13 Days: The Chronicle of an Escape from a German PrisonCaunter, John Alan Lyde
History
13 Days: The Chronicle of an Escape from a German Prison
Caunter, John Alan Lyde
Prisoner-of-war escapes; World War, 1914-1918 -- Prisoners and prisons, German
We thought we had found something suitable in this line and called a
halt at a dense clump of bushes and undergrowth of all kinds. We were
disappointed in our place very soon, as the rain came through freely.
After boiling some water and drinking the coffee we made with it, we
decided to continue our trek, reasoning that an atrocious day like
this would effectually keep early risers in-doors until a later hour
at any rate. We were right in our conjecture, as, although we walked
along the roads which are not safe places at 6 o'clock in the morning,
we neither saw anyone nor any tracks in the mud which abounded
everywhere.
Striking more north-west after an hour or so, we again hit a wild
trackless moor. This we began to cross and soon came upon
peat-cuttings.
Shortly after this we spied three huts. These at first interested and
then fascinated us. At last, plucking up courage, we examined them.
Their dry interiors and the lack of all traces of recent visits from
human beings, decided us to do rather a risky thing, namely, to use
them. Having begun risking we went the whole way and made a wood fire
in the huts, from splinters torn from the benches, etc. Drying our
clothes and cooking hot food of the oxo variety occupied considerable
time. We took it in turns to sleep on the floor. This involved
practically lying in the fire, but it had the advantage of allowing
one to become thoroughly warm. There was a pond of excellent water by
the hut we had chosen, so we had quite a number of drinks of coffee
and beef tea, etc.
In the afternoon the sun came out to cheer us up a bit, but the
scudding clouds did not give us much hope of a dry night. We intended
to start at 10 o'clock, all being well. At about six I was suddenly
taken ill, and for half an hour or so felt extremely miserable. I
suppose it was a chill I had got, but fortunately it passed off fairly
soon and I was able to eat and have some oxo two hours later. At ten
o'clock we actually did start, but we were unfortunate in having
pitch-darkness again in which to negotiate extremely difficult ground,
as it had set in to rain once more in a thoroughly steady, lasting
manner.
We had a bad fright over my compass--the best one. When I was ill the
compass must have fallen out of my pocket, and although we searched
diligently everywhere, it was only by the merest chance that I saw a
piece of it showing up in the heather in which it was lost. Truly, a
marvellous stroke of luck.
We had done about an hour's hard work ploughing through the rough
boggy land, when we decided that we had better return to our hut once
more, and tackle the bog next morning.
This delay meant that we should lose the night's march, a serious
affair when food reserves are limited and long distances remain to be
covered. However, the night's rest we got as the result of this delay
was extremely valuable as a matter of fact, as we woke up in a much
fresher state after sleeping till 7 a.m.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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