For what reason was Captain Robert Campbell famous during the First World War?

Robert Campbell (1885-1966) was a Captain in the First Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment. Early in World War I his unit was in action during a thrust by the German army into North-west France. Campbell was seriously injured and captured on 24 August 1914. After treatment in a German military hospital he was sent to a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in Magdeburg.

Two years later, Campbell received news that his mother, back in England, was terminally ill with cancer. He took the initiative: he wrote to the Kaiser, requesting permission to visit his dying mother. Extraordinarily the Kaiser granted this request, provided he “gave his word as a British Army officer that he would return.” Campbell was allowed two weeks' compassionate leave and a passage was arranged through the Netherlands (a neutral country). He then took a boat to Kent and spent a week with his mother. Campbell kept his side of the bargain: he returned to Germany and reported back to the POW camp.

Robert Campbell continued to act honourably after the return to camp. It is said to be the duty of POWs to try to escape: Campbell and other prisoners spent the next nine months digging a tunnel out of their camp. This project was partially successful in that they were able to use the tunnel to escape the camp, but it was not a "home-run". They were caught near the border of the Netherlands and sent back.

Captain Campbell spent the rest of the war as a prisoner. His mother, Louise, died in February 1917.

More Info: www.bbc.co.uk

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Tal Segal

Great story. While you may think that Captain Campbell’s story and the show of mercy and good faith on Kaiser Wilhelm II’s part might have inspired the British to do the same, this was not the case. German POW Peter Gastreich was being held at the Isle of Wight when he learned his father was dying. He then asked for a leave of absence to go seem him, but the British Prisoners of War Department summarily ruled against this, stating, they “Cannot recognise the temporary release, on parole, of Captain Campbell as a precedent for such concessions. They were not consulted before leave was granted to the Officer by the German Government and would not have consented to such a proposal had it been put before them.”