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Pte. Albert Edwin Smith
British Army 2/5th Btn. Lincolnshire Regiment
from:Leicester
Extract taken from the diary my Grandfather, Albert Smith kept whilst in captivity:
"18th of April 1918: Captured on 15.4.1918 near Bailleul along with two other Signallers. Stayed in a farm over night and was stretcher carrying. Moved under armed escort from Armentiers to Citadel Barracks in Lille. I have met some very nice Germans and am sorry to confess that in many instances I have received better treatment and had more consideration shown at the hands of the Germans than I have had from my own countrymen....
.... There have been many fatigues to the hospitals and stations stretcher carrying. I have been on each and going on those broke the monotony and melancholy spirit I had felt coming over me since I first came here, but going along the streets seeing civilians who used to greet us with smiles and oft times with gifts and one thing one ought not to fail to notice, the little children, sweet innocents standing and throwing kisses (God bless them) Ah! They know not the horrors of war though they for nigh on four years have lived within the sounds of the guns. May they be spared the experiences through which I and others have passed."
My Grandfather was being moved along with hundreds of other prisoners of war on 10.11.1918 from Brussels to Louvain. Whilst marching though a town he was approached by some youngsters asking if he wanted to escape. Having said he did, due to the low number of German soldiers escorting them, he was told to wait until the column was going round a bend so the view of the soldiers was reduced. The youngsters crowded round him and rushed him down a side street. The story goes he was taken to a grand house, which turned out to be owned by one of the ladies in waiting to the Queen of the Belgians. The following day the armistice was signed!
I would certainly welcome confirmation of the details relating to the last section, the address listed in the diary is 60 Rue Billiard, although it is unclear whether this was the address he originally went to. As with a lot of other men, my Grandfather never spoke in detail of his experiences.
