Outwitting the Hun: My Escape from a German Prison CampO'Brien, Pat
History
Outwitting the Hun: My Escape from a German Prison Camp
O'Brien, Pat
Prisoner-of-war escapes; World War, 1914-1918 -- Prisoners and prisons, German
During my first half-hour in that theater, to say I was on pins and
needles is to express my feelings mildly. The truth of the matter is
I was never so uneasy in my life. Every minute seemed like an hour,
and I was on the point of getting up and leaving a dozen times. There
were altogether too many soldiers in the place to suit me, and when the
German officers seated themselves right at my table I thought that was
about all I could stand. As it was, however, the lights went out shortly
afterward and in the dark I felt considerably easier.
After the first picture, when the lights went up again, I had regained
my composure considerably and I took advantage of the opportunity to
study the various types of people in the place.
From my seat I had a splendid chance to see them all. At one table there
was a German medical corps officer with three Red Cross nurses. That
was the only time I had ever seen a German nurse, for when I was in the
hospital I had seen only men orderlies. Nurses don't work so near the
first-line trenches.
The German soldiers at the different tables were very quiet and orderly.
They drank Bock beer and conversed among themselves, but there was no
hilarity or rough-housing of any kind.
As I sat there, within an arm's reach of those German officers and
realized what they would have given to know what a chance they had to
capture an escaped British officer, I could hardly help smiling to
myself, but when I thought of the big risk I was taking, more or less
unnecessarily, I began to wonder whether I had not acted foolishly in
undertaking it.
Nevertheless, the evening passed off uneventfully, and when the show
was over I mixed with the crowd and disappeared, feeling very proud of
myself and with a good deal more confidence than I had enjoyed at the
start.
I had passed a night which will live in my life as long as I live. The
bill of fare, program, and a "throw-away" bill advertising the name of
the attraction which was to be presented the following week, which was
handed to me as I came out, I still have and they are among the most
valued souvenirs of my adventure.
XV
OBSERVATIONS IN A BELGIAN CITY
One night, shortly before I left this city, our airmen raided the place.
I didn't venture out of the house at the time, but the next night I
thought I would go out and see what damage had been done.
When it became dark I left the house, accordingly, and, mixing with the
crowd, which consisted largely of Germans, I went from one place to
another to see what our "strafing" had accomplished. Naturally I avoided
speaking to any one. If a man or woman appeared about to speak to me, I
just turned my head and looked or walked away in some other direction.
I must have been taken for an unsociable sort of individual a good many
times, and if I had encountered the same person twice I suppose my
conduct might have aroused suspicion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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