Ian Cobain: UK Wartime Torture Camp!

During World War II, the British government operated a secret torture center, to extract information and "confessions" from German prisoners, according to official papers unearthed by the Guardian. According to my now deceased father, he and many other prisoners were systematically beaten, deprived of sleep, forced to stand still for more than 24 hours at a time, and threatened with execution or unnecessary surgery. The living "hell" of which my father spoke was located at Erbioseul in Belgium. Not only were the inmates (captured prisoners of war, for whom the "Geneva Convention" did no longer exist). Starved beyond the limits of endurance, the prisoners were denied food, until they appeared like concentration camp inmates. If one of the prisoners needed to relieve himself, he had to use an extremely long trench, which circled the camp. On the inside, British guards amused themselves by firing well-placed shots toward the German prisoners, who then had to attempt to heal their wounds without bandages or medicines. My father's friend, and most of the others in Erbisoeul resembled concentration camp inmates, but the Geneva Red Cross finally came to their rescue. By feeding the prisoners pea soup, they hoped to bring some of them back to life, but my father's friend was so utterly emaciated that even the delicious soup was not enough. He died, despite the care and attention of the Red Cross, only one day after the liberation of that camp.