While not Manchesters I thought this article dictated by my G Uncle and set down by his wife in 1945 (obviously written for his children) might be of interest. He was captured on the Aisne or Aisne Canal on 27 May 1918 when his party which was preparing to demolish a bridge became surrounded by Germans. The camps and conditions were the same whichever unit the soldiers belonged to. All that I have added are the words in italics where I thought an explanation might be necessary.
Father had been captured on May 27th 1918 at a little place between Rheims and Soissons (Berry au Bac). He was serving with the 15th Field Company 8th Div RE. After being captured they spent the remainder of the day carrying back German wounded behind the lines and at night were served with a dose of "skilly" (thin soup)and turned out into a field like cattle without any cover at all. After a few days of loading shells in trucks they were sent to an Internment camp at Charleville Fontaine. They had their clothes disinfected and their boots taken away from them instead were given wooden sabots, with toe rags that is a square piece of cloth to wrap their feet in, instead of socks. They had to slide their feet instead of lifting them in order to keep on the sabots.
Father was sent to work on June 9th under a civilian, with German guards on the construction of huge wooden trestles used to bridge a ravine for a railway to run over. None of them understood each others language and when the German tried to give orders and make himself understood, some of the younger men used to laugh, which made him very angry and he used to spit at them and kick them but father tried to understand him and so got on very well. He always carried a 2-foot (a 2-foot rule normally used by benchhand joiners as opposed to a 3-foot rule used by site joiners ) and the German gave him sizes in meters and he worked them out on the 2 foot and managed to make all the trestles to his instructions. Then came the most difficult task of all that of erecting the trestles in positions dug out of the hillsides, which made it very difficult. The German got about 20 men around the trestles and tried to get the men to lift them up but they were as contrary as possible, some of them lifting at one side and then some of them at the other side, no combined effort at all. The German lost his head and swore at them and then dashed off and grabbed father by the coat saying "commander, commander" and dragged him off to try to get the men to make a real attempt. Father talked to them told them they were prisoners and they might as well do as well as they could while they were there, as they only made things worse for them all, then he arranged for them all to lift together when he said "up up" They raised it about 1 yard and then put a prop underneath and then again and again until they had got it into position. The German was delighted, kept waving his hands saying "good, good" and every time they reared a trestle after that he always fetched father. Father got tired of him as he was a brutal type, but every time he tried to get away he fetched him back, until one day the camp commandant wanted a tradesman to alter a wardrobe in his room. Father fell out for the job and never again worked for the carpenter although he used to try to bribe him to go back by offering him cigarettes etc.
The camp commander could talk English perfectly and told father that he was working in a bank in London when war broke out and had been called back to the Colours. He told father that England was a good place to live in and that he would try to get back to London as soon as the war was over. The food was very poor, a big portion of it being barley in some form or other, soup made from horses heads (with the eyes in) and even raw Herrings, also black pudding in tins marked "made specially for prisoners of war". When they complained they were told they would be given better food when the English raised the blockade as they themselves were very badly fed.
About this time our planes were going over bombing this district and orders were given to disband the camp, and on Aug 6th father left this place and traveled all night until 3-30 the following afternoon when they arrived at a large central camp. Here on Aug 16th they heard a rumour that the British were advancing and on the 19th they were moved further back again. They then had 1 hot meal a day and bread was reduced from 500 to 400 grams a day. Then on Sept 14th they were moved again to Worms (on the Rhine) where they were placed amongst Russian prisoners. Here a loaf of bread had to be divided amongst 11 persons. The Russians cut it up into 12 equal parts and then weighed it on weighs made from 2 skewers and a piece of string and a wood cross rail, using 1 piece of bread as a weight, then if any piece was underweight they put on a few crumbs from the 12th piece then the last man who had the weight grumbled because he hadn't a "draw".
From here father was sent out to help drag timber out of the river Rhine, and up to a sawmill. There to be cut up and stacked. This was at Biebruch, where he came across some more English men who had been there a long time. There they received parcels of food in which he was allowed to join and so fared much better. Father developed bleeding piles and was ordered to a prisoner of war hospital at Giessen. He was taken there by a German guard and on the way met a German General, who severely admonished the guard for allowing a "British swine" to walk on the causeway and afterwards he had to walk in the gutter.
This was the beginning of Nov 1918 and as the Armistice was signed on the 11th, father had not long to stay, being sent back to France (Nancy) on Nov 27th 1918 to a French hospital. From there to a British hospital further down the line, and then by hospital train to Rouen. By this time he had developed septic poisoning in his arm (from barbed wire) and was being treated there until being sent over to England. On the way over on the ship St. David, he had it cut and attended to and arrived at Southampton with his arm in a sling and his face and body all blown up with the wrong food they had had and wearing a pair of carpet slippers and without a cent in his pocket.
On leaving the ship each prisoner was given a pipe and tobacco, cigs and chocolate. They had a smack up dinner on the train and arrived at Waterloo station where they were fed again and where a fleet of taxis was waiting. Father was taken to Lewisham Military hospital and put in the Dartmouth ward, which made him feel at home at once. He then begged a stamp from the YMCA and wrote to Auntie Louise and Uncle Herbert, who visited him the next day, and supplied him with money. He was there about a fortnight and then asked for a transfer to Royds Hall, which he very much regretted afterwards as the food was so poor and was eventually transferred to Boothroyd Hospital at Brighouse, where he spent a very happy Christmas.
In Feb 1919 he went before a medical board and was given 3 months leave, being discharged from the Army on April 25th 1919 as he had got a promise of employment.
