Mexborough and Swinton Times February 1, 1919

German Atrocities                           
More Mexborough Evidence Against The Huns
Tuberculosis Inoculated
Four Years of Wretchedness

Able-Seaman George Randerson, son of Mr. and Mrs. W. Eanderson, of Ferryboat Lane, Mexboro’_, has returned from Germany where he has suffered internment in every circumstance of brutality, since October, 1914.

He enlisted six weeks before capture, being then aged sixteen, and was taken at Exard, near Ant,werp, in the ill-fated expedition to the relief of that city. They were taken at midnight and for two days were lodged in a church. Very early they gave their captors a taste of their quality, and the Germans gave them a taste of theirs. Immediately after they were captured they raised cheers for King George. Immediately machine-guns opened upon them, and 87 of them were killed.

The rest were marched to Termonde, where they entrained for Germany, being assured by an officer at Termonde that they would be well treated.

They were closely packed in cattle trucks which were heavily littered with manure, and at every halt on the long journey to their German destination they were assaulted and insulted. The journey occupied four days and five nights, and it was done on a daily allowance of bread about the size of a man’s fist. Finallv they reached Doeberitz, where, after two days, they were put on “fatigues,” and compelled to work at the point of the bayonet. The bayoneting and shooting of prisoners was a daily occurrence. The prisoners were filthy, and in an utterably wretched condition. They never saw a towel or a piece of soap for three months.

In March 1915, there were sent out of Doeberitz to reclaim and cultivate some marshes. They were kept at this work from 6 am to 7:30 pm for seven days a week for two months, at 1s 2d a we come with nothing but bowl of water and a small ration of bread to sustain them.

Later they were sent to pick cherries at 1 ½ a hundredweight, the food they received a revolting even to starving men.

Then there were sent to agriculture proper, 15 of them been distributed among the farms of a village. Anderson, for refusing to do certain work on was thrashed and locked in a rat infested barn, without food. As a further punishment he was sent back to Doeberitz and given five days “cells” on bread and water, serve once in 24 hours.

After that he was sent to work at a factory where metal was melted. He was employed here until Christmas 1916, when he planned and carried out a big attempt to escape. He managed to obtain money and civilian clothing and he walked to Berlin (17 miles), and took a train for Wittenberg, where he spent the first night. At Wittenberg he was required to give an account of himself for registration, and as there was a good deal of talk in Germany at the time of the intention of Sweden to declare war on Russia, he represented himself as a Swedish reservist, recalled for mobilisation. It should be explained that during his two years internment he had used every opportunity of acquiring conversational proficiency in the German language, and his tongue never betrayed him.

When he made his escape, that he was accompanied by a company was not so well-equipped, and this ultimately led to disaster. From Wittenberg they walked to Luneberg, and from there took train for Bremen, where they spent the night, going forward to Oldenberg, where they stayed another night. Here they were again challenged and examined and represented themselves as Dutchmen returning to Holland.

Unfortunately Randerson’s comrade blundered in filling in the particulars. There was nothing for it but a dash for the frontier, which was only five Miles away, and they reached Leer, where, within sight of the Dutch frontier, they were apprehended by a police agent, who came upon them as they were emerging from a wood. From Saturday night to Wednesday they had travelled three hundred miles, and came within a hundred yards of Holland.

They were brought back to the fortress at Oldenberg, where they were searched and cuffed, and after three days they were sent on to Alexandraplatz, an infamous prison in Berlin, where the brutality of the Germans was exceptional. Here they were given eight days “strong arrest” or dark cells. Later Randerson was punished for refusing to disclose—even when a revolver was pointed at his forehead—who had assisted him to escape. They were sent back to the metal furnaces, where they worked until November, 1917, when they were moved to the colliery district of Seftenberg, where they were employed in digging clay, and sand, and later Randerson was put to drive a locomotive engine. Here the prisoners agreed that they would do as much damage as possible, in order to secure transfer to another district, for their lives were intolerable owing to excessive labour and insufficient and corrupt food. Randerson managed to set the locomotive amock among a number of waggons, doing damage, he was afterwards informed, to the amount ‘of 25,000 marks.

He mentions that the oil used for the lubrication of the engine was said by the German with whom he worked, to have been supplied by a “corpse factory.” It was highly deleterious, and produced blood-poisoning and eczema whenever it came in contact with wounds. After the disaster to the. engine he was sent back to the shovel party, and then, on account of his proficiency in German, he was appointed an interpreter to the camp at Doeberitz. He commenced his new duties in March, 1918, and used his position to make incessant complaints about the food served to the prisoners, without much success. He himself, was however, much better treated than formerly. After the armistice the prisoners demanded a number of privileges, and required their guard to disarm, which was done.

Randerson was in Berlin when the revolution broke out, and sheltered from the street fighting in a picture-house. Major-General Sir Richard Ewart, Chairman of the British Repatriation Committee, came to Berlin and asked the prisoners to be patient and to “stick it” a little longer’

Randerson reached Holland on December 31, and was subsequently shipped to Hull, reaching Mexborough just in time to be present at a gathering of return prisoners held in the Adwick -Road School. Since his return he has been examined by a specialist was discovered traces of tuberculosis which he suspects was inoculated in Randerson by the Germans in March, 1915, when he was inoculated times and vaccinated four times, in the course of a month.

There is an excellent prospect however, of eradicating the disease