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Interview with Jack Bell
Jack Bell joined the Royal Australian Air Force as a wireless operator/air gunner and joined 216 Squadron, at Heliopolis, near Cairo. He flew in Valentia and Bombay aircraft in a transport role. On an operation over Libya, his aircraft was shot down…
Operation Manna
An account of how the operation came about and evolved. Describes the events leading up to the need for food relief in Holland, a brief account of how the operation was set up and executed.
Interview with Lidia Vendramin
Lidia Vendramin recalls her childhood in Sacile, including details on her primary schooling, family, and town life. She contrasts the public manifestations of joy the day the war was declared, with the shock and dismay of her parents, whose lives had…
Babi Yar Massacre
A mass execution of Jews is taking place whilst fierce fires are burning in the background. To the front of the crowd, many have been killed and are lying on the ground. Others are being herded into the mass of people being killed, some holding up…
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Prisoners are visible behind barbed wire, wearing blue and white striped clothes and black shoes. A German soldier is guarding them, armed with a rifle. There are two huts. The white building has a large chimney with black smoke billowing out of it.…
Prisoners of the San Sabba Concentration Camp being brutalised
Prisoners kept in the Risiera di San Sabba Concentration Camp are brutalised by German soldiers. Some men are chained to the support columns with manacles, whilst others lie on the ground. In the background a group is pulling a cart with bodies…
Union Jack newspaper 25 July 1945
Four page Western Italy edition of the newspaper containing articles from various operational theatres around the world and from Britain.
Page 1 headline is: 'I SAW GENERAL SHOOT AT PRISONERS'.
Page 2 is given over to the forthcoming General…
Page 1 headline is: 'I SAW GENERAL SHOOT AT PRISONERS'.
Page 2 is given over to the forthcoming General…
The Log
Experiences of the prisoners of war in the Belaria camp of Stalag Luft 3 by Squadron Leader Bryce Cousens. It contains stories, poems and illustrations.
Interview with Thea Coleman
Thea Coleman was born in Holland in 1933. She experienced the invasion of her country and the increasing restrictions. Once when walking with her father, they were forced to stand and wait while prisoners were brought out of prison and executed which…
One man in his time
Writes of his last operation in a Halifax when his aircraft was shot down and exploded, killing all the other members of the crew. He describes, in great detail, his life as a prisoner of war in East Prussia and Poland and the people he meets. It…
Strike to defend
A 25 page account of the preparation for, and carrying out, a maximum effort operation against Duisburg by Lancasters of 83 Squadron at RAF Wyton, part of 8 Group Bomber Command. Account provides detailed description of preparations, briefing and the…
Interview with Adriano Landini
Adriano Landini (b. 1930) recalls his childhood living in the poor neighbourhood of Santa Croce in Reggio Emilia. He describes the profound sense of solidarity during wartime, stressing the community spirit among the so-called ‘popol giost’ (the salt…
The Prisoner of War May 1945
The official journal of the Prisoners of War Department of the Red Cross and St John War Organisation. This edition covers the Editors comments, Repatriation Arrangements, Liberation comes to Stalag IXA, Behind the Scenes about theatrical endeavours,…
Letter to Roy Langlois from Joseph Black
![EBlackJBlack[Sis]451018.jpg](https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/square_thumbnails/1525/27444/EBlackJBlack[Sis]451018.jpg "EBlackJBlack[Sis]451018.jpg")
Note (Roy's) at top about people being captured and held in Gestapo jail and died in Auschwitz. Letter from someone unknown to Langlois on behalf of his aunt about a person he met while evading in Belgium who was caught and tortured and subsequently…
Letter from John Brittain to his mother
![EBrittainJTBrittain[Mo]450527-0001.jpg](https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/square_thumbnails/776/9931/EBrittainJTBrittain[Mo]450527-0001.jpg "EBrittainJTBrittain[Mo]450527-0001.jpg")
Starts with apology for not writing but has been constantly flying to France to repatriate allied prisoners of war. Mentions typhoid injection to prevent crews catching it from ex-prisoners. Writes that he believes they will stay in UK but rumours of…
Interview with Eric Wright
Eric Wright lived in Rotherham at the start of the war. As a school child he says that he did not really understand the implications of it. The family moved to Nottingham and he describes life there, with the air raids and sheltering under the…
Interview with Dirk Bosch
Dirk Bosch was eight years old when the German army occupied his hometown of Amsterdam. He describes what life was like for him during this time. He tells of seeing Dutch Jews rounded up and deported. He describes the hunger of the time and the…
Interview with Coby Van Riel
Coby Van Riel was aged about six when the Germans invaded Holland. She lived in a fishing port area of The Hague, where her father had numerous jobs to make ends meet in the difficult days before the war and her mother ran a chemist shop. She…
Interview with Maurizio Ghiretti
Maurizio Ghiretti describes his early life at Monticelli Terme, a small town near Parma. He remembers various episodes of wartime hardships: food shortages; a tree taken down at night for firewood; men hiding in concealed rooms to avoid roundups; and…
Interview with Sara Ventriglia
Sara Ventriglia, the daughter of a Jewish mother and a Catholic father, recalls her early life in wartime Milan. She describes the alarm being sounded and she and her family getting quickly dressed to reach a nearby shelter. She recollects moments…
Interview with Adriana Ventriglia
Adriana Ventriglia remembers the bombings of Milan. She talks about her evacuee life in the Lodi countryside and describes how her father was injured in a train strafing. She mentions her early life in a mixed family, the impact on anti-Semitic laws,…
Interview with Ruta Popika
Ruta Popika was born near the river Nemunas, in what was Lithuania before the war. She remembers her family being forced to move eastwards and westwards from Lithuania according to the changing tides of war. She remembers the occupation of the Baltic…
Interview with Stanley Albert Booker
Stanley Albert Booker grew up in Chatham in a military environment surrounded with the sort of military paraphernalia he and his young friends found fascinating. He volunteered for the RAF at the earliest opportunity. He trained as a wireless…
Thea Colemen - my story 1940-1945
Thea describes growing up in the Netherlands before the war, as well as the political situation at the time. She describes life under occupation, after invasion by the Germans, including photographs of Rotterdam after bombing. Describes life between…
Interview with Bernie Harris. Two
Bernie Harris joined the Air Training Corps and volunteered for the Royal Air Force, joining in April 1943 and training to become an air gunner. He mentions his father serving in the Royal Flying Corps. As a young boy, Bernie witnessed the London…