IN THE HANDS OF THE HUN [1] Prelude
his is a book written about the experiences of Private Alfred Gray Of Kyneton – My great uncle [Brother to my grandfather Harold]
I will post it in a series form each one being about 300 words long as that is the way Great Uncle Alf wrote it.
I love the humour that my Uncle has allowed to salt his tales of war. After all he was a Gray! :O)
For the readers of you who were wondering what ANZAC Day was all about this is one story of a million! You will agree with me that I think this tale infinitely important.
This is why we remember them !
LEST WE FORGET !!
NB This is NOT my Fictional Writing this is an actual account written by my Great Uncle Alfred Gray following his experiences in the “Great War – 1914-1917
I take no responsibility for any offense taken by the reader of this view be that in the language used or the opinion of my Great Uncle.
Great Uncle Alfred’s Great Adventure
In the Hands of the Hun [2] – Bullecourt
In the Hands of the Hun [3] -Starved and Frozen
In the Hands of the Hun [4 & 5] – Lille
In the Hands of the Hun [6, 7 & 8] – behind the lines
In the Hands of the Hun [9] – Surprise
In the Hands of the Hun [10] -Congenial Mates
In the Hands of the Hun [11] – Camp Life
In the Hands of the Hun [12] – Farm Work
In the Hands of the Hun [13] – Punishment
In the Hands of the Hun [14] – Hamburg
In the Hands of the Hun [15] – Red Cross
In the Hands of the Hun [16] -Goodbye Germany
IN THE HANDS OF THE HUN [1] Prelude belongs to the following groups:
Dearly Departed and HistoryAt the request of many of my friends, the following tale is told. The story, of privations and sufferings endured, is neither magnified nor adorned. They are the experiences of the writer, whose heart is full of gratitude to those who, from his own land, did so much to alleviate the sufferings of those who, like himself, had fallen into the hands of the enemy. May full reward be granted to those noble women.
Having been asked by a good many to relate my experiences as a prisoner of war in Germany, I now attempt to do so. But I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do this not for any personal glorification, by simply with the object of stating the plain facts for the information of those who are sufficiently interested to read my story. Since I have been back in Australia, I have been told that many accounts concerning the treatment of prisoners in Germany have appeared in the papers, but I have not seen these accounts, therefore what I have to tell is strictly confined to my own experiences.
To begin at the beginning; I enlisted in 1915, and after the usual preliminary training at Broadmeadows, was, with several other Kyneton lads, attached to the 14th Battalion, and sent to Egypt and afterwards to England where our military training was completed on Salisbury Plain, and we were sent over to France where we joined our Battalion on the Somme during the severe winter of 1916-17. Here we had our first experience of the war, and during a heavy German barrage I received a present from Fritz in the form of a shrapnel wound which sent me back to Boulogne hospital for a few weeks. As soon as my wound had healed, I was sent back to the line again.
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