Sunday, April 4, 1915
In rest billets northern outskirts of Estaires
The Battalion War Diarist wrote for this day: Nothing – No details recorded [1]
THIS DAY IN RMR HISTORY: “Paris, April 1, 6:20 p.m. – Captivity weighs lightly on the German prisoners in France. Their spirits are sustained by unfailing faith in a final victory for the fatherland and the good care they are receiving. These facts were discovered by a delegation of foreign newspaper men who have just visited the prisoner camps.
‘My soldiers,’ said General Poline [sic] at Tours, ‘are sleeping wherever they can, in barns, in sheds, while the German prisoners are enjoying the comforts of barracks.
There are a thousand German prisoners in the Issoudan barracks from all arms of the service, of all ages, from nineteen to forty-five, and from all sections of the battlefront. All are rosy and gay and satisfied with the food that is given them. These rations are the same as those given the French soldiers, except as to the quantity of meat which is reduced from a half pound to a quarter of a pound, in retaliation for the measures which are said to be applied to French prisoners in Germany,
‘We are well cared for. We do only six hours light work a day, are well fed and are treated with consideration by the French officers and soldiers,’ said F. Randholtz of Constance, a twenty year old private of the 142nd regiment infantry, in a signed statement to the Associated Press. He is a prisoner at Issoudan.
What impresses the German prisoners most is the vast military body employed in handling the immense commissary stores at Tours. ‘Who is going to wear all these millions of shoes and shirts?’ they ask. They refuse to believe that there are so many soldiers in France.”
[1] War Diary, 14th Canadian Battalion, The Royal Montreal Regiment, April 4, 1915. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/e/e044/e001089714.jpg
[2] The Citizen, Ottawa, Ontario, Friday, April 2, 1915, pg. 3, col.