agle, of the Imperial
Guard. He is on leave convalescing from a wound in the knee which he
received at Ypres. I was expressly told that I might describe what I
saw and repeat what I heard as many times and as much in detail as I
chose, so that I have no hesitation in giving my impressions without
reserve, even though it was by courtesy of the German Government that
I made the trip.

The camp was distant one hour's fast run from Berlin and was situated
on a flat plain which had very little natural or artificial drainage.
The cold mud was everywhere from three to four inches deep. On this
plain and closely surrounded by heavy barbed-wire entanglements were
some seventy or eighty rude wooden sheds arranged in four rows with a
broad avenue down the center. Here were kept some nine thousand
prisoners of war, of whom four thousand were British and four thousand
Russian. By careful and repeated pacing I estimated that the sheds
were about one hundred by thirty feet. Each one had six unopenable
windows on a side. In each such house were quartered one hundred and
twenty-five men. When certain partitioned areas have been subtracted
this means a space of about six by three feet per man. Each house was
heated by one stove and was very hot and stuffy, being, except for the
door, hermetically sealed.

None of the prisoners had overcoats, personal belongings, or blankets.
They slept on straw ticks measuring approximately seven feet by
thirty inches. That they all suffered from lice and other vermin was
perfectly evident. The whole camp was closely surrounded by barbed
wire, and the main avenue was commanded by three field-guns placed
outside at one end in a little barbed-wire fort. The whole was
apparently under the charge of a Captain of Landsturm and the guards
were men of the Landsturm. The prisoners looked thin, peaked, unhappy
and sickly, and many had boils. They have absolutely nothing to
do--they exist. They are fed three times a day--6 A.M., 12 noon, and 4
P.M. For "lunch" and "dinner" and also Sunday breakfast, they receive
about one pint of a thick soup. I tasted some of this and thought it
was concocted chiefly of barley and potatoes. I was told that there
was meat in it but could find no evidence of any. For breakfast the
prisoners receive black bread with a slice of either cheese or sausage
and either tea or coffee. The diet is evidently insufficient. I should
say that it was calculated with German accuracy to just keep