https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1409/44298/MTaplinJA1268696-161130-040001.jpg 43254fc1f95fa243f0a388a6e7ba6e20 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Taplin, J A Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-01-05 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Taplin, JA Description An account of the resource 128 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant John Albert Taplin (b.1919, 1268696 Royal Air Force) and contains correspondence, documents photographs and two audio interviews. He flew operations as an air gunner with 408 Squadron before he was shot down and became a prisoner of war. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Kevan Taplin and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [crest] “INTREPIDUS” Registered Charity No: 292804 THE NATIONAL EX-PRISONER-OF-WAR ASSOCIATION News Letter NINE WEEKS’ MARCH FROM WARSAW WAR PRISONERS’ ORDEAL [inserted] 8th APRIL [underlined] 1945 [/underlined] [/inserted] From LAWRENCE FAIRHALL, “Sunday Times” War Correspondent WITH 9th ARMY, Saturday. The experiences of Allied prisoners of war who, when the [underlined] Russians were threatening [/underlined] the camps in the east last January were force-marched from near Warsaw across Poland and Germany to a place near the River Weser, were described to me this morning by three British soldiers. They were found by men of an American armoured column after escaping from a working party with 137 companions during an air attack on the railway yards at Flegensdorf two days ago. One rifleman told how on Jan. 23 they were ordered to prepare for a long march and instructed to carry only the barest personal necessities. “The next morning, before dawn,” he said, “we were drawn up in the parade ground and, under heavy guard, marched through the gate out on to the main road leading westwards just north of Warsaw. That day and every day afterwards for nine and a half weeks we were forced to march 20 miles with only occasional brief spells every two hours while the guards changed over to take turns with their companions riding on the lorries accompanying us. KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS “Those of us who became too exhausted or sick to continue were left lying on the sides of the roads where they had fallen. One soldier who had complained several times of sore feet was knocked unconscious with a blow over the head by a rifle butt. ”For food we got a pound loaf of black bread every two days to be shared between five or six men and at night we would get a bowl of lukewarm cabbage soup. Sometimes we would not even get this. We used to sleep in the open without blankets or any covering, even though the temperature was sometimes nearly zero. “If our clothes got wet there was no way of drying them, and we had to wear them day after day without any opportunity of changing even a pair of socks. Seven of the prisoners died on the way, and another 12 who fell out sick are still missing.” They reached their destination just east of the River Weser a week ago with 500 others, and were then taken out in batches of 140 to work in the railway marshalling yards at Flegensdorf. Last Thursday when the air raid alarms sounded the prisoners escaped in the confusion. These three hid in a house until dark and then in a shed in the garden until they were discovered by an advanced tank of the 2nd Armoured Division. [break] PRISONERS’ WORST FORCED MARCH IN GERMANY SURVIVORS TOO WEAK TO TALK From H. D. ZIMAN, Daily Telegraph Special Correspondent [inserted] 13. April [underlined] 1945 [/underlined] [/inserted] DUDERSTADT, Near Goettingen, Thursday. I have been talking to some of the survivors [underlined] of the 6,000 British, [/underlined] American and Russian prisoners of war who took part in one of the worst forced marches of this war. The Russians were in camps in Poland; the British and Americans in Stalag 8A at Lamsdorf, near Breslau. The first stage of the march began in January and ended at Stalag 8B at Goerlitz, in Silesia. From there, in February, it started all over again. Some of the men marched nearly 500 miles, some 300 miles. The majority are marching still, somewhere in the Hanover region, unless they have been picked up by Allied Forces. They started from Goerlitz as three columns of 2,000 men each. To-day there are only 449, including 104 Britons in a camp at Duderstadt. No one knows how many died en route, but I have the word of one British Regular soldier, a lance sergeant gunner from the North Country, that he had seen four men die on four days a week ago. Though they were occasionally clubbed with rifles en route, men died mostly from exhaustion, malnutrition and dysentery. The Americans who were taken prisoner in December suffered most. The British, some of whom were prisoners from France in 1940, others from Africa, were better used to the low diet and hard treatment meted out by the Nazis. Food was poor. Eight men had to share a 4lb loaf per day. Sometimes they were lucky enough to have four men to a loaf, and occasionally they got stew in the German barracks. But in most cases the men were packed into a barn in darkness at night, so that no proper distribution of food was possible. Indeed, some of the men went all day without food. During the march many fell out by the roadside, despite clubbing and kicking, to pick up dirty swedes from the fields. Once they had no water at all for 24 hours. To-day, even after a few days' rest and care by an American medical unit, the majority of released prisoners are still too weak to talk except with long pauses. But the best care is being taken of them, and 40 are already on their way to England. The camp leader, a warrant officer in the Royal Army Ordinance Corps, is gathering material for an official report on the treatment of the men. [break] SUFFERINGS OF ALLIED PRISONERS FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT WASHINGTON, Thursday. Sufferings of more than 1,000,000 Allied prisoners of war. living under deplorable conditions in German hands, would increase as long as German resistance continued, said a joint statement issued to-day by Mr. Stettinius, Secretary of State and Mr Stimson, War Secretary. Instances were daily being uncovered of deliberate neglect, in-difference and cruelty in the treatment of American prisoners. This would not be forgotten. and the perpetrators would be brought to justice. The statement continued: “Since the beginning of this year there has been a steadily increasing failure on the part of the German Government to provide, according to the standards established by the Geneva Convention, for American prisoners in German custody. “DEPLORABLE” “The deplorable conditions under which these 70,000 men are living today are due to a large extent to Germany’s fanatical determination to continue a hopeless war, with the resultant disintegration under disastrous military defeat. The Allied Armies have overrun 27 of 78 prisoner camps, and have liberated 15,000 Americans, it was stated. About 36,000 Americans were moved on foot into the interior, where 34,000 others are already held. Mr. Stimson said that German commanders and civilians would escape a worse burden by cutting short any piratical resistance. About 1,600,000 German troops had been taken prisoner in the West since Invasion Day, he continued. Of these 1,200,000 were taken by the American armies. American casualties in the war totalled 899,390. This was 6,481 more than last week’s figure. [break] [underlined] January 1945 [/underlined] LATE on a Friday afternoon last November there took place in the House of Commons a brief, little-noticed and apparently ineffectual discussion on a subject which, in terms of the human destinies and feelings involved, merited a more suspicious moment, a wider attention and a more fruitful outcome. That discussion, reported fully in our last issue, rose out of a Motion urging that to a single Senior Minister should be assigned responsibility for all matters relating to prisoners of war. The Motion was signed by 150 M.P.s of all parties, and although the time available for debating it was brief it was supported in the House by speeches from prominent parliamentarians representing widely varied points of view. Among the speakers were, Col. Sir Thomas Moore, Sir Jocelyn Lucas, Col. Gluckstein, Miss Irene Ward and Mr. J. J. Tinker. All of these put forward strong practical arguments for the case they advocated. They were opposed by Mr. Attlee, Lord President of the Council, on the grounds that the wrongs which it was sought to right were largely illusory and the present arrangements satisfactory to the kin of prisoners of war. The case as a result appears to be lost. A Real Issue. The discussion is not, however, merely past history. It had its roots in the real views of scores of thousands of real people who have a big and vital stake in the whole question of the prisoner of war. And that is a question for the community as a whole, from the War Office itself to the humblest relative, for all are custodians of the prisoner – the man who cannot help himself or assert his own rights. [break] I see on the BBC News the other day that a Bosnian Serb General had been arrested on charges of alleged War Crimes. Cor!! how lucky can you get? A General no less? going on the past performances of our “lords and masters” he will end up owning half of Bosnia and £2,000,000 at least a year pension . . . You don't think so? well just think . . if a clown by name of General Monke can be rewarded with a farm and £20,000 a year pension for only murdering 200 “tommy’s” in 1940 what then is the going rate for a couple of thousand civilians in 1995? Being refused [underlined] LEGAL AID [/underlined] to take our case to the [underlined] EURO COURT [/underlined], and rejected by the [underlined] NATIONAL LOTTERIES CHARITIES [/underlined] I think we should apply to that Bosnian General for sponsorship after his trial. Don’t you?? Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Newsletter of the National Ex-Prisoner of War Association Description An account of the resource Discusses the long march. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource National Ex-Prisoner of War Association Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One printed sheet Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MTaplinJA1268696-161130-040001 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1945-01 1945-04-08 1945-04-13 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Germany Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Peter Balata prisoner of war the long march