"[One] can't but observe the cunning barbarity of the French in committing them to the care of the Irish who never fail in showing such marks of their kindness."
-Unidentified soldier, on the treatment
of English soldiers in French prison camps (Scouller 319)
Nearly two years after the glorious victory at Dettingen, your regiment heads toward Fortenoy to engange the French and their allies once more. You and your regiment have been put under the command of King George's twenty-five year old son, the Duke of Cumberland. (Paget 55) The British troops and their allies number near to 46,000, and the Duke is aiming to rescue the city of Tournai, which is under siege by the French and French-allied troops under Marshal Saxe. (Black 66)
You finally reach the Freach and their allies at the fortified village of Fortenoy. Standing shoulder to shoulder with your fellow troops, you march forward in a gigantic column meant to break the French line, but find that once you reach enemy camps the vast majority of the forces which did not join the column have been cut off by enemy troops. The column must turn around and march back, and suffers great losses in the process. You fall, and being unable to catch up, you hide behind a large stone for a while. The British retreat, and you are taken prisoner by French forces (Barnett 192).
You've been taken to a prisoner of war camp at Dinan, which you are told is one of the better French prison camps. "The blokes who've been exchanged and are going 'ome pass through here," one fellow prisoner tells you, "an' they report on this place when they get back." The claim is hard to believe once you've had your first meal, though: cabbage and black peas mixed with dirt. Later, you are given one and a half pounds of beef to split with six other prisoners as dinner.
Part of the problem, you soon realize, is that the prisons are run by Irish mercenaries, who are not exactly kind to you and your English brethren. On your first day, a man is beaten for requesting water. When you see a group of soldiers walking naked and being whipped, you turn to another prisoner and ask what crime they've committed. "No crime," he tells you, "they're just sick, an' being taken to the 'ospital." Better not get sick, you tell yourself.
One day, a jailor offers you a loan to use for buying extra food Skeptical, you turn it down. When you ask someone about it, they explain that it is common practice to offer prisoners loans so that they are in debt and ineligible for prisoner exchanges. "Why would they do that?" you ask. "Simple," you're told, "To pay it back, you'd 'ave to join the French Army!"
Conditions at Dinan get worse, though it was difficult to believe that was possible, and there comes a point where eight or ten fellow prisoners are dying every day out of only six hundred in the camp. Worse, the dead are being removed only once every couple days. No one is complaining, though, as complaining is what gets you sent to the dungeon.
Eventually, and to your great relief, you are chosen to be part of a prisoner exchange and begin to make your way home. (Scouller 317-21)
Next: Military Hospital