Ambassador Gerard hesitated to make public Mr. Osborne's report until he had visited the camp himself and became satisfied of the truth of his findings. On November 8, after the epidemic had been stamped out, the ambassador inspected the camp and on the same day reported to Mr. Page that he regretted to have to state "that the impression which I gained upon careful examination of the camp and after long conversations with the prisoners, was even more unfavorable than I had been led to expect." 1 Later inspections by representatives of the American embassy found conditions greatly improved, a new commandant having been appointed, an increased supply of clothing having been provided, and the use of police dogs having been abandoned.2

§ 340. Gardelegen and Other "Bad" Camps. Another "plague" camp was that at Gardelegen. It was greatly overcrowded, there being only six cubic metres of space for each man. The sanitary conditions were "indescribably bad"; bathing facilities were inadequate; there was insufficient clothing; the huts were inadequately heated, and the men, many of whom had no shoes, sat around with their feet tied up in straw and rags. A few had sold their overcoats to obtain food, but their coats had been taken from the great majority of them at the time of their capture and were never returned or replaced. Food rations were reduced by one-half, and while the British and French prisoners received food from home through the parcels post, the Russians were compelled to live on the little furnished by the prison authorities. The men were dirty, infected with vermin, and emaciated; under these circumstances they fell an easy prey to typhus. There was a lack of medicines and food for the sick, the whole equipment of medical supplies being no more than enough to fill a modern sized cupboard. The hospital accommodations were hopelessly inadequate, there

1 Ibid., p. 9. Mr. Gerard says in his book, My Four Years in Germany (p. 173) "The conditions in the camp during the period of the epidemic were frightful.” Many complaints, he says, were made by the prisoners against the use of police dogs by which some of the men had been bitten. "It seemed undoubtedly true that the prisoners there had been knocked about and beaten in a terrible manner by their guards, and one guard went so far as to strike one of the British medical officers in the camp." Cf. also McCarthy, pp. 105 ff., and the London weekly Times of April 14, 1916. For French testimony as to conditions at Wittenberg and other camps cf. Régime des Prisonniers, pp. 57 ff.

Reports of Dr. Ohnesorg, Misc., No. 16 (1916), pp. 24, 85.

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being but two hundred beds, although eleven thousand prisoners were confined in the camp. After the epidemic broke out, the sick came in at the rate of fifty per day; the hospital was soon filled and the patients were piled on the floor on bags filled with shavings. As at Wittenberg the guards, the medical staff, and the military authorities fled and left the administration in the hands of the prisoners. Before leaving, the guards unlocked the gates and allowed the prisoners of the various barracks to mix and spread the disease. Near the end of March a German medical officer arrived, but the epidemic was beyond his control. The epidemic lasted four months, and there were over two thousand cases, fifteen per cent of which were fatal. "No excuse," says Dr. Ohnesorg, a representative of the American embassy who inspected the camp, "can be offered for the callousness and cowardice exhibited by the authorities." There were also charges that the authorities were unsympathetic and brutal in their treatment of the prisoners. The whole story is one of shameful neglect, brutality, and callousness.2

Conditions at various other camps were reported as bad or unsatisfactory, though none were comparable to those at Wittenberg and Gardelegen. At Schneidemühl conditions were described as deplorable; a typhus epidemic broke out; and there were many charges of cruelty, brutality, and neglect. At the concentration camp at Cassell three thousand seven hundred French and British prisoners and one thousand five hundred Russian prisoners are alleged to have died of typhus. 3

1 Quoted by McCarthy, p. 106.

2 The facts as stated above are taken mainly from Dr. Ohnesorg's report and from the report of a government committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Justice Younger of the English High Court. The report was issued as a white paper in October, 1916. Misc., No. 34 (1916), Cd. 8351. McCarthy says the conduct of the German authorities at Limburg, where there was a large number of cases of tuberculosis among the Irish prisoners, was in a general way similar to that at Wittenberg and Gardelegen. They not only paid no attention to the patients who filled the overcrowded barracks, but denied that the disease existed there. It was at this camp that Sir Roger Casement, with the approval and encouragement of the German authorities, made an unsuccessful attempt to seduce the Irish prisoners from their allegiance to Great Britain. After the failure of the attempt the attitude of the prison officials became unsympathetic and the rigor of the disciplinary régime was increased (pp. 122 ff.).

Statement of an escaped French prisoner, Paris press despatch of September 18, 1917.

Ambassador Gerard found as many as twelve English prisoners occupying a single room in the camp at Castle Celle in November, 1915.1 Conditions prevailing in the camp at Halle on the Saale were the subject of considerable criticism. It was visited by American representatives some five or six times during 1915 and in the early part of 1916. Ambassador Gerard visited it three times, but on the first two occasions he left without making an inspection, as he was told by the camp authorities that he would not be allowed to converse with the British prisoners in English. He made a third visit in July, 1915, and in a report to Mr. Page stated that "the impressions which I got of the camp on the 30th of July were on the whole far from favorable . . . officers were housed in rooms containing as many as 52 persons and none of the rooms struck me as being particularly clean." Certain minor improvements had taken place, but conditions in general remained much as they were.2

In August, 1916, the British government issued a white paper containing the reports of American representatives of some forty prison camps in Germany. So far as housing conditions were concerned, the inspectors found little to complain of in most of them, although in some camps, notably those at Murechberg, Münster, Guben, Minden, and Gnadenfrei, there was either overcrowding, insufficient lighting, or lack of bathing, toilet, or recreation facilities.3

The French government complained that French prisoners in Germany were often badly housed in overcrowded, ill-lighted, damp, dingy, and even unsanitary buildings, sometimes on barren sandy plains where the prisoners were exposed to the severity of the winter; that in some cases they were housed in tents in the dead of winter, and that the prisoners were compelled to sleep on piles of damp straw infrequently renewed.1

1 Misc., No. 16 (1916), p. 6.

Misc., No. 19 (1915), p. 48. Mr. Gerard says in his book that the camp at Halle was unfit for the confinement of prisoners. They were housed in old factory buildings in the industrial part of the town, and there was no opportunity for games and recreation.

3 Misc., No. 26 (1916), Cd. 8297.

4 Report of the Spanish ambassador in Régime des Prisonniers, pp. 30-31. The reports of the Spanish representatives, while containing numerous criticisms of conditions prevailing in the German prisons, did not appear to give much attention to housing accommodations. They did complain, however, of the in

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8341. Mixing of Prisoners of Different Nationalities. A cause of continued complaint among the British prisoners was the German regulation which required prisoners of different nationalities to be housed in the same barracks. As the rule was enforced it not infrequently happened that British, French, Russians, Servians, and even Africans found themselves housed in the same room, and sometimes as many as three prisoners representing as many different nationalities were required to sleep on the same mattress. This rule was enforced against officers and men alike. Aside from their inability to converse with one another, the diverse customs, standards of cleanliness, ideas as to ventilation, and the like caused much friction, which at times led to altercations and fist fights.2 The refusal of the camp authorities to segregate the Russian prisoners, who were the first and by far the most numerous victims of the typhus epidemic at Wittenberg, was largely responsible for the spread of the disease. At nearly every camp visited by the American inspectors they heard complaints from the English prisoners in regard to this treatment, and from the outset the inspectors insisted that the different races should be housed separately. Representations were even made to the German foreign office but usually without effect, for the Germans took the position that if African and other races were good enough to serve the British as allies, British prisoners could not justly object to being housed with them.3 At Ruheleben the Jews were separated from other prisoners and segregated in barracks to them

adequacy of the hospital and sanitary arrangements and reproached the German authorities for their neglect of the sick and especially of tubercular patients. Cf. Rapports des Délégués du Gouv. Espagnol, etc., pp. 359 ff. As to the charge of housing the prisoners in tents, it is only just to remark that in time the tents were replaced by wooden structures.

1 At Wittenberg, for example, there was but one mattress for every three men, and they were so distributed that each was occupied by an Englishman, a Frenchman, and a Russian. Cf. Mr. Justice Younger's report on conditions at Wittenberg, Misc., No. 10 (1916), p. '.

2 McCarthy, op. cit., p. 46.

3 In a note verbale of January 11, 1915, regarding the British complaint the German foreign office stated that there was no reason whatever why any separation should be made among captured enemy officers in their quarters. "Since England does not blush to use coloured troops of all races against Germany in the present war, English officers must not be surprised if they are brought into close contact in prison with their comrades in arms of other nationalities." Misc., No. 19 (1915), pp. 18, 29.

selves.1 A frequent complaint which the inspectors heard from British prisoners was that they were systematically discriminated against, and that they were less favorably treated than French prisoners in respect to food, work, discipline, and the like. Similar complaints were made by the Russian prisoners.

8342. Regulations and Practice as to Clothing. Article 7 of the Hague réglement imposes on belligerents into whose hands prisoners of war have fallen an obligation, in the absence of a special agreement, to treat them as regards clothing as they treat their own soldiers. The British memorandum concerning the treatment of interned civilians and prisoners of war announced that

"An ample supply of first class clothing including overcoats, boots, shirts and underclothing, as well as towels, soap, etc., is kept in each camp, and is supplied to those who may have need of it, free of charge. Several cases have been brought to notice where prisoners have gambled away the garments given to them, and have accordingly suffered from want of clothing until this has been supplied for a second time."

The German statement of principles observed in the housing, feeding, and clothing of prisoners, of July, 1915, declared that "In the beginning, non-commissioned officers and men who are prisoners of war remain in the uniform which they brought with them. If the thin clothing needs replacing, the prisoners will at first be provided with proper articles of clothing from the booty of war. When the latter is used up, new suitable clothing is purchased. The kind of clothing is dependent upon the season, the climate and the weather. The clothing generally consists of a suit, necktie and cap; besides shirts, socks, warm underwear and good shoes are given, as well as overcoats and woollen blankets to protect against the cold. Male civilian prisoners of war will be fitted out in the same way as military prisoners of war after their present clothing can no longer be used."

1 Cohen, op. cit., p. 40. Irish prisoners were segregated at Limburg, one of the best prison camps in Germany, this with a view to inducing them to desert their British allegiance. After the failure of Sir Roger Casement's efforts to persuade them to go over to the side of Germany, they were treated with less consideration. McCarthy, op. cit., p. 22.

2 Misc., No. 7 (1915), P. 24.

Misc., No. 7 (1915), p. 80. Mr. Balfour in a communication of February 8, 1917, to Mr. Townsley stated that German prisoners in England were warmly clad, were furnished with overcoats, and were given the same kind and amount of underclothing as were furnished British troops. "They not infrequently," he added, "urged their friends not to send food or clothing, as everything is provided for them." Misc., No. 7 (1918), p. 13.