HOW British prisoners of war were treated by the Germans was the subject of a talk at a Cumbrian conference on aspects of the First World War.

Richard Lloyd was speaking at Cumbria's Museum of Military History in Carlisle at an event organised by the Cumbrian branch of the Western Front Association - a group dedicated to keeping alive the memory of those who fought in the war.

The numbers involved were vast and at least 20,000 prisoners never reached an official camp - being kept behind the German trenches lines in rudimentary conditions.

He said: "These guys are very much a mystery."

It was often months before friends and family back in the British Isles found out that a soldier had been captured - rather than being "missing in action, believed killed".

Officers were sent to special prison camps and had a rather better time in captivity - they had servants and were not required to work. Some had a tennis court and one even had a 100m toboggan run.

He said: "They are rather better off than the ordinary soldiers."

However, one problem common to all captives - and often the guards - was a shortage of food.

Parcels from home were an essential supplement to a diet of fake coffee, black bread and watery soup.

He said: "This soup was pretty disgusting. It was meant to have meat or fish in it once a week but it rarely did."

Food parcels came from the Red Cross and from a variety of community groups - including the Citizen's League in Carlisle for men of the Border Regiment.

The first and last years of the war - when fighting was not largely restricted to static trench lines - saw the bulk of the British prisoners being taken.

Around 20 per of prisoners were captured in 1914 and 60 per cent in 1918.

Frank Bowler, of the 2/4th Leicesters was captured during the German Spring Offensive of March 1918.

He was kept in a communal barbed wire cage for 16 weeks.

Each prisoner was given a shouvel and required to dig a 7ft by 4ft by 2ft hole - which he had to sleep in.

Illness killed many of the prisoners and they were buried naked in shell holes - the uniforms being sent to Germany for recycling, he said.

Fred Wiiliams, of the 12th Gloucesters was sent to what was called a "retaliation camp" in Lille Cathedral.

The soldiers were kept 50 to a room in darkness for around 12 days - with a barrel for a toilet.

After the war, only a dozen German guards were put on trial and the maximum sentence was six months of home detention.

He said the attitute was: "The war's over. Let's not antagonise Germany any more, the place is in a state. It is time to move on."

Among the many Furness soldiers to spend time in a German prison camp was Pte Jack Athersmith, of the 1/4th King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, whose parents lived at Quebec Street Ulverston.

He was reported as missing in action until he managed to send a postcard home from the camp at Limberg, Germany, which was dated August 14 in 1917.

Held in the same camp was King’s Own comrade Pte Joseph Nicholson, of Upper Sun Street, Ulverston.

He had been missing since the first day of the Third Battle of Ypres on July 31 in 1917 and was not known to be safe until the end of September.