1st Lt. Long Testimony
CONFIDENTIAL
For the WAR CRIMES OFFICE
Judge Advocate General’s Department - War Department
United States of America
In the matter of failure to provide Prisoners of War with proper medical care and food at Davos and Wauweilermoos [sic], Switzerland.
Perpetuation of the Testimony of 1st Lt. Paul Henry Long, (serial # omitted).
Taken at: Truax Field, Madison 7, Wisconsin
Date: 11 September 1945
Questions by: Robert A. Crone, Captain, A. C., (serial # omitted)
Q. Lieutenant, state your name, rank, serial number, permanent home address and telephone number.
A. Paul H. Long, 1st Lt., (information omitted).
Q. What is the date and place of your birth?
A. Emerald, Wisconsin, 4 February 1920.
Q. Are you married?
A. Yes.
Q. When and where did you last enter the United States from foreign service?
A. 20 November 1944, Washington National Airport, Washington, D.C.
Q. What educational institutions have you attended and for how long?
A. I was graduated from Dunn County Agricultural High School, Menominee, Wisconsin, June 1937 and I attended the University of Wisconsin for two (2) years during 1937-1939.
Q. State at what places you were employed as a civilian, the nature of each job and the period of time employed at each.
A. Cutler Hammer, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as an electrical tester for five (5) months and the Luis Allen Co. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in development and engineering tester for two and one half (2-1/2) years. Then I entered the service.
Q. Were you an Internee?
A. Yes. Internee and Escapee.
Q. What group were you with when you were overseas?
A. 303rd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force.
Q. What was your primary target when you were shot down?
A. Munich, Germany.
Q. Were you shot down by fighters or flak?
A. Flak.
Q. Did you crash land or bail out?
A. Crash landed.
Q. At what places were you held and state the approximate dates.
A. I crash landed at Dubendorf, Switzerland, 13 July 1944, and was taken into custody by the Swiss officials for interrogation for a period of approximately three (3) days. From Dubendorf we were tken to Mon Chaumont, Neuchatel, Switzerland for a quarantine period of three (3) weeks. Thence to Officers Internment Camp at Davos Platz, Switzerland, arriving there on or about 10 August 1944. We remained there until the time of escape on or about 15 October 1944 with the exception of a ten (10) day period in Wauweilermoos [sic] in September returning to Davos from which escape was made.
Q. When and where did you actually arrive in allied control territory?
A. I returned to military control 26 October 1944 at Annemasse, France.
Q. Do you know the name of the Swiss commandant at Wauweilermoos [sic]?
A. No, I don’t.
Q. Can you describe him?
A. I never appeared before him personally. I saw him from a distance, but I couldn’t give any accurate description of him. He was quite well known while we were there among American personnel who were imprisoned there for the six (6) month periods or portions thereof.
Q. How much would you say he weighed?
A. I don’t have any idea on that.
Q. Do you know the name of any of the guards other than the names the Americans gave them?
A. No, I’m not familiar with any given names. They were of the Swiss SS guard and it was believed they were hand picked for their duties at this prison camp.
Q. Can you describe any of the guards of the camp?
A. No.
Q. Did any of them have any distinguishing features?
A. I can’t remember any that had any distinguishing features that would identify them. There were so many of them.
Q. Who was the American Commanding Officer of the prison camp?
A. To my knowledge there was nobody designated as such. They might have had somebody appointed as honorary Commanding Officer, but at Wauweilermoos [sic] everybody more or less used their own individuality. No only American prisoners, but other nationalities such as Russians, Yugoslavians and Italians.
Q. Do you know the name of the Swiss Commanding Officer at Davos?
A. I don’t remember his name, but he was a Captain in the Swiss Army. He was a man about 45 years old and wore shell-rimmed glasses and had a rather deeply lined face. He was about 5’10” tall and weighed about 170 lbs. He had black hair. HE was a rather wirey build and clean shaven. At times he became quite exciteable and used to talk in broken English.
Q. While you were at Davos and Wauweilermoos [sic] were the Swiss Pro-Ally or were they Pro-German?
A. That would depend on who we were talking about, the natives or the officials?
Q. I mean the officials.
A. I would say that at Wauweilermoos [sic] the guards were Pro-Nazi, although throughout the Swiss officials would have you believe they were nothing but Pro-Swiss and Neutral in other words. I had conversations with various Swiss officials which indicated that they were definitely Pro-Nazi and they upheld the Nazi doctrines.
Q. Did they speak in German when they didn’t speak in broken English?
A. The language of that section of the country was German or Sweitzer Deutsch, or Swiss German, and very similar to German with the exception of colloquialisms.
Q. Is there anything else?
A. It was my belief that the Swiss Captain at Davos was making a conscientious effort [to] improve our living conditions there, but he was held down by his superiors. He [tried] to give us as much of a break as possible. Also, at Wauweilermoos [sic] they had electrically charged fences and they were quite extensively used to prevent escape. The guards were furnished with dogs that had been trained to be [vicious] and they were used to intimidate prisoners and also were used to rail the track of escaped prisoners.
Q. Did they ever sic these dogs on your when you were in a precarious spot?
A. I never personally experienced that.
Q. State what you know of your own knowledge of the failure to provide Prisoners of War with proper medical care and food and these two (2) places.
A. At Waweilermoos [sic] two (2) meals a day were furnished. No breakfast was served there. Occasionally we would get some ersatz coffee, but no solids. The other meals were not prepared in individual servins, but was brought in in the form of a can or container and was placed in the compound and you were left to you own individuality as to how much you got and you had to compete with the rest of the prisoners on that. Tin cups were furnished when the main staple at Wauweilermoos [sic] seemed to be stew. It was largely vegetable and bread was rationed out never more than two (2) small slices per man with the stew. The amount of bread and each meal would be approximately 2 oze. For the evening meal, it was either stew and bread or a small amount of cheese approximately the size to cover a slice of bread 3” square and ¼” thick.
Q. Did you lose any weight at Wauweilermoos [sic]?
A. I’d be unable to [say] exactly how much I lost there because I was there only a short time.
Q. Did you ever get up from the table hungry?
A. Oh, definitely. That was common at every meal, both at Waweilermoos [sic] [and] at Davos. At Davos breakfast consisted of two (2) slices of dark bread, jam and coffee. That never changed. The breakfast would have been sufficient had the other meals been normal. The food for the other two (2) meals varied, but the most common food for the noon meal would be mushroom stew and the two (2) slices of bread. For the evening meal the most common food was cheese and bread and the cheese was about the size of the slice of bread and placed on it and then fried until the cheese melted and ran into the bread. This type of food was highly indigestible and repeated servings of it resulted in quite severe stomach disorders. I personally experienced this.
Q. Were you permitted to take seconds of this food?
A. No, there were no seconds, except in the case of the mushroom stew which was highly unpalatable after a continued serving of it.
Q. How much weight did you lose while you were in Switzerland?
A. Approximately thirty (30) lbs. I weighed 178 when I was shot down and when I came into France I weighed 148.
Q. Will you tell us something about the medical care that the internees received?
A. The American legation was paying for medical care for the internees, but this existed in token form only. At Davos two (2) doctors were available by appointment for the [care] of from 450 to 500 officers.
Q. Did you ever require any medical attention while you were there?
A. Yes. I experienced some severe stomach pains and vomiting and requested medical attention. I was barely able to walk and I was sent to see one of the doctors provided there and was given some pills which I believe were some sort of sodimint tablets and was told not to eat anything until the trouble cleared up and this I was unable to do anyway. I cured my own trouble by remaining in bed for a week.
Q. Did any of the other prisoners require medical attention due to the skin diseases caused by the lack of washing facilities?
A. The skin diseases were prevalent at Waweilermoos [sic] and no attempt made there to treat them. If major accidents occurred at Wauweilermoos [sic], medical attention would be given there and it was generally considered to be very unsatisfactory.
Q. Did any of the Internees become violently ill or die because of the lack of medical attention?
A. Not to my knowledge. I was told of one case however, by another American officer who had spent quite some time at Wauweilermoos [sic] that an American who had attempted to escape was shot and neglected for two (2) days afterwards before medical attention was finally given to him.
Q. Did this officer die?
A. No, I don’t believe he did.
Q. Anything else regarding this?
A. I’d like to state that at Davos cases of [redacted by webmaster] started showing up and the Swiss authorities refused to recognize it as such, and didn’t admit that it existed, therefore, they didn’t treat it.
Q. What was the result of these [redacted by webmaster] cases?
A. Complaints were made to the investigating party sent in by General Spaatz. A member of this party was a surgeon and he promised us at that time that steps would be taken to correct the situation and that the American authorities would see to it that it was corrected, however, I left the camp before this materialized.
Q. How was your escape from Davos effected?
A. My escape from Davos was effected on or about 15 October 1944 in company with Lt. Billie Blanton, U.S. AAF, and a guide. The guide was a Yugoslavian. We crossed the French-Swiss border some ten (10) days later and contacted the French Marquis and American authorities shortly thereafter and returned to the American control about 26 October 1944. Expenditures made in escaping from Switzerland were in the approximate amount of $245 in American money paid out of my own money. Claim for this amount has been made through proper channels.
Paul H. Long 1st Lt. A.C.
State of: Wisconsin )
: )SS
County of: Dane)
I, Paul H. Long, of lawful ago, being duly sworn on oath, state that I have read the foregoing transcription of my interrogation and all answers contained therein are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.
Subscribed and sworn to before me the 14th day of September 1945.
Frederick A. Feltz, 1st Lt., A. C.
Summary Court
CERTIFICATE
I, Robert A. Crone, Captain, A. C., (serial # omitted), certify that 1st Lt. Paul Henry Long (serial # omitted), personally appeared before me on 11 September 1945 and testified concerning War Crimes; and that the foregoing is an accurate transcription of the answers given by him to the several questions set forth.
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