214021 Pte. Haigh Swallow British Army 2nd Battalion Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry from:Barnsley My grandfather, Haigh Swallow, enlisted with KOYLI on the 10th December 1913. He had been a coal-miner up to this date, and told me that he enlisted as he wanted to get out of the pits and see something of the world.
After initial training he was posted to 2 KOYLI in Dublin and was there at the outbreak of war. 2 KOYLI were sent to France by ship from Dublin and arrived on 16th August 1914. He was at the Battle of Le Cateau on 26th August 1914 when 2 KOYLI, among others, were left to defend the retreat of the BEF. He was one of the last 19 survivors, taking part in the famous charge led by Major Charles Yate, VC on the German Army when ammunition had run out.
He fell wounded in both arms during this engagement and was subsequently picked up by the Germans and taken to a field hospital. He recalled being beaten by a German officer for drinking water that had been put out for German wounded. Once his wounds had been treated he was sent back to a holding camp, from which he escaped in a group some days later. The whole group was recaptured by a cavalry patrol as they emerged from woods and after having been tied to stirrups were trotted back to the camp. From there he was sent on to the large camp at Chemnitz (Stalag IV-F). He did not take well to incarceration and after other escape attempts was sent to a camp at Riga on the Baltic. His final destination was to a camp in what is now Austria, from which he also escaped, spending three weeks wandering hopelessly lost before finding himself back at the camp. The gates were open, and it turned out that during his most uncomfortable three weeks of freedom the war had ended.
He was repatriated in May 1919 by sea from one of the Baltic ports. After the war he returned to the pits in Barnsley. He was always willing to talk about his wartime experiences, and expressed his liking for what he called the ordinary Germans he met. He told how the camp guards, who were mainly old reservists, would bring in little presents at Christmas such as home-made wooden pipes and so on.
He had the very opposite view of the German officer class, and commented on their brutality not only to prisoners but also to their own men.
In WW 2 he served in the local Home Guard, and told some very funny stories indeed about their lack of equipment at the beginning of their service. When sent to guard one of the big local reservoirs which were thought to be a target for troop-carrying seaplane landings, his platoon had no weapons at all. They were each issued with a stick and a box of pepper, with the instructions: - 1. Confront your German
- 2. Throw the pepper in his face
- 3. Strike him with the stick and knock him out
- 4. Seize his weapon and take him prisoner/shoot him as appropriate.
Yes, indeed, Captain Mainwaring. Fortunately they never came. He died in 1972 at the age of 84. All his life he was a living lesson in how to seize the moment and enjoy it; he had seen his mates shot down around him and realised that he was the lucky one. He saw the beauty in the simple things of life;a cup of tea and a Woodbine were sweet to him. I was fortunate to know him.
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