By arrangements between
the two countries, also, the severely wounded prisoners were set
free. I believe that this exchange of the heavily wounded between
the Germans and the Russians was the factor which prevented the
entrance of Sweden into the war. These wounded men traversed the
whole length of Sweden in the railway, and the spectacle afforded
to the Swedish population of these poor stumps of humanity, victims
of war, has quite effectually kept the Swedish population from
an attack of unnecessary war fever.
Officers and men who tried to escape were not very severely punished
in Germany unless they had broken or stolen something in their
attempt. Officers were usually subjected to a jail confinement
for a period and then often sent to a sort of punitive camp.
Such a camp was situated in one of the Ring forts surrounding
the city of Kustrin which I visited in September, 1916. There
the officers had no opportunity for exercise except in a very
small courtyard or on the roof, which was covered with grass, of
the building in which they were confined.
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