Henry Philip Picot

“ London, have, in initiating a system of training in Switzerland, Holland, and at home, done much to remedy the faults of the past, and have awakened in the public a sense of their obligation towards the man who is ready to give some of the best years of his life to the service of the country. I have little doubt that it will be found necessary in the future to give every soldier a thorough technical training during the years of his military service, in order that he may without delay take his place in the economic life of the country when the term of his military service expires. ”

“ I was very pleased to discover not the slightest inclination among the mass of the men of any revolt against law and order, or discipline, when justly administered, and the only instances of a spirit of revolt were when the discipline revealed, as it did only very rarely, I confess, a desire to hit the actor and not the act, or when it in fact seemed revenge or anger against a particular man. I found, indeed, a very general acquiescence in military orders, when the commands came from officers that the men loved and trusted and who treated them as men, with minds and feelings. ”

“ If the Germans hoped to impress the Swiss by their prowess and merciless inhumanity, or by showing them how easy a thing it was to accomplish the starvation of the Allies, and {194} especially Great Britain, they utterly failed in their aim, for the public in general, mostly Swiss, was horrified at the sight of the destruction of so much constructive human endeavour, and, above all, at the brutality and disregard evinced towards the unfortunate crews of the doomed or sunken vessels. ”

“ All over Switzerland the impression conveyed in the main by this film was one of disgust and horror, and comment bore more than all else on the entire absence of anything to indicate so much as the slightest endeavour to save human life. In a word, the Germans could not have chosen a subject more unfavourable to themselves, or done better propaganda work in favour of the Allies, than by exhibiting their Moewe film. ”

“ I had also the privilege of being present at Schaffhausen when some 500 French civilians were repatriated from Germany. The convoy consisted of aged men and women, young women and children, with a sprinkling of men of military age suffering from tuberculosis—as decrepit and woe-begone a crowd as could well be imagined! On arrival at the railway station, they were taken in hand by representatives of the Municipality, local doctors, and ladies of the French and Swiss Red Cross. ”

“ The events of the last four years have done much to change feeling in the German-speaking cantons, inasmuch as the invasion of Belgium, the employment of poison gas, the sinking of the Lusitania, the brutality of the submarine campaign, the destruction of Serbia, the harshness shown to Roumania, have made an unfavourable impression on all classes of the population. German propaganda has also thoroughly awakened the country to the danger it was incurring from the stranglehold which German financiers and industrials were establishing upon her economic life. ”

“ During the collation that followed, Sir Evelyn Grant Duff addressed the men in very happily chosen words, and read a message from His Majesty, which was received with cheers, and appreciated by both officers and men. Tired out, though contented, the men were finally led off by Swiss boy and girl scouts, and the sick were carried on stretchers or conveyed by carriages to their hotels and châlets, where most of them turned in to a well-earned sleep, to awake later to the life of routine and rest they were to live for the next eighteen months. ”

“ It must always be remembered that the difference of race and language of the Swiss people did not connote any difference of feeling or action towards the prisoners of war or interned civilians, and, to my mind, the sense of a possible all-world-brotherhood had one of its happiest demonstrations in the dealings of the Swiss towards these unfortunate sufferers of the war. ”

“ Especially agreeable and sympathetic is the remembrance of the charming hospitality of Swiss friends, whose salons have an old world atmosphere peculiarly their own. One is tempted to believe that, owing to their forming more or less a society, removed from the excitements and stress of larger capitals, they have been able to maintain an atmosphere of quiet conducive to thought and sentiment regarding the more abstract interests of life. ”

“ The fundamental causes acting on Prisoners of War are loss of liberty, the herding together of large numbers, the unknown duration of captivity. They suffer from want of space, the impossibility of isolating themselves from their fellows, the constant expectation in which they live whilst awaiting letters or parcels, and the ever recurrent disappointments connected therewith; and all these sufferings are accentuated by that important factor, ignorance of the duration of captivity. ”

“ The hotel industry has no doubt been crippled, but it has been kept alive by the not inconsiderable influx of wealthy refugees from Central Europe and neutral countries, {20} and the hospitalization of some 30,000 French, British, Belgian, and German Interned prisoners of war. The watch and clock, automobile, electric, and other mechanical industries, have made good by devoting their attention to the manufacture of munitions or other war requisites, in which the exceptional skill of the Swiss artisan has proved of inestimable worth. ”

“ It looked as though the business of the hotels, in which enormous capital has been invested, would cease to exist, whilst the future of hundreds of thousands of skilled artisans and mechanics would be imperilled. Foreign markets would certainly find their purchasing power greatly reduced, and there was every likelihood of a shortage in the half-finished products received from Germany and Austria, which finally reached foreign markets after receiving at the hands of the Swiss workmen that finish which gave them so great a part of their value. ”

“ Some of our Interned gymnasts took part at a Swiss Military Tournament at Neuchâtel, at which officers and men of the Swiss Army and our Allied comrades competed. Our success was practically limited to the bayonet competition, where we beat all comers in the team matches, and took the first and many other prizes for individual fighting. Our Belgian and French Allies distinguished themselves with foil and sabre, and, as some of them had been fencing professors before the war, they held their own with success against the best Swiss exponents of the art. ”

“ That the Swiss Sanitary Service, both in its military and civil branches, should have met so readily demands of so unprecedented a nature, shows a remarkable spirit of originality and adaptability, which is deserving of record and acknowledgment. ”

“ I have never in my experience of Switzerland heard a word of complaint of the burden borne by the State owing to the obligation entailed by universal service, though anger is deeply felt for the sacrifices imposed upon the country due to the ambitions of those responsible for the Great War. ”

“ In the field of sport, the men soon realized that they were in the midst of a sporting community, and football, lawn tennis, boxing, skating, ski-ing, and ice-hockey, were freely indulged in according to the season. Football was especially popular, many matches being played against Swiss and Allied clubs. The former were generally too strong for our men, who were never really fit enough to compete with the best Swiss teams. Boxing also was popular, the Swiss sending some of their best amateurs to take part in the tournaments held at Château d'Oex. ”

“ WORKSHOPS AND FACTORIES The employment of the Interned became at an early date the object of much solicitude on the part of the Swiss Government and the Swiss public, and it was soon recognized that the best tonic for repairing the ravages caused by sickness, wounds, and a long captivity, was to be found in the restoration of the soldier to a state of activity approximating to the normal, by bringing him into touch with the ordinary conditions of civil life. ”

“ Grant Duff had not only laid in stocks of medical comforts, but had prepared her staff for any sudden call I might make upon her for underclothing or hospital garments. The various groups in Switzerland forming part of her organization were set to work, and within the fortnight sufficient underclothing was made up to meet the requirements of 500 men, and hospital garments for 200 sick. As it turned out, the regulation kit was delivered just in time to have it ready for issue, so that the men were outfitted from head to foot on arrival, the fullest use being made of the Red Cross clothing. ”

“ The additional expenditure from 1914 to 1918, owing to mobilization, extra material, higher rates of pay and living, etc., form no small part of the accumulated deficit of the country, which cannot be far short of £40,000,000 sterling, and is steadily increasing.
The Military Regulations are so framed as to interfere in the least possible degree with the civil life of the soldier, and yet, despite the shortness of training, a very fair state of efficiency is reached and maintained.
The Corps of Officers is highly educated, and embraces in its ranks all the best brains of the country. ”

“ There was, moreover, this essential difference: whereas the French and Germans were largely drawn from the industrial classes, and had received a training in civil life, our men, and especially those who first arrived in Switzerland, in May, 1916, were professional soldiers, enlisted young, and therefore unskilled, and without technical equipment. Very few could hope to find work in the factories of Switzerland, and those classified in category 4, as "capable of a full day's work," were to all intents and {145} purposes eliminated in so far as the Swiss field of labour was concerned. ”

“ A special officer, or diplomat, (as in the case of France and Germany) , nominated by each of the belligerent States, was attached to his Embassy or Legation with a view to his collaboration with the Swiss political and military authorities in respect of all matters affecting the welfare of his interned countrymen, the more delicate international questions arising out of the internment being dealt with by the Chiefs of the Diplomatic Missions accredited to Switzerland. ”

“ Château d'Oex also boasted an amateur theatrical company, recruited from amongst officers and men. As a side show, they were able to count on a foursome of Scottish dancers, whose services were in great request for charity bazaars at Geneva, Montreux, Bâle, Lausanne, etc. They invariably brought down the house, and made themselves the life and soul of any entertainment at which they assisted. ”

“ Mercanton, the Directing Medical Officer of the region in which Château d'Oex was situated, and pointed out that a strict adherence to the letter of the regulations affecting the position of the British officer in his relations to the men would inevitably add to the perplexities of his Swiss colleagues. Further, that the men would not readily give their adherence to a system which subordinated them entirely to the Swiss, and prevented them from addressing themselves to their own officers when in difficulty. ”

“ The proceedings ended with the singing of the "Marseillaise," which, coming from this sorely tried company, was overwhelming, and brought tears to the eyes of many. Cheered and encouraged, clothed and warmed, they were then marched through streets full of the townspeople, who showed every sign of goodwill and sympathy. ”

“ I could not avoid the conclusion that the French employer was to some extent exploiting prisoners' labour. At the same time, it was much better that the men should be employed than that they should be idle.
At Champéry the French had leased a sawmill and a joiner's shop with machine tools, and were making huts {138} for re-housing the people in the devastated regions of northeast France. This work was under the auspices of the French Red Cross. The huts were built in panels 11⁄4 metres square, and put together by bolts and nuts. For railway transport they packed solid. ”

“ The dye industry has been developed to such an extent, that Switzerland may confidently expect to retain a portion of this trade in competition with Germany in the future.
The war will, I would fain believe and hope, have given to Swiss economics an elasticity and adaptability of which they stood in need, and from many points of view will not have proved that unmixed evil foreseen by her pessimists under the influence of their first fears. ”

“ In matters artistic, especially musical, Berne, though small in comparison, offers many of the advantages of larger capitals. It possesses a fine concert hall and a good theatre, visited, especially during the war, by the best European {193} as well as Swiss talent. Owing to Switzerland having maintained her neutrality, and being situated geographically at the very centre of the main belligerent countries, and therefore easily accessible from these, she has become, par excellence, the focus of artistic as well as other propaganda from all quarters. ”

“ The mortality amongst the British in Switzerland from all causes during the years 1916 and 1917, out of an average of about 2,000 men, amounted to fourteen only, most of whom died of tuberculosis, pneumonia, or accident—a gratifying record as far as Swiss surgeons are concerned, when the sum total of their surgical work is taken into account. ”

“ The serious nature of the demands made on the medical organization of the country may be realized from the fact that every one of the 30,000 men about to reach Switzerland was suffering from one or other form of disability, requiring medical attention at the hands of {100} a Sanitary Service manned and equipped for the ordinary requirements of the small Swiss Army. ”

“ The motive underlying this policy may, I believe, be found in the fear entertained in Swiss military circles of the delegation of powers to interned officers of certain nationalities, whose arrogance had become a bye-word in Europe, and of whom these circles entertained lively misgivings. Any display of arrogance or harshness would have been extremely repugnant and particularly misplaced when applied to sick men, all of whom were either weakened by suffering or broken in body and nerve. ”

“ He spoke in the following sense:— "Now that England has thrown in her lot with France and Russia, the combination will probably be too great for Germany and her Allies, but the struggle will be a bitter one. Remember the Seven Years' War, and what Prussia was capable of in opposition to a host of enemies. You will have many surprises; Switzerland, however, will welcome the weakening of Germany, provided she is not completely crushed. A {22} weakening of Germany would be useful to us Swiss, for we see a great danger to ourselves in the economic dominance she is obtaining in our country. ”

“ OF BRITISH PRISONERS OF WAR FROM GERMANY The first contingent of British prisoners of war was timed to arrive across the German frontier into Switzerland, at Constance, on May 28, 1916. The transport arrangements, as in the case of all movements connected with Repatriation or Internment in Switzerland, were, in the case of these officers and men, controlled by Colonel Dr. Bohny, Chief of the Swiss Military Red Cross Department, who, together with his able and noble-minded wife, frequently journeyed on the trains and gave personal supervision to the more serious cases. ”

“ For the reasons already given, any outlet in the factories or workshops in Switzerland being practically barred, the minds of our officers were turned to our own schools and workshops, as offering the most likely and useful field for the absorption of the surplus energies still available, and it was calculated that by developing these so as to provide training for another 350 men, the needs of the Interned would be fairly well met. ”