and attention did.              _{Flora Scott( Private papers): IWM}

These Austrians as a body served us well, and the mutual liking which grew up between them and the wounded Serbians whom they helped to tend was a very happy feature in the life of the hospital. When granted leave from their posts the Austrians rejected it in favour of ensuring the welfare of the patients and the running of the hospital.     _{Lady Paget : With our Serbian Allies}