Grandad who befriended captor shows we’re rarely true enemies
As we approach the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, we will be telling the stories of the ordinary people who made an extraordinary sacrifice for our country. Here Brian Wilson from Sturry, near Canterbury, recalls how his grandfather made his personal peace with the Germans long before armistice.
My grandfather Private Harry Wilson was 17 when he first volunteered in 1915, but he was recalled when his mother found out.
It was finally in February 1917, aged 18, when he enlisted with The Buffs – the Royal East Kent Regiment.
With a wisdom beyond his years, he avoided sniper training. He deliberately shot wide in trials – knowing becoming a sniper would be a certain death sentence.
At the Front he was transferred to the King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), where he volunteered to prime hand grenades and go on bombing raids at nights – to gather information and bring back prisoners.
Once, he had to bayonet a German soldier when the man reached for his revolver.
Harry was involved in the Battle of Passchendaele in July 1917, and later joined the line near Arras to support inexperienced Portuguese troops.
Watching two comrades killed beside him, he was shot through both thighs. He was captured by the Germans, but their surgeons saved his life, and he was sent to a POW camp. Conditions were harsh. A German spat in his face and my grandad struck him to the floor. Following 10 days of solitary confinement, he was sent to a farm in Bayreuth, Bavaria. He struck up a rapport with the farmer, Fritz, and was treated as one of the family. He walked to the village tavern and taught Fritz to trap deer, ensuring they ate well. He even put on weight. When the Armistice came it was Fritz who told him: “Deutschland caput!”
He was repatriated through Switzerland in December 1918 but his relationship with Fritz is a touching reminder that animosity rarely truly existed between the men sent to fight. Harry married my grandmother Alice and became a forestry worker, living until nearly 90.