TYING PRISONERS TO THE STAKE--THE FAVOURITE PUNISHMENT
Until the coming of Major Bach at Sennelager confinement to cells
constituted the general punishment for misdemeanours, the sentence
varying according to the gravity of the offence. But mere solitary
confinement in a hole in which perpetual twilight prevailed during the
day did not coincide with Major Bach's principles of ruling with a rod
of iron. It was too humane; even the most savage sentence of "cells" did
not inflict any physical pain upon the luckless prisoner.
Major Bach was a past-master in the grim art of conceiving new and novel
methods to worry and punish those who were so unfortunate as to be under
his thumb. He was devilishly ingenious and fertile in the evolution of
ways and means to make us feel our position as acutely as possible. I
really think that he must have lain awake for hours at night thinking
out new schemes for inflicting punishment upon us, or else must have
been possessed of an excellent and comprehensive encyclopædic dictionary
dealing with the uncanny and fiendish atrocities devised by the Chinese.
I do not doubt for a moment that, if he dared, he would have introduced
some of the most ferocious tortures which for centuries have been
characteristic of the Land of the Dragon. We were absolutely helpless
and completely in his hands. He knew this full well and consequently,
being a despot, he wielded autocratic power according to his peculiar
lights as only a full-blooded Prussian can.
One evening the French military prisoners were being marched into camp
at the conclusion of the day's work. Among them was a Zouave.
Half-starved from an insufficiency of food he could scarcely drag one
foot before the other. At last he dropped out from sheer fatigue. The
guard struck him with the butt end of his rifle and roughly ordered him
to get up and keep step and pace with his comrades. The Zouave pleaded
that he really could not walk another step because he felt so weak and
ill. The guard thereupon pulled the wretched prisoner to his feet and
gave him a heavy blow across his back.
This unwarranted action stung the Zouave to frenzy. Clenching his teeth
he sprung towards his tormentor with his fist raised in the air. But
second thoughts prevailing he refrained from delivering the blow which
he had premeditated. The menace, however, did not fail to exercise its
effect upon the bullying guard who instantly became an arrant coward.
The Zouave's action was so unexpected that the soldier was taken
completely by surprise. He commenced to yell as if he had been actually
struck, and his vociferous curses, reaching the ears of his comrades,
brought speedy assistance. They rushed up, secured the Zouave, who was
glaring fiercely at his tormentor, pinioned his arms behind him, and
then marched him off to the Commanding Officer with all the speed they
could command.
The grave charge of insubordination and attempting to strike the guard
was proffered. Major Bach listened closely and when he had heard the
story, which needless to say was somewhat freely embroidered, curtly
sentenced the Zouave to "four hours at the post!" This was the first
occasion upon which we had heard of this punishment and naturally we
were somewhat agog with curiosity to discover the character of this
latest means of dealing out correction.
Escorted by four guards with loaded rifles and fixed bayonets, the
unhappy Zouave was led to a post just outside our barrack. One of the
soldiers stood on either side of the prisoner ready to run him through
should he make an attempt to escape or to resist. The other two guards,
discarding their rifles, uncoiled a length of rope which they were
carrying.
The prisoner's hands were forced behind his back and his wrists were
tied tightly together, the rope being drawn so taut as to cut deeply
into the flesh and to cause the unhappy wretch to shriek. He was now
backed against the post round which the rope was passed. His ankles were
then tied as tightly as his wrists and also strapped to the post, which
action drew another yell of pain from the victim. Finally another length
of the rope was passed round the upper part of his body, lashing him
firmly to the support to prevent him falling forward.
Trussed and tied the unhappy prisoner was left to undergo his four
hours' sentence of this ordeal. The soldiers returned to their quarters,
but as a preliminary precaution, as we were undeniably showing signs of
resentment against such torturing treatment, we were bustled into our
barracks. But we could not rest or sleep. The hapless man at the stake
was being racked and torn with pain. His shrieks, moans, and groans,
echoing and re-echoing through the still hours of the summer evening,
sounded so weird, uncanny, and nerve-racking as to make our blood run
cold. At each outburst we shivered and strove hard, though vainly, to
shut out the terrible sounds from our ears.
After the Zouave had been strung up for some time I decided to creep out
and up to him to ascertain from direct close observation the effects of
this treatment upon the victim. Stealing out of the barracks, thereby
running the risk of encountering a bullet from the sentry's rifle, I
stealthily made my way to the post. By the time I gained the spot the
weak wretch was in a fearful plight. The ropes had been drawn so tightly
round his wrists and ankles as to cause the circulation of the blood
through the hands and feet to cease, while the flesh immediately above
the knots was swelling up in a fearful manner. All sense of feeling in
the hands and feet having gone, the man was hanging limply, instead of
standing against the post. He writhed and twisted in frenzied efforts to
secure some relief while in this uncomfortable position, but each
movement only caused further pain and the unintentional utterance of
piercing shrieks. Upon the exhaustion of this spasm the upper part of
his body dropped forward slightly so that his head fell down upon his
chest.
For a few seconds he would stand or rather hang, perfectly still and
quiet. Then as he made another attempt to secure a change of position
shafts of pain would shoot through him, causing him to shriek again for
a few seconds in the most agonising manner, which made me start and
shiver. While his shrieks were terrifying it was the long-drawn out wail
and moan in which they ended which were more unnerving. They sounded
like the agonised howls of an animal caught in a trap and suffering
untold torment.
But each successive outburst grew weaker. The body dropped more and more
forward until it could fall no farther owing to the retaining rope. His
head dropped lower and lower upon his chest, which had the effect of
interfering with respiration. The man would throw his head wildly about
in frantic efforts to breathe, but to little purpose. His face commenced
to assume a ghastly bluish colour; his distended eyes almost started
from his head; while his mouth, now wide open, allowed his tongue to
loll and roll in a manner vividly reminiscent of a maniac restrained in
a strait jacket. The struggles and cries grew fainter until at last his
head gave a final jerk to hang limply to one side. He shrieked no more.
Insensibility had come to his relief.
During this period the guard never ventured to come to look at him. His
piercing shrieks, howls, and long-drawn out moans told them that he was
feeling the pinch of his confinement to the post. But when these cries
of agony ceased two of the guards came up. Seen to be unconscious, he
was immediately released to fall like a log to the ground. Buckets of
water were hurriedly fetched and the contents were dashed over the prone
figure until consciousness returned. When he had somewhat recovered,
although still inert and groaning piteously, he was propped up against
the post and re-tied into position.
Every time the man relapsed into insensibility he was released to
undergo drastic reviving by the aid of buckets of water, and directly he
came to he was again strapped up. The sentence was "four hours," and it
was fulfilled strictly to the letter, but only the actual periods of
being tied to the post were taken into consideration. It did not matter
whether the man fainted three or thirty times during his sentence. It
was only the instalments of time against the post which in the aggregate
were taken to represent the full term of the punishment.
As may be supposed, owing to the recurring periods of insensibility, the
duration of the sentence became prolonged. In about two hours after
being strung up for the first time the initial spasm of unconsciousness
would occur, although the intervention of insensibility obviously varied
according to the strength and physical endurance of the prisoner. But
after the first revival, and owing to the man being deprived of the
opportunity to regain his normal condition, the lapses into
unconsciousness occurred at steadily decreasing intervals of time until
at last the man was absolutely unable to battle against his torment and
Nature for more than a very short period.
The first demonstration of this punishment did not fail to exercise a
far-reaching influence upon the other prisoners. Major Bach was beside
himself with delight. Even he, steeped although he was in brutality, was
evidently somewhat surprised by the effectiveness of this penalty, and
he laughed loud and long at the shrieks and misery of the unhappy
Zouave. Henceforth committal to the cells was no longer to constitute a
punishment at Sennelager. Tying to the stake was the most complete means
of subjugating and cowing the prisoners.
As might be expected, one and all of us dreaded such a sentence, and we
were exceedingly diligent and painstaking in our efforts to keep in the
good graces of the Commanding Officer. The dread of being sentenced to a
spell at the post, and submission to the untold agony which it
precipitated, broke us in to all intents and purposes to a degree which
must have exceeded even Major Bach's most sanguine expectations. But now
we were faced with another and far more formidable danger. Most of the
guards enjoyed as enthusiastically as their lord and master the agony of
a luckless wretch who was condemned to this punishment. To them it
afforded amusement of the most exhilarating character. But the
prisoners, now thoroughly intimidated, took every precaution to deny the
guards an opportunity for which they were so much on the alert.
Consequently, being deprived of the chance to have any of us strung up
on legitimate grounds, they commenced to harass and exasperate us in the
hope of provoking some action which would bring us before the Commanding
Officer to receive a sentence to the stake. Then, being completely
foiled in this nefarious practice they did not hesitate to have us
arraigned upon the most flimsy charges. As the prisoner was denied all
opportunity to rebut any charge preferred against him, and as his word
was never accepted before the studiously prepared complaint of the
guard, who was always careful to secure corroborative evidence, the
chances of escaping the sentence were extremely slender.
The second victim of this brutal treatment was a Russian Pole, and no
man ever deserved it less. The Pole was entering his barrack and the
Russian orderly who had just washed and cleaned the floor, upbraided his
compatriot for entering the building with muddy boots. There was a
breezy altercation between the two men for a few minutes, but they were
separated on perfectly friendly terms by one of the soldiers. The
incident was closed and dismissed from the thoughts of one and all. At
least so thought all those who had witnessed it.
But one of the soldiers who had been a spectator saw the opportunity for
which he had long been searching. He hurried to the non-commissioned
officer in charge of the guard to report, exaggeratedly, that two
Russian prisoners had been fighting. The non-commissioned officer, one
of the most brutal and despicable Prussians in the camp, seized his
rifle and hurried to the Russian barrack. Here the two suppositious
delinquents were pointed out. He went up to the Pole, and grabbing him
by the shoulder, roared:
"You've been fighting!"
The Pole protested that he had not been fighting with anyone. He had
forgotten all about the spirited argument with the orderly. Certainly
the altercation was no more serious than thousands of other such
outbreaks which were incidental to the camp. Incidents of this character
occurred every few minutes in every barrack, which was not surprising
seeing that we were all keyed to a high pitch of fretfulness while
tempers were hasty.
"Don't lie to me," shouted the non-commissioned officer, who was
decidedly infuriated by the Pole's complacent attitude. "I say you've
been fighting!"
Again the Pole meekly explained that no such encounter had taken place.
At this protest the officer grabbed the inoffensive prisoner and marched
him off to the office of the Commandant. While hurrying along the main
road through the camp the Prussian, for no reason whatever, raised his
rifle by the muzzle, swung it over his head and brought the stock down
with fearful force upon the Pole's back. The man himself fell like an ox
before the poleaxe, but the rifle flew into two pieces. Seeing that a
rifle is exceedingly strongly made and of hard wood, the fact that it
snapped in twain testifies abundantly to the force of the blow.
The attack was witnessed, not only by several of us, but also by two or
three officers as well. The latter expostulated with the
non-commissioned officer upon his action. As for ourselves our gorge
rose at this savage onslaught, and we hurried to the Commandant with the
object of being first to narrate the incident. He listened to our story
of the outrage but refused to be convinced. We persisted and mentioned
that the officers had been present and could support our statements. But
the latter, naturally perhaps, declined to confirm our story. They
denied having seen the blow struck. Still, we were so emphatic and
persevering that Major Bach, in order to settle the matter, sent for the
non-commissioned officer to whom he referred the accusation we had made.
This worthy listened with a smile lurking round his mouth. When Major
Bach had completed his statement, the non-commissioned officer, with a
mocking laugh, denied the charge, and presented his rifle for Major
Bach's inspection. _The rifle was perfectly sound!_ At the production of
this rebutting evidence Major Bach gave us a queer look, insisted that
we had trumped up the charge, and refused to listen to us any further.
So we were compelled to go away crestfallen and yet amazed as to how the
guilty officer had surmounted his difficulty.
Subsequently we discovered that the non-commissioned officer, thoroughly
alarmed at his rifle snapping in twain, not knowing how he would be able
to explain the circumstance of his weapon being broken, and having heard
that we had hastened to the Commandant to lodge our complaint, darted
into the guard-room, concealed the conclusive evidence of his guilt, and
appropriated the sound rifle of a comrade. This was the weapon he had
produced before Major Bach so triumphantly. We never heard how the
non-commissioned officer ultimately explained away his broken rifle upon
parade when the trick was certain to be discovered, but bearing in mind
the iron method which prevails in the German army he must have been hard
put to it to have advanced a plausible excuse when arraigned. Doubtless
there was considerable trouble over the episode but we never heard
anything more about it, although we would have dearly loved to have been
acquainted with the sequel.
Foiled in our attempt to secure redress for an outraged prisoner we
considered the episode closed. But it was not. Directly we had left the
office Major Bach sent for the Pole who had been attacked. He related
his story which was naturally a confirmation of our charge. But he was
set down as an unprincipled liar, and one of whom an example must be
made. Forthwith he was condemned to four hours at the post on the charge
of fighting and endeavouring to impugn the probity of the German guard,
who can do no wrong.
The misery endured by this poor wretch is indescribable. In this
instance, in order to secure enhanced effect, according to the lights of
Major Bach, the prisoner was forced to stand on tip-toe against the
post, while the upper rope was passed around his neck. This rope was
left somewhat loose, and as nearly as I can describe, was looped in the
form of a double knot. Being on tip-toe the hapless wretch was speedily
transferred, by his toes giving way, to a hanging position. His head
fell forward, as he gradually lapsed into unconsciousness, until it
pressed against the restraining slip-knot. The consequence was that he
suffered the agonies of slow strangulation in addition to the searing of
his hands and ankles, while the weight of his body dragged his neck more
tightly than otherwise would have been the case, against the upper rope.
His face presented a terrifying sight, being quite blue, from his
inability to breathe, except with the greatest difficulty. His mouth was
wide open and his tongue, which protruded, was exceedingly swollen. His
eyes were half out of their sockets. But he had to serve the sentence of
four hours, and although he became unconscious time after time and had
to be released, water always brought him to his senses to undergo a
further spell upon the fiendish rack until the sentence had been well
and truly served.
On one occasion a poor wretch condemned to this torture, after having
become unconscious, was taken down, revived, and incarcerated for the
night in the guard-room. The next morning he was marched out again and
re-tied up to complete his sentence.
Major Bach, as if suddenly inspired, conceived a fiendish means of
accentuating the agony of a prisoner condemned to this punishment. The
man would be tied to the post about the middle of the morning. The
summer sun beat fiercely upon the post and the man's hat was removed.
Consequently, as the poor wretch's head dropped forward on his chest,
its crown became exposed to the fierce heat of the sun. Thus to the pain
of the torture inflicted by the tightly tied ropes, and the strangling
sensation produced by the throat pressing against the restraining rope,
was added the racking torment of intolerable heat playing upon a
sensitive part of the human body. The astonishing wonder is that none of
the unhappy wretches suffered sun-stroke or went crazy while bound up in
this manner, because the sun's heat intensely aggravated the agonies of
thirst. But the sun-bath consummated Major Bach's greatest ambition. It
caused the victim to writhe and twist more frantically, which in turn
forced him to shriek and howl more vociferously and continuously.
When a prisoner was in the height of his torment the eminent Commandant
would stroll up, and from a couple of paces away would stand, legs wide
apart and hands clasped behind his back, surveying the results of his
devilry with the greatest self-satisfaction. As the prisoner groaned and
moaned he would fling coarse joke, badinage, and gibe at the helpless
wretch, and when the latter struggled and writhed in order to seek some
relief, though in vain, he would laugh uproariously, urge the unhappy
man to kick more energetically, and then shriek with delight as his
advice was apparently taken to heart only to accentuate the torture.
Sunday was the day of days which the tyrant preferred for meting out
this punishment. In the first place it was a day of rest, and so a
prisoner's time and labour were not lost. Even if he were strung up to
the post all day he could be turned out to work on the Monday morning as
usual. But the governing reason for the selection of this day was
because it offered such a novel entertainment for the gaping German
crowds. The public, as already mentioned, were invited to the camp on
Sunday mornings to see the prisoners. Young girls and raw recruits
considered a trip to Sennelager on the chance of seeing a writhing,
tortured prisoner as one of the delights of the times, and a sight which
should not be missed on any account.
They clustered on the path on the opposite side of the road facing the
stake, laughing and joking among themselves. The recruits, who openly
manifested their intense amusement, cheered frantically when the trussed
wretch gave an abnormally wild and ear-piercing shriek of pain. At his
moans, groans, and desperate abortive attempts to release himself, the
girls would laugh as gaily as if witnessing the antics of a clown at a
circus, and were quite unrestrained in their jubilant applause. This was
the feature of the punishment which grated upon the nerves of the
prisoners who were unable to lift a finger or voice a word in protest.
That a fellow-prisoner should be condemned to suffer such hellish
torture as was inflicted was bad enough, but that it should offer a
side-show to exuberant Sunday German holiday crowds we considered to be
the height of our humiliation and a crown to our sufferings.
I shall never forget one prisoner. He was one of our loyal dusky
Colonials from the Gold Coast, who had been so unfortunate as to fall
into German hands and to be consigned to imprisonment at Sennelager. He
was a massive and imposing specimen of his race. He fell foul of
authority and incurred Major Bach's displeasure to such a degree as to
receive a sentence of eight hours bound to a tree. He was tied up, and
his pleadings for mercy, prompted by madness produced by the
excruciating pain and semi-consciousness, alternated with loud outbreaks
of long-drawn-out, blood-freezing groans, frenzied shrieks, and
nerve-racking wails.
As the torture increased with the passing of the hours he gave
expression to one solitary cry--"For God's sake shoot me!" The wail,
uttered with parrot-like repetition and in a tone which bored into the
soul, stirred the prisoners within earshot in a strange manner. They
clapped their hands over their ears to shut out the awful sound, and
shut their eyes to prevent the revolting spectacle burning into their
brains. The man's face was livid: terror such as it is impossible to
describe was in his face; the unrelenting clutch of the rope wearing
into his throat caused the veins of his neck to stand out like ropes;
while streams of perspiration poured down his face. As he became weaker
and weaker and the rope ground deeper and deeper into his throat his
fights for breath became maniacal in their fury. Indeed, the revolting
sight so moved some of the prisoners that the tears welled to their
eyes, and it was only by digging their teeth into their lips that they
refrained from succumbing to their emotion.
Subsequently, whenever I mentioned a word about the tying-post or tree,
this Colonial would look round, with the unfathomable fear of a hunted
animal, his nerves would jump and twitch, and the saliva would form like
foam around his mouth. He remarked that he was willing to face any
punishment. But the tying post! An hour in the bonds of those ropes! He
shuddered and entreatingly prayed that if ever again he should be
threatened with this punishment one of the guards would shoot him, or
run him through with the bayonet. I really believe that, if this penalty
had been pronounced on this man a second time, he would have done
something so desperate as would have compelled summary and drastic
retaliation by force of arms.
Major Bach was methodical in his sentences to the tying-post. He drew up
a regular code and the offender was always given a sentence in
accordance with this schedule. The slightest offence brought a sentence
of two hours. Then in stages of two hours it rose to the maximum of
eight hours. I heard that one man had been tied up for twelve hours, but
as I did not actually witness the case I cannot vouch for its
particulars. The instances I have mentioned came before my notice and
can be corroborated by anyone who had the misfortune to be incarcerated
at Sennelager after the coming of Major Bach. But knowing as I do Major
Bach and his inhuman and ferocious ways, I am quite ready to believe
that he did sentence a man to twelve hours at the post. Certainly he
would never have hesitated for a moment to exact such a penalty if he
had felt so disposed.
After a time the single post failed to satisfy the implacable
Commandant. Trees were requisitioned for the punishment, and I have seen
as many as three men undergoing the sentence simultaneously. Their
combined shrieks and agonised cries penetrated to every corner of the
camp. One could not escape them. On one occasion when Major Bach was
standing as usual before one of his victims, laughing and jeering at his
futile writhings and agonised appeals for mercy, a number of British
prisoners who were standing around in mute sympathy for the hapless
comrade could not control their feelings. Suddenly they gave expression
to fierce hissing of disapproval. Major Bach turned, but not with the
mocking triumph that one would have expected. His face wore the look of
the characteristic bully who is suddenly confronted with one who is more
than his match. He was taken completely off his guard, so unexpected and
vigorous was our outburst. But when he saw that he was merely threatened
by a few unarmed and helpless Britishers his _sang froid_ returned,
although it was with a palpable effort. He glared at us. There was no
disguising or possibility of misconstruing the expressions of loathsome
disgust and rage upon our faces. One and all wondered afterwards why he
did not sentence every man of us to a spell at the post. Possibly
anticipating that things might become ugly unless he manifested some
semblance of authority, he assumed an anger which we could easily see
was far from being real, and ordered us to barracks. We moved away
slowly and sullenly, but the guard coming up we were unceremoniously
hurried into our domiciles, although it demanded energetic rifle
proddings and clubbings from the soldiers who swarmed around us in
overwhelming numbers, to enforce the order.
This punishment was by no means confined to the civilian prisoners. It
was meted out whenever the opportunity arose to the British soldiers
with equal impartiality. But for some reason which we could never
fathom, unless it was to cause further pain, torture and humiliation,
mentally as well as physically, the revolting task of tying up an
unfortunate Tommy was entrusted to one of his own sergeants. He had to
perform the repugnant work against his will, but the sergeants eased the
poor fellow's plight as much as they dared by tying them up as leniently
as possible, while they maintained an ever-watchful, although
unostentatious vigilance, over them while suffering the penalty.
By the introduction of this fiendish punishment Major Bach completely
subdued the camp into a colony of crushed men. We all went in dire dread
of him, the fear of being the victim of such brutality cowing us far
more effectively than any other punishment we had encountered. Those
who had undergone the torture recited such harrowing stories of their
sufferings that we were extremely anxious not to incur the wrath of the
devilish Commandant in any way whatever.
One day three of us experienced a narrow escape, which serves to
illustrate how keen were our captors to submit us to this crucial test.
We three had been ordered to the field. We packed our few belongings,
including our tin pails and other indispensable utensils upon our backs.
We were marching abreast and a few paces behind a young German officer,
chatting merrily among ourselves, when we met a French soldier
approaching. He was unusually gay and as he passed he yelled out the
popular enquiry which he had evidently acquired while fraternising with
our Tommies in the camp.
"Air ve do'n harted?" he hailed, and he laughed gaily at the loads with
which we were struggling. To this we returned an emphatic negative to
which one of the party, S----, a schoolmaster who was fluent in French
and German, added a joke. Evidently the Frenchman saw the point of the
jest because he burst out in a fit of unrestrained merriment which was
so infectious as to compel us to participate.
The officer who was ahead of us, whipped round and vehemently declared
that we were laughing at him. S---- protested and explained that such
would be the very last thing we should ever think of doing. The officer
went on ahead quite unconvinced and in high dudgeon. That we should
select one of the myrmidons of the All-Highest as a target for our
banter was the offence of offences in his estimable conceit. When we
reached the entrance to the field we had to pass a small office in which
we were registered and we discovered the immature upstart loudly and
excitedly dwelling upon the enormous indignity to which he had been
submitted by us.
The officer in charge stopped us and repeated the accusation which had
been made. S---- gave a full explanation of the whole incident, but the
upstart who considered that his pride had been vilely outraged would
not listen to it. Then and there he ordered that we should be tied up to
the trees for four hours to give us something to laugh about. I can
assure you that we trembled in our shoes: our fate hung in the balance.
The officer-in-charge of the field, however, was more level-headed and
broader-minded, although he could not calm his excited colleague. At
last he point blank refused to mete out the desired punishment. He
turned to us.
"I accept your explanation. I don't think you would be guilty of such an
offence to German honour and dignity!"
We were more profuse than ever in our humble apologies to the young
cock-of-the-walk for any offence we might have committed unwittingly but
we assured him that our mirth had been entirely provoked by the gay
French soldier's joke.
"I believe you," was the officer's reply, "but be very careful. Don't do
it again. As you see it is likely to be misunderstood!"
With that he dismissed us. We scurried off like startled rabbits,
thankful for our narrow escape, but our last glimpse of the affair was
the two officers who had resumed wrangling. It was an extremely
fortunate circumstance for us that the officer-in-charge of the field
was one of the few reasonable Germans attached to the camp.
The wretches who had to suffer this punishment carried traces of their
experiences for weeks. I examined the wrists and ankles of the Russian
Pole some hours after his final release. The limbs were highly inflamed,
the flesh being puffed out on either side of the deep blue indents which
had been cut by the tightened ropes. The slightest movement of the
affected limbs produced a sharp spasm of pain and it was only with the
greatest difficulty that the poor wretch was able to use his hands and
feet for some hours after removal from the post. In the case of the
Russian Pole many weeks elapsed before all traces of the terrible weals
inflicted by the ropes had disappeared.
When we grasped the depths to which Prussian brutality was ready and
willing to descend, we could not refrain from dwelling upon probable
future tortures which were likely to be in store for us. We were
positive in our own minds that Major Bach would seek other novel and
more revolting and agonising methods to wreak his vengeance upon the
British. We were not left for very long in this maddening uncertainty.
Tying-to-the-stake was but a mild prelude to the "Reign of Terror" which
the ferocious Commandant shortly afterwards inaugurated.