EA Mower's own account of the March
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Title
EA Mower's own account of the March
Description
Edwin Mower had heard rumours, but there was little notice given for their move out of Obke camp. Not knowing their destination, they gathered what they could carry (mainly food) in rolled up blankets.
On 7 April 1945, guarded mainly by elderly men and young severely wounded soldiers, they marched out of camp in parties of 500. The parties halted about every hour to let stragglers catch up. On one occasion, some prisoners made a break for nearby woods and were never seen again. At night, where possible, they stopped and rested overnight on farms. They foraged for food to supplement their diet, raiding potato clamps, stealing hens and their eggs. Even when marching they stole anything which might prove useful. They were aware that the end of the war was imminent and on their 3rd day they heard the latest news from the BBC on a radio that the RAF prisoners secreted amongst themselves. The prisoners formed small combines amongst themselves and pooled resources for common use. Within Edwin’s combine were three Australians who were excellent at living off the land and were always amongst the first to get a fire going and a meal prepared.
The march lasted almost four weeks that took them through the villages of Wietzendorf, Zarrentin, Mecklenburg, Alvern, Melbeck, Barendorf, and Buchen. On 1st May they stopped about 17km north of Molln, they would march no further. On 2nd May a British despatch rider, riding past, told them, "Consider yourselves liberated". The German Oberfeldwebel told his men to disarm and disable their weapons.
On 7 April 1945, guarded mainly by elderly men and young severely wounded soldiers, they marched out of camp in parties of 500. The parties halted about every hour to let stragglers catch up. On one occasion, some prisoners made a break for nearby woods and were never seen again. At night, where possible, they stopped and rested overnight on farms. They foraged for food to supplement their diet, raiding potato clamps, stealing hens and their eggs. Even when marching they stole anything which might prove useful. They were aware that the end of the war was imminent and on their 3rd day they heard the latest news from the BBC on a radio that the RAF prisoners secreted amongst themselves. The prisoners formed small combines amongst themselves and pooled resources for common use. Within Edwin’s combine were three Australians who were excellent at living off the land and were always amongst the first to get a fire going and a meal prepared.
The march lasted almost four weeks that took them through the villages of Wietzendorf, Zarrentin, Mecklenburg, Alvern, Melbeck, Barendorf, and Buchen. On 1st May they stopped about 17km north of Molln, they would march no further. On 2nd May a British despatch rider, riding past, told them, "Consider yourselves liberated". The German Oberfeldwebel told his men to disarm and disable their weapons.
Creator
Date
1945-04
Spatial Coverage
Coverage
Language
Format
13 typewritten sheets
Conforms To
Publisher
Rights
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.
Contributor
Identifier
MDeansJAG[Ser#-DoB]-251114-11
Collection
Citation
EA Mower, “EA Mower's own account of the March,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed June 11, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/59980.