Revealed: Extraordinary story of British WWI captain released by Kaiser from German prison camp so he could see his dying mother in Kent - on condition that he returned to his cell... and he DID

Via WiscoDave

 

• Captain Robert Campbell was injured and captured in France in July, 1914
• After two years in German camp his mother in Gravesend, Kent, fell ill
• Briton wrote to the Kaiser asking to return home and enemy leader agreed
• Story revealed in documents unearthed by historian Richard van EmdenA British soldier was freed from a German POW camp during WW1 to see his dying mother - and kept his promise to the Kaiser by returning, historians have discovered.
  
  Captain Robert Campbell, aged 29, was captured just weeks after Britain declared war on Germany in July, 1914.
  
  But after two years in Magdeburg Prisoner of War Camp the British officer received word from home his mother Louise Campbell was close to death.
  
  He speculatively wrote to Kaiser Wilhelm II begging to be allowed home to visit his mother one final time.
  
  Incredibly the German leader granted the request allowing the professional office two weeks leave - as long as he returned.
  
  The only bond he placed on the leave was Capt Campbell's ‘word' as an army officer.
  He returned to his family home in Gravesend Kent in December 1916 and spent a week with his cancer-stricken mother.
  
  He then kept his promise by returning to his German prison - where he stayed until the war ended in 1918.
  
  The remarkable example of wartime honesty was uncovered by historian Richard Van Emden, 48, as he researched his new book. 
  
  
  More @ Daily Mail