This was Captain Robert Campbell of the British Army, who was captured in 1914, a few weeks after the outbreak of World War I, and sent to a German war camp. Campbell remained there for two years until, in December 1916, he received a word from home that his mother was dying. Campbell wrote directly to Caesar William II to allow him to go home to see his mother for the last time.
Caesar not only granted permission, but also gave Campbell two weeks' leave at home. When Campbell's short vacation was over, he crossed the front lines again and returned as a prisoner of war.
Later, he started digging tunnels to escape from the camp. His attempt to escape failed, and he remained in prison until, his release in 1918 at the end of the war.
Historian Richard van Eden, who witnessed this amazing event, said that such an extraordinary event was unusual even a hundred years ago. ‘Captain Campbell was an officer and made a promise that he would come back,’ he said. ‘If he had not come, there would have been no retaliation against the other prisoners.
‘I think it is very strange that the British Army allowed him to return to Germany. The English would say to him, "You are not going back, you will stay here".
Captain Campbell, who joined the Army in 1903, was leading the 1st East Surrey Regiment when his army took over the Mons canals in northwestern France a few weeks after the war in July 1914.
A week later, his troops were attacked by German troops, and Capt Campbell was badly wounded. The 29-year-old suspect was treated at a military hospital in Cologne before being sent to a Magdeburg concentration camp.
In 1916, she received a report from her home that her mother, Louise, was dying of cancer. He wrote to Kaiser Wilhelm II, asking to be allowed to see him for the last time. The Kaiser gave him a two-week leave of absence, which included two days by boat and train on each side, at which point Captain Campbell offered his voice as a British Army officer that he would return.
Capt Campbell arrived near his mother's bed in Gravesend, Kent, on November 7 and spent a week with her before keeping his promise and returning to Germany. His mother died three months later in February 1917.
Mr van Eden, 48, discovered the shocking news after reading letters between the Foreign Office and his German counterparts and is quoted in his new book, Encounters with Enemies: The Face of the Great War.
He said of Captain Campbell’s amazing story: ‘I think it’s such a unique example that I don’t think you can draw a parallel. In my experience, this is the only time and the only thing that makes you happy. '
Captain Robert Campbell was wounded and taken to France in July 1914
After two years in a German camp, his mother in Gravesend, Kent, became ill
Briton wrote to Kaiser asking to return home and the enemy leader agreed
The story is revealed in documents excavated by historian Richard van Eden
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