William Taylor was a farm labourer at Totara, south of Oamaru when he joined up in August of 1916. He left for the war at the end of December and was one of the Otago Infantry Regiment reinforcements marched into Sling Camp on the third of March, 1917. He left for action in France at the end of May. He served with the Otagos in the deadly days of Paesschendaele and was with them as they awaited the Germans in early 1918.
William was attached to the 2nd Entrenching Battalion at this time and he struggled with his unit against what the Official History describes as "the extraordinary traffic which the tide of a rear-guard battle promotes and swells — the hurried forward march of supporting troops, the columns of motor-lorries and ambulances, the passage of artillery and transport, and, unforgettable above all else, the stream of civilian refugees fleeing from the threatened destruction." They had orders to dig in behind the village of Meteren but the situation worsened and before they could get much digging done they were ordered to become part of the defence. The line was stretched and communication between units difficult. So, when the Germans were reported as having taken the nearby village of Bailleul, British troops to the left were withdrawn. But the Otago boys weren't told.
On the morning of the 16th word came to them that the Germans were expected to attack, in which case a fighting withdrawal was to be made. The attack arrived at daybreak. The Germans, finding no resistance on the Otagos' left, soon had them under fire from three sides. With ammunition running out, surrender was the only option. More than 200 New Zealand troops were taken prisoner. It is most likely that Peter Taylor was one of them.
His war record available through Archives NZ states that he was killed on the 20th, newspaper reports and other records say the 14th. However, newspaper reports themselves are dated from early May of 1918.
It was a confused period of war, in which the making and keeping of records was much less important than the holding back of the enemy. So it is possible that William was one of the many New Zealanders taken prisoner near Meteren and kept in the place which became known as "The Black Hole of Lille."
The "Black Hole" was an old French fort, Fort MacDonald, which was used as a prison by the German army. Prisoners were shoved in the underground area for a very good reason - it was the easiest place to guard with the limited resources at hand. And food would have been a limited resource also. It might have been a temporary measure only but the "fog of war" made it a five week ordeal which was seized on by the papers as yet another German atrocity to be added to the horrors of gas warfare, sinking of passenger ships by submarines, shooting of Belgian civilians, etc, etc.
Fort MacDonald was described at the time as a calculated attempt to break the will of their prisoners, a prelude to their being used as forced labour. This could also be true - there is an account of another prisoner who was encouraged to write about his treatment because it was a reprisal for German prisoners being treated in a similar way - and being made to work within the range of German artillery in contravention of the Geneva Convention. It has been reported as holding Australian prisoners in similar appalling conditions after their capture in the Battle of Bullecourt in April, 1917.
BLACK HOLE OF LILLE
APPALLNG DETAILS
Australian and N.Z. Cable Association (Received Dec. 10, l.30 p.m.)
LONDON, Dec. 9. Some war prisoners give horrifying details of the Black Hole of Lille, a huge underground cavern. There were 270 confined for five weeks in an unspeakable state of neglect, famine, and disease. They had no clothing or covering except that in which they left the battlefield. They were only allowed in the upper air for ten minutes daily. Twenty were taken to the hospital suffering from dysentery. Vermin had to be scraped off their clothing with knives. The place was not cleaned during the five weeks. The food was so foul and uneatable that the men practically went mad. They used to be on the ground killing vermin and singing hymns. The men used to fight to reach a 1atticed window ten feet above the floor to get air. They were compelled to bathe their wounds with coffee. -Marlborough Express, 10/12/1918.
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| Oamaru Old Cemetery |
IN MEMORIAM
TAYLOR. — In loving memory of Private William Peter Taylor, Kia Ora, 20th Reinforcements, killed in action "Somewhere in France." on 14th April, 1918.
"Sleep on, dear Willie, in your foreign grave,
Your life for your country you nobly gave;
Gone and forgotten by some you may be.
But dear to our memory for ever you'll be." -Oamaru Mail, 14/4/1919.
William Taylor is also commemorated by one of the many oak trees planted in the Oamaru area.
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