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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1700/27562/BElliotJDElliottJDv1.1.pdf
f02a9ba0a887c33494bfc672fe11814b
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Title
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Elliott, John Dale
J D Elliott
Description
An account of the resource
Two items. A memoir written by Flight Lieutenant John Elliott (b.1920, J20710 Royal Canadian Air Force) and 'The LOG' . He flew operations as a navigator with 428 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Gail Elliott and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2019-12-10
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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
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Elliott, JD
Transcribed document
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Transcription
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428 Squadron Crest
MY EXPERIENCES AS A PRISONER OF WAR IN GERMANY 1943-1945
John D. Elliott, Flt.Lt. Navigator RCAF J20710
Possibly the story of my POW life begins one month before the official date. We crewed up at Operational Training School – where, unlike the Americans, we picked the people we would fly with. Our crew was very closely knit and this feeling stayed with us through Heavy Conversion Unit (where we changed from Wellington to Halifax bomber) and then a posting to 428 Squadron at Middleton St. George, in the county of Durham, England. With three commissioned officers and 4 sergeants it was an average mix. 428 (Ghost) Squadron was a Canadian squadron in a Canadian (6) Group of Bomber Command. By 1942 the second pilot position had disappeared although we quite often carried pilots with no combat experience to give them an idea what it was actually like Discipline on a Canadian Squadron was somewhat different from that on RAF and US units. Although this was a Canadian squadron the air crews were rarely 100% Canadian as we trained at a RAF unit (OTU) and it depended on who was there at the same time, for example, there were no flight engineers in the RCAF at that time, they were all British. Similarly the other groups had 36% Canadian aircrew members. While on the ground we had to maintain a position of respectability, but in the air everything was on a first name basis. The same thing held when we were in town with our ground crew (all RAF). This would shock army officers in pubs etc. To see a sergeant talking to a wing commander using his first name. – I recall one time an army type said to my pilot – “I'd have that man on a charge if he spoke to me that way” – and “If I'm flying the aircraft and the rear gunner says corkscrew starboard, I don't ask him why - I do it”. Luckily we had enough ground exercises in abandoning aircraft, dinghy drill etc. that when something happened in the air we were trained to act by rote. This eventually saved my life.
In the summer of 1943 we had been busy bombing assorted targets such as Pennamunde, [sic] The Ruhr Complex, Hamburg and Berlin. On Nov. 20, I was in the station hospital with pneumonia when my crew flew to bomb Frankfurt (all up effort) and didn’t return – one killed and three wounded, as I found out later. When I got out of the hospital I decided that the least I could do was to go with the crew whose navigator had gone with mine. This was a largely Australian crew, the only Canadian had been the navigator – and they had only four more trips to go. They were a good bunch and I felt very confident flying with the Aussie sergeant pilot – more so than one trip with our commanding officer. I was able to get him commissioned after two trips together – so that he could share my room, as rooms were scarce in the mess, and I had been sharing with Jack Beggs who was shot down in November. It was one of the best rooms.
[page break]
On the night of Dec.20/43, I somehow did not feel too well but decided to fly, wearing my one piece flying suit for the first time (usually wore battle dress and Irwin jacket). Bearing in mind that the temperature at 20,000 feet was about 52 below, I wore silk and wool underwear (longjohns) and as a navigator I had silk gloves under leather. The target was again Frankfurt where my original crew had gone down, and was winter in Yorkshire in December.
We took off at 1700 hours for what should have been a six hour flight and proceeded across the North Sea, over Belgium and then Germany. The aircraft we were flying was an old Mark 2 and we could not get it into a safety height zone, so we were proceeding at 17,000 feet, well below the main stream at 20,000 plus. This must have made us stand out on a radar screen; incidentally we were carrying a second pilot for the experience. This was to be his first and last Operation. We didn’t fly Missions!!
About 1930 hours I heard loud bangs and the lights went out – simultaneously the aircraft went into a spin. My seat came down from the starboard wall with my desk on the other side (with the forward escape hatch underneath me). I reacted as I was trained and threw back my seat and pulled the hatch door into the cabin and jettisoned it into the nose. We wore parachute harnesses but the chute itself was in a steel case beside my leg, so I grabbed it and holding it with one hand tried to pull myself out the hatch, bearing in mind that the aircraft was spinning out of control. I had difficulty getting out (though I was smaller then), then someone stepped on my back and I went out at about 15,000 feet. Then discipline took hold and I realized I had to attach my chute to my harness, then fall some distance to get into the oxygen area. This all took place on a pitch-black night with no lights of any kind. As I neared the ground I could not make out any objects, and was quite surprised to land in something that was soft and dry – A HAYSTACK! The impact when the chute opened had emptied the outer pockets on my flying suit and I had lost all my cigars – was I ever mad! My sheep skin lined boots were also lost, so I was in stocking feet.
I decided to spend the night in the haystack – burrowing in to keep warm. The next day there were no people around and I heard church bells – which I thought to be a good omen as I might be near the Belgian border. Having spotted a farmhouse near the spot, I proceeded with caution and approached the door. An old farmer (German) opened the door and pointed a shotgun at me, and shaking all the while, he motioned me to come in and keep my hands up while he phoned the local army station. About 10 minutes lager [sic] a Kubelwagen (jeep) arrived with a sergeant and two soldiers who drove me to the town jail. They spoke no English and I at that time no German – but I was treated courteously. The German system was that as an air force officer I must be transported to a Luftwaffe facility, escorted by a German officer, so I spent the whole day in jail until the Luftwaffe personnel arrived to take me to Koblenz. They were Flak personnel (anti aircraft), which was part of the Luftwaffe, but decent types.
One day later I left for Frankfurt (by train) accompanied by four guards and an officer. He spoke some English and explained that the guards were to protect me and I should stay close to them. The officer and I occupied a first class carriage and the guards stood in the hall, outside the door. He told me that no lunch was provided for me so that I would have to share his, which I did.
[page break]
When we got to Frankfurt I saw that the railway station had been bombed and the glass roof was all in pieces on the ground. The guards formed around me and we pushed our way thru [sic] an unruly crowd to another Kubelwagen and drove to Dulag Luft on the outskirts of the city. This was the main holding and interrogation centre for air force POWs. I was then led to a small room (8 ft. By 5 ft.), where I spent the next 10 days. This had in it a bed and one blanket – heat and light were controlled from outside -- which was part of the scheme to make me tired and uncomfortable. Cabbage soup was fed to me (Room Service) and altho [sic] I saw many doors off the halls when I went to the bathroom, I saw only the guard who was conducting me – altho I did see a lot of doors.
For two days I saw no one except the guard. On the third day I was taken upstairs to a well- furnished office where I met my interrogation officer. He was a major in the Luftwaffe who I later found had been a professor of psychology at Heidleburg [sic] university in peace time. He was pleasant and offered me cigarettes and coffee – I noticed that the cigarettes were Camels (U.S.). I got the classic “for you the war is over” and a few questions about my squadron etc. Luckily we had been trained to give only our name, rank and number (Geneva Convention) and he didn’t threaten me or behave in any hostile manner! Spent about 20 minutes with him constantly smoking his cigarettes and then returned to my room. Nothing happened for another two days then this process was repeated. Then another three days past [sic] before I saw him again. This time when I sat down facing him there was a file on the desk in front of me labelled “428 Squadron – RCAF”. This didn’t surprise me as I had been told this could happen. He informed me that all my crew were dead and had been given military funerals by the Luftwaffe They were able to ascertain from the wreckage, apparently, that the aircraft carried two pilots and no navigator, so the assumption was that it was me. Altho this saddened me I still repeated name, rank and number. He talked about what they knew about the squadron – including the name of the station commander and the WAAF officer he was running around with (but I was not surprised and made no comments.) After some bread and butter and, coffee and cigarettes he said I would be released and transferred to a holding unit until I was sent to a permanent camp. He wished me luck and we parted company.
The next day I was transferred another compound (about 50 feet away) and met (about fifty) other like souls including Americans. They had Red Cross food and fed me well. Altho I had spent Xmas in solitary confinement and missed all the joyous time they said that they had experienced at Xmas and New Years.
This was a holding unit with RAF staff, and we saw virtually no Germans around. When it was decided where they were going to send us, we would be formed into groups, as logically it was not possible to send us out one at a time. The American and RAF Officers (including all the various Royal Air forces) would go to one camp and our NCO’s to another. The Yanks were more populous so would be leaving more frequently. Altho our Raid Complement (no of aircraft per trip) was about the same as theirs, they had a better survival rate (not to be construed as cowardice on their part)-- we had a lot of respect for them flying in daylight without fighter escort. Once a B17 lost its place in the formation thru damage it was fair game for the Luftwaffe fighters – so they were more or less prepared to bail out. We later calculated
[page break]
that whereas we were getting one man (no women) out of each plane shot down (out of 8) – they were getting an average of 5 out of 10.
Eventually there were enough of us to make a shipment to our camp, which was on the Polish border – and some distance from Frankfurt. We travelled by box car and frankly I cannot recall anything about the trip except it took about 4 days – with considerable time being spent on sidings as troop trains went up to the Russian front with priority. We finally got to Sagan to find that we were not going to Luft 3 at Sagan, but to a new camp some eight km away. Some of the Kriegies (POW in German is Kriegsgefangenen) from Sagan had already been transferred to this camp to get it going. This included a SBO (Senior British Officer – Group Captain) and his staff, plus a lot of characters such as Bob Stanford - Tuck, Wally Floody, and some Polish types. This was how Floody, who built the Great Escape Tunnel at Sagan, was not still there at the time of the escape.
We were assigned to rooms with 2 of these in each room so that we would learn what it was all about. Our 2 were Polish pilots who had been flying in the RAF so were considered RAF not Polish. The rooms held 10 men in double bunks and 5 were Canadian. Quite an interesting group with varied backgrounds but we got along well together. There were 10 such rooms in each hut with a small pot-bellied stove for warmth in each -- and it was cold. We had each been provided with US army greatcoats and boots (if required – and I had lost mine when my parachute opened), plus one towel and two US army blankets. They must have captured a US supply depot somewhere. The Germans provided us with pillow and sheets and a straw filled mattress. In addition to these rooms there was a small room at one end for a senior officer and a kitchen of sorts, and a nite [sic] bathroom (sans bath) at the other. Each room had one table without chairs.. but the Red Cross parcels came in wooden crates and we were able to make chairs from them. We were provided with toilet articles (soap – toothbrush etc. – by the Red Cross) and the people at the main camp had provided us with cigarettes and newspapers (no toilet paper available).
We quickly learned the rules from the Polish fellows such as appel (rollcall) took place every morning at 8 am and 4 pm in the after noon. “German time “ but we operated an hour later so it was 9 am our time. As I was a navigator my watch had been taken from me as it was government property – a Longines!! Everyone in the room had a job and I elected to become cook. This was a good move because it got me out of a lot of other duties. The system on food was that each person got 1/2 a Red Cross parcel twice a week and as we lived as a commune we drew 10 parcels a week for the room. The parcels mainly were American, but we had some Canadian and some British. The contents varied and schedule A lists the contents of each. I gather that the Canadian Red Cross sent one parcel per week for every Canadian, whereas the Americans sent three parcels a week for everyone. The rationale I gather was that if they sent three, one would be stolen at the docks in the US, and one in Lisbon(Portugal) so we would end up with one each. The only honest people in the chain were the Germans. The British parcels were infrequent but we also periodically got bulk shipments from Argentina (which had a large British population) and Denmark. The Germans supplied us with vegetables, bread and meat. So that we would not hoard food for escape purposes every can was punched so that the contents would not keep.
[page break]
This Camp (Belaria) was operated by the Luftwaffe and contained what would have been similar personnel in the German forces. Hence naval fliers, glider pilot , paratroop and anti-aircraft were considered air force. Some of our NCO aircrews were in army camps and as we were allowed one batman (servant) for x number of officers we had the alternative of taking army privates or our own NCO’s, bearing in mind these were the people we were crewed up with. We requested that some of the earlier shot down NCOs be transferred on a voluntary basis with the understanding that they would not operate in a servant capacity. All camps were covered by The Geneva Convention, which contained a lot of rules and by and large the Luftwaffe kept to them. We were supposed to get the rations equal to garrison troops (non combatants), so with the Red Cross parcels we were probably eating better than our guards.
According to the Geneva Convention, officers were to be paid an amount equal to a Luftwaffe officer of equal rank, but the decision had been made by older Kriegies to take the money and treat it as a camp fund, so that no one in the camp ever saw any money. I don’t think this was a universal rule but it was a wise one because we were able to use the money communally and to assist our NCO camps who had no income. Fortuitously we were not charged by the RCAF for the theoretical amount we were paid by the Luftwaffe. Altho they had been charging us all along – It was reversed when we got back home. We were paid by deposit into our London bank accounts – which was the normal way to pay RAF officers. Unlike the USAAF we were not paid flying pay as such but there were two types of officers namely, “General List” and “Administrative”. Getting wounded, being taken prisoner or temporarily taking a ground job between operational tours, did not alter our status and as the rates of pay were different we were the highest paid POWs. The U.S. were paid flying pay only when flying
Having taken a course in administration at some time, I (later) tried to get a “hard lying allowance” too, but the fact that we were supplied sheets and batman (theoretically) was held against us. We did use the monies to purchase things like newspapers, matches, toilet paper, soap and then the instruments for our band, plus from time to time we would rent clothes from a theatrical company In Berlin for our stage presentations.
We also diverted some of the money to the NCO camps as they were not paid. Altho non-officer prisoners were allowed to work this did not apply to our crews so they had no income – nor could they get a job on a farm which was in most cases a good deal as farmers seldom starve – and they also had some Polish girls employed.
In addition to the actual barracks there were other buildings including a combination wash room and showers (cold), an abort (outhouse), a theatre which we filled with seats made from Red Cross crates and a library. The flagship where the SBO and his staff lived and the hospital were included with living quarters. We had an army doctor who in civilian life had been a Harley Street gynaecologist and I think he had four beds . If anyone got really sick he would be transferred to the local hospital in Sagan. A German dentist visited about once a week but he had portable equipment and was not prepared to do anything complicated. We also had a German doctor visiting periodically. There was also a combined kitchen and warehouse building where our NCO’s would periodically cook some porridge or gruel, but it
[page break]
was mainly used for storing and issuing Red Cross parcels which were opened and had the cans punched. (See appendix A ) of metal tins in parcels.)
Every morning we would parade and be counted (rain or shine), then the process was repeated about 4 pm German time. We were a relatively small camp of about 750 until the USAAF really got into the war and then we went up to 18 to a room. Due to their method of flying they were able to get an average of 5 out 10 out of the aircraft whereas ours was 1 out of 8. Due to their formation system they were considered kaput (lost) once they dropped behind or out. They of course were flying in daytime whereas we always flew at nite as single units. This changed in 1944 when they got fighter protection all the way to the target by the Mustangs with Rolls Royce engines, and their losses fell considerably. They were a different breed compared to the stoic English types but we got along fine with them. They were all spread around the camp and not living as a separate unit.
Our leisure time was used in learning such subjects as German, calculus and many other subjects as with the diverse group of kriegies we had people who could do almost everything, with civilian experience. If one was interested he could join the theater group which was constantly putting on plays – with the help of the Germans who got us all the necessary scripts and stage props, costumes etc. from Berlin-as were our orchestral instruments.
We also had a playing field where soccer, rugby (English) and cricket were played in season, and a hockey rink in the winter. Most games were played by country teams and the competition was fierce at times. I even learned to play cricket, but our Canadian team did not have the experience of the Australians or British. The doctor forced the halt of rugby games as there were too many injuries. (Mostly collarbones and ribs.)
The soil at Belaria was not good for tunnelling, as it was all sand. A few unsuccessful escapes such as hiding in wagons going out were attempted, and there was only one man who got out. This was a navigator from Halifax who for a year sat at the main gate with a suitcase he had made (rain or shine). When the Swiss Red Cross (protecting power) visited us they convinced the Germans that he was ‘Round the bend” (crazy) and he was sent home. He was also the first person I saw when I came home by boat in ’45. The Great Escape (starring Steve McQueen) from the main camp at Sagan sort of took the edge off escaping but there was always somebody with a hair brained scheme which of course had to be approved by the escape committee, but none were acceptable.
We followed the land war efforts starting with the invasion in June 1944, plus the eastern front, which was taking a heavy toll of German lives. Fortunately we got the BBC with our own secret radios and we found that the Germans continuously broadcast news of the Russian front as it actually was – they had the Russians advancing faster than the BBC reported. As we were in Poland near the border with Germany we were concerned, but totally unaware of the Russian mentality. The German guards would shudder when the Ostfront (Eastern Front) was mentioned and we could see the casualties coming back on the railway track that ran by our camp. One could see ambulance trains coming back and ones loaded with SS troops going to the front.
[page break]
As the Russians got closer the rumours around the camp got numerous with every possibility being exploited. We would all be held as hostages...we would all be shipped to the south... we would be left to the mercy of the Russians.. or we would be all shot. On January 19/45 we received notice to be prepared to move, and on the 29th of the month after many false alarms, we finally left the camp with all the food, clothing and belongings that we could carry and started our route westward. I cannot call this a march as unlike the army and navy, aircrew are not good marchers, so we were spread out in a disorganized fashion, which eventually worked to our advantage as our fighter bombers figured we could not be Germans and left us alone. Three of our fellows were not in good shape to march, so they rode in the German commandants car, and he walked at the head of this motley crew – despite the fact that he was a paratrooper who had been badly wounded in the legs at Crete.
Some of the more ambitious kriegies had manufactured toboggans and were transporting things like the copies of ?THE CAMP? (our newspaper) and about a million cigarettes. These toboggans were not strong enough and eventually most of this had to be dropped. Fortunately about half the copies of THE CAMP survived and were bound and printed after the war. Like the others I had given a blank cheque (on toilet paper) to the editor and about one year later received a bound book, which I still have.
The first day was the roughest as it was snowing and the slush made walking difficult over rough roads. We made about 30 km. In all until we reached a big farm – where the commandant exercised his authority and took over two barns. We had no food this day so ate a cold meal from our Red Cross stocks and snuggled up to each other in the straw and hay. For the most part we were in good physical condition as we had been playing hockey the day before and were not carrying any excess fat. The next day it continued to snow and we made about the same distance. About 4 pm the major made a big speech in German which sounded to me like a warning of some kind as I was too far away to pick up the words. He was telling us not to escape, as there was an SS Panzer division nearby – plus if we could keep up for another hour he had arranged for a hot meal which we eventually received. It was cabbage and potato soup with pieces of sausage in it – cooked by the SS troops. This may seem strange to civilians who have heard all the propaganda, but the fact that we were all officer aircrews and obviously combatants made this possible. Spent a nite in an abandoned factory.
We were near Lumberg and after about an hour’s travel in the morning reached a railway siding where a train of box cars awaited us. The American people were leaving us at this point and going south whereas we were going west. This was not the first class accommodation we were accustomed to, as there were about forty of us in each box car, but at least we were warmer and out of the snow. The biggest fear we had at this time was that one of our own fighters would show up and attack us, particularly when we were on one of the many sidings along the way. The one thing that stands out in my memory was the time we were on a siding and allowed out of the cars, and ours being next to the locomotive we were taking advantage of the warmth when one of the fellows discovered the drain tap to the water supply. As we all had cans of Nescafe and as the water was hot we were soon enjoying the first hot drink in some days (and the best cup of coffee I have ever tasted). The engineer finally noticed us and with a lot of screaming this was stopped.
[page break]
We eventually reached a station late at night and we were told to get out and line up – and we did see a lot of strange soldiers with guns in front of us. Eventually we were marched off in groups and after an hour or so reached some old buildings where we were deloused and then put into barracks about 5 in the morning. This camp was Luckenwalde which was located south west of Berlin and we saw in the morning a lot of Norwegian officers in the camp and about 2000 Russian prisoners across the road. The Russians went out to work in the morning and some even came into ours to sweep up and take out garbage. One of the Russians approached me – asking for a cigarette in French, and I found that he was a Ukrainian officer who had got rid of any sign of rank. This was necessary he explained as the Germans at the front had a habit of shooting officers (and probably vice versa). I said looking at the scruffy Russians that it was a shame the way the Germans treated them – and he commented that it was no different from the way they had been treated by the Russians.
About 4 days later we were awakened by a lot of noise and saw big tanks (Russian T40's) taking out all the barbed wire between the compounds – and no Germans in sight (they apparently left during the night). We went over to the Russian compound that could only be described as filthy but did see a chapel they had made which was beautiful. The most powerful Russian was a political officer (Major Medvadov) who was disappointed that we didn’t want to grab a gun and join their army. We said we were only trained to fight in the air so we declined, and found that they had placed guards around the perimeter wires so that technically we were now prisoners of the Russians and they intended to send us home via Sebastopol – as had been agreed on at a conference 2 years previously. We knew that the American army was on the west bank of the Elbe which was no more than 10 miles away so 3 of us decided to take off. The Russian guards were stationed between upright posts and we found that one had taken off. Approaching the one on the next post I tried to talk to him while I was giving him cigarettes (Lucky Strikes), as the other 2 cut the wire. He smiled and turned his back so we got out and hightailed it away. We had covered about a mile when we saw a Russian tank approaching us and they stopped and made motions for us to climb on – which we did. They had a big gun pointing forward but the back was loaded with big bottles of Vodka in wooden crates – which they insisted we drink with them. We kept saying “Americans” so they kindly took us all the way to the river. There was a footbridge at that point so we crossed the river and finally convinced the Yanks we were legitimate and told them there were a lot more like us at Luckenwalde. We later heard that they sent an armed force plus ambulances and took out all the sick and wounded guys. They also informed their superiors and the entire camp was released soon after. Being RCAF we were a novelty to them and they gave us stuff like underwear and socks but we felt it better that we keep our scruffy blue battle dress. We stayed with them for one day and then left in a jeep they gave us, well stocked with food and gasoline. We drove as far as Hanover and then found a DC3 pilot who was going to Brussels – so we went with him.
Brussels had been taken by the Canadian Army who seemed to have taken over the town and after some talks with intelligence people we found that we each had a suite in one of the best hotels, and as much money as we wanted – which we didn’t need as everyone wanted to treat us. There were a number of RCAF fighter squadrons around Brussels and one night in a night club I met a pilot who had been on the same course at ITS, and who was leaving for England the next day. He gave me a little suitcase full of Belgian money and told me to spend
[page break]
all I wanted, then give it to someone else when I was leaving, and not to take it to England. It was probably counterfeit printed by the Germans but we had no trouble spending it in stores.
After a week of the high life we decided to go home as we were seeing pink elephants in our sleep. Some army fellow drove us to the airport where we had offers to fly us to Paris but eventually found someone who was flying to England so we gave the rest of the money and we went home. We stayed one nite at the air station where we had landed, then took the train to Bournemouth which was the big RCAF holding unit. It took a day to get my uniforms and personal stuff back, then we took off on three weeks leave in England. We were given civilian ration cards specially made for pregnant women because of the hardships we had suffered. I weighed 180 pounds when I was shot down – now I was at 120 pounds -- but in the best physical condition (even after Brussels). I came back from leave and left for Canada 5 days later by boat.
. .
J.D.Elliott
January 30, 2000
P.S. In the 55 years since the end of the second Great War I have belonged to many organizations in different locations and for various reasons.
DATA (From war diary)
Halifax V aircraft NA P took off at 1600 hours, Dec.20. 1943 from Middleton St. George, County Durham, to bomb. Frankfurt, Germany. This was part of a force of 650 aircraft – 390 Lancasters, 257 Halifaxes and 3 Mosquitoes. Other targets for the nite were MANNHEIM, an armament factory near LEIGE, France, mining in the FRISIAN Islands and other minor
[page break]
sorties. The total effort for the nite was 802 sorties with the loss of 43 aircraft. (41 of these on the FRANKFURT OPERATION ). Using radar the Luftwaffe was able to plot the bomber force as soon as it left the English coast and track it all the way to the target. Many including P (Peter) were lost before reaching FRANKFURT – including one other from 428 Squadron.
CREW OF NA-P were experienced and nearing the end of the tour of 30 operations.
Name Force Fate
Pilot P/O. W. J. (Joe) Armour DFC Royal Australian Air Force KIA
Navigator: F/O J. D. Elliott Royal Canadian Air Force POW
Flt Engineer: Sgt. S. P. Page Royal Air Force KIA
Wireless Op. Royal Air Force KIA
Bomb Aimer Royal Air Force KIA
Rear Gunner Royal Australian Air Force KIA
Mid Upper Gunner Royal Australian Air Force KIA
Second Pilot Royal Canadian Air Force KIA
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
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My experience as a prisoner of war in Germany 1943 - 1945
John Elliott's memoir
Creator
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J D Elliott
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2000-01-30
Rights
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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.
Format
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10 typewritten sheets
Language
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eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BElliotJDElliottJDv1
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Canadian Air Force
Conforms To
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Pending review
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
Poland
Germany--Oberursel
Poland--Żagań
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-12-20
1944
1945
Description
An account of the resource
Describes life on 428 Squadron, being shot down 20 December 1943, and his life as a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft 3 before his liberation.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Roger Dunsford
428 Squadron
6 Group
aircrew
bale out
bombing
C-47
crewing up
Dulag Luft
entertainment
escaping
flight engineer
Halifax
Halifax Mk 2
Halifax Mk 5
Heavy Conversion Unit
killed in action
navigator
Operational Training Unit
prisoner of war
RAF Middleton St George
Red Cross
shot down
sport
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 3
the long march
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1400/27091/BWagnerHWWagnerHWv10001.1.jpg
85822213415fbbf7896f5339f05b9994
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
Jones, Hugh Brenton
H B Jones
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-01-11
Rights
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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
Jones, HB
Description
An account of the resource
17 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant Hugh Brenton Jones (1925 - 1944, 1866363 Royal Air Force) and contains documents and photographs. He flew operations as an air gunner with 51 Squadron and was killed 18 December 1944. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Rea Camus and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Hugh Brenton Jones is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/214965/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Pilot to Navigator - Where are we?
The Personal Account of a Wartime Navigator
Description
An account of the resource
Henry, volunteered for the RAF and learned to fly Tiger Moths at Brough. He then was transferred to South Africa on a troopship. His flying training came to an end after a poor solo flight. He was retrained as a navigator. On completion of his training he returned to the UK. After an inactive posting to Whitley Bay he was sent to West Freugh for further training. Next was an operational training unit at Abingdon, where he crewed up.
Training continued on Whitleys before a transfer to Acaster Malbis for yet more training, followed by the heavy conversion unit at Marston Moor, on Halifaxes.
His first operational posting was 51 Squadron at Snaith. He covers each operation in detail. Interspersed with the details are explanations of electronic systems and tactics used.
During one operation he was shot down and parachuted behind the German lines. Eventually he was taken prisoner, interrogated then transferred to Stalag Luft 7. As the Russians got nearer they were forced to walk west. Later they were transferred by train to Stalag IIIA.
The account then jumps to reunions in the 1980s, then returns to the last few days at the camp as the war ends.
He reached home on 15th May.
This item is available only at the International Bomber Command Centre / University of Lincoln.
Creator
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Henry Wagner
Format
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73 page book
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Memoir
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe
Royal Navy
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Henley-on-Thames
England--Reading
England--London
England--Brighton
England--Hull
England--Manchester
England--Blackpool
England--Liverpool
South Africa--Durban
South Africa--East London
Yemen (Republic)--Aden
Egypt--Suez Canal
Egypt--Port Said
Libya--Tobruk
Italy--Sicily
Algeria--Algiers
England--Harrogate
England--Whitley Bay
England--Newquay
England--Falmouth
England--York
Northern Ireland--Belfast
Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Isle of Man
Germany--Jülich
Germany--Essen
England--Beachy Head
Germany--Neuss
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Hamburg
England--Derby
Germany--Soest
England--Nottingham
Germany--Hildesheim
Belgium--Brussels
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Münster in Westfalen
Alps
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Hagen (Arnsberg)
Germany--Düren (Cologne)
Germany--Osnabrück
Germany--Giessen (Hesse)
Libya--Banghāzī
Yemen (Republic)
Italy
Algeria
Libya
Egypt
North Africa
Germany
Belgium
South Africa
Great Britain
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Berkshire
England--Cornwall (County)
England--Derbyshire
England--Northumberland
England--Oxfordshire
England--Sussex
England--Lancashire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Yorkshire
Germany--Schönebeck (Schönebeck)
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BWagnerHWWagnerHWv1
100 Group
4 Group
425 Squadron
51 Squadron
77 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
aerial photograph
air gunner
Air Observers School
aircrew
Anson
anti-aircraft fire
B-17
bale out
bomb aimer
C-47
Caterpillar Club
crewing up
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Service Order
entertainment
evading
flight engineer
Flying Training School
Gee
ground personnel
H2S
Halifax
Halifax Mk 3
Heavy Conversion Unit
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945)
Hurricane
Ju 88
Lancaster
Lancaster Finishing School
Me 109
Me 110
military service conditions
missing in action
Mosquito
navigator
Nissen hut
Oboe
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Pathfinders
pilot
prisoner of war
RAF Abingdon
RAF Acaster Malbis
RAF Bottesford
RAF Cosford
RAF Full Sutton
RAF Manston
RAF Marston Moor
RAF Melbourne
RAF Snaith
RAF St Eval
RAF Stanton Harcourt
RAF Tholthorpe
RAF West Freugh
RAF Wing
Red Cross
Resistance
shot down
sport
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 7
Stirling
Sunderland
target indicator
the long march
Tiger Moth
training
V-1
V-weapon
Wellington
Whitley
Window
wireless operator / air gunner
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1578/26644/PBrooksWA2007.2.jpg
613e6f3d096bf9d38a5584cebbe8a21c
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1578/26644/PBrooksWA2008.2.jpg
f3bb3d035a6ba574452a5ff3ffda6a4e
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
Brooks, William Alfred
W A Brooks
Brooks, Chunky
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020-01-17
Rights
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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
Brooks, WA
Description
An account of the resource
37 items. The collection concerns William Alfred Brooks (b. 1922, 1318320 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 10 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war. The collections contains photographs and correspondence and his prisoner of war log. The collection also contains a photo album of military service in Singapore.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Peter Nicol and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
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
Two prisoners facing armed German soldiers
Description
An account of the resource
Two individuals with raised arms three German soldiers, surrounded by debris. On reverse '(Handwritten) Russian prisoners being shot by Jerries. (Copy of a print found at Nazi headquarters Luchenwalde)'.
Format
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One b/w photograph and reverse
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
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PBrooksWA2007, PBrooksWA2008
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.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
prisoner of war
Stalag 3A
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1467/26611/MSangerEW125630-151104-01.2.pdf
6890eaae4de6f63cebbd438fa968c10d
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
Sanger, Eric William
E W Sanger
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
2015-11-04
Rights
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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
Sanger, EW
Description
An account of the resource
10 items. The collection concerns Pilot Officer Eric William Sanger (b. 1915, 125630 Royal Air Force) and contains his prisoner of war log, documents and a photograph. He flew operations as an observer with 9 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Trevor Denis Simms and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
A WARTIME
LOG
[Page break]
[Blank page]
A WARTIME LOG
FOR
BRITISH PRISONERS
“The Moving Finger writes: and having writ
Moved on: nor all thy Piety or Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it”
Rubiyat of Omar Khayham.
Gift from
THE WAR PRISONERS’ AID OF THE Y.M.C.A.
37 Quai Wilson
GENEVA SWITZERLAND
[Page break]
[Blank page]
Stalag Luft 3.
[Cartoon of a Duck in flying helmet behind bars] POW 202
“I Wanted Wings”
[Page break]
H. Williamson (“Willie”)
Chesterville,
Ont.
“Spit” (Swoop over France Feb. ’43)
A Mackay (“Wimpy”)
6 Apex St Naremburn
North Sydney
Australia
Or C/O C S R Coy Ltd
Fiji Islands
[Underlined] Swordfish [/underlined]
Glan Evans
DOLYCOED
GORSEWON
SWANSEA
GLAM
Sea off Le Havre. Dec ‘42
Grant McRae [Underlined] “Lanc” [/underlined]
231 Kensington Ave.
Westmont Que.
Canada
Suttgart July ‘44
F Burnett
55 Lamorna Grove
Stanmore, Middlesex
Lanc 7 Sqdn
Russelheim Aug ‘44
RF Chalk
630 Lauder Ave
Toronto Ont
Canada
[Underlined] (Halifax) [/underlined]
Brunswick Aug ‘44
D C Hetherton, [Underlined] 55 Sqdn [/underlined]
Paul Winn & Co Ld
32, Bishopsgate
London, EC2
Tern (Italy) April 44
(Baltimore)
Jack J. Walker (Halifax)
11, Zetland Terrace
Saltburn-by-Sea
Yorkshire
A J McInnes (Lanc 83 Sq)
11 Watt St,
Box Hill
Victoria
Australia
Magdeburg Jan 44
[Page break]
[Boxed] 65/11 [/boxed]
[Deleted] T J Austin. [/deleted]
7 Sqdn [Underlined] Stirling [/underlined]
J N Harris
12 Hewitt Ave.
Toronto
LL.1064
HAMBURG July 42
[Underlined] 10 Sqdn Halifax [/underlined] ESSEN June ‘42
Richard M Speer,
515 King Edward Ave.,
Ottawa,
CANADA.
F W McKay P.R.V.
28 Burnett St
Dunedin
New Zealand
[underlined] (Mosquito) [/underlined]
Engine troub
Belgium Oct 42
AB. Anderson Carrick Rd.
Ayr.
P.R.U.
[Underlined] “Spitfire” [/underlined]
Kristiansand Norway Jan 43
[Underined] 408 Sqdn [/underlined] “Gus” Walker
Mortimer
Woodstock N.B.
Canada
(Lanc) Schweinfurt Feb ‘44
F J AUSTIN:
58, High St.,
North Berwick
East Lothian
[Underlined] AND [/underlined]
128, Rosefield Rd,
Smethwick,
Staffs.
149 [underlined] “Stirling” [/underlined]
LUBECK July ‘42
Ron Lunney
19 Hillside Gdns
London E 17
7 Sqdn [Underlined] Stirling [/underlined]
Stuttgart April 43
MR Laloge
Pauce Coupé
B.C.
Canada
Halifax 408 Sqdn
Dan Tomms
51, Harrogate St.,
Barrow-in-Furness
Lancs.
(SWORDFISH)
In sea off Le Havre Dec ‘42
[Page break]
JOURNEYING ON THE CONTINENT IN WAR
25th FEBRUARY 1943. 2230 HRS. B.S.T. Shot down over Nuremburg. Port wing afire.
26th Feb. 0830 hrs B.S.T. Captured in village and locked up. Later interviewed by local policeman
1400hrs. Taken by car to Police Station in Nuremberg Rest of crew arrive later.
800 hs. Taken under armed escort in lorry to Luftwaffe aerodrome. Put in cells
27th Feb Entrained for DULAG Arrived mid-day. Put in cells
4th March. Enter compound
9th March Arrive SCHUBIN XXIB
7th April Arrive SAGAN LUFT II
28th January 1945 Leave SAGAN
4th Feb. 1945 Arrive LUCKENWALDE 3A
[Page break]
[Diagram of a Lancaster showing crew positions]
[Underlined] CREW OF LANCASTER “W” – WILLY SHOT DOWN NUREMBURG 2230 HRS – 25th FEB, 1943 [/underlined]
[UNDERLINED] BOMB AIMER F/O E.W. SANGER. RAF. [/underlined]
[Underlined] SKIPPER F/O J.A. MITCHELL. RAF [/underlined] (KILLED)
[Underlined] FLIGHT-ENGINEER SGT. DOBSON. RAF. [/underlined]
[Underlined] NAVIGATOR SGT. G. QUINEY. RAF. [/underlined]
[Underlined] WIRELESS/OPERATOR SGT. W. CUTLER. RAF. [/underlined]
[Underlined] MID-UPPER GUNNER SGT. LAWSON. RAF. [/underlined]
[Underlined] REAR-GUNNER P/O. V.C. SHERRING. RAF [/underlined] (KILLED)
[Page break]
[Underlined] LYING IN THE DARK [/underlined] (N COWARD)
(1) Lie in the dark and listen –
It’s clear tonight so they’re flying high –
Hundreds of them – thousands perhaps
Riding the icy, moonlit sky.
Men, machinery, bombs & maps,
Altimeters and guns and charts –
Coffee, sandwiches and fleece-lined boots,
Bones and muscles and minds and hearts.
English saplings with English roots
Deep in the earth they’ve left behind,
Lie in the dark and listen!
(2) Lie in the dark and listen –
They’re going over in waves & waves
High above villages, hills and streams
Country Churches and little graves
And little citizens’ worried dreams.
Very soon they’ll be over the sea
And far below them will be the bays
And cliffs and sands where they used to be
Taken for summer holidays –
Lie in the dark and let them go
Theirs is a world we will never know –
Lie in the dark and listen.
(3) Lie in the dark and listen –
City magnates and steel contractors,
Factory workers and politicians,
Soft, hysterical little actors.
Ballet dancers – reserved musicians,
Safe in your warm civilian beds,
Count your profits – count your sheep
Lie in the dark and let them go.
There’s one debt you’ll forever owe
Lie in the dark and listen!
[Page break]
[Underlined] MISCELLANEOUS, Pages 2-52. GERMAN PRESS CUTTINGS [/underlined]
[Underlined] P. 54 [/underlined] Journeying on the Continent.
[Underlined] APPENDIX TO P. 54 – [/underlined] SNAPS. CREW LIST. “STOOGE DAY” CAMP FERRET – LANCASTER – “GOON BOX” “MY PIT” –
CONTENTS
P.1 “LYING IN THE DARK” N. COWARD
55 “RACKETS” by F.J. AUSTIN [circled] 55 [/circled] RAFVR
60 “SPORTING BLUES” S. D. TIMMS 60 RNVR
65 DESIGNS FOR MODERN KITCHEN. Self 65
67 VIEW OF EAST CAMP. S.L.3. Self 67
68-9 }
+83 } ROOM MATES + CAMP ACQUAINTANCES. 68-9 + 83
70 SUGGESTIONS FOR A TOUR OF ENGLAND. 70
71 THE GREAT TREK FROM SAGAN 71 + 75
72 THE KRIEGIE BLUES – Self!!! 72
77 COPY OF GERMAN POSTER – ESCAPE 77
79 SONG OF STALAG 79
80 “THE PRISONERS” A POEM – S/LDR E. SIDNEY-SMITH 80
81 BARTER PRICES AT STALAG 3A 81
[Page break]
[Blank page]
[Page break]
OST-LAGER S.L.3.
[Diagram of huts in a compound]
[Page break]
BLOCK 65. ROOM 11
F J AUSTIN (C/O MISS W.A. AUSTIN. KING’S NORTON IN B’HAM PHONE BOOK)
58, HIGH. STREET
N. BERWICK
SCOTLAND
+
128, ROSEFIELD RD
BIRMINGHAM
(OBSERVER)
STIRLING. [underlined] 149. Sq [/underlined]
LUBECK
July 1942 (Flak)
A B ANDERSON (PILOT)
41, CARRICK RD.
AYR
SPITFIRE, P.R.U
KRISTIANSAND
January 43(F.)
F.H. BURNETT (FLIGHT ENGINEER)
55, LAMORNA GROVE
STANMORE, MDSX
EDGWARE 3939
LANCASTER. [underlined] 7 Sq [/underlined]
RUSSELHEIM
AUGUST 1944 (F.)
R G CHALK (W/OP)
630, LAUDER AV
TORONTO
CANADA
HALIFAX. 434 Sq
BRUNSWICK
AUGUST 1944 (F)
J.N. HARRIS (HANK) (PILOT)
12, HEWITT AV.
TORONTO
CANADA
STIRLING (7 Sq)
HAMBURG
JULY 1942 (Flak)
R.H. LUNNEY (OBS.)
19, HILLSIDE GDS
LONDON. E 17
STIRLING 7 Sq.
STUTTGART
April 1943 (F.)
D C HETHERTON (OBS)
C/O PAUL WINN-CO LTD
32, BISHOPSGATE
LONDON. E.C.2
BALTIMORE 55 Sq
TERNI (ITALY)
April 1944
(Blew up)
[Page break]
G.S. McRAE (B/AIMER)
231, KENSINGTON AVE.
WESTMOUNT, QUEBEC
CANADA
LANCASTER 619 Sqd
STUTTGART
July 1944 (F)
R N SPEER (A/G)
515, KING EDWARD AV.
OTTAWA,
CANADA
HALIFAX 10 Sqdn
ESSEN (Flak)
June 1942
GUS WALKER (MORTIMER) (W/OP)
MEDUCTIC
WOODSTOCK. NB
CANADA
LANCASTER. 408
SCHWEINFURT
February 44
(Fighter)
JACK WALKER (PILOT)
1, ZETLAND TERR,
SALTBURN-BY-SEA
YORKS
HALIFAX. 10 SqN
LEIPZIG
Feb. ’44 (F)
ALAN. F. McIINES (OBS.)
1, WATT STREET
BOX HILL, VICTORIA
AUSTRALIA.
LANCASTER. 83 Sqd
MAGDEBURG
JAN. 1944 9Fight)
ERIC H BODMAN
LA TRAPPE VINERIES Village de Putron
ST MARTIN’S GUERNSEY
Or C/O Henry Fraser Esq., Lochton, Arbroath, Angus, Scotland
HALIFAX 78 Sqdn
MAINZ (Flak)
August 1942
EDWARD RANCE (Flip)
C/O LADY THOMAS
57 PLYMOUTH RD
PENARTH, GLAM
OR LONDON PHONE BOOK
BEAUFORT (217)
BAY OF BISCAY
August 41
[Page break]
Suggestions for a “Tour” of England
I)
The Angel Grantham
The George – Glastonbury
Shakespeare – Stratford-on-Avon
New Inn – Gloucester
Feathers – Ludlow
Lygon Arms- Broadway
Beaufort Arms – Chepstow
White Hart – Salisbury
Royal – Falmouth
Bedford – Brighton
Savoy or Ritz – London
Kings Head – Rochester (Ted Chapman)
II)
The Ship – Mere
The Talbot – Mere
The Bull – Watton-at-Stone
The Blackbirds – Hertford
The Plough? – Hertford
The Saracens Head – Ashford
The Maid of Kent – Ashford
[Page break]
THE “GREAT TREK” FROM STALAG LUFT 3
1945
28th January. Left [underlined] SAGAN [/underlined] 0900 hrs with sledges loaded with all transportable belongings + food. Rough day – being the first.
Arrived [underlined] HALBAU [/underlined] 1800 hrs
Billetted in R.C. Church No heat, no water 17 Kms
29th. January Moved to school in Halbau
30th January Left [underlined] HALBAU [/underlined] 0600 Hrs
Destination [underlined] PRIEBUS. [/underlined]
Arrived [underlined] LIPPA [/underlined] 1600 hrs. 20 Kms
Billetted in Church
Very cold night
31st January Left [underlined] LIPPA [/underlined] 0600 hrs
Via [underlined] PRIEBUS [/underlined]
Arrived [underlined] MUSKAU [/underlined] 1800 hrs 30 Kms
Billetted in Glass Factory
Warm. Had first decent wash in HOT water, and shave. Dried our clothes
1st February Spent whole day + night resting up Collected 1 1/2 R.C. parcels between 6 “bods”. Hank Harris rackets some Beer.
(Continued P.75) 67 Kms
[Page break]
Stalag 3A Luckenwalde
He lay on his bed, hungry and miserable and as he lay there, into his mind came and passed with monotonous regularity, visions of succulent repasts – till his mouth watered, his belly rumbled and his soul writhed
Before his vision appeared and disappeared roast chicken, brussels sprouts, floury baked potatoes, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, steak and onions, bacon and eggs – an endless panorama of rich appetising food.
His mind rebelled at such exquisite torture, and he endeavoured to change the subject. Across the way on an opposite bed another “Kriegie” was munching away at a slice of bread. The resulting track of though led his mind to ruminate upon the inadequate and
[Page break]
deplorable German rations on which he had to exist. Five slices of sour bread and margarine per day, a small quantity of watery unflavoured soup and - five potatoes boiled in their jackets. A really excellent feast!!
At once he was back again to another old thread of the confused maze of thought at the back of his mind. Red Cross Parcels!! Would they ever arrive? He doubted the fact very much He thought of all the parcels left behind at Sagan, the food tins strewn in the snow – the food he was forced to leave behind on the road when his sled failed him on the first day of the march. Once again, the torture
[Page break]
became too great. No use thinking back – it is bad for morale and makes things worse. Now his mind jumps forward to the limit of his reserves. Home. With all its comforts and its food. Huge rock cakes, heavy with fruit, made by his mother’s skilful hands, rolls and fresh butter, strawberry jam, stacks of small cakes, tarts and scones. Poached eggs on toast, strong, sweet, steaming hot tea!! Oh God, how long before I’m there?
Overcome with the thoughts which his empty belly forces to his mind, he groans, takes up a pencil and writes down this rigmarole, while he waits
[Page break]
for his supper of - five potatoes.
13/2/45
[Underlined] 26-2-45 – Potato Ration reduced from 400 – 360 gms!! [/underlined]
[Underlined] “THE GREAT TREK” continued [/underlined] 67 Kms
2nd February Left [underlined] MUSKAU [/underlined] 1200 hrs
Arrived [underlined] GRAUDIN [/underlined] 1800
Slept in Barn. Plenty of
Straw. Sleds no good. 18 Kms
3rd February Left GRAUDIN 0900 hrs
Arrived SPREMBURG 1400 10 Kms
Soup at Army barracks
March to station and entrained in goods wagon – 40 men per wagon. 1730 hrs.
Left SPREMBURG 2130.
4th February Arrived Falkenberg at dawn. Train stops & shunts for hours
Eventually arrive at LUCKENWALDE 1615 hrs. 100 Kms
Reach STALAG 3A at 1800 hr
SHOWER, SEARCH & BED 0200 hrs. [underlined] 195 Kms [/underlined]
[Page break]
[Blank page]
[Page break]
[Underlined] WARNING POSTER EXHIBITED IN ALL P.O.W. CAMPS AFTER THE SHOOTING OF 50 BRITISH AND ALLIED OFFICERS IN APRIL 1944 [/underlined]
[Underlined] TO ALL PRISONERS OF WAR [/underlined]
[Underlined] THE ESCAPE FROM PRISON CAMPS IS NO LONGER A SPORT. [/underlined]
Germany has always kept to the Hague Convention and only punished recaptured P.O.Ws with minor disciplinary punishment. Germany will maintain these principles of international law. But England has, besides fighting at the front in an honest manner, instituted an illegal warfare in non-combat zones in the form of gangster commandos, terror bandits and sabotage troops even up to the frontiers of Germany. They say in a captured, secret and confidential English Military Pamphlet
[Underlined] THE HAND-BOOK OF MODERN IRREGULAR WARFARE. [/underlined]
“The days when we should practice the rules of sportsmanship are over. For the time being every soldier must be a potential gangster and must be prepared to adopt these methods whenever necessary.
“The sphere of operations should always include the enemy’s own country, any occupied territory, and in certain circumstances such neutral countries as he is using as a source of supply”
(cont)
[Page break]
ENGLAND HAS WITH THESE INSTRUCTIONS OPENED UP A NON-MILITARY FORM OF GANGSTER WARFARE
Germany is determined to safeguard her homeland and especially her war industry and provincial centres for fighting fronts. Therefore it has become necessary to create strictly forbidden zones, called death zones, in which all unauthorised trespassers will be immediately shot on sight.
Escaping P.O.W’s entering such death zones, will certainly lose their lives. They are therefore in constant danger of being mistaken for enemy agents or sabotage troops.
[underlined] Urgent warning is given against making future escapes [/underlined]
In plain English. Stay in the camp where you will be safe!! Breaking out of it is now a damned dangerous act.
[Underlined] The chances of preserving your life are almost nil! [/underlined]
All police and military guards are given the most strict orders to shoot on sight suspected persons.
[Underlined] ESCAPING FROM PRISON CAMPS CEASES TO BE A SPORT!! [/underlined]
[Page break]
[Drawings]
SING A SONG OF STALAG
DAYS WITHOUT END
BAGS & BAGS OF KRIEGIES
ALL “AROUND THE BEND”
WHEN THE GATES ARE OPENED
THE GOVERNMENT WILL SING
IF THAT’S THE CREAM OF BRITAIN’S YOUTH
OH DEATH! WHERE IS THY STING?
[Drawings]
[Page break]
[Underlined] “The Prisoners” [/underlined] E Sydney-Smith
“We are the ones who flew – “failed to return,”
And deathwards, half the long dark journey made,
For us no everlasting lamp shall burn
Nor hero’s wreath on any tomb be laid.
Yet, short of death, we fell not back to life,
But down the still dark abyss in between
To idly sit and hear the nations’ strife
And sometimes woo the sleep that might have been.
We are not always sad, for each one clings
To memory, and the dreams of what he thinks
He left and still shall find, the far, dear things,
The shades that come in dreams and burst our links.
But if the years’ slow stream shall flow too wide,
We may return, to find that we have died.”
[Page break]
22/2/45
BARTER PRICES FIXED AT LUCKENWALDE
FOOD CIGS.
GERMAN BREAD PER LOAF [deleted] 20 [/deleted] 40
GERMAN FLOUR PER KILO 20
BRATLING POWDER (SOUP) 10
SACHARINE (100 TABLETS) 5
PEAS DRIED PER KILO 10
PORRIDGE OATS PER KILO 20
BARLEY PER KILO 20
MARGARINE PER 1/2 KILO 35
SUGAR PER 2lb. 15
MEAT (IN TINS) PER KILO 60
FRESH MEAT PER KILO 40
RED CROSS AMERICAN CHEESE 1/2 lb 20
AMERICAN COFFEE 2 oz 30
CANADIAN COFFEE 8 oz 40
KLIM 40
SPAM, CORNED BEEF 40
MEAT & VEG 30
SALMON 20
SARDINES 10
CANADIAN TEA 4 oz 30
(continued)
[Page break]
CIGS
RED CROSS AMERICAN JAM 6 oz 10
RED CROSS CANADIAN JAM 1lb 30
MARGARINE 1lb 40
“D” BARS 4oz 20
MILK CHOC 4oz 25
COCOA 1/4 lb 20
PRUNES 1lb 20
RAISINS 1lb 20
PÂTÉ 15
[Page break]
NAME & ADDRESS
Edward Chapman
Hope Lodge
Macclesfield Road
Buxton, Derbyshire
OR GEO G. SANDEMAN SONS & CO LTD.
20 ST SWITHIN’S LANE, E.C.4.
A/SR Launch 143
Cap’d 12 1/2 miles S of Dover
8th May 1941
TIMMY TITHER
411, WATEERY LANE
SUTTON OAK
ST HELENS
LANCS
WELLINGTON III
ENGINE TROUBLE DITCHED 40 mls W. BORKUM
27-7-42
John Orpe Pakeman Jnr.
County Surveyor’s Dept
County Hall
CHICHESTER
Sussex
Halifax
Night Fighter
Dachsundhausen
Δ Frankfurt
20.12.43
Stephen Douglas Read
16 Compton Park Rd,
Mannamead,
Plymouth,
Devon.
Wellington III
Night Fighter 110
Arnhem.
Δ Osnabrück
10 Aug 42
[Page break]
EVENTS PRIOR TO RELEASE
21st APRIL 1945 – Germans leave Stalag 3A and General RUGE (Norway) assumes command, and Camp Defence Scheme comes into operation. Citizens of LUCKENWALDE evacuated by police order. German general threatens to fire on the camp where 8 rifles taken from his men were returned. Rifles returned. Russian artillery shell the town. Only 1000 Volksturm & Hitler Youth reported defending town.
22nd April At 0300 hrs Mayor of Luckenwalde offered to surrender the town to the camp authorities. 0600 hrs Russian tanks arrive in camp & infantry seen in the woods. 1000hrs tanks & armoured cars arrive in camp. Luckenwalde occupied by Russian troops by 1100 hrs Little resistance. Germans loot shops in the town. Russian P.O.W’s leave Camp fired on by German civilians. 4 killed
[Page break]
23rd APRIL. German soldiers surrender to the camp. A little air activity FW 190 fires at the kitchen. No casualties. Russians send 12 [indecipherable word] into camp.
24 APIRIL Reported 4 German divisions in the area. Being mopped up by 1 Russian division.
General Ruge returns from visit to Marshal Konief’s HQ. Reported that we shall go home westwards and not via Odessa.
Luckenwalde quiet.
26/27th April Uneventful day Russian operational troops move out and are replaced by occupational types.
27th April SEE TYPEWRITTEN SHEETS IN BACK COVER
28th April Russian Repatriates board arrived with 50 lorries of Food and Clothing.
29th April First unescorted walk outside camp Visited German village saw Russian squad searching for
[Page break]
Germans
30th April Quite a battle going on near the camp. 3 German soldiers shot near West gate. War seems to be getting nearer.
1st May Battle still going on. Shell landed in Sports Field!! Intended move to Adolf Hitler Lager – 6 miles away, to improve our living conditions.
2nd May Adolf Hitler Lager (now renamed Josef Stalin Lager or “Joe’s Place”) swamped by crowds of refugees. Place looted and spoilt.
3rd May Skeleton staff who went to Lager return owing to being unable to cope with loads of refugees – some of them armed. Move now definitely off
4th May American Press Correspondent arrives says that Allies are unaware of our being liberated Capt. Beatty flies to see Gen. Gesenover to get us out of here
More tanks arrive and
[Page break]
we are informed that we are to be evacuated to-morrow. – the Russians permitting
5th May. The great day arrives. About noon ambulances arrive and, Russian permission having been finally obtained, the sick are evacuated. Rumours of large convoys to take the rest of us home and bring food.
The officer I/C Ambulances inform us that a huge convoy is expected to-morrow (Sunday) and it is hoped to evacuate Americans, British & Norwegians by to-morrow evening
Three lorries arrive with Bread and Army Rations. Russians also bring in five loads of food. Hopes of moving to-morrow are high, but after so many disappointments, Kriegies won’t be convinced till the lorries arrive and we embark
[Page break]
Intended route is Schoenberg – 240 miles to Haldesheim and then flying to England. I hope it is true this time!! 90 trucks of food from Russia arrive to-night. A little late
6th May. Still waiting for the lorries. 22 arrive, but Russians refuse to allow evacuation to proceed Say they have no orders.
7th May W/C Collard resigns as Senior Allied Officer, and sends written protest to Russian Commandant
[Underlined] W/C COLLARD’S LETTER [/underlined]
FROM Senior British Officer
TO Russian Commandant for Repatriation
May 7th 1945
In order to avoid misunderstanding I am putting into writing the principle statement which I made at our conference last night
[Page break]
The situation of the British at this camp is now as follows
From 22nd April, I, at the request of the Russian authorities have been responsible for the administration and security of the whole camp of 16 000 mixed nationalities. The work of this camp during this time has been carried out mainly by British and American officers and men. It should, however, be appreciated that, owing to Russian orders [deleted] req [/deleted] re confinement to camp etc we have had to continue to all intents and purposes as prisoners. That these orders were a military necessity is of course clear but nevertheless the result has been the lowering of the spirit of all ranks. It is important to understand and make allowances for the mental attitude of prisoners of war who have been liberated but are still denied their freedom.
The food situation up to yesterday
[Page break]
was precarious, and the daily ration even though assisted by American supplies, is still grossly inadequate. It is realised that the Russian authorities overcame great difficulties in providing food at all under harassing circumstances: but it will also be agreed that the supply organisation of this camp performed most of the work. Furthermore, the camp has become even more overcrowded owing to the influx of Italian refugees. The problems of sanitation are considerable and the general health is threatened.
In spite of all this, the Russian orders were obeyed and control maintained up to 5th May On that day an American officer, representing Supreme Allied H.Q. arrived with instructions to evacuate Americans and British in that order. His credentials were not accepted by the Russian authorities here, who stated that they could
[Page break]
not allow such an evacuation to proceed since they had no orders on the subject An ambulance convoy which also arrived on this day was permitted to evacuate all American and a few British sick.
Yesterday the American representative from Supreme Allied HQ returned with a convoy to carry out his orders. Captain Tchekerov, acting as deputy for Capt Medvedev who was sick, refused to allow him to proceed with his duties. Later, [inserted] when [/inserted] an attempt was made to proceed with the evacuation, armed force was used against American troops to prevent their leaving the camp.
No doubt this whole affair is due to a misunderstanding but the situation created is extremely serious In spite of continual assurances that we were to be repatriated with the least possible delay, we now see the Russians actively
[Page break]
preventing such repatriation. It is impossible for me to explain or justify, such action in the eyes of my officers and men. I warned Capt. Medvedev on May 4th. that such a situation was likely to arise, and that, if it did, I could not be responsible for the consequences.
Last night I was informed, for the first time that the chief obstacle to our repatriation was that the registration was not complete. I have repeatedly offered to undertake the whole task of registration, I could have completed it by now if my offer had been accepted. In any case, I cannot believe that the Russians intend that vital interests should be threatened for the sake of a mere formality
As the Senior British [inserted] officer [/inserted] here, I am responsible, above all else, for the welfare of my officers and men
[Page break]
This welfare is seriously endangered by the present situation I therefore demand that the position may be clarified without delay, and that our repatriation may be proceeded with immediately
Failing this, I must ask to be enabled to communicate with my Government
Finally I must point out that the present situation as Senior Allied Officer untenable. I therefore resign that position, and from now must be regarded as responsible only for the British.
“Unconditional surrender on all fronts.”
Rumours of 200 lorries have arrived to evacuate the Americans & British and refuse to leave until it is performed. Russian General expected every minute Arrived late – no details.
[Page break]
8th May [underlined] “V” Day [/underlined]
American lorries are sent away empty.
2 Russian Colonels arrive and start repatriation talks.
NB Unofficial evacuation has been taking place ever since Yanks first arrived owing to chaps walking off on their own to Allied lines & getting aboard the lorries without official permission. Estimated 500 officers & 1,000 O R’s have left.
[Underlined] 9th May [/underlined] 100 lorries arrive from Russia and late at night the Norwegians leave.
[Underlined] 10th May. [/underlined] Repatriation now lies in the hands of Allied Commission, so camps resigns itself to a long wait!
[Underlined] 11-19th May [/underlined] Uneventful Boredom!! Only high spots were move to better Quarters,
[Page break]
and the marriage of 3 officers to women refugees!!
[Underlined] 19th May [/underlined] – Evening announcement of impending move next day received with hope blended with scepticism.
[Underlined] 20th May [/underlined] We leave Buchenwald in Russian lorries Cross the Elbe at Coswick & enter American lorries.
Arrive at HALLE late evening.
[Underlined] 25th May [/underlined] Leave HALLE + fly in American D.C.3 to BRUSSELS Reception centre and given marvellous welcome by Canadian Staff.
[Underlined] 26th May [/underlined] Fly in LANCASTER to Oakley. Spend night at BICESTER
[Underlined] 27th May [/underlined] – By train to COSFORD
[Page break]
[Drawing of a prison guard] [Underlined] A CAMP FERRET [/underlined]
[Page break]
[Underlined] Lancaster I [/underlined]
[Drawing of a Lancaster flying]
[Page break]
[Drawing of a guard post]
THE POSTEN IS A LONELY MAN
HE HAS A LITTLE BOX..
[Page break]
[Drawing of bunks and furniture in a hut]
MY “PIT” (SAGAN)
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/.
Description
An account of the resource
Contains drawings, names and addresses of other prisoners, dairy of events on being shot down, his crew and diagram of Lancaster, poems, stories of life in camp, Lists of prisoners in his hut, aircraft they flew and when and where shot down. Diagram of Stalag Luft 3, daily diaries of long walk and liberation/repatriation, German warning notice, barter prices for food and other items.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
E W Sanger
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Forty page handwritten notebook with cover
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Text. Diary
Artwork
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MSangerEW125630-151104-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Poland
Poland--Żagań
Germany
Germany--Luckenwalde
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02-23
1943-02-27
1945-01-28
1945-02-04
1945-02
1945-04
1945-05
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Title
A name given to the resource
Wartime log
Eric Sanger's prisoner of war log book
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anne-Marie Watson
aircrew
arts and crafts
Dulag Luft
Lancaster
prisoner of war
shot down
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 3
the long march
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1467/26603/BSangerEWSangerEWv1.1.pdf
49166e2ac2a0645ba282d78b26665089
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
Sanger, Eric William
E W Sanger
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
2015-11-04
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
Sanger, EW
Description
An account of the resource
10 items. The collection concerns Pilot Officer Eric William Sanger (b. 1915, 125630 Royal Air Force) and contains his prisoner of war log, documents and a photograph. He flew operations as an observer with 9 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Trevor Denis Simms and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
335497 – Mr Sanger 10.45 Tuesday mid am [indecipherable word]
[underlined] It happened on night. [/underlined]
R.A.F. 9 Squadron, Waddington, Lincolnshire, 25th February 1943. About 7 pm on a rather dull evening.
All pre-flight preparations had been made, the target was a tank factory near Nuremberg. We were to fly in the main stream towards the Ruhr and at some point along the route, to change direction towards the south-east, to arrive over the target at the E.T.A. We were under strict orders to bomb only on the target marker laid down by the Pathfinder force.
We scrambled aboard the waggon and bumped off to dispersal where our Lancaster “W for Willy” stood ready for take-off. We climbed aboard, and get ourselves settled into our positions, the skipper and flight-engineer started the four engines and ran them ready for departure. A few minutes before we were due to taxi to the runway, a message was received to the effect that the flight had been delayed. Engines were stopped, and we all trooped out into the evening air and sat about talking and smoking to await further instructions. I found my parachute something of a nuisance, so I took it off and laid it on the tarmac.
Eventually the signal came for the all-clear. Engines were re-started, the crew took their places and slowly, the aircraft moved towards the runway. Suddenly there was a loud banging on the aircraft door, and shouting could be heard above the noise of the engines. The aircraft halted, the door was flung open, and one of the ground crew handed in a parachute! It was mine! We continued to taxi, and arrived at the point for take off. “W for Willy,. W for Willy! you may taxi up and take off (repeated) Off you go!
[page break]
Off you go! Over.” The engines revved as the throttles were opened, and we were soon hurtling down the runway. One or two little bumps and we were airborne. I left my position in the nose, and entered the front gun-turret. As bomb aimer I was responsible to man the gun in certain circumstances, and endeavour to map-read the route. As we climbed away from the airdrome, we entered thick cloud, and I was fascinated by the reflector [sic] on the clouds of what appeared to be several Lancasters. As it was, the reflections were of our own aircraft. We continued to climb still in cloud, until suddenly the cloud ended and we came out into bright moonlight. Below me, I could see some scattered islands which I now realise were the Frienans [sic] and shortly after this point we altered course for the target area. I spent most of the time [indecipherable word] anxiously scanning the night sky for any approach of danger, but fortunately there was none.
As [deleted] were [/deleted] we neared the target, I left the turret and returned to the bomb-bay, where I made sure all was set for the job in hand, including bombing height 16,000, air speed etc which I set on the bomb sight. In the bright moonlight the town of Nuremberg could be clearly seen, but no sign of anti-aircraft fire, searchlights or Pathfinder target. Something was wrong. Either we were early over the target, or the Pathfinders were late. I could clearly see the factory in the bend of a river, but bearing in mind the [deleted] ode [/deleted] orders about bombing, refrained from attacking it. We were forced to retrace our path in order to come in again on out prescribed target marker, and by this time air defences below had realised what our target was. Searchlights swept the sky, tracer flew up form the guns, and we were in for quite a reception.
[page break]
At last the large red white & blue marker flowered down below, and we started our bombing run. With eyes glued to the target in the bomb sight, I directed the pilot on a bombing run. “Bomb door open” Left, left. Steady! as the target loomed in the sight, I pressed the button. As the thousand-pounder left the bay, the a/c almost bounded up. [deleted] and [/deleted] “Bombs gone”. The a/c pulled away from the target area, and set course for home. Suddenly, there was a violent thud, the aircraft shuddered and then over the intercom. I heard the skipper shout, “Port engine on fire. Pull extinguisher cord, (or press button whatever was needed.) There was a great deal of noise and confusion. The engine was still burning away, and all the [deleted] manouvers [/deleted] manoeuvers [sic] of the pilot could not prevent the flames from spreading along the wing. Finally it became obvious that the aircraft had to be abandoned and the order was given.
It was my duty in the event of abandonment to remove the escape hatch, and jettison it through the open hatch. It refused to be jetisonned [sic] . It jammed in the hole, so I was forced to release it, and stack it inside the bay. This meant that only one person at a times could occupy the escape passage, so that it would have been very difficult for me to have made enough space for any one else. So, I had to be first.
I unplugged my inter-com. Knelt over the hatch, and went headlong into space.
Remembering instructions I grasped my parachute release, and buffeted by the slipstream of the aircraft waited a few seconds before pulling the rip cord.
I eventually pulled it, but to my horror there was no [deleted] not [/deleted] welcome tug on my shoulders. I looked own, and in the moonlight I saw that the small pilot chute
[page break]
had opened inside the parachute bag, like an upsidedown unfurled umbrella. Quickly, I reached inside the bag and pulled it out. The parachute streamed out behind it, and I was floating gently to earth in the bright moonlight. Since I had left the aircraft, I had held my breath, and now it exploded in a feeling of relief. For what seemed a few minutes I floated between earth and sky, and then the ground below began to speed up towards me, and I had landed.
For a few seconds I lay there getting my senses back, and when I was able to take stock of my surroundings I found myself in a ploughed field seemingly miles from anywhere, and at the foot of a large electricity pylon. A third time lucky!
I did my best to bury the parachute, but the ground was still frozen, so I did the best I could. I felt in my flying-suit pocket for survival kit, map, compass, money etc. It was not there, it must have fallen out on the way down., and Switzerland or France was a long way off. However, I decided to remain free as long as I could, so I made my way to the nearest road and set off. Overhead I heard the sounds of the lads on their way home, with regret. I [deleted] did [/deleted] had no idea of the direction in which I was heading. There was no one about and no habitation that I could see. All of a sudden as I came round a [deleted word] bend in the road, I saw and heard what appeared to be a village hall or canteen type of place. I hurried past, but as I came opposite the door, it opened and a figure came out. “Gute nacht” it said. “Gute nacht” I replied, and continued on my way. To my relief there was no sound of following footsteps.
By now it was well past midnight, and a brilliant moon. I continued along the road
[page break]
making no attempt to conceal myself, and in a mile or two I came to a cluster of cottages. I paused to decide whether to turn right over a bridge or follow the original road. A dog barked, I continued along the road. In a while, I came to what appeared to be a group; of farm outbuildings, and as I felt rather tired, I decided to rest a while. I found a convenient hay loft and clambered in. What seemed a very short time later, I heard the sound of horses’ harness clinking and a man’s voice. Realising that someone would probably come to collect some hay – maybe armed with a hay-fork, I slipped outside and made off towards the road. A clump of trees offered some shelter, so I settled in. Once or twice during those hours, a motorcycle went up and down the road probably in search of me. I stayed where I was till dawn, and then decided that since I had no chance at all of existing uncaptured for any length of time, I left my shelter and took to the road which now ran through a pine forest from which came to [sic] sound of axes. Finally breasting an incline, I was aware of two young lads on cycles approaching me. They looked at me with curiosity as they passed, and then turned and sped off up the hill. Shortly after, down the hill towards me appeared a small crowd of people, mostly older men, some women and a few youngsters. The men were armed with heavy sticks and prongs. I continued walking towards them, their ranks opened, and I walked unharmed down the centre of a village. Here, they all crowded round me, curious, asking questions which I could not understand. I pointed at myself, then up to the sky, and mimed a falling aircraft. At that point, the atmosphere changed as down the road came a man in a greenish uniform brandishing a revolver, which [deleted] I [/deleted] he stuck in my back, and marched [inserted] me [/inserted] up the way he had come.
[page break]
We went into a house, he motioned me to a chair, and keeping me covered, started a conversation on the ‘phone. He made no attempt to speak to me or to offer me even a drink of water. At the end of the telephone conversation he marched me back into the village and put me in what appeared to be a home-guard billet. There was a bunk, a straw paliasse [sic] and a window protected by barbed wire. I was left in charge of a civilian and during the day, several village women came to look at me. One offered [deleted] my [/deleted] me a piece of black bread, and when I showed my dislike, she burst into tears and hid her head in her apron.
Later in the day, I was collected by two policemen and taken off in a car. On the way, one of them offered me a cigarette, and told me he had been a P.O.W. in Shornecliffe during the 1914-18 war. We arrived at a police station where I received a piece of bread [deleted] ersatz [deleted] [inserted] and [/inserted] ersatz butter. Later on three members of my crew were brought in, and I learn that it was doubtful whether the skipper and rear gunner had survived. Towards evening I was again escorted by the two policemen on a train journey, and at one station where we changed trains, a very hostile crowd, among them Hitler Youth, advanced menacingly towards us. My Escort produced revolvers, and the danger subsided. At the end of the journey, I was deposited at a Luftwaffe station, and put into a cell. Here I was visited by an Officer who told me that the skipper had been killed, and he gave me the skipper’s tunic. Early next morning, a military truck arrived with an armed escort, and I with other P.O.W’s [inserted] we [/inserted] were whisked off to our first taste of imprisonment.
The camp was near Frankfurt [deleted] on Eder [/deleted] [inserted] am Main [/inserted] [deleted] as [/deleted] [inserted] and [/inserted] was known as Dulag Luft, it being a transition camp. We were
housed in wooden huts, in single cells with shuttered windows. Within a
[page break]
short time, an officer appeared and in a friendly manner, [deleted] Rol [/deleted] “For you the war is over”. He produced a form purporting to be from the Red Cross, and asked me to fill in all the details which included Squadron, station, aircraft and other military details. I filled in Rank, Name and number whereupon his attitude changed. He told me that unless the form was completed, they could not send it to the Red Cross in Geneva, and my parents would not know what had happened to me. He then accused me of being Jewish since my name had a Jewish sound. I assured him I was not, and he left. Feeling bored by the isolation I managed after a struggle to open the shutter, not with the [inserted] in [/inserted] [deleted] at [/deleted] tention of escaping because that was pointless. I was taken out of the cell for some reason or other and when [inserted] I [/inserted] returned I found the shutter had been closed and firmly fixed. Later, with others I was taken to a clothing store where my flying suit was removed and I was given a large Polish Army overcoat with a khaki shirt. A few days later, I was taken in company to the local station, and herded into wagons marked “Forty men or ten horses”. My journey into captivity had begun.
For several days we travelled East in somewhat uncomfortable conditions. The doors were kept locked and armed guards kept watch. We had little food or water during this time, but at intervals the train would stop and we would be allowed out for a breather under very close supervision. Finally, one afternoon we arrived at [underlined] MAR ’43 [/underlined] a small town named Schubin, which was in East Prussia, possibly then in the Polish Corridor. We were marched along cobbled streets and up the hill into Offlag 21b. It was a small camp built round an old country house with a courtyard. Some PO.Ws were housed in it, the rest in wooden shacks. During my time there, there was one suicide, [inserted] and [/inserted] several unsuccessful escapes. The Camp Commandant was the old type of
[page break]
German officer portrayed in British films. Monocled, in a swaying cloak. He appeared [deleted] on [/deleted] at every parade to greet us with “Gute Morgen, Meine Herren”, to which many a ribald answer was chorused. The only exercise was to walk [inserted] around [/inserted] the circuit within the barbed wire. The countryside was drab and uninteresting. In the fields we could see Polish women working under the eyes of armed guards. Food was not plentiful, not varied and not appetising. We ate to live. Lumps of kohlrabi in hot water, sauerkraut and a slice of black bread was the usual fare, [deleted] su [/deleted] sometimes a piece of meat could be seen swimming in the hot water. Drink was a kind of mint tea which was at least hot. An occasional Red Cross parcel was a god-send. Life went on much the same, rumours of moves, [inserted] and [/inserted] parcels circulated daily. News that the German Commandant had mined the perimeter wire to discourage escape attempts aroused bitter indignation.
In April 1943 we entrained once again, this time Westwards. After several days of uncomfortable travel, we arrived on 7th April at Stalag Luft III at Sagan, Silesia. This is the camp from which the “Wooden Horse” [deleted] Alo [/deleted] escape took place, and also the escape in 1944 of 50 R.A.F. officers, who were captured and shot by the Gestapo.
Life was a little better here. A bigger compound gave us more freedom of movement if only in the same direction, and Red Cross Parcels arrived more frequently. Huts were divided into rooms, and each of which contained up to 14 prisoners. Each room allocated duties on a rota. Cleaning, cooking!!! fetching water, and fuel (briquettes of powdered coal) for the stove. Cookery consisted of mashing a few rotten potatoes with perhaps some corned beef or spam from parcels. Each officer was expected to involve himself in some way in [deleted] A [/deleted] escaping activities. Some were used as diversions to take attention away from genuine attempts. These activities were fairly risky as the compound was flooded by searchlights which swept it from end to end, and was patrolled
[page break]
at night by armed guards and vicious guard dogs. Not many were successful. Members of security dressed in overalls and armed with very [deleted] log [/deleted] long screwdrivers used to prod the ground at intervals to detect tunnels, so that all activities had to be stopped when the “ferrets” entered the compound. Their arrival was heralded from the entrance gate to the working areas by a variety of signals e.g. removing washing from a clothes line shutting or opening a window etc. One camp had been constructed in a large clearing of a pine forest, so the soil was sandy and loose, easy for digging into but also prone to collapsing tunn [inserted] e [/inserted] ls. The summers were very hot, and the winters very cold. Despite the heat of the stove, insides of windows were coated with ice. It was possible to build a skating rink by filling a chosen area with water, and letting it freeze overnight. The skates were supplied by the Red Cross. Also, golf enthusiasts were able to construct a “make-do” course, clubs supplied by the Red Cross, balls home-made from pieces of leather from boots cut down to shoes wrapped round a smooth pebble, and sewn together with unravelled string – permission having been obtained from the Commandant. Several interesting things happened during the years. The tunnelling meant the removal of large amounts of sand, which had to be disposed of without arousing the suspicions of the “ferrets”. On one occasion it was stored in the roof of one of the huts, which collapsed under the weight, and [deleted] was [/deleted] brought down the wrath of the establishment upon us. We were locked out of our huts for a whole day whilst they inspected every one.
There was a small orchestra in an [indecipherable word] unoccupied room, which was being used to house the “wooden horse”. Whenever it was carried [indeciphable word] out or brought in containing its human cargo + sand, the orchestra kept watch for German interference, and at such times, the music would stop abruptly, and all operations cease.
[page break]
We were able to follow the progress of the war through daily news readings. A reader would appear in each hut, look-outs would be posted to warn against approaching “ferrets”. The news was gathered by means of a clandestine radio-receiver, which picked up the B.B.C. Broadcasts. The set had been built from off materials, - pieces of wire filched from unsuspecting quarters, silver paper and tin sheeting from cans of powdered milk supplied through the Red Cross. Valves which could not be made, were brought into the camp by bribed workers in the camp hospital usually. The set was kept in a KLIM tin, which was hidden in such a way that only the operators knew where it was. Suffice to say that not a day passed without a news bulletin – even when we were on the March in 1945. 1943 – 44 passed slowly enough, and although we were aware of the D Day landings and the progress of the Russian armies towards Germany, there was always the question How Long?
The beginning of the end came towards the end of 1944 and January 1945. Russian guns could be heard in the east, getting nearer and nearer each day. Finally on 28th January 1945 orders were given to evacuate the camp, and the trek to the West began. In the short time we had for preparation, we managed to collect such things as would help us on our way. Tins of food saved from parcels, cigarettes (sometimes used to barter for food) and the warmest clothing we had. It was the middle of winter and the snow was deep. We walked along in double file, guarded by what seemed to be “Dad’s Army”, some of whom found the going extremely hard, and there were occasions when prisoners kindly carried the guards’ knapsacks. We weren’t the only people on the roads. Reminiscent of 1940 in France, the way was crowded with assorted
[page break]
civilians fleeing westward away from the Russians advance. Some walked, some pushed wheelbarrows and prams laden with family possessions. The better off [indecipherable word] [inserted] rode [/deleted] in old-type carriages, pulled by lean horses or in farm wagons.
[underlined] Day 1. [/underlined] 28th January. Left Sagan at 9.00am pulling home-made sledges loaded with all transportable belongings & food. Arrived Halbau 1800hrs. Billeted in RC Church after roll call in falling snow. No heat. No water. Spent cold night on hard pews. [underlined] 17 Kms. [/underlined]
[underlined] Day 2 [/underlined] 29th January. Moved to a school in Halbau. No comment.
[underlined] Day 3. [/underlined] 30th January. Left Halbau 0600hrs for Priebus. Arrived [deleted] Liffa [/deleted] Lippa 1600hrs. [underlined] 20 Kms [/underlined
Spent another cold night in a church.
[underlined] Days 4/5 [/underlined] 31st January. Left Lippa 0600hrs, arrived D [deleted] ei [/deleted] [inserted] ie [/inserted] bus. Continued to Muskau [underlined] 30 Kms [/underlined]
Billeted in Glass factory. Very warm Had first wash in hot water and a shave. Dried our wet clothes. Spent whole day & night resting up. Collected 1 1/2 Red Cross Parcels. between 6 people. Hank Harris “obtained” some beer.
[underlined] Day 6. [/underlined] 2nd February. Left Muskau 1200hrs. Arrived Graudin 1800hrs. Slept in barn amongst plenty of straw. Sled finally collapsed. [underlined 18Kms [/underlined]
[underlined] Day 7. 3rd February. Left Graudin 0900hrs. Arrived Spremburgh 1400 hrs [underlined] 10 kms [/underlined]
Soup at Army barracks. Marched to station and entrained in goods wagons, 40 men per wagon after [inserted] 17.30 hrs Train left Spremburg at 21.30 hrs
[underlined day 8 [/underlined] . Arrived Falkenberg at dawn. Train [deleted] stops [/deleted] [inserted] stopped [/inserted] and shunted for hours. Eventually arrived at
[page break]
Stalag 3A. Luckenwalde at 1615 hrs [underlined] 100 Kms. [/underlined]
Shower, search and bed 0200hrs.
Luckenwalde was a mixed camp containing all sorts of nationalities besides Allied prisoners. Conditions were worse than those at Sangan.
(Photos in back of wartime log will show something of those)
Incidentally on the march we passed several groups of tanks heading for the Russian front, often accompanied by companies of Mongols in field-grey on nimble little ponies. We didn’t give much for their chances if captured by the Russians. Days went by without much incident, until on 21st [underlined] April [/underlined] the Germans began to leave the camp and head westwards. In order to prevent mayhem in the vacuum left by their departure General Ruge (Norway) assumed command a Camp Defence Scheme was set up. The citizens of Luckenwalde camp were evacuated by order of police. German general threatened to fire on the camp unless 8 rifles taken from his men were returned. Rifles returned. Russian artillery shelled the town which was now defended by only 1000 Volksturm (Home Guard) and Hitler Youth.
22nd April. Town of Luckenwalde surrendered; and 0600 hours Russian tanks burst through the wire, companies of infantry were seen in the surrounding woods, followed by more tanks and armoured cars. After much sporadic fighting around the camp, the German defences collapsed. General Ruge visited Marshal Konief’s H.Q., and was told we would be evacuated westwards.
April 26th/27th . Russian operational troops moved out, and occupational troops took over
[page break]
The period of Russian occupation was not a pleasant one. Although we had been “liberated”, yet we were not free. We were still confined to camp, and food supplies were both erratic and sparse.
29th April. We were allowed to walk outside the wire for the first time. It was still a hazardous pastime as fighting was still continuing near the camp, and our Russian “allies” who controlled the camp were in the habit of holding prisoners at gun-point and relieving then of rings, watches and other possessions which took their fancy. All this time, negotiations were going on between the British and Allied Senior Officers and the Russians to speed up the repatriation of all prisoners. Time dragged, and spirits rose and fell according to the content of spreading rumours. Meanwhile supplies of food began to improve. The Russians were definitely stalling on the business of repatriation. Attempts by American & Allied Supreme HQ met with a show of force when attempts were made to proceed with an evacuation of the camp. This situation prevailed until [underlined] 6th May [/underlined] when [deleted] another [/deleted] an American convoy was sent away empty. In the meantime, all British prisoners were taken before a tribunal, consisting of a [indecipherable word] political officer and two Russian officers to be vetted – for what reason remains a mystery. During this hiatus, many prisoners had walked off in the direction of the Allied lines, begging lifts from passing Army transports. A decidedly risky affair as there were still armed Germans in the area, and the Russians weren’t [deleted] fussy [/deleted] choosey about whom they shot
9th May Norwegian prisoners repatriated.
10th May – 19th May. uneventful boredom [deleted] e [/deleted]
[page break]
except for the marriages of 3 Officers to women refugees.
19th May an announcement of impending departure the next day was received with a mixture of hope and scepticism.
20th May. Leave Luckenwalde in Russian convoy, crossed the Elbe by a pontoon bridge at Coswick and entered American lorries. Arrive Halle late evening. Were received with great welcome. The first taste of American white bread was heavenly, and so was the beer. We spent five pleasant days here with medical checks etc and good food.
25th May. Flew from Halle in DC3s to Brussels reception centre to receive a marvellous welcome from the Canadian staff.
26th May Flew in Lancasters to Oakley. Spent the night at Bicester.
27th By Train to Cosford, de-loused and re-kitted and sent home.
P.S. There would appear to be some connection between the enforced delay in our repatriation and the enforced repatriation of Russian refugees to the Red Army, and Yugoslav refugees to Tito.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
It happened one night
Description
An account of the resource
Eric Sanger's personal account of his last operation, of being shot down and his time as a prisoner of war. Detailed account of last operation to Nuremburg on 25 February 1943 in 9 Squadron aircraft from RAF Waddington. Mentions delayed take off and nearly leaving his parachute behind. Describes trip out to target, having to go round again as Pathfinders had not arrived. Continues with aircraft being hit and engine fire which spread to wing. Describes abandoning aircraft parachute decent and subsequent evasion before capture. Describes journey to and treatment at Dulag Luft. Goes on to describe journey to Offlag 21 B at Schubin and then life in camp. Then transferred to Stalag Luft 3 and describes events and life in camp. Goes on to describe long walk from Poland to another camp as Russian forces approached followed by repatriation.
Creator
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E W Sanger
Format
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Fourteen page handwriten document
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
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BSangerEWSangerEWv1
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
Poland
Poland--Szubin
Poland--Żagań
Germany
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Luckenwalde
Temporal Coverage
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1943-02-25
1943-04-07
1945-01-28
1945-05
Rights
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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.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
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Peter Bradbury
9 Squadron
aircrew
bale out
bomb aimer
bombing
Dulag Luft
escaping
evading
Pathfinders
prisoner of war
RAF Waddington
shot down
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 3
the long march
-
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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
Auton, Jim
J Auton
Description
An account of the resource
26 items. The collection relates to Sergeant Jim Auton MBE (1924 - 2020). He was badly injured when his 178 Squadron B-24 was hit by anti-aircraft fire during an operation from Italy. The collection contains an oral history interview and ten photographs.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Jim Auton and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Rights
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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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Date
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2015-07-30
Identifier
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Auton, J
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Transcribed document
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
On V.E. Day 1945 I and my three companions were unaware the war was over. We were forty miles south of Berlin, fleeing to freedom through a countryside littered with thousands of unburied German and Russian corpses. In retrospect it is hard to believe the world celebrated while this mass of grey, dead men lay there neglected. It is probable that because they had been killed during the last two weeks of the war, their wives, parents and children also celebrated, unaware of their loss.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
During the previous summer on Sunday, August 20th, 1944 at 2300 hours, from a height of 11,000 ft., an Italian-based Liberator Bomber of the RAF was shot down bombing the Herman Goering Panzer works at Linz in Austria. Out of a crew of seven, only I, jumping through a manually-operated bomb door, survived.
The aircraft, A for Apple, of 178 Squadron based near Foggia, was the sole aircraft the squadron could muster as a contribution to the combined RAF raid on Linz. This was because the previous Sunday 178 Squadron of Liberators, in the company of other RAF, Polish and South African Squadrons, flew from Brindisi in Southern Italy to Warsaw. The Warsaw uprising was in a desperate phase and from a height of 400 ft. we endeavoured to sustain the gallant Poles with parachuted supplies of guns and ammunition.
The operation was a disaster. Only five aircraft of 178 Squadron returned safely. Our Liberator had forty holes in it from the attacks of the ground-based German guns. At such a low altitude we had been an easy target. Other squadrons, including Polish and South African, had been completely wiped out. The pitiful remainder of 205 Group was grounded. Three days later the surviving aircrews assembled at Group Headquarters to hear the reasons.
Winston Churchill had personally ordered the operation to bolster the courage and determination of the Poles in Warsaw fighting the German army. Although it must be said the operation failed, nevertheless, messages of praise were read out from Winston Churchill, the free Polish Leader in London and many other wartime leaders and top brass. The Polish Leader even promised us Polish decorations. I never got mine and I don’t suppose any one else did. The meeting was quiet and broody. Somehow the acclamation did not compensate for the dreadful loss of aircrew lives.
That is why 178 Squadron could only supply one Liberator aircraft to join the attack at Linz. It was shot down, my six companions were killed and only I parachuted through the fire and came to rest in a tree.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[page break]
2.
I was captured at around six o’clock the next morning, making my way to the Swiss border. I was burnt, two ribs broken and wearing only one flying boot, as the other one had been lost during my descent. I don’t think my captors considered me a great threat.
Like all captured aircrews, I was sent to the central aircrew interrogation centre at Frankfurt am Mainz. I spent twenty-six days there in solitary confinement with no exercise, no washing, a starvation diet and threats. It was more difficult for the German Interrogators to milk information from a single prisoner with no fellow crewmen and not even a Squadron companion. I was in a position to be stubborn and had a long stay at Frankfurt, before they decided to turn me over to a prison camp.
Sometime in October I arrived at Stalag Luft VII in a place called Bankau in Poland, not far from the Czechoslovak border. It was good to be among other RAF prisoners, many of which I knew from previous training in Britain and South Africa.
During the next three months the Russian war machine rolled nearer and we could hear the fire of guns. One night the Russian airforce scattered a few light bombs on the camp, hurting no-one. During my war I was bombed and straffed by the German, Italian, British, American and Russian airforces. I must say, the one that scared me most was the RAF who dropped a twenty-thousand pound bomb near our prison camp at Potsdam. However, that was later.
On January 16th, 1945, fourteen hundred POWs left Bankau on a forced march to ‘safety’. More accurately, it was a forced trudge. The Russians were never far behind us. We crossed the Oder river and the German army blew up the bridge behind us.
We detoured, we zig-zagged through the snow and ice of the Silesian winter. The German guards ceased guarding, they were just part of a line of refugees from the Russian advance. The only difference was they ate and we starved.
Seven weeks later less than a thousand of the original force of fourteen hundred crawled into the international POW camp at Luckenwalde near Potsdam. At least four hundred had died of starvation, frostbite and sheer exhaustion, some had even wandered off to wait for the Russians and the winter to kill them. The Germans had not ill-treated us on the march, they had survival problems too. We were a skinny, weak and ill bunch of POWs when we reached Luckenwalde, having each lost, on average, about thirty pounds in weight.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[page break]
3.
Luckenwalde camp was situated about 20 kilometres from Potsdam. Here the Germans had assembled prisoners of all nations who had marched away from the Russian advance. There were French, Croats, Serbs, Norwegians, Poles, British, Americans and Russians. A good number of the guards were Russians who had changed sides and were in German uniforms. I think it should be realised before we condemn the Russians who changed sides, that by far the majority of so-called Russians had no knowledge of belonging to the great power we know as the USSR. They knew they were Ukrainians, Georgians or Mongols, but they didn’t know that they were Russians. Most of them were illiterate with no idea of national identity as we have in the West. A Ukrainian was just as foreign to a Mongol as, say, a German.
The conditions in Luckenwalde were appalling. With the thousands of prisoners held there they couldn’t be anything else. There was very little food and we existed in a state of semi-starvation. The Red Cross did manage to get in some parcels and one time sent five tons of Swiss cheese. God bless the Red Cross.
When I said we existed, I mean the Western POWs survived but not the Russian POWs. The USSR was not a party to the Geneva Convention, which lays down basic conditions for war prisoners. So the Russian POWs received no extras. They starved to death in hundreds on a diet of watery cabbage soup and an odd slice of hard black bread. They hid their dead so their German captors would not cut their rations. They were too weak to maintain cleanliness standards and the Russian compound stank of death decay.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
It happened on a sunny Sunday morning in April. It just happened. There were no shots, no drums, no bugles, no sounds of warning. A red-starred line of tanks and armoured cars bedecked with hard-bitten Russian soldiers, and even a few camp followers, drove into the camp. They just drove in! It took minutes to sink in. We were free. Our splendid Russian allies were here. The gallant liberators had arrived! We climbed all over their tanks, we shook their hands, we hugged them, we cried over them and we thought the war was over.
It must be said that the emotion was all on our side. These very tough, brave, very determined Russian tankmen did not waste time on back slapping. Maybe there was the odd smile, but they had a job to do. Taking no notice even to look for Germans, they made a quick search for arms. They found the Russian POW compound and their tanks battered the wire down. Shouting “On to Berlin” they distributed guns and ammunition to the Russian POWs and drove out of the camp. The newly-armed Russian prisoners scattered to the countryside to murder and loot. I don’t suppose they had the strength to rape.
[page break]
4.
The whole incident had lasted about half an hour, and when they had gone an unbelievable anti-climax set in. There were no Russians and no German guards, the flak towers were unmanned. No guns pointing, there was just us.
Well-trained minds recovered, meetings were held, a senior officer took charge of the camp. He happened to be British and a quick chain of command was established.
Around lunchtime a queue started to form at the camp gates and quickly grew into hundreds. They were a motely collection of German soldiers and civilians asking to be taken prisoner by the British and Americans. They did not want to fall into Russian hands, but we, wisely, did not let them in.
Three hours later a line of four German staff cars arrived carrying high-ranking German officers. With confident authority they announced that this was German territory, even though a Russian panzer spearhead had gone through. This would soon be dealt with. Meanwhile, we had broken the Geneva Convention by taking up arms as prisoners. In two hours the German army would return and for every weapon found, even a bayonet, fifty men would be shot. They left and we hurriedly buried the few weapons we had. The German army did not return.
As the evening drew in we returned to our huts. We were a mixture of elation, perplexity and a little down spirited. However, we had the luxury of a radio tuned into an American military station. The war news was good. The American advance was to stop at the Elbe. Nothing definite was known about the position of the Russians. One thing was clear to us – we were a long way east of the River Elbe.
We heard the first heavy gunfire at four o’clock that morning and the firing grew in crescendo and ferocity for four days and nights. Towards the end, shells were screaming over our camp. We just kept our heads down and waited. Despite being in the centre (or so it seemed) of a heavy battle, we had no casualties. The sound of battle passed to the north and when it became quieter the main Russian army came into view.
Somehow I was surprised at my first view of the all-conquering Red Army, they were more like a column from the first world war than an up-to-date fighting machine. There were armoured vehicles and a lot of American-manufactured trucks but much of it was horse-drawn. They came in slowly and rather scruffily, but there was a lot of them and these were the men who had fought from Stalingrad to within sight of Berlin.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[page break]
5.
Later, Russian officers and soldiers took charge of our prison camp. They made it clear that we were now under the jurisdiction of the Soviet Union and proved it by manning the flak towers and armed sentries patrolled the boundary wire.
We had a little more to eat, and more freedom within the camp. Our radios were confiscated and we were virtually prisoners again. We really had not expected to be treated this way by our gallant allies. All questions about our release received one answer: “We await orders from Moscow.”
Our depression and frustration was dramatically lifted on the third of May. Two American war correspondents drove into our camp. Somehow they were like the war correspondents one sees in the movies, full of easy confidence and not giving a fig for the Russian officers in charge. They spent two hours listening to our plight and with a cheery “So long guys, the army will soon get you out” they left. We had become accustomed to disappointment and I don’t think we were as confident as they were. Still it was good to know that the Americans would soon be aware of our existence.
Five days later, at ten o’clock in the morning, a great cheer went up as a convoy of American trucks drove into the camp. While the US officers conferred with the Russians, the drivers invited us to get aboard. Our particular driver was black, with a real southern accent; “Now pack up good and tight fellas. We gonna take you all and jest don’t bring a thing, we got plenty over there.”
We packed tight and we didn’t take a thing: Who wanted to take two blankets and a home-made frypan. And we waited. We waited for at least two hours until the US and Russian officers emerged, and it was obvious they were not on friendly terms. The American convoy commandant was very annoyed and was waving papers in front of the Red Army officer’s face. The argument, difficult with language differences, seemed to consist of American “What the Hells!” and impassive Russian “Niets”. After half an hour of this, matters took a serious turn and armed Russian soldiers began to surround the convoy. The American officers and drivers held a meeting and our driver came back and said we should get off the trucks. Nobody moved in our truck or any of the others. The officers argued again, the American throwing his arms up in frustration. An order from the Russian brought two soldiers to each vehicle with rifles at the ready, and they meant business.
The Americans told us that if the trucks did not return empty to the American lines the whole convoy would be interned. We nearly wept as we watched them drive out of the camp. Obviously, there had been no orders from Moscow.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[page break]
6.
Jock Nicol, Norman Capar, Pete Notton and I walked disconsolately back to our hut. Spurred by our deep disappointment, we decided to ‘go under the wire’ and we circled the camp boundary to find the weakest point. On one side the woods were only two-hundred yards from the fence and we found a spot where we could squirm under the barbed wire. Surreptitiously we examined the length of the patrol of the Russian perimeter guard. It was a much longer stretch than his German predecessor’s. The afternoon was warm and the guard looked less than alert. When he was fifty yards away with his back to us, we ducked under and ran for the woods. Shots were fired but we ran, and ran, and ran. After half an hour we stopped, weak legged and exhausted. We lay listening for sounds of pursuit, and the woods were quiet.
Jock Nicol and Norman Capar were the sort of men, that had one been fortunate enough to pick companions in adversity, one could not have picked better. Jock, a navigator from number five Bomber Command, was a fine man, he was physically strong and an absolutely dependable Scot. Norman Capar was a navigator in the Royal Canadian Airforce. He was six feet two inches in height, quiet, thoughtful and a stoic. I had first met Peter Notton three years earlier during our first aircrew training at Stratford on Avon. He was different from Jock and Norman. He was more mercurial, reckless, with a wide smile under blue eyes.
When we four recovered our breath we used the position of the sun to make our way westward through the narrow paths of the forest. Miles of firtrees glinted in the sunshine, covered with tons of window. Window was the name given to the small strips of foil dropped by allied airmen to confuse the German radar defence system. After the war, packets of window could be purchased to decorate the domestic Christmas tree. We had settled down to a steady pace when suddenly we saw three figures coming down the path to us, and we quickly ducked into the woods. So did they. We cautiously peered out again. So did they, and we advanced to each other. They were three German soldiers keeping clear of the Russians, and we were doing the same. We gave them a piece of chocolate and a cigarette each from our small store, shook their hands and wished them luck. None of us knew that the West were celebrating VE Day, but we had made our little peace,
We continued westwards through the firtrees, still listening for pursuit from the back, and alert for any movements ahead. The forest gradually gave way to heathland.
I cannot describe the first shock of seeing the crater of a dozen dead soldiers. It was so sudden we nearly stepped on them. They were so grey and so still. For a full minute we stared silently at them, almost expecting one of them to reach for a gun. I had seen corpses before, but somehow these, scattered in various immobile positions, appeared more dead than dead.
[page break]
7.
We pushed on wordlessly through corpses, some Russian, some German. The shock wore off and soon we didn’t even glance at the hundreds of dead bodies, as we trudged towards the evening sun, heading west.
By nightfall we calculated we were in the area of Belzig. We had not crossed a road or seen a building since leaving Luckenwalde. We took our night’s rest under some sheltering bushes and ate some chocolate and thirstily wished we had brought some water with us.
In the chilly dawn we were four cold, stiff and doleful men. The elation of escape had flopped. We walked on, but somehow we were more desperate and more careless than we had been the day before. In fact, we were almost pleased to hit a road, that yesterday we would have avoided. At five o’clock in the morning it was deserted and we made our way on it, heading west. Two hours later a battered old truck carrying vegetables stopped and our hearts sank as we saw it was driven by two Russian soldiers. They were both expressionless, as with signs pointing to the RAF insignia on our battledresses, we pointed westwards. We repeated the only Russian word we know. “Angliski, Angliski, Angliski.” Stabbing a thumb, one of them indicated the back of the truck. We sat among the swedes and cabbages and about an hour later we alighted in the town of Zerbst.
I speak German fairly well as a result of the efforts of a good teacher at the Riley High School in Hull. His name was Newton, and he knew how to make lazy boys learn. So I soon ascertained that the bridge over the River Elbe was some six kilometres from Zerbst. Nobody seemed concerned with us, and the nearness of our target put an extra spring in our steps as we made our way.
There it was, an iron bridge over a wide smooth river. There were a few buildings and some Russian soldiers walking around. Four guards were at our side of the bridge and we could see their American counterparts on the other side.
Walking unimpeded up to the sentries, we repeated our approach to the Red-Army truck drivers, pointing over the bridge and doing the “Angliski” bit. They watched us patiently but unmoved. At length, one making a sign for us to follow, led us to the Guard House. A young, tall Russian officer came, he could speak German and understood our predicament. He also made it quite clear that we were not crossing his bridge, and ordered us back to Zerbst where we would find a displaced-persons’ camp. Our pleadings were of no avail. I then told him we were hundgry [sic] and thirsty and this seemed to please him. He led us to a farm house that sounded like bedlam. In fact, it sounded like a dangerous bedlam with shouting and singing interrupted by rifle shots.
[page break]
8.
The officer spoke to a scruffy, fat man, dressed in jack boots, army trousers and a dirty, greasy vest, and left. We had found a friend, he put his very large arms around us and for a moment I thought I was going to get my first Russian kiss. Leading us into the farmyard, in Russian, he introduced us to fifteen or sixteen other scruffy men, dressed in trousers and vests. They seemed delighted that we had joined their party and proved it by thrusting bottles at us and firing shots in the air. It dawned on us that we had joined a bunch of drunken Russians having one hell of a celebration. Our fat friend, who spoke about a dozen words of English, and some German, frequently left us to stir a massive iron couldron [sic] in which floated several chickens cooking in a bubbling brown stock. We couldn’t take our starving eyes off it.
It didn’t take long for our weakened bodies to become as drunk as our hosts were. The cauldron stirrer became our particular chum and through him I learnt that the war was over and that this was a Red Army NCO’s party celebrating Russian VE Day. I learned later that the Russian VE Day is the day after the British and American VE Day.
Amid more drinking, more rifle fire, and the eating of chicken stew, our friend described, with difficulty, the good times the US and Russian soldiers had together before the bridge closed some days previously. I took the opportunity to raise our difficulty in crossing the bridge. He made a sign that our problem was solved, taking a rather soiled piece of notepaper, he wrote a message on it to give to the bridge guards. After more drinks, more hugs and handshakes we left the party to a loud fusillade of rifle shots.
Confidently we approached the bridge and handed our ‘pass’ to the guard, who looked rather puzzled as he read it, or maybe he couldn’t read. He led us to the same guard house and the same officer. As he read the piece of paper his face grew red with rage. I thought he was going to order our execution, but he pointed to the Zerbst road and we fled, and I really mean fled.
The trudge back to Zerbst was the most miserable of journeys and it was not made any better by two of us being violently sick on the way. Reaching the town we wandered around, lost and uncaring, but we were determined not to go back to Luckenwalde or any other Russian camp.
As we came to a large square in the City centre, we could believe in the sight of the large ornamental wrought-iron gates in front of us. We could believe in the four smartest Red Army soldiers we had ever seen, guarding the gate with fixed bayonets. We could believe the palace lying two-hundred yards along the drive from the gate. What we couldn’t believe was the line of about thirty armoured cars outside the palatial building. We couldn’t believe it because they were all wearing big American white stars.
[page break]
9.
We moved towards the gates and the guards made threatening moves with their bayonets. We stood respectfully ten feet away watching the US Army convoy, two khaki-clad figures moved around the armoured cars and we shouted “Yank, Yank, Yank” at the top of our voices. They heard us and even we could see from a distance they looked puzzled. However, they decided to investigate and walked uncertainly down the drive towards us. When they arrived at the gates the guards snapped to attention and we could see they were both US Army Majors. We still kept our distance, telling them our story through the gates.
They listened and then signalled to the guards that it was okay to let us in. The sentries looked very doubtful but they opened the gates. On the way to the cars the Americans explained that this was Marshal Koniev’s headquarters and that the American Commander from across the Elbe and his staff were here to celebrate Russian VE Day with the victorious Red Army Marshal.
We were told to get into two armoured cars, “Lie down, keep quiet; and for Chrissake [sic] keep your heads down.” We didn’t need to be told twice. After an hour one Major returned, leant over the car and dropped a bottle of whisky in our laps. Whisky was what we did not want, but the gesture was a thoughtful one. Time passed by and we heard a lot of movement. Peering through a crack in the armoured car we saw what appeared to be half the top brass of the Red and US Armies, lined up with Marshal Koniev in the centre. Cameras clicked and many photographs were taken. I have never seen one and would very much like to do so.
After more toasts, handshakes and back slapping, the Americans moved to their vehicles. The Major whom we knew, and a Colonel whom we didn’t know, climbed in with the driver. The senior officer, face flushed with either good drink or vexation, looked down at us; “What the hell?” The Major hurriedly explained, and this time the Colonel told us “for Chrissake [sic] keep your heads down.”
The convoy started up and we did as we were told. Sometime later we could hear that we were crossing a bridge, and after a few seconds a voice said, “You’re okay now.” We stood up and looked back at the Russian guards at the other end of the bridge. We gave them the ‘V’ sign and I am quite sure those impassive Ruskies could not understand the English colloquialism ‘up yours’.
A week later we were back in England. The other prisoners who had remained at Luckenwalde arrived in England eight weeks after us. They had returned via Odessa and the Middle East. I often wonder what would have happened to us had we gone to that displaced-persons’ camp in Zerbst, and when I hear “God Bless America”, I join in the singing.
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Title
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Memoirs of Des Matthews
Description
An account of the resource
The author was shot down over Linz, Austria whilst bombing a Panzer works. The other six in his crew perished. He was taken to Dulag Luft at Frankfurt then Stalag Luft VII. In January his camp was evacuated and he joined the Long March to the west, ending up at Luckenwalde (Stalag 3A). In April the camp was overrun by Russians but they were kept as prisoners. An American convoy arrived to take them west but the Russians refused to release them. Together with three friends they escaped and worked their way west until stopped by a river. On VE day they were refused access across a bridge, held by the Russians at one end and the Americans at the other. After being fed and liquored by friendly Russians they met up with Americans in Zerbst. They were then smuggled across the bridge and freedom.
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Nine typed sheets
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eng
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Text. Memoir
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BAutonJAutonJv10001,
BAutonJAutonJv10002,
BAutonJAutonJv10003,
BAutonJAutonJv10004,
BAutonJAutonJv10005,
BAutonJAutonJv10006,
BAutonJAutonJv10007,
BAutonJAutonJv10008,
BAutonJAutonJv10009
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
South African Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Spatial Coverage
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Germany--Berlin
Austria--Linz
Italy--Foggia
Italy--Brindisi
Poland--Warsaw
Germany--Luckenwalde
Germany--Zerbst
Great Britain
England--Hull
Europe--Elbe River
Germany
Italy
Poland
Austria
England--Yorkshire
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Des Matthews
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IBCC Digital Archive
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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
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Tricia Marshall
Temporal Coverage
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1945-05-08
178 Squadron
aircrew
B-24
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
Dulag Luft
escaping
evacuation
evading
navigator
prisoner of war
Red Cross
shot down
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 7
the long march
training
Warsaw airlift (4 August - 28 September 1944)
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/501/22593/MCurnockRM1815605-171114-022.2.pdf
7926a26f45c20e495523731963048cc3
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Title
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Curnock, Richard
Richard Murdock Curnock
R M Curnock
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IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
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Curnock, RM
Date
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2016-04-18
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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.
Description
An account of the resource
92 items. An oral history interview with Warrant Officer Richard Curnock (1924, 1915605 Royal Air Force), his log book, letters, photographs and prisoner of war magazines. He flew operations with 425 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Richard Curnock and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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Transcription
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THE
Prisoner of War
[Symbol] THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE PRISONERS OF WAR DEPARTMENT OF THE RED CROSS AND ST. JOHN WAR ORGANISATION, ST. JAMES’S PALACE, LONDON S.W.1.
VOL. 3 No. 35. Free to Next of Kin MARCH, 1945
The Editor Writes –
MANY inquiries are, naturally, reaching the Prisoners of War Department from anxious relatives for news of the camps in Poland and Western and Eastern Germany, which have either been overrun by the victorious advances of the Russian Army or else lie in the direct path of the Allied Armies both in the east and west. The progress of the Allied attacks, accompanied as they have been by terrific air bombardment, have necessarily resulted in the mass movement by the Germans of camps and prisoners towards the centre of Germany under difficult conditions, and in almost complete disorganisation of the German transport system. The resulting effects on the condition of our prisoners is discussed in the statement made by Sir James Grigg, the Secretary of State for War, on February 28th, which is printed in full on page 3, and the Chairman of Red Cross and St. John Prisoners of War Department on p. 2.
Liberated Prisoners
It is now possible from the various official statements that have been made to gain a fairly clear picture of what is happening as regards prisoners of war who have been overtaken and liberated by the Russian advance. Information has been received from the Soviet authorities that 2,661 British Commonwealth prisoners of war (of whom 70 are officers) recovered from German camps were on their way by rail to Odessa and that they were to be assembled in a transit camp which was under construction. Since that news arrived, Sir James Grigg has stated in the House of Commons that the Soviet authorities are giving facilities for officers in our military mission to visit the camp in Lublin where prisoners are awaiting transfer to Odessa. Officers from the mission are also on their way to Odessa and their first task on arrival will be to collect and make lists of names and then telegraph them home at the earliest possible moment. The Service Departments will inform next of kin of any news of individual prisoners immediately it is received. A list of the camps involved and information of German plans for their transfer will be found on page 16.
[Photograph of five men in uniform] A group of prisoners at Stalag IIID which was situated at Berlin-Steglitz and to which the Postmaster-General advises that no more parcels should now be sent.
I must call readers’ attention to the important announcement on page 16 concerning parcels and letters to these camps and emphasising that no new parcels should be sent.
Red Cross Depot at Odessa
In accordance with the agreement recently concluded in the Crimea, the Soviet authorities are providing food, clothes and any necessary medical attention for our men. These basic supplies which the Russians are providing will be supplemented by the food, medical parcels, cigarettes, tobacco, chocolate and soap to the value of £77,000, which was sent to Russia last year by Red Cross and St. John. Red Cross and St. John are preparing to co-operate wholeheartedly with the Soviet Government in caring for our ex-prisoners of war until they can be repatriated. They are desirous of setting up a depot at Odessa, with stocks of Red Cross comforts and a team of women Welfare Officers. Already over 400 cases of Red Cross comforts have been shipped to Odessa and further shipments will take place in the future.
A Word of Warning
I would advise nest of kin to watch the papers for statements made in the House of Commons or issued as official announcements, but to be sceptical of any unofficial reports about prison camps or prisoners of war until they have been officially confirmed. The newspapers indicate the sources of reports which reach them from time to time through neutral countries, and it is easy to distinguish these reports from the official statements.
[Page break]
2 The Prisoner of War MARCH, 1945
Prisoners Exchange
Mr. Eden has announced in the House of Commons that a fresh proposal regarding the exchange of able-bodied long-term prisoners of war has been handed to the Swiss Government for communication to the German Government providing for the direct repatriation through Switzerland of a number of British prisoners of war from the Navy, Army, Air Force and Merchant Service captured before July 1st, 1940, in exchange for an equal number of German prisoners.
Priority for Discharge
In answer to a question in the House of Commons of February 6th as to whether prisoners of war repatriated to this country are required to undergo training, with a view to their services being used again in other theatres of war, and whether any long period of imprisonment by the enemy will entitle released prisoners to immediate or early discharge from the Army either now or at the conclusion of hostilities in Europe, Sir James Grigg said: “Returned prisoners will be given no formal priority for release, but as a large number of them joined the services in the early years of the war their priority will be high.”
Medical Attention
Those people who have any fears that the medical attention supplies to prisoners of war upon their return to this country is not fully adequate may be reassured by the recent statement of the Minister of Health, Mr, Henry Willink. “Returning prisoners of war,“ he said, “have the benefit of all the resources of the Emergency Hospital Scheme, when the Service Department concerned requests that they be treated under that scheme.” As for those suffering from tuberculosis whose condition calls for sanatorium treatment, special measures are taken to secure their admission to a sanatorium and they need treatment, but it is not always possible to avoid a short waiting period at home, during which the patient is under the expert care of the tuberculosis officer.
The Best Yet
“The best since I have been a prisoner of war” was the verdict on Christmas pronounced in a letter from Stalag IVG. “We had from Saturday mid-day to Tuesday night holiday. We spent the time with concerts, dancing and singing. We cleared one of the barrack rooms out which we used for the shows and dancing. The sixteen lads in our room clubbed together and had a high tea on Christmas Day.” The Entertainment Committee in Stalag XIA have kindly sent a special report of their Christmas festivities. I am sorry that it arrived too late for it to be printed in full. They say: “To all our loved ones at home it will be very pleasant to know that this Christmas and New Year was certainly the best we have ever had during our captivity.”
Studied by Margarine Light
A vivid impression of the difficulties under which students in camps have to work is given in a letter received from a warrant officer in Stalag 357. He writes: “Those students who can afford sufficient margarine from their ration or who have enough cigarettes to purchase one of these lamps work in the dim, uncertain light of a ‘Fat Lamp’ for periods of four to five hours.” In spite of the handicaps (which include overcrowding and “paralysing cold”), all the students “display a keenness that is surprisingly alive.” Another typical instance of difficulties conquered comes from Stalag IVB, where the lack of chalk precipitated a minor crisis until one prisoner, after experimenting privately with plaster of paris and tooth powder baked in the oven, produced a successful substitute.
Spectacles from England
In 1942 the Joint War Emergency Committee of the Optical Profession offered to provide spectacles with Army standard-type frames, free of charge, for prisoners of war. Up to the end of December the Invalid Comforts Section of the Red Cross Prisoners of War Department received no fewer than 3,340 pairs of spectacles from the committee. These represent an extremely valuable gift to our prisoners of war, and a deep debt of gratitude is owed to all members of the committee for their kindness. When spectacles cannot be obtained at the camps the senior medical officers send lists of optical prescriptions to the Invalid Comforts Section. These are then sent to the committee and distributed amongst its members for dispensing.
Reception in Cyprus
On November 16th last 300 repatriated prisoners of war arrived in Famagusta, Cyprus. These men were escapees to Switzerland, where they had been for a year, and they were full of praise for the kindness shown them. All the workers of the Prisoners of War Bureau in Cyprus assisted in the reception that was given to them by the Red Cross and at which the Governor, the Officer Commanding the Area, and the Deputy Commissioner, British Red Cross, were present. From all accounts the ex-prisoners of war were in very good heart and health and much appreciated the special Cyprus food and drink given to them. The men, I am told, have since been to the Prisoners of War Bureau, and were most grateful to the Red Cross for the parcel which kept them alive in Italy. There are still 1,500 Cypriot prisoners of war in Germany.
TRANSPORT OF FOOD PARCELS By Sir Richard Howard-Vyse, K.C.M.G. D.S.O.
IN the February number of this journal I told our readers that the flow of parcels via the Mediterranean and the Baltic had improved sufficiently to allow the resumption of the full issue of a parcel a week as soon as sufficient stocks were available in camps. I said that it was entirely a question of rail transport through Germany, as to which we had reason at the moment to feel hopeful, but I added that in view of the Russian advance it was dangerous to prophesy.
These words were written in the first half of January, since when it has become clear that the successes of the Russians, coupled with bombing attacks from this side have thoroughly disorganised the German railway system. Matters have been complicated, of course, by the fact that the men from many of the camps overrun by the Russians were moved away beforehand by the Germans. Details of these moves, so far as they are known, have been published in the Press, and I understand that supplementary information will be issued from time to time; reports of statements by the Secretary of State for war appear elsewhere in this journal.
We now know that in December and early in January supplies arrived at some camps, for instance, Oflag VA, Oflag VIIIB, and Stalags IVD, XIA, XXB and Stalagluft III (since moved) and 357; they may have reached others, and geographically it seems likely that they may have done so; but we have no information one way or another.
The position to-day – and I am writing on February 28th – is that hardly any despatches are being made from Switzerland, but that, after a total cessation of several days, there is, for the moment at any rate, a flow through the Baltic port of Lubeck, though nothing like sufficient.
The supplies, as all know, are there. As regards food parcels the steps which are being taken to produce the transport so vitally necessary, I have little to add to the statement made by Sir James Grigg to-day. It will be seen from that statement that all available resources have been enlisted, including the active co-operation of S.H.A.E.F., and, of course, the good offices of the International Red Cross Committee. The War Organisation has authorised that Committee to incur, on our behalf, any expenditure which may be necessary to procure and operate additional transport and we are in the closest possible contact with all concerned.
One thought I would offer which may be comforting. The prisoners know, as well as we do, that this is the dawn of victory and of release.
[Page break]
MARCH, 1945 The Prisoner of War 3
EMERGENCY SUPPLIES
For the Camps
Statement by Sir James Grigg, Secretary of State for War, in the House of Commons on February 28th
THE House is already aware that the progress of the Allied attacks on Germany by land and from the air has resulted in mass movements of prisoners and civilians from the perimeter toward the central districts, particularly from the eastern side of Germany. The conditions under which such movements must take place have largely been created by the military success of the Allies. But inevitably these conditions involve for large numbers of our prisoners in Germany movement on foot, under difficult conditions, with inadequate provision on the road for accommodation at night and for food, and eventually overcrowding in the camps to which they are moved back.
The representatives of the Protecting Power in Germany are doing all they can to secure improvements from the Germans; and their efforts have not been without some results. For example, they have been assured that in future sick or weak prisoners will be moved by train or lorry, and we know for certain that this has been done in some recent cases. Between February 19 and 24 their inspectors were due to pay special visits to certain camps to which British prisoners of war have been transferred, and I will give the substance of their reports to the House as soon as they arrive.
FOOD RESERVES.
The Government and the British Red Cross War Organisation had foreseen that as the weight of attack on Germany was pressed home this situation might arise. Efforts had therefore been made to establish substantial reserves in the camps of Red Cross food parcels, medical supplies and comforts, clothing and boots; and we hope that in spite of the interruptions in supplies to Geneva consequent on operations in the south of France last summer, the position in the matter of clothing will not become serious.
In the case of food parcels, however, the Germans last autumn insisted on those reserve stocks being reduced to a weekly basis. To the best of our knowledge this order was enforced in most of the camps, and the excess stocks were consumed accordingly. Recently the International Red Cross Committee, as a result of long negotiations, had secured agreement from the German authorities to the establishment of limited reserve supplies of food parcels outside the camps, but this agreement came too late for it to become effective before the dis-organisation in Germany had reached a point where transport facilities for Red Cross supplies from Switzerland had been seriously reduced. Not only are few railway wagons reaching Switzerland from Germany, but such trains as are dispatched from Geneva cannot, we understand, get very far into Germany. While everyone will welcome the results of this disorganisation so far as the war effort is concerned, it has created increasing anxiety for the welfare of the British Commonwealth prisoners.
Naturally this situation has for a long time been present in the minds of His Majesty’s Government and of the British Red Cross Society, and various possibilities have been examined in order to meet it. The supply of food to prisoners from the air is one of those possibilities. The Government have satisfied themselves that this is not at present practicable, but if circumstances change and it becomes feasible use will certainly be made of this means of supply.
LORRY CONVOYS
Negotiations are in train for the purchase of lorries in Sweden which could enter Germany and be used to transport supplies for Lübeck to prisoner-of-war camps in northern Germany. These lorries burn wood. As Sweden is so abundantly supplied this is a great advantage, but we have undertaken to replace any tyres or oil which are used for this project, and also any petrol in the event of ordinary lorries being used as well as the wood-burning ones.
Similar projects have been examined for introducing supplies from Switzerland. The railways in south Germany are apparently so disorganised and clogged with traffic that the supply of wagons in Switzerland in not likely to help. It has been possible to proceed further with the supply of lorries. The Supreme Allied Command, who are, as it were, on the spot, are obviously in the best position to do whatever is possible. The British Government in the United Kingdom, as well as the Commonwealth and the United States Governments, in agreement with the respective national Red Cross organisation, have asked the Supreme Allied Command in France to carry on on their behalf all negotiations with the International Red Cross in these matters. Members will realise that nothing is likely to be achieved except through the good offices of the International Red Cross Committee.
One hundred lorries which were being used in France by the International Red Cross have been assembled in Switzerland, and they are now ready to enter Germany with food parcels. It is, however, impossible to proceed further without the agreement of the German authorities, and I do not yet know to what extent the steps which the International Red Cross are endeavouring to take will be in fact be acceptable to the Germans. I understand that a representative of their left Switzerland yesterday for Berlin in order to obtain the agreement which is necessary.
UNSPARING EFFORT
But I would like to assure the House that there will be no difficulty on the score of provision of lorries by the Supreme Allied Command. Indeed, 100 more lorries are ready to go into Switzerland at once if those which are there now are allowed into Germany, and arrangements have been made to supply petrol, oil, tyres and spare parts to Switzerland when they are needed. I should add that the British Red Cross War Organisation have authorised the International Red Cross Committee to incur on their behalf any expenditure which they consider necessary in connection with the care of our prisoners now in German hands.
I hope I have shown that the Government in this country, the Supreme Allied Command, and the British Red Cross are doing all in their power to see that any request from the International Red Cross for vehicles, fuel, or maintenance stores which can be effectively used to supply our prisoners is met, subject only to the condition that such assistance will not weaken the attack on Germany and so delay the conclusion of hostilities. I will give the House any further information I can at the earliest possible opportunity.
[Boxed] HAVE YOU MOVED?
If so, do not forget to notify the Army, Navy or R.A.F. authorities as well as the Red Cross of your change of address. [/boxed]
[Page break]
4 The Prisoner of War MARCH, 1945
[Drawing] “We know how to cook”
BY NORMAN W. GOULD
ILLUSTRATIONS BY FLETCHER
YOU may not know it, but we prisoners of war are pretty good cooks. So would you be if you had been without the Gentle Ministering Hand for four years. Of course we are not the only ones. There are our traditional comrades on the home front – husbands of Service wives and other hairy citizens, who make aeroplanes by day and cook their own supper at night. Men who couldn’t be trusted to boil an egg, men who didn’t know a saucepan from a frying pan now boil the egg in the saucepan with perfect confidence. (When they can get the egg.)
We prisoners are proud to be in the vanguard of this movement. We have learned to keep our chins up in our prison kitchens; we shall be able to carry our heads no less high in our own homes. We have broken the tyranny of the Women’s Kitchen Front: WE KNOW HOW TO COOK!! For us it has been a bloodless victory; no woman has yet dared to invade our kitchens. (We have even jettisoned this effeminate word, the scenes of our culinary triumphs are known as cook-houses.) For the hairy aeroplane merchants we have great respect. Time after time they have successfully repelled the invasions of wives on leave. But what of the enemy within our ranks? The man who still has a woman in his kitchen. To those soft, overfed creatures – martyrs to the feminine Fresh Wholesome Food cult, we address this message: “Be a master in your own kitchen, free yourself from woman’s age-old tyranny: cook your own food!”
Take the Gestapo, the Ku Klux Klan, and a pinch of the British Secret Service. Roll them into one – a deep, dark and sinister combination, yet a mere crew of amateurs compared with the secret Sisterhood of British Housewives. For centuries we British males have been in the stranglehold of this organisation, weak tools in the hands of our unscrupulous women.
Napoleon knew all about it. He taught his soldiers to march on their stomachs. They got so stomach conscious that they took to cooking their own food when they got home again. To-day the finest cooks in the world are Frenchmen. No Frenchman cares two hoots if his wife does walk out of the house and kitchen, he can cook his own food. The poor, envious Englishman can’t even light the gas. Or rather, couldn’t.
Any foreigner who has been around will tell you that English cooking is the worst in the world. Plain and stodgy. But we liked it, because from birth we were stuffed with the S.B.H. propaganda about Fresh Wholesome Food. We were taught that tinned food is slow poison, we were lulled to sleep as children with tales of bachelors who lived on tinned salmon. Day after day it was dinned into us that no man was to be trusted with the preparation of food. In the end we believed it.
In four short years, we prisoners (together with our traditional comrades, the hairy aeroplane supper cookers) have achieved complete liberation. We started under a tremendous handi-
[Drawing of three men cooking]
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MARCH, 1945 The Prisoner of War 5
[Drawing of a man cooking on a stove, throwing a tin into a bin]
cap and we have had to overcome great obstacles.
Some idea of the magnitude of our task can be gained when we reveal that of the hundreds of thousands of letters that have poured into our camps, not one instance is recorded of a recipe being given. *
*This article was written before the issue of the Red Cross recipe book.
In the first dark year (1940) when we were groping for knowledge, a hardy pioneer made a cake from a packet of old pancake mixture (and not much else) and put it on display. In one day, in a spirit of true brotherhood, he answered 249 questions about cake-making and cooking generally. To-day any prisoner will don his boiler suit and mix a cake without thinking twice about it.
Symbolic of the revolution are the communal prison cook-houses. Eight, ten or even twelve men stand shoulder to shoulder stirring their porridge or stewing their prunes. Friendly advice is passed from one to the other; a haze of tobacco smoke hangs in the air. From time to time an empty tin is aimed with deadly accuracy at the bin. These are the men who are furthering the cause of culinary science. Already before the end of 1941 they had discovered six new ways of cooking potatoes: they are responsible for the introduction of crushed biscuits as a substitute for flour; by untiring research they have overcome the pink salmon problem, with no less than 22 different methods of disposing of this pest. Camp medical officers have been furnished with invaluable data on the treatment of boils.
No less successful have been our comrades on the home front. Business men have applied business efficiency methods to the kitchen. It has been found that by using the whole range of crockery, including the Sunday tea service, washing-up need only be done once every ten days, in place of the old method of washing up small units three or four times a day. The total saving of time and energy is of undoubted significance.
We prisoners are busy planning for the future. A committee of camp leaders has already adopted the Master Plan. Post-war reconstruction will leave us no time for the trivialities of the kitchen. Our Plan, the New London and the “Homes Fit for Farmworkers To Live In” schemes will engage our full attention. Our women will return to the kitchen.
Complacently we shall sit in the back seat – and tell them how to drive.
[Cartoon]
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6 The Prisoner of War MARCH, 1945
The Brighter Side
So many letters have been received in which the chief topic was Christmas Festivities that this month’s “Brighter Side” is devoted to their cheerful accounts of how Christmas was spent in the camps.
[Two photographs of people in a play] Two scenes from the lavish production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Which was produced at Stalag IXC.
A TYPICAL account of the way in which prisoners spent Christmas Day is given by a flight lieutenant in Stalag Luft 3, who writes: “I started the day by taking Holy Communion, and the rest of the day was spent eating excellent food and plenty of it supplied by the good old Red Cross.” The menu was:
Turkey
Roast and Mashed Potatoes
Peas Carrots
Christmas Pudding and Cream
Chocolate Tarts
Apple Tart
Christmas Cake
Dates, Sweets and Nuts
Coffee
“We had a film called ‘Male Animal’ featuring Henry Fonda and Olivia de Havilland, and the Christmas show put on by the boys was excellent.”
True to Army Tradition
In Oflag VA the “other ranks” had their Christmas on Boxing Day, and, as one prisoner puts it, “true to the British Army tradition, we were waited on completely – tea brought to our barracks I the morning and all carry fatigues done by officers.” The officers cleaned out the barracks, waited at table, and provided a full day’s entertainment. The weather was ideal: “10 degrees below in the morning and arm enough to sunbathe at midday.”
Padre Kept Busy
A padre in Stalag Luft 3 states that he has beaten all his previous records for services – and for parties. He took eight services in two days and attended nine parties. ”The carol services were very good. The midnight service was crowded to the doors of the theatre. I had a large Communion service in the theatre at 8 a.m. Christmas Day. I was so pleased all were well attended and appreciated.” There follows a staggering list of the food that was consumed at all the parties, and the padre did justice with a bumper feast on Boxing Day, “the most delightful meal for 4 1/2 years.”
Christmas Fare
Writing on Christmas Eve from Stalag 357, where food parcels had been arriving infrequently and were shared one between four men during the festive season, a prisoner says: “I am afraid the stocking is nearly empty this year, but we are going to make the best of things.” That they did is borne out by another prisoner’s letter, which insists: “All our saving was definitely worth it, although I am afraid we rather over-did things. Our stomachs could not quite cope with the Christmas pudding, but after a rather bilious afternoon I was tucking away merrily at tea-time and right through the evening.” Eight waggons of Canadian parcels arrived from Sweden just before Christmas, and the special British Christmas parcels arrived soon afterwards.
Our Wonderful Duff!
In Stalag 383 food was not so plentiful either, and their Christmas menu was, according to one letter, “Breakfast: two slices of bread and perhaps fried egg flakes and tea. Dinner: stew and our wonderful duff. Tea: two slices of bread and jam and our cake. Supper: the issue soup.” The decorations in one room at this camp were carried out with holly, evergreen and coloured paper.
Stalag IVB decorated their menu with greetings in all languages a week before Christmas, and IVG’s huts were decorated with streamers, lanterns and fans. IVF received decorations from Geneva, and IVB made hangings from tins and labels.
“A Christmas tree as high as the roof, helped to give a traditional touch to Christmas at Stalag 398; while Oflag 79 produced a tree from pine sprays and rowan berries, trimmed with coloured shavings.
Better Than Expected
Christmas in Oflag VIIB turned out even better than expected, because they were ordered by the German War Office to eat all the Red Cross food stocks by the middle of January. The entertainments are reported to have been good and very crowded. They included a “Fun Fair” and a “Toy Fair,” from which most of the actual toys went to civilian internee camps, musical evenings and carol singing.
At Oflag IVC they also had a carol service. In a panto., “Hey Diddle Snow White,” was written for the occasion. Snow-White was a blasé young lady, and the Fairy Queen arrived on the stage once by parachute and once by tank.
Cakes – a Speciality
In nearly every camp over Christmas they made cakes and the account of the one made in Stalag XIA is pretty typical: “The little combine of three with whom I share grub decided I must make a cake! I did! – ground-up biscuits, currants, jam, egg powder, prunes, powdered milk, marmalade and salt all went into it – a solid lump, believe me! We then decorated it, and although it was slightly heavy it went
(Continued on page 12)
[Boxed] Most of the paragraphs on this page refer to activities in the big base camps and it should not be assumed that they are typical of conditions in all camps or in outlying working detachments where facilities for sport and amusement are much fewer. [/boxed]
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MARCH, 1945 The Prisoner of War 7
Letters They Write Home
[Photograph of a group of men playing musical instruments] The dance band plays in the courtyard at Oflag IXA/H.
P.o.W. Craftsmen
Oflag VIIB. 30.11.44.
I DO wish you could see some of the absolutely staggering things which are being made in the camp. Some of the work is as fine as I shall ever see in my life. It is fantastic what is being done with the material available. For instance, in our mess we have a complete little kitchen range, made out of cocoa tins, and lovely brogue shoes are being made out of army boots. The wood-workers have got busy making looms which turn out scarves, ties, etc., in all kinds of patterns. The knitting too. I have never seen anything like it – sweaters, hats, rugs. Then there is the embroidery work which I would not have believed possible.
The theatrical world is doing great stuff. French Without Tears was excellent. But I do not know what we should do without our 50-piece orchestra who are responsible for prom. concerts. A change of programme every week – Saturday and Sunday. Just as well, for months now we have not been allowed out for an airing. I badly want a holiday.
Protection from Mud
Stalag 383. 12.11.44.
We have at last conquered that arch-fiend, mud! The place was inches deep in it after all the snow we had. It’s about an inch deep now.
Home-made mud-pattens laboriously carved out of wood raised about 2in. from the ground with 4in. shields of tin fore and aft have done the trick. You just buckle them on when you go out and your boots remain clean, polished, and above all dry. These things are a real craze here: you can hear them being made all over the place at all times of the day.
I’ve been feeling rather a fraud at meal times lately whenever I butter the bread for the five of us, as I dip into a whacking great 5lb. tin of the stuff, part of the fortnightly issue from the Argentine. Poor starving gefangeners! We are having a loaf baked up at the cook-house to-day, 2-3lb., and did it have a hammering! Should be good and certainly will be a nice change.
After Arnhem
Stalag IXC. 5.11.44.
I HAVE now got settled into work after our adventures in Holland. We were captured after a stiff battle at Arnhem. From there we went to another town in Holland and looked after our patients for about three weeks before being moved to Germany. We arrived after a long journey and had a wonderful reception, being met with cigarettes and a good meal. We rested for a day, and then I was sent with another M.O. to another hospital, where I was pleasantly surprised to find two friends.
I am in the best of health and am kept busy looking after quite a number of patients. We have a comfortable mess (there are nine of us) and good food from Red Cross parcels. I share a room with three other M.O.s, and we get along very happily together.
Putting on Weight
Stalag XVIIIA. Undated.
THINGS are about the same here – plenty of work in the woods, but still find time for our bit of sport. There was a grand game of football last Sunday-England v. Scotland-and, lo and behold, Scotland won 6-2.
Do you know when I joined the army my weight was 142lb? I’ve never gone below that, and now I’m 178lb. Yes, God bless the Red Cross.
A Poster Artist
Oflag 79. 29.9.44.
I AM busily engaged on internal publicity – mainly concerned with entertainments. I have also just finished eleven small and three large posters for a Red Cross Appeal Week scheme. I have also started a series of “interest” wall sheets – “Stop, Look, Listen” topic, and others, each dealing with one current and one post-war subject. I am so busy that the time is zipping by.
Keeping Shop
Stalag IVB. 25.11.44.
THINGS here are not too bad except that we are short of cigarettes and parcels. However, there are six of us in the office and four have received parcels, so we share cigarettes. Had a bulk issue this week, and I feel just like a shop-keeper behind the counter of a well-filled store dishing out groceries and cutting up cheese. I cut the cheese so well there are no makeweights!
Varied Activity
Oflag VIIB. 10.11.44.
WE have had snow for the past two days and are all preparing to hibernate for the winter! Coal is very short – much less than last year, which was less than the previous year.
We are still on half rations of Red Cross parcels, but a number of private parcels have come in recently.
The new conductor of the orchestra now holds weekly promenade concerts, and I very much enjoyed the first one last week-end, as I also did a show given by our orderlies and a choral and orchestral concert.
We have just had another number of our camp magazine Touchstone, in which there is an able article on land nationalisation.
No, I have not had any more parole walks or cinema visits. These were stopped by a higher authority in the autumn and for the main body of the camp have not been restarted.
The Feminine Touch
Stalag VIIIB. 17.12.44.
I THINK I will dare the Censor and give you an interesting letter. The subject – the village and the people in it amongst whom I have now lived for three and a half years. Commencing with the women … they age early; those engaged on the land begin to age at thirty! Whilst working they dress in old clothes no English Miss would be seen dead in; but on Sundays they are very neatly dressed and, indeed, do really know how to wear clothes. The older women wear rather long skirts, a cute little silk coatee that hangs loose behind, but is tucked into the skirt in front, and a shawl over head and shoulders.
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8 The Prisoner of War MARCH, 1945
[Photograph of a lovely garden with a wooden arch] A view of the garden in the Merchant Navy Section at Marlag und Milag Nord. The seeds were sent out through the Red Cross by the Royal Horticultural Society.
Thawing of an Icicle
Oflag 79. 20.11.44.
LAST week, but for the central heating, I would have surely become an icicle. The weather was very cold, with quite a bit of snow, and everyone went about wrapped up in overcoats and blankets.
One or two officers managed to produce furs, and adorned themselves with foxes and minks draped around their necks. I borrowed a beautiful-looking skunk, which I wrapped round my face. Very fetching. I also wore a muff – an old sock with no foot to it.
Then in the midst of our shiverings came the news that the central heating was coming on, and I flew to the nearest radiator. Sure enough it was warm, and as it became hotter so I discarded my apparel. Off came my skunk, my overcoat, my leather jacket, my battle-dress jacket, and my cardigan, and I was left with my woollen vest and two shirts.
It was a pleasure to thaw, and now I never wander very far from the radiator, which has also become my kitchen, heating up meats and puddings nicely and warming me inwardly.
Keeping Warm
Oflag IVC. 17.11.44.
I AM now an “usherette” for our theatre as well as being “second in command” for cinema, a very humble job, but something to keep one out of mischief.
They seem to be bringing quite a lot of fresh prisoners here, and you would laugh if you could see us all on parade. We wear anything to keep warm, and look like ladies from Lapland.
Tough Guy
Stalag IVB. 16.9.44.
THREE of us attend the weight-lifting class. We were all measured this morning; I have put on 1 1/4in. on my chest and 1in. on both biceps, also there has been a vast improvement in my wrists, forearms and legs. The heaviest weight I can lift above my head is 155 lb., which is good going, considering we have only been training for one month.
The instructor here has written to the Health and Strength Club and we have all been made members, so that we can continue physical training when we reach Blighty. Am told this is the only weight-lifting class in the P.o.W. camps in Germany.
Shifting Dirt
Stalag XIIIB. 19.11.44.
I MOVED here with about 150 others three weeks ago to-day on the first British working Commandos in this area. Apparently it is a fairly safe area from the point of view of the R.A.F. The nearest bomb was reported as five kilometres away. I can hardly believe it was as close as that, or the building where we live would have fallen down! I understand now there the term “Jerry-built” comes from, although this place was Russian P.o.W. built.
The job we are on is general labour on the construction of what appears to be a canal running parallel with a river; but I cannot imagine what the canal is for, and I hope I am not here long enough to find out. Shifting dirt from one place to another does not appeal to me as a pastime.
I had hoped at one time to be there in person to wish you a “Merry Christmas,” but I’m afraid that this will have to do. Save me a pudding, though, and a jar of mincemeat – it won’t have time to go bad.
Keeping Fit
Stalag IVF. 29.10.44.
ALL in all, things are pretty good everywhere – even here on our half parcels. We had some parcels from Stalag yesterday, enough until the middle of December. We notice the difference, of course, but we are still doing pretty well.
Football every week-end keeps us pretty fit, and the news keeps us cheerful. The German civilians here can’t make out why prisoners of war are always laughing and singing. They think the English are mad. So they are, I think!
From a Man of Confidence
Stalag 383. 12.12.44.
… HERE we are settling down once more for the winter. Things are not so good as they were with us, but nevertheless we have small reason to complain. We are still on half rations of Red Cross food, but that amount is a godsend to us and very precious.
Enthusiasm for educational work and theatrical entertainment keeps as high as ever. A record number of exams are being taken by our men here, and we are in the midst of them at present. Many of the chaps have done extremely well, and in two years our honours list is very gratifying. It is strange to raise pride in an Alma Mater in a P.o.W. camp, but nevertheless we do get the “old school tie” feeling, even for our Stalag school.
[Photograph of four men playing cards] A cosy game of cards at Stalag XVIIIA.
A Lengthy Move
Stalag VIIA. 10.9.44.
THE reason why I have been so long in writing is that we took three and a half weeks to go to our camp and correspondence was impossible. On our way we passed Munich and saw some nice towns and surroundings. Finally, we arrived at Augsburg, where our camp is situated.
I have plenty of mates as our whole company was captured in Italy. We are in a working camp (treatment so far in good) and we go out every day to different jobs and we are not too hard worked.
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MARCH, 1945 The Prisoner of War 9
In Full Dress
Oflag 79. 17.10.44.
WHAT a day! Have received my first parcel, dated June. Am now sitting in my new slippers, socks, shirt and a tie given me by a room friend who also got a parcel. It is the first time I have had a tie on for just over a year, and it feels wonderful! To-night I shall sleep in pyjamas instead of a vest and pants.
The parcel was absolutely marvellous, and could not have been packed better. I shared the chocolate with twenty of my friends who have given me some in the past. They all said how good it was.
All That Glitters …
Stalag IVB. 16.9.44.
I HAVE been reading quite a lot since I got here, having access to plenty of books.
This camp is situated well into the country so do not worry – I’m not getting into the R.A.F.’s way at all. We are able to follow the progress of the war although a little behind with the news.
The scene here resembles a tinsmith’s shop. The improvised tables are glittering with plates and mugs – you would be astounded at the extent of our improvisation. Anything and everything is made from tin – even clocks.
From a Theatre Enthusiast
Stalag 344. 12.11.44.
IT is a glorious mushroom season here in the forests, although the lovely red ones with white spots on that one imagines the pixies and gnomes to use at night are very poisonous.
We are going to have a very quiet Christmas here this time. Our loved ones at home will figure very largely in our thoughts and songs. We hope sincerely the doodles will not interfere with your own Christmas and that the New Year will bring the continued success of the companies, theatre and otherwise. (Referring to the Old Vic, and Sadler’s Wells.)
[Photograph of four men, one with boxing gloves] In a fighting mood at Stalag XXB.
[Two photographs of groups of men in uniform] Cheerful groups of men pose for a picture at Stalag XVIIA (right) and Stalag IVD (below).
All Kinds of Work
Stalag IVF. 24.12.44.
I AM miles away from any town of importance. There is only a small village three miles from us, and that is miles from any town. We never see any air raids, so never worry in that respect.
I am doing all kinds of work – roof repairing, joiner, blacksmith and painting on all quarry property at camp.
Music in Camp
Stalag XVIIA. 13.11.44.
We held a short Remembrance Service on Saturday, and at Sunday morning service the choir sang “Oh Valiant Hearts.”
We formerly had two C. of E. padres, viz., Rev. Price-Rees and Rev. J. Collins. The latter, a former Cambridge Blue, left about five days ago. He must have been well over six and a half feet tall, and he was very well liked here.
I received another of your most welcome letters. I think home letters are the “Bovril” in our camp life, which prevents “that sinking feeling.” Parcels have run out, so things are more or less unexciting at the moment.
Our last concert went well but I still have lots of ground to cover before I regain my former confidence in playing the piano before public gatherings. Still, after four years’ stagnation, I suppose this is not surprising. I have arranged the finale chorus of The Mikado for the next show, as the boys here seem to enjoy this opera most of all.
Food Production
Stalag 357. 20.11.44.
Sport is defunct at present. Reading and cards are the main items over and above the varied interests we all take up to try and keep the rust from the grooves. I have taken up maths., insurance and German grammar. Nothing much stays put though.
“Concoctions” is the over-powering topic now to spin out half-rations of food and tobacco. We are all fit and cheery.
[Boxed] SEND US YOUR PICTURES AND LETTERS
TEN SHILLINGS will be awarded each month to the senders of the first three letters from prisoners of war to be printed. Copies instead of the originals are requested, and whenever possible these should be set out on a separate sheet of paper, showing the DATES on which they were written. The Editor welcomes for other pages of the journal any recent NEWS relating to prisoners of war.
Ten shillings will also be awarded for photographs reproduced across two columns, and five shillings for those under two. Photographs should be distinct, and any information as to when they were taken is helpful.
Address: Editor, “The Prisoner of War,” St. James’s Palace, London, S.W.1. The cost of these prizes and fees is defrayed by a generous friend of the Red Cross and St. John War Organisation. [/boxed]
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10 The Prisoner of War MARCH, 1945
Official Reports from
[Photograph of the archway over an entrance to a courtyard] The courtyard at Oflag IVC where there have been no changes in the general layout of the camp since it was last visited in July, 1944.
OFLAG IVC, COLDITZ
Total strength of camp at time of visit was 239 officers and 51 other ranks, the total number of British prisoners of war being 200. There were no changes with regard to the general layout and interior arrangements of the camp since the last visit in July, 1944. The privileges promised by the camp commandant for further recreational facilities had not materialised. It has now been said that the chapel may be reopened.
There is a decided increase in the number of sick personnel, the most common symptoms being nervousness, insomnia and dyspepsia. There is a lack of medical and surgical equipment. British stocks are almost exhausted and the German supplies are inadequate.
(Visited October, 1944.)
STALAG IIA, NEUBRANDENBURG
This is a new camp and was visited for the first time. There are 253 American prisoners who were recently captured on the Western Front and 200 British N.C.O.s captured at Arnhem. It is situated in the vicinity of Neubrandenburg, about 70 miles north of Berlin. There are three barracks, of which two are at present partially occupied, and one serves as a reserve for expected new arrivals. There are slit trenches for protection from air raids.
Each barrack contains two sections. The sections are divided into 10 partitions, each partition holding 24 to 30 double-tier bunks, with hessian mattresses filled with wood shavings and two blankets for each man. There are tables and benches, and in each section one oven and one stove; between the sections there is a wash-room and a boiler for heating purposes. Hot showers are available once a week. Electric lighting is inadequate.
The cooking is done by French cooks in the camp’s central kitchen. The German rations are considered inadequate both in quantity and quality. The commandant agreed to detail American cooks to the kitchen. Red Cross supplies were exhausted at the time of visit.
The camp hospital was excellently equipped; the surgical section is under the care of a Polish doctor.
No Red Cross clothing supplies have arrived so far and many prisoners are badly in need of articles such as socks, shoes, underwear and greatcoats, Prisoners do their own laundry, but it will later be done by the camp laundry when that has been repaired.
There is no American or British chaplain. Prisoners of the Roman Catholic faith may attend Mass in the camp chapel, where a French priest officiates.
Although there is adequate recreational space there is a complete lack of sports equipment and so far the only physical exercise available has been walks. No incoming mail had been received at the time of visit. The visiting delegate was satisfactorily impressed with this camp; the German authorities appeared reasonable.
(Visited November, 1944.)
STALAG VIIA, MOOSBURG
The total strength of the camp at the time of visit was 11,688 prisoners of war, of whom 91 were British officers, 908 British N.C.O.s and 5,720 British other ranks.
Officers’ Section. – Two new barracks have been opened since the last visit and constitute a substantial improvement in the living arrangements. Officer are not allowed to meet other ranks in sport or entertainment activities. The prisoners have double-tier wooden bunks with straw mattresses. There is one recreation room with tables and benches. Heating arrangements are inadequate, and although there are stoves for the cooking of Red Cross food, the fuel supply is not sufficient. Each officer has one hot shower a week.
General state of health is good. Medical attention is given by a British medical officer when necessary.
There is a general shortage of clothing such as greatcoats, battledress and underwear. Officers have to wash their own socks and handkerchiefs as these articles are not accepted by the laundry.
Mail is still erratic. Complaint was made of a shortage of messing equipment. Only one bowl and one spoon has been issued to each officer.
This camp, it must be realised, is merely a transit camp for officers, and the inhabitants are all recent captures who are awaiting admission to a permanent oflag.
Other Ranks. – There have been no material changes in this section of the camp since the last visit in April. 1944. More wells have been dug, thus improving the water supply. There were no complaints regarding shortage of water during the summer. British cooks are now employed in part of the cookhouse. There were no complaints about the food.
The new arrivals are all recent captures from the Italian and Western Fronts and are without winter clothing.
Religious and recreational facilities are well organised and there were no complaints. There is good liaison with the German welfare officers. Concerts and shows are frequent.
The general state of health in the camp is satisfactory.
(Visited October, 1944.)
LABOUR DETACHMENTS
Dependent on Stalag VIIA
After the heavy bombardment of Munich a work detachment of about 1,400 men was formed for demolition work. The men have to travel for about three or four hours each day. They receive two meals in Munich and their full regular ration at Stalag. In the event of air attacks shelters are provided.
The Delegate held a meeting with the Men of Confidence from the following detachments:-
3911 Ludwig Ferdinandstr. Strength 571 prisoners of war.
3732 Hindenburgstr. 264.
3785 Pasing. 604.
3881 Laim. 101
3841 Schleissheimstr. 85.
3657 Res Lazaret Bad Tolz. 46.
3712 Schleirsee. 20.
3914 Wolfratschausen. 16.
also Nos. 1, 2 and 4 and 6 Railway Companies.
Since the last visit, the city of Munich has suffered several air raids. Up to the time of the visit there had been no British casualties. There are adequate air-raid shelters. The general conditions in all these detachments was reported to be satisfactory though here and there overcrowding occurs owing to destruction of barracks by fire bombs. The chief complaint by the medical officers was that several barracks were infested with vermin, chiefly fleas, but no lice.
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MARCH, 1945 The Prisoner of War 11
the Camps
[Photograph of a group of man in costume putting on a play] A play in progress at Oflag IVC, and (below) a corner of the gymnasium at Stalag VIIA, Moosburg.
[Photograph of men boxing training]
[Boxed] IN every case where the conditions call for remedy, the Protecting Power makes representations to the German authorities. Where there is any reason to doubt whether the Protecting Power has acted, it is at once requested to do so. When it is reported that food or clothing is required, the necessary action is taken through the International Red Cross Committee. [/boxed]
The state of health in all the detachments is reported as good. Further supplies of Red Cross clothing and shoes are badly needed. Draught beer is available in all detachments. The chaplain from the main stalag pays regular visits. Welfare work is well organised.
(Visited October, 1944.)
STALAG VIIA, GORLITZ
Strength of camp at date of visit was 1,225 British prisoners of war. 1,960 prisoners of war are scattered in 47 working detachments. There have been no changes in the material layout of the camp since the last visit in July and the interior arrangements are still satisfactory. There were no complaints about washing and bathing facilities.
This camp is now entirely out of stock of Red Cross parcels, but the men realise the difficulties of transport in the despatching of supplies and it was hoped that a new supply would arrive in the near future.
The Red Cross clothing position is reported to be good, the only shortage being small-size boots and jackets. There were 184 prisoners sick at the time of visit, but none of them seriously. The camp hospital is still run very satisfactorily by British medical officers and there was an adequate drug supply.
Recreational facilities are still very satisfactory. Rugby and football are played daily and there is physical training every morning and evening. The camp band was on tour to work detachments. English and American films are shown.
The discipline barrack mentioned in the last report was said to be more or less over-crowded and only a very few British prisoners of war awaiting court martial are being kept there.
Conditions at this camp remained very good and all possible support is received from the German authorities.
(Visited November, 1944.)
LABOUR DETACHMENTS
Dependent on STALAG VIIIA
No. 12403, Fellhammer. – 152 British prisoners of war work in a coal mine, of whom 102 work below ground. Accommodation has improved, in so far as a new recreation barrack has been built. The Man of Confidence complained that not enough disinfectant was being used and there are far too many fleas and lice. Clothing is short, especially trousers. Heating is inadequate, but the German authorities promised to issue a third blanket for each prisoner. Medical attention is given by a German civilian doctor, medical supplies were short.
No. 10003, Siegersdorf. – 34 British prisoners of war work in a tile factory for nine hours a day. every second Sunday is free. The only complaint was that the margarine ration had been cut. The German authorities promised to look into this matter, but it was feared that this cut is current all over Germany.
[Photograph of a group of four men] A group of prisoners of war at Stalag VIIIA Gorlitz, where conditions were reported good and recreational facilities satisfactory.
26 British prisoners of war at No. 11101, Weise, are employed in a stone quarry for nine hours daily, no work on Sundays. There were no complaints. At detachment No. 1102, Kerzdorf, 57 prisoners of war are employed in a cement works making blocks for houses. Saturday afternoons and Sundays are free. The prisoners had no complaints.
No. 14804, Konigshan.- 50 British prisoners of war are accommodated in a stone house in the small village of Konigshan. They are engaged in the repair and maintenance of railway lines. Working hours are 9 1/2 hours daily, with Saturday afternoons and Sundays free. Work is said to be hard, but can be managed by the prisoners.
There are double-tier beds and each prisoner of war has three German blankets. There is plenty of space in the house. Good light and air, the electric lighting is sufficient. The prisoners are
[Page break]
12 The Prisoner of War MARCH, 1945
able to have a hot bath daily. Food is adequate and is cooked by the prisoners themselves. The only complaint was that they have had only horse meat issued to them, but it appears that the whole population of this area is having no other kind of meat.
There is one recognised medical orderly at this detachment. He is able to treat all minor ailments. Seriously ill prisoners are taken to hospital at Trautenau, where they are very well looked after. There is an urgent need of boots and greatcoats. Laundry is done by two prisoners who have every Saturday and Monday free to do the washing for the whole camp. In winter difficulty is experienced in the drying of the washing. The Germans have promised to issue more coal for this purpose.
Football is played regularly in a nearby field. There are plenty of indoor games and musical equipment. The general impression given to the delegate was that this is an excellent detachment.
No. 14808, Ober-Altstadt. – Strength of this detachment is 85 prisoners of war. They are accommodated in a large wooden barrack situated near a small village in the valley of the Riesengebirge. The men work in three different flax factories for 9 1/2 hours daily. Saturday afternoons and Sundays are free with the exception of some men who have to work every third Sunday. Full compensation is given in the week.
Twelve men sleep in each room. Each man has a cupboard to himself and has been issued with two German blankets. There is a very good washroom in the barrack with running water. Each man has a hot shower each week and if desired one can be had almost daily.
There is a large well-equipped kitchen with two large boilers and a good-size stove. The cooking is done by two British prisoners. The only complaint about the German rations was the quality of the meat. There had been no issue of Red Cross parcels for two weeks.
Medical treatment is not satisfactory as the German doctor is always too busy to examine the prisoners properly and the men have to rely on the medical orderly. The clothing situation is quite satisfactory except for boots and greatcoats. There is plenty of opportunity for football and indoor sports. The large messroom has been transferred into a theatre, which is much in use and very satisfactory. Mail is slack at present.
This working detachment which used to be so good has deteriorated since the appointment of a new commandant. A further commandant is to be appointed and it is hoped that the detachment will again flourish.
(Visited November, 1944.)
[Photograph of six men in uniform] Some prisoners at Stalag 317 (XVIIIC) where the total number of our men is 982. The interior arrangements here have not improved since the last visit in March, 1944.
STALAG 317 XVIIIC, MARKT PONGAU
The total number of prisoners in the stalag area is 982, of whom 713 are in the base camp and 269 in six labour detachments. The interior arrangements have not improved since the last visit in March, 1944. Many of the newcomers to the camp are without palliasses and have to sleep on the bare planks of wooden double-tier bunks. Working men are now able to get a hot bath on two extra evenings.
At the time of the visit the stock of Red Cross parcels was expected to last about two months. Stocks of Red Cross clothing are now practically nil owing to the outfitting of new arrivals.
The hospital is satisfactory and the three British medical officers work amicably with the German doctor. Laundry is done by the men themselves. There is a regular issue of soap.
Prisoners in the work detachments are engaged on surface work, building, demolition, road mending, etc. Men in the Stalag who work on Sunday mornings have Saturday afternoons free. There is a fair-size recreation field for sports and exercises. Four American films have recently arrived. Three have been shown and the fourth will be shown in the near future.
Mail is again coming in quite regularly.
The camp did not give a good impression to the visiting delegate. The former fair-minded commandant had been replaced by an East Prussian, who fails to exact the necessary authority from his subordinated. The visiting delegate met the British Men of Confidence from the six detachments. There were no serious complaints from any of them.
(Visited October, 1944.)
HOSPITAL, MEININGEN
The total number of patients in the hospital at the time of visit was 252 American and 160 British. The hospital staff numbered 60, making a grand total of 472 British and American prisoners of war. Since the last visit the hospital is now slightly overcrowded owing to an influx of new patients from Arnhem. The increased number of patients has resulted in more beds having to be put up in the various wards, but two new barracks are to be erected, replacing two smaller ones, which should improve conditions in all wards and rectify the overcrowding. A weekly hot shower is still available, but the existing number of washrooms is insufficient. A new barrack with washrooms and toilet facilities is also to be built.
The supply of fresh vegetables had increased greatly during the last few weeks and there were no complaints regarding food. There was six to seven weeks’ supply of Red Cross parcels, including invalid diet parcels.
As pointed out in the last report on this hospital, all the patients have been transferred from Obermassfeld for orthopaedic exercises. Experienced sports officers are daily directing courses of physical training, and artificial limbs are being made in the special well-equipped workshop. There is an adequate supply of drugs and medicines.
There is still no stock of upper clothing. Greatcoats and blankets are greatly in demand.
1,000 razor blades were recently received from the Germans, but otherwise there was nothing on sale in the canteen. The cigarette position is now bad for all prisoners of war, the German monthly issue having been stopped. Mail, which was bad at the time of the invasion, is now coming in again for long term prisoners of war.
The general impression of this hospital is till good. When the new barracks have been completed the overcrowding should be considerably decreased and conditions will be very satisfactory.
(Visited November, 1944.)
BRIGHTER SIDE (contd. from page 8).
down O.K.” One pudding at this camp weighed 22 lb.
Story with a Moral
“Here we are again with good news and a story with a moral.” Thus begins a letter from Stalag 344, which continues: “For the last two or three weeks our faces were growing longer and longer as Christmas approached and Red Cross receded. As we did not expect - or get – anything, it was a blue outlook.” Then the parcels began at last to arrive – a small issue on the Saturday morning, and a larger one in the afternoon. So the writer was able to report: “Everyone has that cheerful feeling only to be succeeded by that day to come.”
[Page break]
MARCH, 1945 The Prisoner of War 13
More Come Home
[Photograph of a group of men in uniform] Some of the first repatriates to step ashore from the Arundel Castle which brought 764 of them home early in February.
WHEN the ship loomed slowly into sight out of the Merseyside mists her whiteness made the scene almost unreal. Gradually the large red cross and the lettering on her side became discernible. Then as the tugs brought her with painful slowness to the quayside, the rows of men on every vantage point aboard could be seen. When the silence had become almost unbearable, they broke suddenly into a full-throated cheer, the echo of which was taken up by the famous warbling call from the Australians. The military band played familiar tunes and the singing of those on the landing stage mingled with the voices from the ship.
Greetings from the shore were short and to the point. We were delighted to have the men back again. They would be conveyed to their destinations as speedily as possible. That was all they were really anxious to know. Every sentence of welcome spoke into the microphone was echoed back with an answering cheer from the ship – particularly loud when the magic word “home” was voiced.
Later, on board, the 764 repatriates ceased to be a cheering, excited mass and separated into their varying personalities, each with his own personal hopes and fears. These were the men lost to England on the fighting retreat to Dunkirk, at the Salerno landings, in the air over Germany and at Arnhem. Now they had returned, some after a captivity lasting five years.
They were eager for news, eager to tell of their experiences. Smiles were the order of the day. When you saw the expression on a man’s face, his injuries mattered no longer. Often the greater his incapacity, the broader seemed his grin. This was the moment for which they had been waiting for so long. Their patience while they waited their turn to go ashore was remarkable, as they listened for the cheerful and efficient announcements over the ship’s radio for “Such and Such” to report on “C” deck ready to disembark.
An R.A.F. Warrant Officer, who recounted proudly that he had been taking part in the famous raid on the Dortmund-Ems Canal when his aircraft was shot down, said that he had been an expert in feminine make-up for shows in Stalag Luft I, III, VI, VII. He expected people in Oldham would find him “different” after five years away, but was reassured to the contrary.
A young Pole with a particularly beaming smile who was bound for a hospital in Scotland to have an artificial limb fitted, said that the loss of a leg would in no way hamper him in his profession, which was law.
A lieutenant from Oflag 79 spoke enthusiastically of the small daughter who had been described to him in letters, but whom he had not yet seen. His home was in Surrey, and he asked keen questions about flying bomb damage.
Many repatriated naturally wanted news of flying bombs and rockets from the “receiving” end. These weapons had been so highly propagandised by the Germans that our humorous term “doodles” and buzz bombs, which were new to many, seemed almost flippant.
There was one big fact, however, which the Germans could not hide from our men, and that was the work of the R.A.F. Quite apart from any experience they may have had in camp of the raids, they were able to see for themselves through the carriage windows as they journeyed across Germany the mile upon mile of devastation.
Many had brought themselves up to date with news of this country in their chats with the six British Red Cross and St. John – and one Australian Red Cross – welfare officers, and the eight nurses of Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service, who cared for those too ill to be up and about. These women with their Red Cross comforts and the canteen which had supplied 200,500 cups of tea during the voyage had been the first link with home, and this had obviously meant a very great deal. Enthusiastic signed tributes were received on behalf of the repatriates by these welfare officers and more than £100 was given in donations as expressions of gratitude. B.C.S.
[Boxed] How They Help
In addition to those mentioned below, we wish to thank the many kind readers whose help to the funds this month we cannot find room to record here individually. [/boxed]
THE annual dance and whist drive held by the wardens of “A” district, Northwood, was well supported, and a lively account of the proceedings related that “during a break from dancing the guests allowed a mysterious ‘Mr. S.’ to hold one of his unique ‘sales of work,’ when he disposed of an assortment of goods at amazing prices. This gentleman seems to work on a system that extracts money from willing bidders at £2 per minute, as in half an hour he ‘took’ £52 from a very generous audience, so bringing the total for the evening to £143.”
Wardens at Post 22, Turpens Lane, Chigwell, have helped, too, with another donation, and the Rattery Platoon (Devon) of the Home Guard arranged whist drives and a dance from which they made £55 11s., thereby achieving £112 in all to help our prisoners of war. Whist drives for which Mr. J.C. Gendenning, of Brampton, Cumberland, was responsible, have brought in the handsome amount of £219 14s., while the Swinton branch of the British Legion send £12 3s. 6d., a further gift.
£2 7s. 6d. has come from Mrs. Peck, of Sheffield, who sold a glass bowl and stand, and £3 as a Christmas present for her son who has been a prisoner for three years from Mrs. Bromham, of Addiscombe. Miss Davies, of Leeds, who has two nephews who are prisoners of war, has realised an average of £1 5s. each month for the last twelve months by means of eggs!
A cheque forwarded from some thirty members of the Rowley Regis Areas of the British Prisoners of War Relatives Association, with the amount previously subscribed since March, 1943, adds up to £700, and money to cover the cost of 418 food parcels was raised from a New Year’s concert arranged by Mr. A.G. Baxter at the Odeon Theatre, Llandudno, among the artists being Clive Richardson and Tony Lowry of the B.B.C.
[Page break]
14 The Prisoner of War MARCH, 1945
Football in the Camps
[Photographs of football teams from STALAG 344, STALAG XXB, STALAG 383, STALAG XVIIA, STALAG IXC, B.B.AB. 21 and OFLAG VIIB.]
[Page break]
MARCH, 1945 The Prisoner of War 15
Personal Parcels Man
A P.o.W. at Stalag 357 Describes his Work
[Photograph of five men in greatcoats] These five prisoners of war at Stalag IVA act as postmen.
I BUSY myself with the affairs of the R.A.F. here, who number some 3,200 men. This means that their interests at all times must be cared for, whether it be a question of food parcels or private parcels. It signifies little on paper, but I can assure you that many problems rendered here would tax the tactfulness of Solomon himself.
We manage to get to work before the others go on roll-call as our parcel office is situated outside the compound, in what is called the Vorlager, which adjoins, but is separated from the compound. Here our office deals with all the personal parcels which arrive at the camp. The parcels are coming in very well, but we expect a hold-up shortly due to the parcel route closing in July and August. They are sorted into the various sections, listed, and the lists sent round the camp informing the lucky individuals when to collect them. The parcels are then pushed on a two-wheeled cart into he compound and opened and searched by the Germans in a central room.
When They Move
Our other department deals with parcels which belong to individuals who, for some reason or other, are no longer with us. As previously reported, the whole of Stalag Luft 6 did not come here with us, and, as most of the parcels addressed to Luft 6 arrive at this camp first, this department is kept very busy.
It is also our duty to report any parcels which have been damaged en route, and, believe me, there are quite a number. Sacks of parcels sent on by other Stalags have lists inside them telling us the number of parcels contained therein and it is our duty to ensure that everything is all right, sign the receipt and return to the Stalag concerned. If anything untoward has happened to the sack a report must be made to the P.O.
Book Censorship
Book parcels are dealt with in a different way. These are not allowed in the compound until such time as they have been censored. We therefore open the parcel, and prepare the book for censoring, and take them to the censor. This officer controls all matter (printed) which is destined for the compound. He is assisted in his work by three ladies and a few men, and everything that concerns parcels or books is reported to this office either by the German in charge of our department or by myself. My face is becoming known here as it was previously at the Luft camps.
How Parcels Arrive
The sacks of personal parcels arrive by two distinct means. Some come by rail to the station, and we collect them by motor. Recently, however, it has been very hard to obtain a motor so we have had to perform this task by hand-cart. The others come by post and we collect them from the local post-office on the hand-cart.
The personnel at both of these4 sources are beginning to know me now, and the job of collecting parcels, although quite hard, is most enjoyable. A better knowledge of customs and language is obtained, and the chance of my becoming a victim of barbed-wire fever is very remote. One of the fair sex even went to the extent of calling me a funny man, but it might even mean that I have developed a “Stalag-happy” complex. This is a current expression now in use.
December 3rd, 1944.
[Photograph of a knitted scarf]
Knit This Practical Scarf
IN MOSS STITCH
[Instructions for knitting a scarf]
[Page break]
16 The Prisoner of War MARCH, 1945
Camp Transfers
Statement on February 13th
TWELVE camps, whose numbers are given below, have either been over-run by the Soviet Forces or are in their direct path. There were about 60,000 prisoners from the British Commonwealth in these camps.
Following are the camps:-
Stalag IIB, Stalag IID, Stalag IIIB, Stalag IIIC, Stalag 344, Stalag VIIIB, Stalag VIIIC, Stalag XXA, Stalag XXB, Stalag Luft III, Stalag IV, Stalag Luft VII.
Information given in the House of Commons on February 22nd
AS regards the movements of camps in Eastern Germany, the present position, according to the latest information available, is as follows:
Stalags XXA, XXB and IIB are moving through the Province of Mecklenburg. Some are being moved by rail.
From Stalag Luft III 2,000 British and American prisoners of war have been transferred to Stalag IIIA, at Luckenwalde; 2,000 to Marlag und Milag Nord (near Hamburg); 2,000 to Stalag XIIIC, east of Frankfurt-on-Main, and 4,000 to Stalag VIIIA in Bavaria.
Prisoners of war from Stalags VIIIA and VIIIC are moving through Saxony. A number of prisoners unfit to travel are being moved from Stalag VIIIA by rail.
Some prisoners from Stalag Luft IV are reported to be at Usedom, near Swinemunde on the Baltic.
Stalag Luft VII was reported to be near Spremburg, from where the prisoners are to be transferred to the neighbourhood of Nuremburg and Moosburg in Bavaria.
Stalag VIIIB is reported to be moving towards Aussig, south of Dresden.
The final destination of the prisoners transferred from the above camps is not yet known.
War Office Statement, February 26th
Four thousand British and American sick have left Lamsdorf (Stalag 344) for a destination in Germany as yet unknown. Fit prisoners from Stalag 344 are on the march between Boemisch Lippa and Carlsbad.
Prisoners from Stalag VIIIA are dividing: part are proceeding towards Cassel, part to Nuremburg, while prisoners from Stalag VIIIC are moving – some towards Hanover, others towards Cassel. Advance parties are already nearing their destination.
PARCELS
For P.o.W.s Formerly in Camps in Easter Germany and Poland
THE Postmaster-General announces that PARCELS should not now be sent to British prisoners of war formerly in the camps (including associated labour detachments and hospitals) in Poland and Eastern Germany mentioned below until new addresses are received either through official notification to the next of kin from letters from the men themselves.
LETTERS for these prisoners can continue to be posted addressed to the last-known camp address.
The camps in question are:-
Stalag IIB
Stalag IID
Stalag IIIA
Stalag IIIB
Stalag IIIC
Stalag IIID
Stalag VIIIA
Stalag VIIIB
Stalag VIIIC
Stalag XXA
Stalag XXB
Stalag XXID
Stalag 344
Stalag Luft III, Luft IV, Luft VIII
B.A.B. 20 B.A.B. 21
Oflag 64
The Post Office will despatch, as the opportunity offers, next of kin parcels for those camps which have already been repacked and reposted by the British Red Cross, and also parcels of cigarettes, tobacco, etc., posted by holders of censorship permits in expectation that they will be redirected by the German authorities.
In order, however, not to add to the difficulties of redirection, the British Red Cross will return to the senders any next of kin parcels for these camps which have not been reposted, and the public should not place further orders with holders of censorship permits as parcels sent by this means cannot be returned.
In the case of other camps, next of kin and “permit” parcels as well as letters can continue to be sent for the time being. Readers are advised to look out for further official announcements.
Labels and Coupons
In view of the G.P.O. announcement, no more labels and coupons will be issued for the time being to the next of kin of prisoners whose last address was that of one of the camps mentioned. This applies to first and later issues.
A postcard will be sent to the next of kin of men in these camps whose parcels were despatched shortly before February 16th, giving the date of despatch and explaining the position.
Next of kin already holding labels and coupons for men in these camps should keep them until a new address is known. They are advised to consult the P.o.W. Department before despatching any further parcels and to look out for further official announcements by the General Post Office.
[Boxed] NUMBER PLEASE.
Please be sure to mention your Red Cross reference number whenever you write to us. Otherwise delay and trouble are caused in finding previous correspondence. [/boxed]
Y.M.C.A. SPORTS MEDALS
The British Man of Confidence at Stalag IVA has written to inform the mother of a lance-corporal there that the Y.M.C.A. Sports Medal has been awarded to her son “who has organised football under difficult conditions and has striven week after week to keep the ‘lads’ at the game. He demonstrated his sportsmanship and love of the game in a recent ‘England v. Scotland’ match. He captained the losing team (England) and, as a token of goodwill, presented his Regimental Cap Badge to the captain of the winning side. A cap badge to a soldier in captivity is his most treasure possession. Such spirit as his puts Britain where she is in the world of sport…”
P.o.W. Exhibition Catalogues
Those who may still wish to obtain a copy of the catalogue as a souvenir of the Prisoners of War Exhibition which was held in London last year should send 7d. to cover cost and postage as soon as possible to-
Mr. Tomlins, Red Cross and St. John War Organisation, Publicity Department, 24, Carlton House Terrace, London, S.W.1.
Gift from Woolwich
The British Armaments Inspection Department at Woolwich is helping to provide weekly food parcels for prisoners of war. They have already sent Red Cross a cheque for £100, with their good wishes and their target is £500.
County Representatives
Please note the following change:-
DEVONSHIRE.- Mrs. Geoffrey Tomes, B.R.C.S. Office, Prudential Chambers, Exeter.
[Boxed] FREE TO NEXT OF KIN
This journal is sent free of charge to those registered with the Prisoners of War Dept. as next of kin. In view of the paper shortage no copies are for sale, and it is hoped that next of kin will share their copy with relatives and others interested. [/boxed]
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN for the publishers, THE RED CROSS AND ST. JOHN WAR ORGANISATION, 14, Grosvenor Crescent, London, S.W.. by THE CORNWALL PRESS LTD., Paris Garden, Stamford Street, London S.E.1.
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Title
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The Prisoner of War March 1945
Description
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The official journal of the Prisoners of War Department of the Red Cross and St John War Organisation. This edition covers the Editors comments, the transport of food parcels, Emergency supplies for the camp, POW cooking, articles about Christmas in the camps, letter written by POWs for home, Official reports from the camps, More Come Home -repatriates returning, charitable donations, photographs of camp football teams, a POW postman who deals with parcels and a knitting pattern for a scarf.
Date
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1945-04
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16 printed sheets
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eng
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Text
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MCurnockRM1815605-171114-022
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
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Cyprus--Famagusta
Switzerland--Geneva
Germany--Berlin
Netherlands--Arnhem
Germany--Colditz
Germany--Neubrandenburg
Germany--Munich
Germany--Görlitz (Görlitz)
Germany--Meiningen
Germany--Obermassfeld-Grimmenthal
Great Britain
England--Merseyside
England--Oldham
England--Surrey
Germany--Lübeck
Germany--Barth
Poland
Poland--Łambinowice
Poland--Tychowo
Poland--Żagań
Germany--Moosburg an der Isar
Ukraine--Odesa
Germany
Cyprus
Netherlands
Switzerland
Ukraine
England--Lancashire
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Great Britain. Red Cross and St John war organisation. Prisoners of war department
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
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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
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Anne-Marie Watson
Temporal Coverage
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1945-04
aircrew
arts and crafts
entertainment
faith
forced labour
prisoner of war
Red Cross
sanitation
sport
Stalag 3A
Stalag 8B
Stalag Luft 1
Stalag Luft 3
Stalag Luft 4
Stalag Luft 6
Stalag Luft 7
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/501/22592/MCurnockRM1815605-171114-021.2.pdf
0b8bc57160c8e208e9ed946757257721
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Title
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Curnock, Richard
Richard Murdock Curnock
R M Curnock
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IBCC Digital Archive
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Curnock, RM
Date
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2016-04-18
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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.
Description
An account of the resource
92 items. An oral history interview with Warrant Officer Richard Curnock (1924, 1915605 Royal Air Force), his log book, letters, photographs and prisoner of war magazines. He flew operations with 425 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Richard Curnock and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Transcribed document
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
THE
Prisoner of War
[Symbol] THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE PRISONERS OF WAR DEPARTMENT OF THE RED CROSS AND ST. JOHN WAR ORGANISATION, ST. JAMES’S PALACE, LONDON, S.W.1 [symbol]
VOL. 4. No. 37. Free to Next of Kin MAY, 1945
The Editor Writes –
IT is just three years since on May 1st, 1942 we launched the first number of The Prisoner of War. For most of our readers three long years of strain and toil, of hopes and anxieties. “It is hard,” wrote Her Majesty the Queen in a message printed in our first issue, “for those who wait at home to go cheerfully about their daily tasks in the knowledge that someone dear to them is in exile and a prisoner.” But their long ordeal is coming to an end, as I write, and indeed for many thousands has already ended. By the time these lines are printed it may well be that all our men in Germany will once again be free.
A Host of Friends
This journal will still appear for a few months so long as there is any useful information to give to ex-prisoners of war and their next-of-kin, but, happily, it will no longer contain news of what is happening in the Stalags and Oflags, for they, I hope, will have become a very bad dream that is now over. From the first I have looked forward to the day when the journal in this form would no longer be needed.
But there is sadness in the thought that I shall be saying good-bye to a host of good friends, personally unknown to me, but brought very close by means of correspondence.
[Photograph of a large group of cheering men] Wild scenes of excitement at Stalag 357 as the camp is liberated.
So Many Letters
Never, I am sure, has a journal been so eagerly looked for each month by so many readers. Never has an editor received so many thousands of grateful letters as have reached my colleagues and myself month after month from relatives who were cheered and comforted by the scraps of news we were able to give them, heartened by the knowledge of what the Red Cross and St. John War Organisation was able to do for their men, but, above all, brought closer to their dear ones by the intimate revelations of what other prisoners were doing and thinking.
Fare You Well!
To all our readers and their men with whom they are once more united, I would say: “Thank you for your gratitude and your confidence. I wish you a full life and every happiness.” But in the general rejoicing, let us not forget the relatives of those who will not come back, and especially of those (few in number we believe) who in the last weeks of the war were marched out of the camps to death by hunger or exhaustion. Our hearts go out to them.
News Without Delay
Events are moving so rapidly in these great days of victory that the news of recent developments grows stale from hour to hour. The latest news of the camps is given on another page. The Secretary of State for War announced on May 1st that 43,000 prisoners had reached this country from North West Europe. A further 3,436 had been evacuated from Odessa. Many others have doubtless been liberated by the Red Army in the neighbourhood of Berlin and Dresden and by the American Armies on their way to Munich and the Austrian frontier.
Sir James Grigg undertook to give out immediately any information, and next of kin may rest assured that they will be notified without delay of any definite news of their men.
Transfers Cease
The German Government has stated through the Protecting Power that all transfers of prisoners have ceased in areas under German control. The prisoners have been collected, as far as possible, in large Stalags, and the German Government has
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2 The Prisoner of War MAY, 1945
asked the I.R.C.C. and the Protecting Power to send representatives to these camps. When the German military authorities withdraw, these representatives will remain in charge of the camps until the Allies arrive.
The “Master” Race
The unspeakable atrocities perpetrated at the concentration camps are a revelation of the depths of vileness to which Germans have been brought by leaders who invoked their pagan instincts and barbaric lusts. The victims of these sub-human torturers and murderers were almost entirely Germans. Poles, Jews, and other Europeans enslaved by the “Master Race.” Ordinary prisoner-of-war camps were not exposed to any similar system of torture.
450 Miles Winter March
The treatment of prisoners of war who were moved from camps in Silesia when the Russians approached is evidence, however, of the generally callous cruelty of the German to those in his power. They were marched for 450 miles in the depths of winter. The Germans had prevented them from making any preparations for the move, and failed to make adequate provisions for food and accommodation or for those who fell ill on the way. They were visited on the march by a representative of the Protecting Power, and a protest was made. The Secretary of State for War, answering questions on this matter, added that the Germans were becoming more and more incapable of looking after things in their own country, and he feared a good deal of hardship was inevitable. Some camps were grossly overcrowded by incoming prisoners from the East.
“The LatestReprisal”
A petty example of German vindictiveness has come in a report from Oflag VIIB and Stalag 357 (now captured), where the British prisoners were deprived of their mattresses, palliasses and most of their furniture ostensibly as reprisals for the ill-treatment of German prisoners in Egypt. The allegations, says Sir James Grigg, were entirely without foundation. An apt comment reached me from a prisoner in Oflag VIIB: “Just in case you should get hold of a garbled version of the latest reprisal, … our mattresses and 90 per cent of our tables and chairs were taken away. As you may imagine, we have improvised and everybody seems quite comfortable.”
[Boxed] NEW ADDRESS
If you have moved, do not forget to notify the Navy, Army, or R.A.F. authorities as well as the Red Cross of the address of your new home. It is MOST IMPORTANT that official news should reach you without delay. [/boxed]
REPATRIATION ARRANGEMENTS
By Major-General Sir Richard Howard-Vyse, K.C.M.G., D.S.O.
(Chairman of the Prisoners of War Department)
THE repatriation of British Commonwealth prisoners of war on the Western Front is the responsibility of SHAEF in conjunction with the War Office; we have been in close consultation with both authorities. The continued resistance of the enemy has necessitated certain modifications in the original plans, Instead of the great majority of the prisoners being freed at the moment of the signing of an armistice, and while still in their original camps, they are now being recovered by degrees. Some, mostly the sick, are found in camps and hospitals, some have escaped and reached the allied lines, but most of them are apparently being overtaken while on the march. This makes it easier as regards the numbers to be dealt with at any one time, but much more difficult from the point of view of making definite plans beforehand.
Strictly speaking, a freed prisoner of war, unless he is sick or wounded, is no longer a concern of the Red Cross; but it is unthinkable that we should immediately lose all interest in him. We have therefore prepared, in numbers sufficient to supply every man, gift bags containing a razor and other toilet requisites, chocolate, cigarettes and a message of welcome. The message is from all the Dominion and Indian Red Cross Societies, and not only from the War Organisations. Many, but not all, the ex-prisoners will need other articles such as pullovers, pyjamas and socks, and these also we are providing on a liberal scale, as well as invalid diet and medical supplies. To assist in the distribution of these articles, to give as much information as possible to the men, while they await transport to this country, and to co-operate with the Army Welfare officials, we have enrolled a number of our own representatives.
Helping in North-West Europe
These plans have already been put into operation at Odessa, and, in order to complete the arrangements for North West Europe, not long ago I paid a visit to SHAEF. As the result, 40,000 gift bags with the necessary proportion of other supplies have already left this country, and another 60,000 are on order to go. Eight representatives have also left. The British Commonwealth character of this service is emphasised by the fact that these eight representatives include 3 British (one of whom has knowledge of Indian), 2 Australian and 1 each Canadian, South African and New Zealander. These have all gone to the zone of one particular Army Group and will be called forward to P.o.W. Assembly Camps as and when required. Similar arrangements will have been put into operation in other zones before these words appear in print.
We are, of course, extremely anxious that our Gift Bags, and especially the Message of Welcome, should reach ex-prisoners of war at the earliest possible moment; and I am sure that SHAEF and the various Army authorities concerned will give us every help in this. But some men are sure to miss them, and stocks of Gift Bags are therefore being sent to a port of embarkation in N.W. Europe, and to all counties in this country where Reception Camps are being established. It will therefore be very bad luck if every man does not, at some stage or another, receive our gift. The speed with which repatriation is at present being carried out may make it impossible to issue the more bulky articles such as pullovers. We provided these originally in anticipation of a fairly long wait at staging or transit camps overseas, and no one is likely to grumble if this does not materialise.
Reception Camp Welcome
War Organisation representatives are also present at the Reception Camps in this country and are ready, in co-operation with Army Welfare, to welcome and help all repatriates. In particular, I hope they will be used to make arrangements for those who wish to be met on their arrival at their home station. Here again, I would emphasise that the speed with which men are being passed through the various stages of repatriation, though admirable in every other respect, inevitably results in administrative difficulties for the Red Cross.
Reunion
This brings us to the longed-for time of reunion, an event so intimate and so sacred that is seems inappropriate to intrude upon it, even in print. We think, however, that most next of kin will be glad to have advice on the very important question of diet, and with the kind help of the Ministry of Food we are drawing up some hints which we shall be circulating to all next of kin of repatriated prisoners.
As regards the many other problems which may arise, we have also prepared some notes, which we have communicated to Joint Committees and Prisoner of War Representatives in all counties, who are therefore in a position to give advice where it is needed.
N.B. – This article has of necessity been written in the second week of April and much of it therefore may be out of date by the time it appears in print.
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MAY, 1945 The Prisoner of War 3
Liberation Comes to Stalag IXA
Described by SGT. THERON, of the 1st R.L.I., Union Defence Force, South Africa, who was captured at Tobruk
[Photograph of a large group of men in uniform, cooking outside] Oflag 79 is liberated, and British Ex-p.o.w.s cook their first meal in freedom.
THERE had been no Red Cross food parcels since the arrival of the British p.o.w.s from Silesia; all of them had walked the gruelling 500 miles and most were in a state of utter physical exhaustion. But the German radio announced on the 2nd April, that the American 3rd Army had penetrated deeply over the Rhine at Frankfurt; and hopes and morale soared. The pet phrase in the British compound was the “Three P’s” – Patten, Parcels or Peace! Rumours were rife, but at least hunger was replaced by the excitement of imminent liberation.
Then came the blow. On Wednesday, the 4th April, at 4 p.m., all senior men were sent for by the German Commandant and told that on Thursday all fit men would move out on foot. The news hit us all very hard, as most of the lads had just completed a previous “hike,” and had barely recovered from its effects.
Mass sick-parades were held; and the ruling of the Senior British Medical Officer was that those who could manage to walk should do so in order to protect the really crippled and weak. The Germans had threatened to force everybody out, and such action would have meant certain disaster to many. We were in three categories – the walking fit; the not-so-sick who were to be transported; and the serious cases who were to remain in Stalag hospitals.
Those Who Remained
At 8 a.m. on Thursday the 5th April, the marching columns left, and we who remained watched their straggling line disappear into the trees about a mile from the camp. Along the road leading past Stalag IXA there were evident signs of German withdrawals – on foot, by cart and horse, and in trucks hundreds of Germans were streaming back from the front.
In the valley our fighters straffed incessantly. We were told that all men in camp would remain indefinitely but we couldn’t believe that the Germans would allow us to be retaken so simply. It was apparent by 3 o’clock that only a very skeleton guard would remain. Volunteers from among the guards were called for, and eventually at 5 p.m. all who remained were three officers and 26 other ranks. Their attitude was one of complete resignation – the camp was virtually ours.
All afternoon and during the nigh the battle-sounds came closer, and very few men slept that night. The whole camp seemed tense and uncannily quiet. Friday dawned sunny and clear – except for a distant rumble all was quiet. The morning dragged to 11 a.m., and still no sign of Allied tanks. Spotters reported German tanks on the hill behind the camp and we feared a battle might develop in our vicinity. Everybody was ordered to get into barracks and remain quiet. At 11.15 a.m. the German Acting-Camp Commandant formally handed the keys of the camp to our senior officer.
[Photograph of a large group of cheery men behind barbed wire gates] The gates of Stalag XIB open to release the British captives within.
At a few minutes after midday a line of tanks was spotted coming towards us from the east. We could scarcely breathe. I grabbed a pair of binoculars from a German officer and in the tense excitement could only see a blur! German or ours? It meant so much. The Germans knew, however, and fell in neatly, ready to hand over to the first American soldier. All this while the camp was quite deserted and incredibly quiet. A shot passed overhead, and shortly afterwards at exactly 12.30 p.m. the first Sherman reached the gates.
At Last!
The p.o.w.s were held in check until the Germans were disarmed, and then as the main American convoy moved up pandemonium broke loose.
Singing, yelling, cheering , prisoners mobbed the liberators – everybody was shaking hands with everybody else. Incoherent babbling and tears were frequent signs of a relived gladness that is beyond description. All that day Americans poured past, and the starved and smokeless p.o.w.s had armfuls of cigarettes and “C Rations” handed to them. It was a great day.
The next morning truckloads of chocolate, cigarettes and chewing gum rolled into camp. The Yanks were incredibly kind to us and only asked that we re-
(Continued on page 11)
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4 The Prisoner of War MAY, 1945
PRIVATE D.W. GARDNER, liberated by the Russians, from Stalag XXB and now home again was prominent in his camp in helping to produce shows. In this article he takes us –
BEHIND THE SCENES
[Two photographs of actors in stage shows] These two shows produced at Stalag XXA, Sinbad the Sailor, (Above) and The Wind and the Rain (Right) show the ingenious costumes that can be produced in a prison camp.
YOU have probably all had letters at one time or another from your friends or relations who are P.o.W.s, with the phrase, “We had a jolly good show last night,” or “We had a dance last night,” with perhaps more details. What lies behind these phrases?
Way back in 1940 about two hundred tired and rather dirty P.o.W.s arrived at Stalag XXA, in Thorn, Poland. After finding somewhere to sleep, someone came into the barrack saying, “There’s a show on in such-and-such a barrack in half an hour.” A show? What kind of a show? Let’s go and have a look.
Several hundred men crowded into a sleeping barrack, facing a “stage” made out of table-tops. There they listened to a mouth-organ band with a drummer. Oh, yes, there was a drummer complete with different-sized jam tins is place of drums. Interspersed with monologues, the band played for about an hour, bringing memories and forgetfulness to the weary audience.
The first show was born, and it was the same in every camp. The Germans were amazed at the enthusiasm shown by the men to “dress up” and amuse themselves.
Time passed; Red Cross parcels began to arrive. With the main worry removed, the shows became more elaborate.
Money began to come into the camps from the men who were working. Permission was given to buy instruments. A violin was followed by a piano, then came accordions, trumpets and saxophones, through the Red Cross; until at last dance bands, quintets and even military bands came almost to perfection.
The idea of a “show,” in those days, was to have the band on the stage; then it would come off for periods to let the concert party give short sketches or perhaps a monologue or song. The whole show was held together by a compère.
This type of show was rather unwieldy and depended too much on the compère. Producers became more ambitious and split in two directions. One concentrated on straight shows, such as “Journey’s End,” “Dover Road,” and “Dr. Clitterhouse,” the other on musical comedies.
The musical comedies were usually more popular, but were well balanced by the drama. Many men found themselves talent to write these shows, usually “two and a half hours of music and mirth,” to quote posters.
These shows brought out the amazing ingenuity of the average P.o.W. Take almost any show based on a civvy street film. The producer asks for a Chinese costume, a girl’s evening dress and sailor’s costume amongst others. The Chinese costumes are made out of dyed pyjamas with dyed Eastern decorations. Sailor’s costumes – Air Force trousers, a blue roll-neck sweater with cardboard anchor stitched on, and a paper hat completes the dress. Ladies’ evening dress – a sheet cut and stitched to shape, decorations by coloured paper stitched round hems and neck or on the skirt.
There were a thousand and one “tricks” – wigs and moustaches made from Red Cross string, 18th-century dress, hoop skirts made with wire and crêpe paper, cardboard evening dress collars, paper ties, paper umbrellas, suit of armour from empty tins straightened and “sewn” with wire, blouse from a shirt trimmed with crêpe paper.
These large shows were limited to large camps, but even the smallest camps arranged some sort of show. Perhaps they had a band – an accordion and a drum, or a mouth-organ and a guitar; and they had their little “jam-session” with everyone singing or learning to dance.
Many will look back on those long years with memories of their “first appearance” and the knowledge that they tried to, and did, break the monotony.
[Picture of a dance band with a singer] A “turn” with the dance band at B.A.B. 20.
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MAY, 1945 The Prisoner of War 5
BARBED-WIRE UNIVERSITIES
[RAF Crest] The story of study at Stalag Luft VI is told in illuminated book* [University crest]
[Boxed] FOREWORD
BY TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE FACILITIES offered through the channels of the Red Cross Society it has been possible to establish in a Prisoner of War Camp this Education Organisation, an outline of which is given in the following pages.
To convert this period of enforced military inactivity into one of further training is our final aim. The principal value of the scheme however lies in its power to provide a distraction from Boredom and an antidote to Mental Stagnation.”
E. Alderton. [/boxed] This is the Foreword of the book, reproduced in facsimile.
“THE moments we forego, eternity itself cannot retrieve,” run the words of an old proverb. Mindful of this ancient truth, N.C.O.s of the Royal Air Force, imprisoned in Stalag Luft VI (later 357). Formed a study circle in preparation for taking examinations and so qualifying themselves for post-war appointments.
The venture became known as the Barbed-Wire University.
The British Red Cross and St. John War Organisation sent books and materials and arranged for the despatch and handling of examination papers; no mean undertaking when the courses on the “University’s” curriculum included as many as 84 different subjects.
The men behind the wire produced an illuminated prospectus, which told how: “This unique school was formed to provide educational facilities for flying personnel interned in Germany. The aim of the school is to expel boredom and mental stagnation by providing educational courses which can be profitably put to use in post-war life.”
Their Majesties’ Good Wishes
Lord Clarendon showed Their Majesties the original manuscript, and later a copy of the prospectus was sent to Buckingham Palace. Its receipt there was acknowledged by Lady Katherine Seymour, Lady-in-Waiting, who wrote: “The King and Queen have seen the illuminated book from Stalag Luft VI N.C.O.’s Education Committee. Their Majesties are both deeply impressed by the beautiful workmanship which has been put into the book, and by the splendid courageous spirit with which it has been completed. I am to say that the Queen hopes the booklet will meet with every success.”
The book did meet with great success, 10,000 copies were printed and sold in the United Kingdom. The illuminated prospectus has been reprinted in colour and is now on sale, price 2s., at bookshops and bookstalls.
Studying Under Difficulties
Study and examinations were carried out under incredibly difficult conditions. Five times the “Barbed Wire University” was moved to a different locality; and each move meant a loss of books and a fresh search for suitable accommodation at a new camp.
The Germans allowed no artificial lighting in prisoner of war camps until after 4 o’clock in the afternoon, and as the men had to sit for their examinations between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., this ruling caused considerable inconvenience. The rooms where they worked were unheated, and frequently the temperature there dropped below freezing point. Sometimes there were no tables or chairs, and Red Cross packing cases were utilised as furniture.
In Other Camps
Stalag Luft VI has not, however, been unique in its experiences. Almost every university in other P.o.W. camps has had to contend with similar difficulties. At Oflag VIIB the university, which was formed in 1940, was the first of its kind. It had 17 different faculties and a library of 50,000 books. The officers sat for their examinations in a storeroom because it was the quietest place. During one examination a bag of pepper in the store burst unexpectedly; somebody kicked a football accidentally through the window, and as a crowning disturbance pipers held a bagpipe practice in the immediate vicinity.
The illumination in the room used for study at Luft VI came from “fat lamps.” These ingenious little lights were made with margarine saved from the candidates’ rations, or bought with precious cigarettes from the ration of a friend, and old suspenders used as wicks.
Improvising at Stalag IVB, blackboard chalk was concocted from a mixture of toothpaste and plaster of paris baked in an oven.
Equestrian Ingenuity
Men at Stalag 383 wishing to learn horsemanship formed an Equestrian Society and built a dummy horse from an old wooden barrel. Occasionally the German guards were persuaded to loan the society a live cart-horse.
By March 24th this year no less than 16,122 applications to take examinations had been received from British P.o.W.s in Germany.
Over long years of captivity men whose minds might have become stagnant in thought and warped in outlook through enforced idleness, have learnt by their attendance at barbed-wire universities and stalag schools to conquer boredom and fit themselves for post-war work.
LIBRARIES FOR EMPIRE REPATRIATES
SEVEN camp libraries are being given by the War Organisation of the British Red Cross and Order of St. John to reception centres in this country for repatriated prisoners of war of the Dominion Forces. The books are of a type that ate scarce to-day, but are in great demand. They will include volumes of standard works on travel, biography, arts, science, classics, etc. Books on British country life are particularly popular.
The centres are already well supplied with fiction from their own Dominions.
BOOKS FOR THE VOYAGE
Twenty-four bales of books and magazines have been sent to Odessa by the British Red Cross and St. John Hospital Library Headquarters to provide reading matter for repatriated prisoners during their voyage home.
* THE ROYAL AIR FORCE SCHOOL FOR PRISONERS OF WAR, STALAG LUFT VI, obtainable from bookshops and bookstalls, price 2/-. The trade distributors are:- Messrs. Simpkin Marshall (1941), Ltd., 12, Old Bailey, London, E.C.4. All profits on the sale of the book will go to the Red Cross and St. John Fund for prisoners of war.
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6 The Prisoner of War MAY, 1945
FIRST TASTE OF FREEDOM
BRITISH AND AMERICAN PRISONERS OF WAR LIBERATED BY THE RUSSIAN ARMY PASS THROUGH ISTANBUL IN CHEERFUL MOOD ON THEIR WAY HOME FROM ODESSA
[Photograph of a ship at sea]
[Photograph of a man in a uniform coat] A pilot officer in board keeps warm in Russian fur cap and greatcoat.
[Photograph of a group of men on a ship] THUMBS UP expresses the high spirits of the liberated prisoners of war.
Welcome at Brussels
Reprinted by courtesy of The Times
From The Times Special Correspondent
THERE can have been few episodes more touching in the wartime experience of the Belgian capital than the daily arrival last week of prisoners of war, mostly British, released by the allied armies in Germany, and the manner in which they have been welcomed, refreshed and given a new start on their way to England.
They came by hundreds – on several days more than 1,000 were registered – and the stream still flows in. To deal with them, all concerned, from Military Headquarters “A” Branch (whose business, primarily, it is) to the Belgian voluntary welfare workers and Belgian boy scouts, have worked all day and half the night. Prominent as always in service of this kind has been the British Red Cross and St. John War Organisation, which concentrated on assisting the liberated prisoners as soon as the first batch reached Brussels last Tuesday. These came from the advanced collecting centres in transport aircraft which, after landing them at the Brussels airport, filled up with supplies and took off again for the front.
Mingled Joy and Sadness
The men arrived at the Red Cross offices in the Rue de la Loi just as they had left their prison camps, and the spectacle was one of mingled joy and sadness for those who saw them – joy in their new freedom and return to friends, but sadness at the drawn, weakly, subdued look of so many. They told of marches for weeks on end, between camps in Germany, since the beginning of the year, with barely enough food to keep life in them. While on the move they were deprived of the Red Cross parcels without which, in the established Stalags, they would have died. Besides those brought in by air, a multitude arrived by other kinds of transport, including bicycles, or on foot. Tree men came on a German fire engine which, they said, they had driven all the way from Hanover.
Every man was given a linen bag containing toilet articles, pyjamas and underwear, writing and smoking materials, handkerchiefs, and a card with the message “best wishes for a happy return home,” from the Red Cross organisation of the Empire. Many tired eyed lighted up at the sight of the handkerchiefs. Most men wanted first to put into words their gratitude to the Red Cross for all that its care had meant to them in their captivity, and many were in tears as they did so. Several hostels had been quickly got ready and meals with every sort of delicacy that the men’s state of health permitted or demanded were provided by Naafi.
The men who came in by road all spoke of the wholehearted help that they had received from the troops, British and American, all the way down the line, including the sharing of their rations. They leave Brussels in better heart, cheered and comforted by the efforts of many different people with a common bond of practical sympathy.
BRUSSELS, April 23.
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MAY, 1945 The Prisoner of War 7
The came home via Russia
[Photograph of ranks of men in warm clothing and uniforms] Allied prisoners freed by Soviet troops marching towards Odessa.
By courtesy of Pictorial Press.
IN an Army Reception Camp on the green slopes of a Buckinghamshire wood, 590 liberated prisoners of war, back from Odessa, spent Easter Sunday in England – for many it was the first in five years. They were on their way home on 42 days’ leave – with full pay and double rations. No doubt every man agreed heartily with the Camp Commandant’s policy of seeing them through the last formalities with the utmost speed and efficiency,
The atmosphere of the camp is informal and friendly and discipline is kept to a minimum. Soon after arrival the ex-prisoners have a square meal. The follows form-filling concerning arrears of pay, kit, medal claims, and so forth. Each man receives an initial payment to cover immediate expenses. He has a thorough medical examination and visits the radiology department for an X-Ray. The Quartermaster completes the gaps in uniform and equipment. Naafi is there to provide cigarettes, chocolate and the ever-popular cup of tea.
Their Problems Solved
To the Welfare Office in the middle of the camp drift those with problems, large and small. Working side by side with the Army welfare officer is a representative of the British Red Cross and St. John War Organisation. The men are obviously reassured by the friendly sight of her uniform, and she in turn is touched by their overwhelming gratitude – not just for any help she is able to give to them in this office, but as the personification of what Red Cross has meant to them in prison camps.
A corporal in a parachute regiment enters the office diffidently. He is not sure whether his problem is in the welfare category. He is anxious to trace his wife, a corporal in the W.A.A.F. The latest address he has of a camp in the Midlands is several months old, and he fears she has been moved or even sent abroad. Within three minutes the Red Cross officer has put a call through to the camp, and in another three minutes the corporal is speaking to his W.A.A.F. wife, excitedly making arrangements for their reunion.
Many problems had arisen through the irregularity of mail in prisoner of war camps in Germany in recent months. Some men in outlying working detachments had received scarcely any letters since D-Day. They wished to verify the addresses of their wives and families. The Welfare Office checked changes of address caused sometimes by bombing, by telephoning directly to the local police.
Middle East Welcome
Personal contact with the Red Cross was, however, made before reaching England. Many repatriates spoke warmly of the magnificent reception accorded to them in the Middle East. Red Cross personnel boarded their ships at Port Said as soon as the ships had docked. Once ashore, meals and entertainment were arranged, and on the second day an impromptu dance was organised at very short notice. It was not known how many ex-prisoners would wish to go, but over 1,000 attended and the evening was an outstanding success. The ladies of the party consisted of 15 Red Cross and St. Johns welfare workers, some 30 Wrens and 45 British women residents. A cabaret show, an excellent band and plentiful refreshments were put on.
Many men told the Red Cross Middle East Commissioner that this party did more to restore them to normality than anything else that could have been planned for their entertainment. At the end of the evening O.C. Troops of one of the transports called for three cheers for the Red Cross, and 1,000 men roared their appreciation before singing “God Save The King.”
Their Adventures
Interrogation by the Army Intelligence Corps is a very important part of the machinery of a reception camp. Repatriates are eager to collaborate, hoping to help their less fortunate comrades.
Typical of the experience of many prisoners was that of Private Perkins, who went to India with the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry in 1937. After service in Iraq, Palestine and Egypt, he was eventually captured at Tobruk, and after thirteen months in an Italian prison camp he arrived at Stalag VIIIB. He became one of a small working party at a benzine factory situated in a part of Germany which during the last weeks he was there had thirty visits from “our friends the Yanks … complete with their headaches,” as he described the raids.
Towards the end of 1944, the demeanour of the guards became noticeably gloomier, and by a contrary process, the spirits of the prisoners rose. Finally, on January 21st, the Germans evacuated the major part of the camp westwards, and Private Perkins in the outlying working party was “one of the lucky ones” who escaped.
With Polish and French ex-prisoners he hid in the woods for five days. They broke into a German magazine for food, sledges were hastily improvised, and piled high with tinned meat, sugar and coffee. The Russian army took this area in an encircling movement and the prisoners finally contacted the Russians 10 kilometres behind their lines.
Precious possessions collected for years in a prison camp had for the most part to be left behind. But in a few cases, P.o.W.s had clung tenaciously to some favourite object. One man was playing his guitar in the reception camp. It had been sent out to his prison camp by the Red Cross; he had learned to play it there, and managed to bring it all the way home. Another man had arrived in England complete with typewriter.
Private Baggott, captured in Crete and a P.o.W. for four years, worked in a grube (coal mine) attached to the same camp. When the Germans evacuated in a hurry he hid in the roof of the bathhouse and escaped detection. Red Cross parcels kept him going and later, according to a prearranged plan, he sheltered in a nearby Polish house. Many of his companions were hidden by the Poles in spite of frequent German searches.
When the Germans had finally left the village, the prisoners, who had been a week or more in hiding, declared themselves to the newly arrived Russians. After much hospitality and kindness, the P.o.W.s made their way to Cracow, Lublin, Warsaw and other cities to which they were directed by the Russian armies, until they were all gathered together at Odessa. And there, daily, more trainloads arrive, to be shipped via the Middle East, to a Buckinghamshire reception camp and then home. B.C.S.
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8 The Prisoner of War MAY, 1945
Official [On next part of double page Reports from the Camps]
[Photograph of a group of men outside a large building] OFLAG VIIB. When this camp was visited in February general health was reported to be good.
Report on conditions during the forced march of British Prisoners of War from Stalag Luft III, Sagan and Stalag Luft VII, Bankau, to Stalag IIIA, Luckenwalde, due to the advance of the Russian armies.
STALAG LUFT VII, BANKAU
On 17 January the Camp Leader was told that the prisoners would have to be ready to evacuate on foot in an hour’s time.
On leaving, each prisoner was issued with 2 1/2 days’ marching rations. To start with no transport was provided for any sick who might fall out of the column, and the only medical equipment available was that which could be carried by the medical officer and three orderlies.
On reaching Karlsruhe, the prisoners were accommodated in an old brick factory, and two field kitchens were provided to cook for 1,550. When they left Karlsruhe, a small horse-drawn wagon was provided to transport the sick. Tribute was paid to the assistance, both moral and physical, to the accompanying British medical officer and the two padres.
At Schonfeld, some biscuits and a little coffee were issued. The column was marching again by 5 a.m. and reached Jenawitz, where they were issued with a modicum of fat meat and some pea soup.
On January 24 and 26 they rested. On January 29 they arrived at Peterwitz in an exhausted condition.
On February 1 they left Peterwitz and marched to Frausnitz, where they remained until February 5.
Before leaving they were issued with bread, margarine and meat. They marched to Goldberg, where they were put into cattle trucks – an average of 55 men to each truck. The train journey to Luckenwalde lasted three days; the men had no water on the train for two days.
As a result of this march and the deplorable conditions under which it was undertaken the morale of the men on arrival at Luckenwalde was extremely low. There were numerous cases of frost-bite, malnutrition, dysentery and other illness.
Prisoners of other nationalities also marched under much the same conditions and arrived at Luckenwalde in an exhausted condition.
STALAG LUFT III, SAGAN
On January 27, 1,000 prisoners from the East Compound were marched out of the camp. Each man collected one Red Cross parcel to carry with him.
The move was to be made on foot and no transport whatever was available for the march, which lasted eight days. No preliminary preparations were made by the detaining power, and the prisoners were forbidden to make any preparations in anticipation of the event. Small sledges manufactured by the prisoners out of Red Cross material were confiscated, and improvised ruck sacks and kit bags were forbidden.
No provision was made for the care of those who might fall sick on the march or for the carriage of their equipment, and throughout the whole journey the only transport available to the column consisted of two horse-drawn wagons which were reserved for the carriage of German equipment.
The march was made in stages of about 18 kilometres per day. On the way a number of men from Belaria and other Compounds joined the column, bringing the number to 1,415.
The daily rations throughout the march consisted of one half-loaf of bread per man and one issue of barley soup. The provision of water was entirely haphazard and on many days the only water available was such as could be begged or bought for cigarettes on the way.
The prisoners were kept for many hours in the open after a hard march in severe weather conditions until accommodation could be arranged, the only shelter provided on each occasion being roof cover.
The marching conditions of prisoners from other compounds of this camp were similar to the above.
STALAG IIIA, LUCKENNWALDE
This report deals solely with those prisoners of war who have been evacuated from other camps.
The layout of the camp is in no way changed. There are prisoners of many nationalities, each nationality being segregated. The British prisoners who recently arrived are also separated from those who were there before.
British officers from Stalag Luft III are in a compound known as “Oflag IIIA,” where there are 1,357 British and 461 American prisoners of war.
All the compounds are overcrowded. Triple-tier beds have been provided, but in many cases the wooden boards are lacking. About 100 men sleep on the floor.
In the Oflag these conditions are somewhat better, but even here some officers have to sleep on the floor.
All the barracks need repairs. Woodcutting parties bring wood daily to heat the barracks. There is a great shortage of eating utensils in all the quarters. Washing facilities are totally inadequate.
Medical officers are doing everything possible to help the sick, but they are very much hampered as there are practically no medicaments or drugs.
Most of the prisoners of war have only the clothing which they stand up in. There is no laundry and the prisoners are unable to wash their only sets of garments. Religious services are held regularly.
(Visited February, 1945.)
[Photograph of a large group of men outside] These men were still prisoners but hopefully awaiting liberation when this picture was taken at Stalag IVC.
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MAY, 1945 The Prisoner of War 9
Reports from the Camps
[Boxed] In every case where the conditions call for remedy, the Protecting Power makes representations to the detaining Power. Where there is any reason to doubt whether the Protecting Power has acted it is at once requested to do so. When it is reported that food or clothing is required, the necessary action is taken through the International Red Cross Committee. [/boxed]
[Photograph of actors on a stage above the orchestra in the pit below] THE SHOW AND THE ORCHESTRA. The professional touch characterises this scene at Stalag IVB.
At Other Camps –
HOSPITAL AT BILIN
This has always been a good hospital and at the time of the visit contained 42 British patients. Treatment is given by a German doctor and two Serbian assistants. Dental treatment is given by a French dentist. The British patients would appreciate the appointment of a British doctor to this lazaret.
(Visited January, 1945.)
HOSPITAL AT SANDBOSTEL
Five American and one British patient in this hospital have very high praise for two Serbian surgeons and the treatment they receive from the Germans. The hospital appears to be one of the best.
(Visited January, 1945.)
OFLAG VIIB, BEICHSTATT
There has been no change in the general layout of the camp since the last visit, except that two new huts are now nearly completed. At present there are 1,846 officer and other ranks, but more officers are expected, in which case facilities for bathing, washing, cooking, etc., will be inadequate. At present hot showers are available twice a month.
The scale of rations has recently been cut and is now the same as that of non-working German civilians and not that of German depot troops.
Four British medical officers are in charge of the camp hospital. The general health is reported to be still good. No improvement has been made in the lighting conditions, and the prisoners’ eyesight is suffering in consequence.
Mail has taken longer of late and many letters arriving by airmail were posted at dates varying between July and November. During January, the Germans gave orders that all prisoners of war should be deprived of their mattresses. Almost all tables, chairs and benches were removed, and all public rooms were closed, except the Catholic chapel. The excuse given for this was alleged bad conditions at a German prisoner of war camp in Egypt. Similar reprisals were put into force at Stalag 357. Strong protests have been made to the German authorities by His Majesty’s Government.
(Visited February, 1945.)
STALAG IVA, HOHNSTEIN
At the time of the visit there were 4,753 prisoners of war in the area of Stalag IVA. Most of these were distributed in 60 British Work Detachments. There has been no change in the general layout of the camp. At the time of the visit the stock of Red Cross parcels was very low. The medical officer stated that a fair supply of drugs was obtainable from the German authorities and that there was a supply of British drugs. He was allowed to visit work detachments in the immediate neighbourhood and stated that the co-operation of the German medical officers was the best he had experienced. It was unfortunate, however, that there was no British dentist in the whole Stalag. The clothing situation on the whole was fairly good, each prisoner of war having two complete outfits. There was one British chaplain at the camp and he was allowed to visit work detachments as often as he wished.
Work Detachments.– Five work detachments in the Hoyerswerda district were visited.
No. 502, Grube Brigitta.- There has been no change in this camp since the last visit. There were no military targets in the immediate vicinity and the camp was provided with covered slit trench air-raid shelters. The 140 British prisoners of war are employed on loading and unloading wagons or repairing rails for the Grube Brigitta. They work about ten hours a day and every second Sunday is free. The medical officer in charge gave a very good report on the infirmary where a new room is under construction.
No. 531, Grube Ostfeld.- This camp also has good covered air-raid shelters. 90 British prisoners of war are employed in workshops and on forestry. They work 7-10 hours daily and every third Sunday is free. Living quarters are not very attractive, but a new barrack is nearly finished and should bring about a change for the better. Twice a week a sick parade is held by a civilian doctor and serious cases are sent to the hospital at Konigswartha. The Y.M.C.A. chaplain pays visits from time to time.
No. 508, Grube Erika.- 293 British prisoners of war work on the mine railway. The nearest military targets are about three miles away from the camp and the men are able to seek protection in the slit air-raid trenches. Living accommodation is entirely satisfactory, as also are the heating and lighting facilities. The supply of drugs and medicaments was reported to be fairly good. A daily sick parade is held by two polish doctors and twice a week by a civilian doctor. Recreation facilities are well organised. This is reported to be a good camp.
No. 543, Grube Heye III.- There were no serious complaints from this camp, where 45 British prisoners of war are employed on railway and surface work in the mines. Good air-raid shelters are provided, although there are no military targets in the neighbourhood.
BAUTZEN DISTRICT
Five detachments were visited in this area.
At No. 1274.- 70 British prisoners of war are employed on timber work. The camp has recently been transferred to a new barrack and there have been considerable improvements. The prisoners of war are building air-raid shelters for themselves which are not yet finished.
At No. 1184, Kronprinz Kirschau,
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10 The Prisoner of War MAY, 1945
[Photograph of a team of eleven men] Football team at Stalag IVA. Most of the P.o.W.s in this camp were distributed among 60 work detachments when the camp was visited in January.
the camp strength has lately been increased to 97 British prisoners of war, who load and unload waggons. The prisoners of war have hot showers and washing facilities in the factory as there is no running water in the camp. There were no serious complaints. Mail from England is said to take about one month to arrive.
No. 1091 is situated in the small village of Neukirch. There are only 20 British prisoners of war, who work in a box factory. Saturday afternoons and Sundays are free.
At No. 1007, Loebau.- 204 British prisoners of war work in a sugar factory. During the sugar season only every third Sunday is free. The camp was slightly overcrowded, but at the end of the season at least 80 men would be transferred, when conditions again would be satisfactory.
There are no complaints from No. 953, Loebau.
Several camps were visited in the Dresden district. A new camp, No. 1325, has been opened at Radebeul. The prisoners of war live in two barracks in a small compound. They have covered air-raid shelters. There are no complaints.
Work Detachments Nos. 1308, 1311, 1320 contain American prisoners of war.
(Visited January, 1945.)
STALAG IVB, MUHLBERG
There were nearly 7,000 British prisoners of war and 3,000 Americans in the camp at the time of the visit. This has caused considerable overcrowding in the bungalows, where for some time two men shared one bunk and many prisoners of war slept on the floor, benches and tables. Bathing facilities are good, but their use is somewhat limited by the numbers in the camp.
Cooking for British and American prisoners of war is done in one kitchen, staffed by 52 British.
During the recent overcrowding, when several thousand American prisoners of war were in transit through the camp, there were several cases of contagious diseases, particularly diphtheria and malaria. Supplies of drugs and dressings have not been very good and the promised improvement by the Germans in this respect did not materialise. In the camp hospital there is also a shortage of drugs and dressings and surgical equipment. The dental station is in the care of British and American dental officers, and fillings and extractions are done satisfactorily. Stocks of materials are adequate and an average of two new dentures a week is permitted by the authorities. Clothing stocks have rapidly diminished owing to prisoners of war from the Western Front needing complete new outfits.
There are two Church of England, one Presbyterian and one Roman Catholic chaplains on duty and services are regularly held for all groups.
There is a new German commandant in charge of the camp, and satisfactory relations exist between the authorities and the British and American prisoners of war. Great difficulty, however, is experienced in obtaining any material improvements to the camp under present conditions.
(Visited February, 1945.)
STALAG IVC, WISTRITZ
At the time of the visit there were approximately 7,000 British prisoners of war and 80 Americans in the camp. Most of these were distributed in the 53 work detachments. The general conditions of all work detachments is fairly good. There is an American and a British camp leader. At the main camp the British staff is allowed to shelter in a cellar. Red Cross parcels are kept in a storeroom in the town. Two British prisoners of war work there all day long.
Work Detachment 22A, Brux.- This visit was made very soon after aerial attacks on targets in this vicinity on December 25th, when 9 British prisoners were killed and 18 wounded. Six barracks were completely destroyed and four others were damaged. Some of those which were destroyed were completely burned out, destroying a quantity of clothing and personal articles. In the event of air attacks, prisoners of war are allowed to leave the camp or go to a cellar about ten minutes’ walk away, where they can remain until the “all clear.” During the attack on December 25th those prisoners of war who were killed had remained in the camp. The barracks are being rebuilt and should be in use by the end of February. The 2,210 British prisoners of war at this camp work in nearby villages and in factories. For the majority working hours are from 7.30 until 5. Most of the men now have every other Sunday free.
The medical staff consists of one medical officer and eight orderlies. The general state of health of this camp is good, though there are a number of men who should be removed to a camp where the work is lighter.
Work Detachment No. 51, Brux.- The strength of this camp is 1,773 British prisoners of war. The majority of them work in the Columbus mine. So far there have been no casualties from air attack, but prisoners of war are allowed to go outside the camp during an alert or to the shelters in the compound. There were no complaints about material conditions.
Work Camp Tschausch III, Brux.- 659 British prisoners of war live in five huts and work in the Tschausch mine. The health of the men at the camp has so far been very satisfactory. There were no serious complaints. During air raids prisoners of war are allowed to use the covered slit trenches in the compound, but many prefer to go down the mines.
Work Camp No. 258, Niemes.- 57 British prisoners of war work here in a wood factory. There were no serious complaints from this camp. Covered air-raid trenches are available near the camp compound.
Work Camp 53A, Deutsch Pankraz.- 50 British prisoners of war are digging trenches for the laying of gas pipes. There were no complaints., A daily sick parade is held by a civilian doctor.
Work Detachments Dux III.- 32 British prisoners of war work at a porcelain factory. Living quarters are not at all good though treatment of the prisoners of war appears to be quite satisfactory. The question of quarters was discussed with the Stalag authorities.
Work Detachment 395A, Tscherzowitz II.- 62 British prisoners of war are lodged in an old inn. There are no military targets near the camp. This was reported to be a good camp.
Work Detachment No. 32, Wurzmes.- This is a new camp containing 109 British prisoners of war captured on the Western Front. The men live in buildings attached to an old coalmine consisting of a stone building in a small compound. There are no military targets near the camp. Washing and bathing facilities are satisfactory. Heating and lighting is in order. Medical attention in the camp is given by a British doctor.
(Visited January, 1945.)
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MAY, 1945 The Prisoner of War 11
Relief by Road and Rail
IMMEDIATELY conditions in Germany began to deteriorate, and transport became difficult, the British Red Cross and St. John War Organisation asked the International Red Cross in Geneva to do everything possible, and to spend whatever was necessary, to solve the urgent problem of supplying relief to British prisoners of war.
The prisoners had in many cases been moved from organised camps and were being sent far away to unknown destinations. These conditions made it impossible to get Red Cross parcels to the men in the usual way, and over a period of weeks practically nothing got through to those on the move.
Then in early March the I.R.C.C. was able to send about 500 tons of food and medical supplies across Switzerland to the small eastern frontier station of Buchs, where 50 German railway waggons arrived to collect them. On March 10th the consignment reached Moosburg, 30 miles north-east of Munich; and here P.o.W.s unloaded the waggons.
Moosburg was for a time used as a distributing centre from which parcels could be sent by lorry on to camps in South Germany, Austria and part of Northern Czechoslovakia. It has now been overrun by the Allies; alternative distributing centres have been set up at Ravensburg and Markt Pongau.
Further trainloads of supplies left during the last few weeks.
Lorry Convoys Tour Reich
Early in March, Canadian and American lorries were moved from Toulon to Geneva, and on March 7th the first “flying column” of 25 left Switzerland, via Constance, with 120 tons of food and medical supplies. The drivers were Swiss nationals accompanied by German guards.
At the frontier the convoy split up. Six trucks carrying petrol, oil, and some medical supplies crossed Germany to the port of Lubeck. Of the remaining 19 lorries, 18 reached the Carlsbad and Marienbad area, and the supplies they carried were distributed among 18,000 British and American prisoners, some of them at Prague and Eger. Stalag VIIB received the contents of the last lorry, which broke down en route.
After delivering their loads the empty lorries proceeded to the distributing depots. It was planned to run a shuttle service between Moosburg, Ravensburg, and Markt Pongau and outlying camps.
177 Tons of Food
Four special convoys, each consisting of 12 lorries, accompanied by a car or motor cycle to act as “scout,” left Switzerland between March 12th – 18th. These vehicles were driven by Canadian prisoners of war and between them carried about 177 tons of food, medical supplies, soap and boot-repairing material. They headed for Southern and Central Germany with the object of contacting the prisoners on the move.
Further convoys left Geneva on April 6th, 7th, and 8th bound for Leipzig and Torgau, and others left on April 13th, 14th and 15th for Central Germany.
To obtain the earliest possible information of the whereabouts of P.o.W.s in transit an I.R.C.C. delegate travelled a day ahead of the first convoy, whilst scout vehicles explored secondary roads, along which it was apparently the practice of the Germans to move prisoners on foot.
The provision of lorries, petrol, lubricants and spare parts is co-ordinated by S.H.A.E.F., and further lorries, in addition to those already in operation, are available with the I.R.C.C. for use as and when an opportunity arises.
The I.R.C.C. has been able to get some food supplies to prisoners on the march in Northern Germany, and in the area around Berlin, as well as to others further south.
[Boxed] UNITED NATIONS’ WARNING
THE Governments of the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, on behalf of all the United Nations at war with Germany, hereby issue a solemn warning to all commandants and guards in charge of Allied prisoners of war, internees, or deported citizens of the United Nations in Germany and German-occupied territory and members of the Gestapo and all other persons of whatsoever service or rank in whose charge Allied prisoners of war, internees or deported citizens have been placed, whether in the battle zones, on the lines of communication or in rear areas.
Individually Responsible
They declare that they will hold all such persons, no less than the German High Command and the competent German military, naval and air authorities, individually responsible for the safety and welfare of all Allied prisoners of war, internees or deported citizens in their charge.
Any person guilty of maltreating or allowing any Allied prisoner of war, internee or deported citizen to be maltreated, whether in the battle zone, on the lines of communication, in a camp, hospital, prison or elsewhere, will be ruthlessly pursued and brought to punishment.
They give notice that they will regard this responsibility as binding in all circumstances and one which cannot be transferred to any other, authorities or individuals whatsoever.
W.S. Churchill.
H.S. Truman.
J.V. Stalin. [/boxed]
Liberation Comes to Stalag IXA
(Continued from page 3)
main in camp and under control. Camp foodstuffs were checked, guards appointed to prevent looting and uncontrolled movement. The camp offices became orderly rooms, and in a short time the p.o.w. cage settled down to wait until transport could be provided to take the men home.
German rations were considerably increased and augmented by the American “C” ration. The kitchen staff worked overtime. Men who had been on the borderline of starvation were filling up! We got fresh meat, too, through a Frenchman, Jean D., who came to the orderly room with a request to be allowed out of camp to collect five cows which were wandering around without an owner. (And this was in Germany where every egg was counted!) He got an official permit and an hour later the main gateways looked like a farmyard. Jean said, “Ze sheep zey do not want to leave ze cows.”
Our own details were sent to take over the bakeries, and all German military food-dumps were confiscated and brought into camp. At last the starved, hungry men seemed to brighten up physically – there was a great change.
A harassed American captain burst into the orderly room. Nearly 300 Hungarian women, ill-clad and exhausted, were marching up the road near the camp. Could we do anything to help?
When we found the women they were far from being hysterical or weepy, and marched courageously a further 8 miles to a small village where all were billeted in houses. Their guards had fled and they had had no food for two days. Can you imagine a British p.o.w. speaking German to a Pole, who could speak a little Hungarian? That was how we talked. These experiences formed only a part of all we saw in the days which followed.
Now we are free and safe, and it is almost too good to believe; but still we feel there is something missing. Our there in Germany are many of our comrades; maybe they are still marching. We hope and pray for their speedy release.
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12 The Prisoner of War MAY, 1945
How They Help Abroad
[Photograph of a large group of people watching five women on a race track] Red Cross and St. John girls in Rome act as “race horses” for a Derby held by British troops at Rest Camp 50.
A CONSTANT stream of generous gifts to the Duke of Gloucester’s Red Cross and St. John Fund for the work of maintaining vital services to prisoners of war is contributed by large organisations and individual subscribers in the Dominions, the Colonies and Allied and neutral countries throughout the world. It is only possible here to mention briefly some of the ways and means by which money has been raised abroad.
A mining town in Northern Rhodesia recently sent £250, a portion of which was the result of a concert given by the Nkana pupils of the Broken Hill Convent, one of whom has a father a prisoner of war in Germany. The sum of £11,012 from the total resulting from “Target Month” inaugurated by the Governor of Northern Rhodesia was set aside for the benefit of prisoners of war, while another £2,456 13s. 6d. came from the 1944 Rhodes Founders’ Special War Effort. From Ceylon has come a third donation of £100 given by the Columbo Rowing Club, members of which take a keen interest in the welfare of prisoners of war, and expressed the wish that this money should provide sports equipment.
Many donations have come from Persia, among them the sum of £1,000 from the wives of the British staff in the oilfields area; and a gift of £10 from New Zealand was inspired by the arrival from a friend in England of the guide to the Prisoners of War Exhibition which was held in London last May.
Portuguese friends in Loanda, Portuguese West Africa, sent a sum of nearly £600, which they asked might be devoted to a special gift for British prisoners of war, and £500 of it was used towards replacing the library at Stalag VIIIB, which had been destroyed by fire. The people of Kenya never fail to remember the needs of British and Dominion prisoners, and a large proportion of their gifts has been earmarked for parcels, one special appeal organised for those in the Far East resulting in £3,000 being remitted. In Nakuru a fête was organised by a small mixed community of Europeans, Africans and Asians, which realised £3,118 13s. 11d.
The performance of the operetta H.M.S. Pinafore and a sale of work for which the United Nations Junior Group in Cuba was responsible raised £250. From the Cyprus Soldiers’ Aid Society as a token of appreciation of the work of the Educational Books Section and the Indoor Recreations Section for Cypriot prisoners and internees £100 was received. £7, also from Cyprus, was given from the collection taken at the harvest festival service held for the patients and staff of a military hospital, while £100, to which the British, Indian and Arab communities had contributed, arrived from Addis Ababa.
A generous gesture in the form of £555 towards parcels for their less fortunate comrades in appreciation of the help rendered to them by the British Red Cross was made by prisoners of war who had escaped to Switzerland and were interned there.
The sympathy and understanding which prompts men serving overseas to send donations is demonstrated by the sum of £17 15s. for their fellows in captivity which was sent by a Free Church chaplain to “help your great work of bringing cheer and joy to those who are always in our thoughts,” and by men using a recreation hut in Iceland who have sent several donations from their collecting box.
An R.A.F. station in West Africa donated £260 3s., half the result of their “Charity Week,” of which one of the major attractions was a football match between representative R.A.F. and United Service teams.
The “swear box” of one Dominion regiment which had served its purpose as a fine receiver and had come to be regarded as a donation box, was taken overseas and was with the regiment during a bad incident in which some of the officers were left without clothing. Their predicament caused some swearing, which reminded them of the box, for which a search was made, and it was recovered, although the top had been cut off by a piece of shrapnel. The box was later presented to the Red Cross with a further donation.
An endeavour by No. 54 Sub-District (Bone), B.N.A.F., “to make Darkest Africa resemble Merrie England” with an old English fair on St. George’s Day was instrumental in raising £1,300. All the familiar attractions of the showground were there – swing-boats, coconut shies, hoopla, fortune-tellers, and even a maypole under the palm trees! “The British soldier, having bought a buttonhole from a flower girl (specially relieved from her duties at the nearest military hospital), was able to take his choice of travel on an old-fashioned railway, driven by a chimney-pot-hatted driver, in an old-fashioned carriage where a charming crinolined girl would ride with him, or – masterpiece of improvisation! – be lifted 50ft. from the ground on the end of a 20 ton crane and given a bird’s-eye view of the fair as the crane swung round.
A Light A.A. regiment which had a rest centre in Holland started a fund to entertain 70 children in the town on Holland’s Santa Claus Day. The response was so good that there was a surplus of £62 after the party was over, half of which was given for p.o.w.s.
The headquarters of the 165th Field Regiment, R.A., showed great enterprise in their special Red Cross Week, when they collected £617. The R.S.M. had to pay to inspect the men’s billets, the Signals Section suddenly charged a fee on all telephone calls, the Quartermaster added purchase tax to articles drawn from stores on a certain day, and the officers were charged a fee on entering the office.
Several men gave their rations, from which an Italian civilian made a cake for a competition, and another man produced and sold an illustrated magazine for the cause. One gunner sportingly volunteered to have his much-criticised moustache shave off by the higher bidder (all bids being forfeited), and this was done at a public gathering by the winner who had to hand over 35s.
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MAY, 1945 The Prisoner of War 13
[Cartoon] HE GOT ANOTHER LETTER SAYING “KEEP YOUR CHIN UP”
The Letters They Write Home
Show for People in England
Stalag 357. 4.10.44.
I WISH to bring to your notice the general outline of a scheme which, though not of an educational nature, I am sure will be of interest to you.
There have been several exhibitions in England appertaining to prisoner of war life but, to our knowledge, the Stalag Theatre has not as yet made its début. The entertainment side of prisoner of war life is extremely important and, indeed, essential to the well-being of any camp. Great progress has been made in this field, and it is felt that the history of the theatre will be of interest to people in England.
With this in mind the entertainments committee of Stalag Luft 6 have put before the Air Ministry proposals for the staging of a show on our return. It is hoped that the Royal Air Force will sponsor it and that the proceeds will go to the Red Cross Society.
Sir Richard Howard Vyse has been informed of the plans, and although we are awaiting a reply from the Air Ministry, the organisation of the show is being carried out in readiness.
Full details are not available, but if you can imagine the P.o.W. Exhibition at Clarence House being staged with a prisoner of war entertainment background, you will be able to realise what is being attempted – in short, prisoner of war life in all its aspects to be brought to the stage. This is one “post-war plan” in which we are the senders instead of the receivers.
Missed Train at Leipzig
Stalag IVF. 14.1.45.
I’VE been out three times this week, twice to the hospital (once for a funeral, unfortunately) and yesterday.
I visited two small camps a long way from here. We got there all right, but the return journey came to grief rather badly, as our first train was late and we missed our connection to Leipzig. The next train only went to a place about 15 miles from our destination, as we were deposited there at one o’clock in the morning, and set out on a two-hour walk to the next station in the hope of getting another train.
We succeeded in this, after waiting from 3.15 until 4.45 a.m., and we finally got to the camp at 7 o’clock this morning! The stars were glorious, and the frost was very hard, but the ice-bound road made going bad. Such expeditions certainly remove the monotony of life! My companion is always a German interpreter.
- From an Army Padre.
Can Manage at a Pinch
Stalag XVIIIA. 7.1.45.
I HAVE received three N.O.K. parcels and eight cigarette parcels from you, so far. Am sorry to say that parcels and letters are rather slow these days. We are hoping that this situation will not last for long, and anyway we can manage at a pinch. Received the snaps, and think they are grand.
I am studying English just now; one of my chief ambitions is to write a book when I get home. I am “chief cook-and-bottle-washer” of a combine of five men – two Australians, one Tasmanian, my pal from Birmingham and myself.
Will give you a tip or two on cooking when I get home. We are getting lots of snow, and it is a white, lovely world – to look at it; the mountains are a marvellous sight.
By Train Through Germany
Stalag IVD. 16.2.45.
It is some time since we have had any Red Cross parcels, and there does not seem to be much hope of any more. Still, the war must end some day!
This past week we have travelled
[Boxed] SEND US YOUR STORIES
The Editor will be glad to consider for publication brief first-hand stories of humorous incidents or of incidents illustrating the ingenuity, courage or high morale of British prisoners of war in prison camps or during repatriation and homecoming.
Any interesting action photographs (not groups or individual portraits) will also be welcome and will in due course be returned.
Address: Editor, “The Prisoner of War,” St. James’s Palace, London, S.W.1. [/boxed]
about 280 kilos. in all to and from work. I think I do more travelling in one week than I did in all my life before the war – that is by train. Be a P.o.W. and see the world, or at any rate some of it; joke, I don’t think!
Special Work on Railway
Stalag IVD. 4.2.45.
Thanks for letter dated 8/12/44, the first one since Christmas. It must be good to see the old streets lit up again.
We have still got bags of work on the railway. There’s more to do every day. We’ve been getting up at 3 o’clock and catching the train at 4 a.m.; returning to camp at about 8 or 9 at night, so you see we haven’t much spare time. I am thankful to have to-day off (Sunday).
No personal parcels or fags have arrived for me since before Christmas. Two Red Cross parcels between three for a fortnight.
We’ve been out on a special job, and it is a good thing we can get a sleep on the train.
I hope you have received some of my mail; ours is coming in dribs and drabs.
“Roll On the Boat”
IVF. 26.12.44.
WELL, it’s nearly over now, and it hasn’t been too bad.
We had a concert last night; I did the stage – a big boat cutting through the waves, and underneath “Roll on the Boat.” The show was good – two hours of it. My effort was cartooning to music.
Ten Days Solid Knitting
Oflag 79. 1.1.45.
I MADE everyone in my room a Christmas present of sorts. These included pillow cases, serviettes, ash trays, etc.
I also made, or rather knitted, a woollen blanket out of unpicked socks and old pullovers, which I raffled in this company for the Red Cross. I made £407. The blanket took ten days’ solid knitting.
Disgustingly Indolent
Stalag 383. 21.1.45.
PROSPECTS are brighter than they have been for some time just now, not only because of the news, but because two trucks of Red Cross Invalid parcels have arrived. We have been issued with one between three.
There is little news to tell you – but for skating in the morning and hibernating till the German lesson in the evening, my life at the moment is disgustingly indolent.
[Page break]
14 The Prisoner of War MAY, 1945
Groups from the Camps[Photographs of groups of men] STALAG IVA, STALAG 383, MARLAG UND MILAG NORD, STALAG IVF, STALAG XIA, STALAG XVIIA, STALAG 398, OFLAG VA
[Page break]
MAY, 1945 The Prisoner of War 15
REPATRIATES’ NEWS
Free Telegrams
REPATRIATED British prisoners of war from Germany immediately on reaching this country, whatever the hour of the day or night, will be able to send a free telegram to their home address in the United Kingdom announcing their safe arrival. This facility is being granted by the General Post Office.
Repatriates’ Rations
It has been officially announced that British P.o.W.s and Dominion and Allied P.o.W.s on recuperative leave in this country will receive double civilian rations for a period of six weeks. Men who have a medical certificate will receive an allowance of 14 pints of milk and three eggs a week.
Ex-P.o.W.s’ Votes
Ex-prisoners who wish to use their vote at the forthcoming General Election (or at a by-election) can get their names included in a Service Register by signing an electoral declaration not later than four days before nomination day.
Musicians and Artists
Repatriated P.o.W.s who are professional musicians or artists may be interested to know that the Indoor Recreations Section of the British Red Cross and St. John War Organisation has certain limited stocks for free issue. The goods available include:-
Instruments. – Ukeleles, guitars, violins and flutinas. A few clarinets, fluted and piano accordions may be available in the near future.
Sheet Music.- Scores for practically all types of instruments. Choral music, vocal scores of operettas, miniature scores, popular sheet music and instruction books.
Artists’ Materials.- Small boxes each containing drawing paper, box of water-colour paints, coloured crayons, brushes, rubber, ruler, pencil and pen.
Applications for any of these goods will be accepted only from repatriated P.o.W.s who are either professional artists or musicians, or who have been studying art or music whilst in camp. Applicants must give their full name and present address, as well as their P.o.W. number and prison camp address, and apply in writing to: The Indoor Recreation Section, Prisoners of War Department, St. James’s Palace, London, S.W.1.
Books for Study
The Educational Books Section will continue to advise and supply books to repatriated P.o.W.s who wish to complete a course already begun under the auspices of the Section. Only books now in stock will be available, as no new purchases can be made for this purpose.
South African Red Cross
The London Committee of the South African Red Cross which has functioned in England for the past five years acts as liaison between their headquarters in South Africa and the British and Dominion Red Cross in the United Kingdom.
Three-quarters of the Committee’s work is connected with thousands of Springboks who were captured by the Italians in North Africa; and later, when Italy collapsed, were transferred by the enemy to P.o.W. camps inside Germany.
Hundreds of these men have now been freed by the Allied armies advancing from the west, and they are arriving almost daily in England on their way back to South Africa.
If any relatives or friends in this country want to get in touch with South African ex-prisoners, they should write or telephone to:-
The South African Red Cross,
Grand Buildings (Second Floor)
Trafalgar Square,
Whitehall 5328. London, W.C.
Or:-
The South African Red Cross Bureau,
71, The Drive,
Hove,
Hove 7505. Sussex.
They Won Tug-of-War
British ex-prisoners returning from Odessa competed in a tug-of-war contest on board the ship which was bringing them back to the United Kingdom. Their opponents were men of the Army, Navy and R.A.F., homeward bound on leave from the Middle East.
In spite of all hardships endured during captivity, the ex-prisoners won.
Their prizes were vouchers to be spent in the barber’s shop, but the winners asked that they might receive cash instead if they wanted to present it to Red Cross and St. John in appreciation of the help the Organisation had given them whilst they were prisoners.
Back to Civvy Street
Voluntary camps for repatriated prisoners of war, discharged or released from the Service, are being set up all over the country by the Army. They are to be known as Civil Resettlement Units, will be run like leave camps and will help to put men in touch once again with civil life from which they have so long been estranged.
Finding a Wife
A British P.o.W. asked Red Cross headquarters in Brussels to find his wife, a Dutchwoman known to be nursing with a British Army Civil Affairs detachment in Holland. Within a few hours she was located and sent to Brussels, where husband and wife met at Red Cross headquarters.
All Escaped P.o.W.s Home
All escaped P.o.W.s who have reached a neutral country have been repatriated except a few in Switzerland who are either unfit to travel or have volunteered for temporary war work.
Thanks to General Ike
“Our gratitude for all that has been done by our American Allies for our prisoners released is being conveyed to General Eisenhower.” Mr. Churchill in the House of Commons.
Examination Successes
W/O. ALAN SAXTON, who obtained first place in the Intermediate Examination of the Auctioneers’ and Estate Agents’ Institute last year, has repeated his success in the Final, passing with First Class Honours and being placed first in order of merit of all candidates both at home and in prisoner of war camps.
At the examination of the Law Society recently held in an officers’ camp, all three candidates for the Final Examination were successful, Capt. J.M. Wallace being awarded Distinction, and another candidate, Capt. J.A. Hogg, passed the Special Intermediate Examination with First Class Honours.
Lt. H.D.D. Duffield has passed the Final Examination of the Building Societies’ Institute, and has been awarded the “Sir Enoch Hill” prize of £8 8s. for the best candidate.
Capt. F.V. Corfield has completed the Bar Final Examination and has been awarded a prize of £50 by the Middle Temple on the result of his examination.
In the examination of the Co-operative Union, Cpl. A.S. Chambers obtained Distinction and Cpl. H. Wheeler, Bdr. S. Trelease, Cpl. F.M. Scoates and Sgt. J.E. Keefe obtained First Class in the paper on Window Display.
During the last month over 300 examination results have been announced, the proportion of total successes being 78 per cent.
Pass Lists Still Available
Copies of pass lists for July to December, 1943, and January to June, 1944, are available on application to the Educational Books Section, The New Bodleian, Oxford. 3d. in stamps should be sent for each pass list.
[Page break]
16 The Prisoner of War MAY, 1945
Camp Transfers and Liberation
Following is the latest official information:-
April 24
Oflag VA was evacuated by train on March 31st, and the destination was stated to be Oflag VIIIB, Eichstatt, but the prisoners did not arrive there and it appears they were taken to another camp.
Stalag XIIF has been moved to Wehrkreis VII in Bavaria.
Stalag XVIIA was evacuated on April 1st, and the destination was stated to be Braunau on the Austro-German frontier.
Oflag IVC has been overrun and the prisoners liberated, except for certain selected officers who had been transferred before the arrival of the Allied Forces.
Oflag 79 was reached by the Allied Forces on April 12th. Close upon 2,000 officers and 400 other ranks, most of them from the British Commonwealth, were released.
April 26
Stalag 344 was evacuated by the Germans when the Red Army approached Lamsdorf in January and the prisoners were forced to march westward. About 850 of the prisoners managed to escape to the Russian lines and have now been repatriated from Odessa, but the great majority were transferred to various camps in Central Germany. It is known that men from this camp were moved to Stalags IXA, Zeigenhain; IXB, Bad Orb; XIC, Mulhausen; XIIIC, Hammelburg, and XIID, Nuremburg, from which camps a number of them were recently recovered.
April 30
Stalag VB, Villengen – 69 recovered.
Stalag VIIB, Memmingen – 772 recovered.
Stalag 383, Hohnfels – 1,970 recovered.
Work detachments of Stalag IVD have been liberated at Erderborn, Orberroblinger, Etzdorf and Teutschental. At these four places there have been recovered respectively 16, 32, 315 and 182 British prisoners of war.
May 1
Marlag und Milag Nord, Westertimke, was liberated on May 1st, but a reliable report has been received that the bulk of service personnel previously held there was moved on April 10th toward Lubeck.
Stalag 357. The majority of prisoners were evacuated before it was liberated by British forces.
Camps in Wehrkreis IV, and Stalag IIIA. With the exception of Oflag IVC, which was liberated, it is not known whether the men in these camps have been liberated or whether they were moved farther south before the link-up between the Russian and American Armies.
Oflag VIIB. Except for those in hospital this camp was evacuated on April 15th for a destination near Munich.
Stalag XVIIA was evacuated westwards and was expected to arrive at Braunau, near the Austro-German border, about April 19th.
Stalag XVIIIIA [sic]. Prisoners were marched toward Markt Pongau and Landeck.
It has been reported that large batches of prisoners of war have been for some time marching south and south-west towards Bavaria. Some of these must be from camps originally in Eastern Germany and Poland which were evacuated previously, and some also from Wehrkreis IV. Some of these men have already arrived in camps in Bavaria, and where this is known their next of kin have been informed.
It is, of course, also possible that there may be considerable numbers of prisoners still in German hands in the district of Northern Germany between the British and Russian Armies, as it is known that some of the men from camps in Poland were marching in this direction earlier in the Spring.
Next of kin are assured that directly any information about their particular prisoner is known in this country, they will be notified by the Service Department concerned. Repatriated prisoners are able to send a telegram to their families immediately upon arrival in this country.
Camps Containing British Commonwealth Prisoners of War Still Held by the Germans on May 1st, 1945.
Oflags
IVB Konigstein-Elbe
XC Lubeck
Stalags
IIE Schwerin
IVA Hohnstein
IVC Wistritz bei Terlitz
XIA Altengrabow
317 Markt Pongau
398 Pupping
XVIIIA Wolfsberg
Luft I Barth-Vogelsang
Luft IV Wobbeln bei Ludswigslust
New Camp Markt Pongau
New Camp Braunau or Neukirchen
Hospitals
Ukermunde
Luftwaffen Lazaret 4/XI Wismar
Bilin
Schleswig
Haid Linz
Wolfsberg
Spittal/Drau
Salsburg
Informary Konotau
Ilags
Liebenau, nr. Tetnang Rauenburg
Wursach
Laufen
Spittal
Detention Camp
Stralsund-alt-Faehre.
NEXT OF KIN PARCELS
Suspension and Return
CONDITIONS in Germany no longer allow of the transport and delivery of next of kin parcels. So it has been decided, in agreement with the War Office and the General Post Office, that next of kin parcels which have been collected by the Post Office from the Next of Kin Parcels Centres at Finsbury Circus and Glasgow shall be handed back to these Centres for return to the senders. The parcels will not be reopened by the Red Cross, but will be returned exactly as received from the General Post Office. This work is bound to take a considerable time, and the parcels cannot be dealt with in the order in which they were originally despatched. The Red Cross will write to the sender of each parcel when it is ready to be returned.
No enquiries should be sent to the Parcels Centre before this letter is received, as no information will be available abut parcels not already dealt with.
Later on, parcels which have left this country, but which have not reached Germany will, so far as possible, be returned in the same way to the Red Cross, and then forwarded to the senders.
HELP FROM WALES
Saundersfoot and neighbouring villages in Pembrokeshire recently raised £616 10s. 8d. for the Red Cross through a bazaar and other entertainments.
COUNTY REPRESENTATIVE
Please note the following change:
DORSETSHIRE: Miss E.M. Williams, Wimborne Red Cross Office, 22, East Street, Wimborne, Dorset.
PLEASE NOTE
As there may be news of interest to repatriated men in The Prisoner of War, copies of the journal will be sent to next of kin for three months after the return of their ex-prisoners to this country.
[Boxed] FREE TO NEXT OF KIN
THIS journal is sent free of charge to those registered with the Prisoners of War Dept. as next of kin. In view of the paper shortage no copies are for sale, and it is hoped that next of kin will share their copy with relatives and others interested. [/boxed]
[Boxed] NUMBER, PLEASE!
PLEASE be sure to mention your Red Cross reference number whenever you write to us. Otherwise delay and trouble are caused in finding previous correspondence. [/boxed]
Printed in Great Britain for the Publishers THE RED CROSS AND ST. JOHN WAR ORGANISATION, 14, Grosvenor Crescent, London, S.W., by THE CORNWALL PRESS LTD., Paris Garden, Stamford Street, London, S.E.1.
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
The Prisoner of War May 1945
Description
An account of the resource
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, Barbed Wire Universities about formal studies in camps, First Taste of Freedom photographs of ex-POWs passing through Istanbul, Welcome at Brussels, ex-POWs returning via Odessa, Official reports from the camps, Relied by Road and Rail, a warning to the camp commandants about mistreating POWs, How they help abroad about funds sent to the Red Cross from around the world, Letters from POWs to family at home, photographs from the camps, Repatriates news, Exam results, Camp transfers and Liberation and Next of Kin parcels.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1945-05
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
16 printed sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MCurnockRM1815605-171114-021
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Angola
Belgium
Belgium--Brussels
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Czech Republic--Prague
Ethiopia
Ethiopia--Addis Ababa
Egypt
Egypt--Port Said
France
France--Toulon
Germany
Germany--Bautzen Region
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Dresden
Germany--Goldberg (Schwerin)
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Hohnstein (Grafschaft)
Germany--Karlsruhe
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Luckenwalde
Germany--Ravensburg
Germany--Sandbostel
Germany--Schönfeld
Iran
Kenya
Poland
Poland--Żagań
Northern Rhodesia
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka--Colombo
Switzerland
Switzerland--Geneva
Turkey
Turkey--Istanbul
Ukraine
North Africa
Poland--Tychowo
Lithuania--Šilutė
Czech Republic
Czech Republic--Karlovy Vary
Germany--Moosburg an der Isar
Ukraine--Odesa
Germany--Mühlberg (Bad Liebenwerda)
Czech Republic--Cheb
Lithuania
Angola--Luanda (Luanda)
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Red Cross and St John war organisation. Prisoners of war department
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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anne-Marie Watson
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1945-05
aircrew
arts and crafts
entertainment
escaping
ground personnel
Holocaust
Navy, Army and Air Force Institute
prisoner of war
Red Cross
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 1
Stalag Luft 3
Stalag Luft 4
Stalag Luft 6
Stalag Luft 7
the long march
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/501/22571/MCurnockRM1815605-171114-018.2.pdf
016c5b36e006bb2bf9b025c8d8d14b3a
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
Curnock, Richard
Richard Murdock Curnock
R M Curnock
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Curnock, RM
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-04-18
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.
Description
An account of the resource
92 items. An oral history interview with Warrant Officer Richard Curnock (1924, 1915605 Royal Air Force), his log book, letters, photographs and prisoner of war magazines. He flew operations with 425 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Richard Curnock and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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
Ex-RCAF The Camp Jan 1990
Description
An account of the resource
News-sheet of the ex-Air Force POW Association. This edition covers POW's in Perpetuity, the Red Cross, a new memorial at Plymouth Hoe, Geoof Taylor -author, advance notice of a reunion in Vancouver, lost members, ex-POW histories, Obituaries, a message from the President, Gen from around the circuit and photographs from the 1989 Ottawa reunion.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The RAF ex-POW Association
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1990-01
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
16 printed sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MCurnockRM1815605-171114-018
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Plymouth
France--Dieppe
Canada
British Columbia--Vancouver
Ontario--Ottawa
Germany--Koblenz
Germany--Dresden
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Luckenwalde
Ontario--Toronto
Alberta--Edmonton
Belgium
France--Fresnes (Val-de-Marne)
France--Saint-Nazaire
Alberta--Hinton
Germany--Berlin
England--Cambridge
England--Oxford
England--Southampton
Germany--Cologne
France--Le Havre
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Lübeck
Manitoba--Brandon
Switzerland--Geneva
United States--Mason-Dixon Line
England--Skipton
France--Falaise
Manitoba--Winnipeg
Germany--Essen
Virginia--Norfolk
Italy--Sicily
Italy--Calabria
Italy--Naples
Italy--Florence
Austria--Spittal an der Drau
Poland--Toruń
Poland--Gdańsk
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Europe--Elbe River
Germany--Osnabrück
Germany--Bad Fallingbostel
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
Germany--Mühlberg (Bad Liebenwerda)
Italy
Poland
France
Virginia
Ontario
Alberta
Germany
Austria
Switzerland
United States
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Devon
England--Hampshire
England--Yorkshire
England--Oxfordshire
Manitoba
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.
10 Squadron
214 Squadron
4 Group
40 Squadron
405 Squadron
408 Squadron
415 Squadron
419 Squadron
420 Squadron
424 Squadron
425 Squadron
426 Squadron
427 Squadron
428 Squadron
429 Squadron
431 Squadron
432 Squadron
433 Squadron
434 Squadron
6 Group
air gunner
aircrew
B-17
bale out
Beaufighter
Bennett, Donald Clifford Tyndall (1910-1986)
bomb aimer
Caterpillar Club
Conspicuous Gallantry Medal
crash
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Service Order
Dulag Luft
escaping
Goering, Hermann (1893-1946)
Halifax
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945)
Hurricane
Lancaster
Me 110
memorial
Military Cross
navigator
Operational Training Unit
P-51
Pathfinders
prisoner of war
RAF Alconbury
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Digby
RAF Hendon
RAF St Eval
Red Cross
Spitfire
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 3
Stalag Luft 4
Stirling
strafing
training
Typhoon
Victoria Cross
Wellington
Whitley
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/501/22562/MCurnockRM1815605-171114-016.2.pdf
c215259212e8a221a69e87300af18941
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
Curnock, Richard
Richard Murdock Curnock
R M Curnock
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Curnock, RM
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-04-18
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.
Description
An account of the resource
92 items. An oral history interview with Warrant Officer Richard Curnock (1924, 1915605 Royal Air Force), his log book, letters, photographs and prisoner of war magazines. He flew operations with 425 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Richard Curnock and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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
The Kriegie December 2005
Description
An account of the resource
News-sheet of the RAF ex-POW Association. This edition covers the 60th anniversary of VE day, Great Escapes at the Imperial War Museum, requests for help, Obituaries, Sixtieth anniversary of the Great Escape, Recco report on ex-POWs, Kriegies help RAF apprentices, Mystery tour of Munich article, The Collector article about a POW who repeatedly visited the crash site of his Halifax, Return to Sagan, the Long March revisited, plus photographs and sketches of POW life.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The RAF ex-POW Association
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2005-12
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
16 printed sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MCurnockRM1815605-171114-016
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
British Army
Royal Navy
Royal Canadian Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
England--Plymouth
Germany--Munich
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Spremberg
Poland--Żagań
Germany--Bad Fallingbostel
Poland
Germany
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Devon
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.
10 Squadron
106 Squadron
144 Squadron
544 Squadron
601 Squadron
619 Squadron
air gunner
Air Raid Precautions
aircrew
arts and crafts
bale out
Caterpillar Club
civil defence
Elizabeth II, Queen of Great Britain (1926 - 2022)
escaping
flight engineer
Goering, Hermann (1893-1946)
Halifax
Hampden
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945)
killed in action
Lancaster
memorial
mess
Mosquito
Navy, Army and Air Force Institute
Nissen hut
Photographic Reconnaissance Unit
pilot
prisoner of war
RAF Benson
RAF Duxford
RAF Halton
RAF Hendon
RAF Northolt
RAF St Athan
Red Cross
shot down
Spitfire
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 3
Stalag Luft 4
Stalag Luft 6
Stalag Luft 7
the long march
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/501/22507/MCurnockRM1815605-171114-004.1.pdf
7f988e11cd713fb18e3bb9057ddea4e7
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
Curnock, Richard
Richard Murdock Curnock
R M Curnock
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Curnock, RM
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-04-18
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.
Description
An account of the resource
92 items. An oral history interview with Warrant Officer Richard Curnock (1924, 1915605 Royal Air Force), his log book, letters, photographs and prisoner of war magazines. He flew operations with 425 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Richard Curnock and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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
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The Kriegie June 1995
Description
An account of the resource
News Sheet of the RAF ex-POW Association. Articles describe The Great Escape Memorial Service, held in London, the Memorial to Sir Arthur Harris and the aircrews of Bomber Command, an account of a visit to Sagan, March 1994, obituaries, a visit to RAF Honington in October 1992, a reunion in Vancouver, Recco Report - stories about Kriegies and books written by former POWs,
Creator
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The RAF ex-POW Association
Date
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1995-06
Format
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12 printed sheets
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Identifier
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MCurnockRM1815605-171114-004
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Air Force. Coastal Command
Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Navy
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
Poland--Żagań
New Zealand--Auckland
Canada
Ontario--Toronto
Canada
British Columbia--Abbotsford
British Columbia--Victoria
England--Headcorn
Australia
New South Wales--Penrith
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Leipzig
England--Stafford
England--Nottingham
Poland
New South Wales
Ontario
Germany
New Zealand
England--Kent
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Staffordshire
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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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.
106 Squadron
138 Squadron
42 Squadron
460 Squadron
78 Squadron
aircrew
Beaufighter
crash
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Medal
Dulag Luft
escaping
evading
flight engineer
Fw 190
George Cross
George VI, King of Great Britain (1895-1952)
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
Harvard
Lancaster
Manchester
Me 110
memorial
Military Cross
prisoner of war
RAF Alconbury
RAF Biggin Hill
RAF Honington
Scharnhorst
Spitfire
sport
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 1
Stalag Luft 3
Stalag Luft 4
the long march
Victoria Cross
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1343/22224/STyrieJSB87636v1.1.2.pdf
216289192aae4eaeab54d3613c35214b
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
Tyrie, Jim
Tyrie, JSB
Description
An account of the resource
34 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Jim Tyrie (1919 - 1993, 87636 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, photographs, correspondence and prisoner of war log as well as a photograph album. He flew operations as a pilot with 77 Squadron before being shot down in April 1941.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Brian Taylor and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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
2019-06-01
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
Tyrie, JSB
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[lion crest]
A WARTIME LOG
[page break]
WAR PRISONERS AID
AIDE AUX PRISONNIERS DE GUERRE
KRIEGSGEFANGENENHILFE
WORLD’S ALLIANCE OF YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS
ALLIANCE UNIVERSELLE DES UNIONS CHRETIENNES DE JEUNES GENS
WELTBUND DER CHRISTLICHEN VEREINE JUNGER MANNER
Quai Wilson, 37
GENEVE (Suisse)
Centre International
Address Telegraph: FLEMGO-GENEVE
Compte de Cheques postaux: 1. 331
Telephone 2.70.60
Dear Friend,
After the Canadian and American editions of the War-time Log, here is a special issue for British prisoners of war. Though its format is somewhat different, its purpose is just the same as the others: to bring you greetings from friends and to facilitate your recording some of your experiences during these eventful years.
Not everyone will want to use this book as a diary. If you are a writer, here is space for a short story. If you are an artist, you may want to cover these pages with sketches of your camp, caricatures of its important personalities. If you are a poet, major or minor, confide your lyrics to these pages. If you feel that circumstances cramp your style in correspondence, you may write here letters to be carried with you on your return. This book may serve to list the most striking concoctions of the camp kitchen, the records of camp sports or a selection of the best jokes cracked in camp. One man has suggested using the autograph of one of his companions (plus his fingerprints?) to head each page, followed by free and frank remarks about the man himself. You may write a commentary on such photographs as you may have to mount on the special pages for that purpose with the mounting-corners in the pocket of the back cover. This pocket may be used for clippings you want to preserve, or, together with the small envelopes on the last page, for authentic souvenirs of life in camp.
Your own ingenuity may suggest to you many other ways of using this book, which comes to you with our greetings and good wishes.
Yours very sincerely,
WAR PRISONERS’ AID OF THE YMCA.
[page break]
Received August 2nd. 1944.
[underlined] Bk4R6 [/underlined]
AIR MINISTRY [deleted] August [/deleted] [inserted] 16th September [/inserted] 1943
THIS IS TO CERTIFY that 8736 F/O. J. S. B. Tyrie R.A.F. born on 18th October, 1919 at present a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III and whose prisoner of war number is 530 has been promoted to Flight Lieutenant with effect from 19th October 1942 and the requisite notification has been published.
[signature] GROUP CAPTAIN
P. 358254 Director of Personal Services.
Asst. Secretary.
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
A WARTIME LOG FOR BRITISH PRISONERS
Gift from
THE WAR PRISONERS’ AID OF THE Y.M.C.A.
37 Quai Wilson
GENEVA – SWITZERLAND
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
[lion crest]
THIS BOOK BELONGS TO
JAMES S. B. TYRIE
F/L. R.A.F.V.R.
STALAG LUFT 3.
P.O.W. NO. 530
[YMCA crest]
[page break]
WE ARRIVE AT BARTH. 17-4-41[underlined] BACK ROW [/underlined] PALMER, S/L TORRENS, RUSSELL, SELF, RITCHIE, WILSON, LONG, MORGAN,
[underlined] FRONT [/underlined] SHORE, GOODWIN.
SHORE. ESCAPED, HOME, JUNE 1941
LONG. SHOT ON BREAK, APRIL 1944.
[page break]
[lion crest] 1 [lion crest]
10-4-41
“FOR YOU THE WAR IS OVER”
11-4-41 – 15-4-41
DULAG LUFT = FRANKFURT
17-4-41 – 9-4-42
STALAG LUFT 1 = BARTH
11-4-42 – 30-3-43
STALAG LUFT 3 (EAST CAMP) = SAGAN
30-3-43 – 29-2-44
STALAG LUFT 3 (NORTH CAMP) = SAGAN
29-2-44 – 28-1-45
STALAG LUFT 3 (BELARIA) = SAGAN
28-1-45 TO 4-2-45 BY SLEDGE, FOOT & CATTLE TRUCK VIA KUNAU, GROSS SELTEN, BIRKENSTEDT, GRAUSTEIN SPREMBERG TO STALAG 3A, LUCKENWALDE.
4-2-45 12-4-45
STALAG 3A (LUCKENWALDE) – [symbol]
12-4-45 = 14-4-45 IN CATTLE TRUCKS IN LUCKENWALDE GOODS STATION (INTENDED DEST. ST. 7A MOOSEBERG, NR MUNICH)
14-4-45 STALAG 3A (LUCKENWALDE) =
P.T.O.
[page break]
2
21-4-45 GERMANS EVACUATE CAMP.
22.4.45 (0603 HRS) RUSSIAN TANKS AND MOTORIZED INFANTRY ARRIVE.
20.5.45 PROCEED BY RUSSIAN TRANSORT [sic] TO ELBE, WHERE WE ARE MET BY AMERICAN TRUCKS AND GO TO HALLE, ARRIVING 10 P.M.
25.5.45 BY AIR IN DC3’s TO NIVELLES (BRUSSELS), ARRIVING 2 PM. BY LORRY TO BRUSSELS
26.5.45 BY LORRY TO SCHRACHT. BY AIR IN LANC TO DUNSFORD. BY TRAIN TO COSFORD (106 PRC).
27.5.45 BY TRAIN TO DUNDEE
10.4.41 TO 26.5.45
4 YEARS 1 MONTH 16 DAYS
[page break]
[drawing of two-headed man]
[signature]
RUMOUR.
[page break]
4
[blank page]
[page break]
5
Extract from the “Wire” Xmas 1941, Barth.
Damn it – you cant eat harps!
[drawing of airman on road to clouds]
[underlined] JST. [/underlined]
4.8.44
[page break]
6
[blank page]
[page break]
7
EAST CAMP DRs. MATTHEWS
NORTH CAMP – MONTEUIS & HUTT
BELARIA – MONTENUIS
LUCKENWALDE – MONTENUIS & STEWART
WIPE YOUR BOOTS
[drawing of caricature man holding large syringe]
[page break]
8
[blank page]
[page break]
9
[drawing of a Lancaster flying above clouds inside a circle]
[symbol] (said about June 44)
Very best wishes Jimmy & may it be less than 18 months!!
[signature]
AUG/44.
[page break]
10
[blank page]
[page break]
11
[SS badge]
[page break]
12
[drawing of caricature man with parachute on back going through door marked MANAGER]
With apologies to Fargasse and Leslie Irvin.
[page break]
13
[drawing of man and woman at dinner table, man is sitting, women is leaning over him]
[underlined] HOME TO REALITY
“WHAT! – PRUNES?” [/underlined]
[page break]
14
[blank page]
[page break]
15
[drawing of Percy Prune in flying gear in the forefront and a crashed aircraft in the background]
[page break]
16
[blank page]
[page break]
17
[drawing of map depicting where aircraft shot down and showing the area around Stalag Luft 3 and Stalag Luft 1]
[page break]
18
[blank page]
[page break]
19.
[drawing of nude woman paddling with man in background watching]
A kriegis “Mid Summer Night Dream”.
[signature]
Aug. 44
[page break]
20
[blank page]
[page break]
21
[drawing of view of camp from a window]
[signature]
[underlined] BELARIA [/underlined] 15/8/44
[page break]
22
[blank page]
[page break]
23
[colour drawing of ruins in the foreground and trees in the background]
[signature]
BELARIA.
[page break]
24
[underlined] Sagan. [/underlined]
“Enemy forces managed to gain possession of the town of Sagan”
[underlined] O.K.W. Communique 18-2-45 [/underlined]
[page break]
25
[crest of Sagan]
[signature]
4/10/44
[page break]
26
[blank page]
[page break]
27
[drawing of plan of prisoners’ camp]
Not to scale.
16-8-44
DURING AN AIR RAID
[underlined] SPORTS FIELD [/underlined]
[page break]
28
[plan drawing]
[page break]
29
[plan of German camp]
GERMAN CAMP
[page break]
30
[blank page]
[page break]
31
[cartoon drawing of 3 men sitting at table in Censor Department]
[underlined] “THIS ONE SAYS IT WON’T BE LONG NOW!”
[page break]
32
[blank page]
[page break]
33
[drawing of a Polish pilot's wings]
With best wishes from F/L DAAB Merryshaw.
Sagan-Belaria – 27-3-44.
[page break]
34
[blank page]
[page break]
35
[drawing of thatched houses with a bike rider on the road]
Cropthorne – A Worcestershire Village.
Best of Luck, Jimmy!
[signature]
10/44
[page break]
36
[blank page]
[page break]
37
25-8-44
[signature]
[drawing of airmen in messy room]
[page break]
38
[Kreigsgefangen Lagergeld]
[page break]
39
[blank page]
[page break]
40
[blank page]
[page break]
41
[drawing of map of Norway]
NORGE
Best wishes from [signature]
PILESTREDET 96
OSLO.
NORWAY.
[page break]
42
[blank page]
[page break]
43
[drawing of sentry in sentry box behind barbed wire]
To remind you, Jim, Bill Houghton Sept 44 Belaria
Copy
[page break]
46
THERE ARE NO RACKETS
[drawing of men playing badminton]
“NO – THEY MUST GO – I WONT HAVE THEM IN THE CAMP – NOT EVEN THAT KIND – THEY’RE MY ORDERS “I QUITE AGREE SIR”
[page break]
47
[drawing of two men marching, one in uniform the other in sports kit]
[page break]
48
[blank page]
[page break]
49
[drawing of two men, one a padre in front of a hut with door marked COMMUNISM]
“But I’m [underlined] no verrai religous [sic] Padre [/underlined]”
All the best
[signature]
[page break]
50
[blank page]
[page break]
[German leaflet]
[page break]
[permit stamp]
[three censor stamps]
[page break]
- AND WE, TO THE LAST ENGLISHMAN"
[cartoon drawing]
1944
“Und wir bis zum letslen Englander!!”
[page break]
[cartoon drawing]
[page break]
Ex. [underlined] Das Reich [/underlined].
[underlined] Archbishops in Action. [/underlined]
“We’ve blessed the bombs for the continent, now let’s dash off and do a prayer of protest against V1.”
[page break]
Englands Prestigekurve
[cartoon drawing of Winston Churchill]
Churchill flog von Athen nach London zuruck – (in homen Bogen)
CHURCHILL FLEW BACK FROM ATHENS TO LONDON (IN A BIG ARC) THE HIGH JUMP!
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
[German leaflet]
[page break]
GOSSIP BRINGS BOMBS. SILENCE! AND WARN EVERYONE, WHO STILL GOSSIPS – PST.
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
[pencil drawing of a woman’s face]
All the best Jimmy
Bob Hamilton
Stalag Luft III 1944.
[page break]
[drawing of three aircraft flying over the Polish flag]
BELARIA 17.IX.1944.
29. JUN. 1942 Saarbrucken.
F/LT. ALEXANDRAWICE H. HILMS
18.4.48 TUNIS
F/LT WYSZKOWSKI M.
TORUN
WARSAW, Air Ministry
F/Lt. DAAB [symbol]
F/O MORSKI B. Hilno
15.VI.1944 Holland
[page break]
[drawing of a Whitley]
[signature] 3/1/45
[page break]
[drawing of men in various forms of dress standing on parade.
APPEL.
EAMES
BELARIA ‘44
[page break]
[German film ticket]
[page break]
[drawing of a totem pole]
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
55
[underlined] In Memoriam. [/underlined]
To those officers who were killed after escaping from the North Camp on March 10th 1944.
[underlined] British [/underlined]
F/L BRETTEL
F/O BULL
S/L BUSHELL
F/L CASEY
P/O COCHRAN
S/L CROSS
P/O EVANS
P/O GRISMAN
- GUNN
- HALL
F/L HAYTER
P/O HUMPHREYS
- KIDDER
S/L KIRBY – GREEN
F/L LANGFORD
P/O LONG
P/O LEIGH
F/O MILFORD
F/L SWAIN
P/O STEWART
F/O STOWER
- STREET
- WALENN
- WILEY
P/O WILLIAMS.
[underlined] Polish [/underlined]
F/L CROLL
- KIEWNARSKI
- KOLANOWSKI
- MONDSCHEIN
- PAWLUK
- SKATZINKAS
- TOBOLSKI
[underlined] Canadian [/underlined]
F/L BIRKLAND
- McGILL
- WERNHAM
[underlined] Australian [/underlined]
S/L CATANACH
F/O HAKE
F/O KIERATH
S/L WILLIAMS
[underlined] Belgian [/underlined]
F/O PICARD
[underlined] Norwegian [/underlined]
LT. FUGLESANG
- ESPELID
[underlined] South African [/underlined]
LT. GOUWS
- McGARR
- STEVENS
[underlined] New Zealand [/underlined]
P/O CHRISTENSEN
F/O POHE
[underlined] French [/underlined]
P/O SCHEIDHAUER
[underlined] Czech [/underlined]
F/L VALENTA
[underlined] Lithuanian [/underlined]
F/L MARCINKUS
[page break]
56
I have confiscated from F./Lt. Tyrie 1 teep ot wich is belong to us
[signature]
I have confiscated from F/L Tyrie 1 teapot which is belong to us.
[signature]
[page break]
57
[underlined] Retrospect. Xmas ’41 [/underlined]
Flashback to January shows about 140 officers & 400 men facing the worst half of a Pomeranian winter. They are not without hope (or beer.)
In Feb, Fort Henry (Canada) in the news. S/L Paddon heads purge of 50 officers to Polish fortress at Thorn.
Parcels & cigs. beginning to arrive with some regularity, and with pleasantly full stomaches [sic] we watch our rapid advance in Lybia. With a Medical Comfort’s parcel we watched our even more rapid retreat.
About this time the Commandant, Maj. Oertal, was promoted to Oberstleutnant & posted. Succeeded by Maj. von Stachelsky, shortly also posted. In the matter of Commandants we were winning 2 – 1.
The Germans pour thro’ Yugoslavia to engage us in Greece. In June we lost Crete, but won W/C Day.
[page break]
58
He was accompanied by 17 other escapees from Dulag – & Major Dodge.
The summer passes quietly on Flieger Beer, with spasmodic activity in Lybia, heavy battles on the East Front, air attacks in the West, & the loss of S/L Lockett’s trousers in the North. In August a further purge emigrated in the direction of Lubeck, - in exchange we received one Padre.
In September began the Reign of Terror, & the men’s Dining room made Rajah Dowlah seem an incompetent lyro. In October the terror spent itself, but the memory lingers on. November saw the fast of news broken by the arrival of 40 new officers.
December – Germany storms the gates of Moscow – Russia fights on. We force the pace in Lybia – Gondar falls, & Mussolini mourns another desert - - - - -
- - - Roll on 1942.
[page break]
59
[underlined] THE DAILY BASH [/underlined]
[underlined] BREAKFAST 9 – 10 AM. [/underlined]
2 slices bread
spread
Tea
[underlined] LUNCH 12.30 pm. [/underlined]
1 slice bread
spread
cocoa
[underlined] TEA 4 PM. [/underlined]
2 slices bread (toasted)
spread
Tea
[underlined] DINNER 8 pm [/underlined]
3 – 4 oz. tinned meat
Potatoes & Veg.
Sweet
cocoa & cigs.
[underlined] Above for full parcels: [/underlined]
Supplies of Veg. very variable in quantity, tho monotonous
See p 73.
[page break]
60
[German newspaper cutting about Winston Churchill]
[page break]
61
[underlined] BOMBER COMMAND [/underlined]
LIE IN THE DARK AND LISTEN
IT’S CLEAR TONIGHT AND THEY’RE FLYING HIGH
HUNDREDS OF THEM AND THOUSANDS PERHAPS
RIDING THE MOONLIGHT SKY
MEN, MACHINERY, BOMBS AND MAPS
COFFEE, SANDWICHES AND FLEECE-LINED BOOTS.
BONES AND MUSCLES, MINDS AND HEARTS
DEEP IN THE EARTH THEY HAVE LEFT BEHIND
LIE IN THE DARK AND LET THEM GO
LIE IN THE DARK AND LISTEN.
LIE IN THE DARK AND LISTEN
THEY’RE GOING OVER IN WAVES AND WAVES
HIGH ABOVE VILLAGES HILLS AND STREAMS
COUNTRY CHURCHES AND LITTLE GRAVES
AND LITTLE CITIZENS WORRIED DREAMS.
VERY SOON THEY’LL HAVE REACHED THE SEA
AND FAR BELOW THEM WILL LIE THE BAYS
AND CLIFFS AND SANDS WHERE THEY USED TO BE
TAKEN FOR SUMMER HOLIDAYS
LIE IN THE DARK AND LET THEM GO
THEIR’S IS A WORLD WE’LL NEVER KNOW
LIE IN THE DARK AND LISTEN
LIE IN THE DARK AND LISTEN
CITY MAGNATES AND STEEL CONTRACTORS
FACTORY WORKERS AND POLITICIANS
SOFT, HYSTERICAL LITTLE ACTORS
BALLET DANCERS, RESERVED MJUSICIANS
SAFE IN WARM CIVILIAN BEDS
COUNT YOUR PROFITS AND COUNT YOUR SHEEP
LIFE IS PASSING ABOVE YOUR HEADS
JUST TURN OVER AND TRY TO SLEEP
LIE IN THE DARK AND LET THEM GO
THEIR’S IS A DEBT YOU’LL FOREVER OWE
LIE IN THE DARK AND LISTEN
[underlined] NOEL COWARD [/underlined]
[page break]
62
A selection of names used to describe various goons:-
Adolf
Flannelfoot
The Red Indian
Smiler
Rubberneck
Dim wits
The Dumb Hauptman
Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Babyface
Useless Eustace
The limping goon
Charlie
Bishop of Barth
Photo goon
Cookhouse goon
Cornerbox goon
Dopey
Slim
Mexican Pete
Taxi Joe
Bulk Issue
Slimey
Goon that barks like a dog
The Hundfuhrer
Appell goon
Death Warmed Up.
[page break]
63
[cartoon drawing]
Extract from Stratsunder Lachtrichten circa, November 1941
To celebrate [underlined] “Pearl Harbour” [/underlined]
[page break]
64
[underlined] THERE’S ALWAYS BLOODY SOMETHING [/underlined]
[underlined] A BLOODY GOOD DESCRIPTION OF LIFE IN ST. LUFT 3 [/underlined]
BLOODY TIMES IS BLOODY HARD
BLOODY WIRE FOR BLOODY GUARD
BLOODY DOG IN BLOODY YARD
BLOODY – BLOODY – BLOODY
BLOODY TEA IS BLOODY VILE
BLOODY COCOA MAKE YOU SMILE
COCOA MADE IN BLOODY STYLE
BLOODY – BLOODY – BLOODY
BLOODY ICE-RINK, BLOODY MUD
BLOODY SKATES NO BLOODY GOOD
SAT WHERE ONCE I BLOODY STOOD
BLOODY – BLOODY – BLOODY
BLOODY SALMON’S BLOODY QUEER
LOOKS AT YOU WITH BLOODY LEER
IS IT GOOD? NO BLOODY FEAR
BLOODY – BLOODY – BLOODY
BLOODY BRIDGE ALL BLOODY DAY
LEARNING HOW TO BLOODY PLAY
BLOODY BLACKWOODS BLOODY WAY
BLOODY – BLOODY – BLOODY
[page break]
65
NOW AND THEN – THO BLOODY STALE –
CENSOR HANDS OUT BLOODY MAIL
BETTER DRAW THE BLOODY VEIL
BLOODY – BLOODY – BLOODY
BLOODY GIRL FRIEND DROPS ME FLAT
LIKE A DOG ON BLOODY MAT
GETS A YANK LIKE BLOODY THAT
BLOODY – BLOODY – BLOODY
BLOODY SAWDUST IN THE BREAD
MUST HAVE COME FROM BLOODY BED
BETTER ALL BE BLOODY DEAD
BLOODY – BLOODY – BLOODY
DON’T IT GET YOUR BLOODY GOAT
WAS IT SHAW WHO BLOODY WROTE
“WHERE THE HELL’S THAT BLOODY BOAT?”
BLOODY – BLOODY – BLOODY
NOW I’VE REACHED THE BLOODY END
NEARLY ROUND THE BLOODY BEND
THAT’S THE GENERAL BLOODY TREND
BLOODY – BLOODY – BLOODY
[underlined] GEE – I’M BLOODY BRASSED [/underlined]
[page break]
66
[underlined] FOODACCO (NO RACKETS) [/underlined]
Foodacco is run on a Camp basis, and is simply a mart where P.O.Ws are able to exchange surplus articles such as clothing toothpaste etc, for others of which they have more need; chocolate for cigarettes and tobacco, and finally and most important of all, food from Red Cross parcels.
It is obvious that food and other articles have an entirely different value here in P.O.W. camps than at home, so a point value is given to each commodity, according to its supply and demand.
The following lists contain some of the more important Articles and their prices.
[underlined] CIGARETTES [/underlined]
GRADE I 60 PER 100
GRADE II 35 “
GRADE III 20 “
AM. GR. I 50 “
“ GR II 20 “
[underlined] TOBACCO [/underlined]
GRADE I 65 PER 4 OZS
GRADE II 45 “
GRADE III 15 “
TOOTHPASTE TOOTHBRUSH [brackets] 50 PTS
SHIRT + COLLAR 300 “
PYJAMAS 300 “
PANTS + VEST (SHT) 250 “
[page break]
67
[underlined] – MEATS:– [/underlined]
SPAM, PREM, ETC 90 PTS
YORK ROLL 85 “
BULLY BEEF 85 “
MEAT ROLL (ENG) 55 “
STEWS (ENG) 60 “
SAUSAGE (ENG) 55 “
“ (ARG) 120 “
BACON (ENG) 60 “
[underlined] FISH:- [/underlined]
SALMON 35 PTS
HERRINGS PILCHARDS [brackets] 35 “
SARDINES 15 “
[underlined] BREWS: [/underlined]
TEA (2 oz) 70 PTS
COFFEE (CAN GRD) 60 “
COFFEE (TIN PWDR) 60 “
COCOA 70 “
ORANGE JUICE 20 “
[underlined] SPREADS [/underlined]
JAM (16 oz) 80 PTS
“ (12 oz) 65 “
“ (10 oz) 55”
“ (6 oz) 30 “
SYRUP. 40 “
BUTTER 75 “
MARG (16 oz) 40 “
MEAT PASTE 15 “
[underlined] CHEESE [/underlined]
AM. (8oz) 45 “
ENG. (3 oz) 15 “
CAN (4 oz) 15 ”
N. Z. (16 oz) 80 “
[underlined] MISC. [/underlined]
OATS (SMALL) 50 PTS
“ (LARGE) 60 “
SUGAR PR LB 120 “
EGG FLAKES 40 “
SWEETS 10 “
MATCHES 20 “
[underlined] MILK:- [/underlined]
KLIM 100 PTS
OTHER PDWR MK. 80 “
CONDENSED 70 “
[underlined] BISCUITS [/underlined]
CANADIAN 60 PTS
ENGLISH SERVICE 55 “
ARGENTINE 60 “
AMERICAN 25 “
[underlined] FRUIT [/underlined]
RAISINS. (LARGE) 70 “
“ (SMALL) 35 “
PRUNES (LARGE) 30 “
“ (SMALL) 15 “
PEACHES (DRIED) APRICOTS “ DATES, FIGS [brackets] 40 “
[underlined] CHOCOLATE [/underlined]
PLAIN PER LB 160 “
MILK “ “ 200 “
D. BARS EACH 40 “
Hope these prices may always remind you Jimmy of Harry – G. Goodwin CHIEF [deleted] RACKETEER [/deleted] MANAGER
[page break]
68
At Luckenwalde, things were somewhat different. During the 6 weeks without any parcels, cigs. became extremely valuable. Trading took place with Army NCO’s etc. in neighbouring compound, also with hospital etc. Later also with Norwegian Compound. A camp Foodacco was then opened, dealing with Norwegian food separately, for which a %tage [sic] of coffee or choc. was necessary to make a purchase. The points system was used, one point being equal to a cigarrette. [sic]
[page break]
69
[underlined] Parody:- With Apologies To Jerome Keru. [/underlined]
They asked me how I knew, I’d been at the brew
I of course replied, something here inside
Tells me that I’m fried.
They said someday you’ll find,
All who drink go blind.
A presence in your head, will materialize
When the sun doth rise!
So I roar
With glee, and go for more,
To think they could doubt my capacity
Yet with the dawn, my skittishness is gone
I am without my vivacity!
Now laughing friends cry “Ho”!
You know we told you so
So I growld [sic] and say
“Go to Hell”!
And them,
Woof my lunch again.
In memory of “Kriegie Brews”! May we have some of the better variety together in the future.
[signature]
22-9-‘44
[page break]
70
[underlined] KRIEGIE SLANG [/underlined]
ABORT. Lavatory.
APPELL Roll call, held at least twice daily
BASH To eat – usually more than customary amount
BEND, ROUND THE: Mad, insane
BITCHING Complaining
BODS Group of individuals
BREW Drink – any type
CIRCUIT Internal perimeter of camp
COOLER. (GAOL) Bleak confinement for escape etc.
DHOBIE. Accumulation of unclean laundry
DUFF GEN. Highly inaccurate information
FERRET Ante-escape goon, working inside camp
FOODACCO Exchange of food, tobacco etc. on points system
GASH. Surplus, usually of food.
GLOP Pudding, goon or otherwise
GOON A German, or anything german.
GRIFF Information, usually reliable
KRIEGIE. Prisoner of War.
- Do – BREW. Alcoholic brew, made of raisins, prunes etc.
NEW PURGE. Influx of new kriegies
PIT . . Kriegie’s bed. (pit bashing – excessive use of)
PRANGER. Anything usuable [sic] as a hammer
RACKETS Double dealing in anything at all
STOOGE. Person on room duties – cook, washing up etc.
WIRE JOB Cutting way thro’ wire at night
GODBOTHERER. One with strong religious beliefs.
POPE. The R.C. padre.
[page break]
71
[underlined] IS IT AFFECTATION [/underlined]
WHEN FIRST WE JOINED THE AIR FORCE, WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE BETTER
TO INCLUDE A LITTLE SERVICE SLANG, IN MOTHER’S WEEKLY LETTER.
AND SO SHE LEARNED THAT WE WERE CHEESED, BRASSED OFF WITH BEING SPROGS,
WE DIDN’T LIKE THE BULL AT ALL, WE’D CLEANED TOO MANY BOGS.
WHEN HOME ON LEAVE WE’D TREAT THE GIRL TO CHAR & P’RAPS A WAD
AND SPEAK ABOUT HER FATHER, AS A PRETTY CLUELESS BOD
WHILE HER BROTHER IN THE ARMY – A BROWN JOB – HAD NO HOPE
HE SIMPLY HAD’NT [sic] GOT THE GRIEF, THE PONGO COULD’NT [sic] COPE.
OUR FLYING WAS A PIECE OF CAKE, THE ODD PRANG NOW & THEN
BUT USUALLY WE’D STOOGE AROUND, WE REALLY HAD THE GEN
WE’D BLAST THE GOON, DEFY THE FLAK, PRESS ON THRO’ ICE & SNOW
AND SOMETIMES WE’D COLLECT A GONG – BANG ON, OH WIZARD SHOW.
THEN CAME THE NIGHT OF GROUP’S BIG BOOB – SOME TYPE WAS NOT ON TOP
“ACHTUNG”, YOU SHALL EIN BURTON HAVE, I GIVE YOU ZE CHOP
OF WHICH WE TOOK A VERY DIM, WHEN DAWNED THE REALIZATION
WE’D HAVE TO LEARN SOME BRAND NEW SLANG – OR IS IT AFFECTATION.
SO NOW WE’RE KRIEGIES, DRINKING BREW, INSTEAD OF DEAR OLD CHAR
WE THRIVE ON GASH, ON CORNED BEEF HASH, & MORTGAGE OUR D-BAR
WE GIVE GOONS HELL WHEN ON APPELL, WE PITBASH, DAY & NIGHT
WE’RE ROUND THE BEND, BUT PRAISE NO END, OUR EFFORTS AT ARBEIT.
SO MOTHER DEAR, DON’T THINK US QUEER, JUST BLAME IT ON THE GOONS
IF YOU AT NIGHT AWAKE WITH FRIGHT TO HEAR “BOWLS UP FOR PRUNES”
WE REALLY ARE QUITE HARMLESS & STILL ARE FAIRLY YOUNG
SE WE’LL SETTLE DOWN WHEN WE GET HOME, TO LEARN OUR MOTHER TONGUE.
[page break]
72
[blank page]
[page break]
73
Rations from Germans at Luckenwalde consisted of a daily issue of 300 gms bread & 1/2 litre (approx 1 cup full) of very liquid soup. Each day a “spread” was issued, nearly always marg. 25 gms (about 1/2 match box) Very occasional issue of meat paste, sausage & fat. Every third day an issue of sugar, about 2 tablespoons each.
[page break]
74
[drawing of two men carrying plates walking in opposite directions through a door]
[underlined] ILS NE PASSERONT PAS! [/underlined]
[page break]
75
[blank page]
[page break]
76
[blank page]
[page break]
77
[underlined] Gimme the Gen! [/underlined]
“Hello! Let me carry your things for you”
“Thanks very much – what sort of camp is this?
“Oh – not bad, you know – but not a patch on Dulag. Have you been down long?
“Well, about 3 weeks or so: doesn’t sound long to you, I suppose”
“I’ll say. But that’s all the better: you must come & give us the good news”
“News?”
“Yes: everything thats [sic] going on in England. This is our room. Pretty untidy, I’m afraid. Now will you have some tea? And something to eat? I suppose you ran out of food on the way, as usual”
“Yes: how did you know that? Oh, thanks! Bread & cheese will do fine.”
[page break]
78
“Now tell me – what’s the spirit at home? Pretty good?
“Yes – I think it seemed alright.
“And how are our fighters doing over the channel? Are we shooting them down OK?
“Well, I don’t know really – was up North all the time.
“Tell me. What do the papers say about the Russian Front? Are the Germans having pretty heavy losses?
“Well, the papers say so.
“What sort of figure?
“I’m afraid I can’t remember. 1 – 4,000,000 I believe.
“Oh! Now what are the Americans doing? I believe Roosevelt’s got the Neutral Act repealed, hasn’t he?
“Yes, I believe I did read something about that – but I’ve rather forgotten now. Never read the papers much.
“Did you ever see the official reports about the sinking of submarines?
[page break]
79
“No”
“Oh, well! do you know anything about the Near East? Are there any rumours about an offensive in Lybia?
“I heard someone talking on the wireless once – don’t know who it was, though. I think he said we might make a push if we got enough troops there in time.
“Have you any idea what forces we’ve got out there?
“No, I’m afraid I haven’t.
“Did you ever hear anything of the F.A.A.?
“No, I’m afraid not.
“Were you on one of our new bombers?
“No”
“Have you ever seen a Stirling?
“Only in the distance, I’m afraid.
“Are they raiding England much now?
“I believe they are, occasionally.
[page break]
80
‘What size bombs are we dropping now?
‘I’m not sure, really: I’m an A.G.
‘What’s Jane doing now, do you know?
‘Jane?
‘Yes, Jane – in the Daily Mirror
‘Oh, I don’t know – never read the thing.
“Where were you on when you were shot down?
“Oh, well – I’m not sure – it was all in the darkness, you know.”
[symbol]
[page break]
81
[underlined] Report from Germany on Mass Escape. [/underlined]
In March of this year, English P.ows [sic] in considerable numbers broke out of various camps in Germany. Measures for bringing the fugitives in again were a complete success. In the course of these measures it was proved that a concerted action which had been partially prepared with help from abroad, was frustrated. While bringing in the Pows [sic] who had escaped from one camp, the German Police forces were forced to use their fire arms on various occasions, owing to resistance being offered and flight attempted. As a result, a no. of the prisoners lost their lives.
The Reich Govt. informed the British Govt. of these occurrences via Switzerland. Beyond this, it also held out the prospect of a final definite report, after the searches had been concluded. In the meanwhile, Eden, in the House of Commons, did not shrink from making the monstrous assertion that the British P.ow’s [sic] were murdered in Germany.
[page break]
82
In a communication which was made to the British, this unqualified censure is repudiated. The note runs as follows.
“On the 23rd. June, the English Foreign Minister, without waiting for the results of German inquiries, made a declaration in this matter, which the Reich energetically repudiates. The F.M. of a country, which began the bombing war, against the civilian population, which has murdered 10,000’s of women & children by terror attacks on dwelling places, hospitals & cultural monuments, which in an official “Handbook of Modern Irregular Warfare”, written for Forces, has given all English soldiers the literal command to apply the methods of gangsters to gouge out the eyes of an enemy who lies defenceless on the ground, and to smash in his skull with stones - - -
[page break]
83
such a Foreign Minister must be deprived of the right to have any part in the question at all, or indeed to make any accusations of any kind. In face of the unheard off [sic] conduct of the English Foreign Minister, the Reich Govt. declines to give further information re this affair.
Ex. Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.
[page break]
84
[blank page]
[page break]
85
[underlined] Heard after lights out. [/underlined]
- - - They can’t afford not to do it, with the reserves they haven’t got - - -
[underlined] Luckenwalde. [/underlined]
Continual coughing – and many air-raid warnings.
[page break]
86
[underlined] NORWEGIAN COMPOUND V. BRITISH COMPOUND. [/underlined]
V. LT. ENDERSEN
SELF. WHITE
[list of moves on a chess board]
[indecipherable address]
After 2 hrs play, white had an advantage of a rook & 3 pawns and was judged by committee to be winner, black agreeing. The match was lost 9 1/2 – 2 1/2.
A delightful lunch followed the match, as per menu opposite.
[page break]
87
[drawing of six flags]
[underlined] Luncheon [/underlined]
given by
The Norwegian Officers
at
The Great International Chess Tournament
in
Luckenwalde 28/3 1945
[drawing of a flower]
Flight Lieutenant Jamas [sic] Tyrie
[page break]
88
[blank page]
[page break]
89
[underlined] – ESCAPE – [/underlined]
If you can quit the compound undetected
And clear your tracks, nor leave the smallest trace
And follow out the programme you’ve selected
Nor lose your grasp of distance, time & space . . .
If you can walk at night by compass bearing
Or ride the railways in the light of day
And temper your elusiveness with daring
Trusting that sometimes bluff will find a way . . .
If you can swallow sudden, sour frustration
And gaze unmoved at failure’s ugly shape,
Remembering, as further inspiration
It was, and is, your duty to escape . . .
If you can keep the great Gestapo guessing
With explanations only partly true
And leave them, in their heart of hearts, confessing
They didn’t get the whole truth out of you. - - -
[page break]
90
If you can use your “cooler” fortnight dearly
For planning methods wiser than before,
And treat your first miscalculations merely
As lists let fall by fate to teach you more . . .
If you can scheme on with patience & precision
It wasn’t in a day they builded Rome
And make ‘escape’ your single, sole ambition
The next time you attempt it, you’ll get home.
F/L [underlined] E. Gordon Brettel. [/underlined]
(written in April 1943 in the “cooler” at Gross Hartmansdorf, Saxony. Brettel was among the victims of the big escape from the North Camp, Stalag Luft 3, in April 1944.)
[page break]
91
[underlined] WEEKLY RATIONS PER MAN, AS ISSUED [/underlined]
2 oz. Sugar
2 oz. Jam
1 Loaf Black Bread (2000 grms.)
4 oz. Marg.
6 lbs. Potatoes (Variable)
3 oz. Dry Barley
2 oz. Cheese (Ersatz 50% inedible)
2 oz. Blood Sausage
2 oz. Fresh meat
3 oz. Ersatz tea or coffee (not used)
Dry or Fresh Vegetable when available.
[underlined] GENEVA CONVENTION. CH. 2 ART. 2. [/underlined]
THE FOOD RATION OF P.O.W’s. SHALL BE EQUAL IN [underlined] QUALITY [/underlined] AND [underlined] QUANTITY [/underlined] TO THAT OF DEPOT TROOPS.
[page break]
92
People I lived with.
R3W. – R28 C
[underlined] Barth. Ritchie (S) – Ritchie (S)
Russell (E) – Patterson (S)
Self – Middleton (E)
[blank] – Self
68/8 – 64/4
[underlined] SAGAN. [/underlined]
E.
Stapleton (E) – Anthony (C)
Patterson (S) – Kingswell (C) (Davies (E)
Page (E) – Dougall (C) Small (S.A.)
Middleton (E) – Hannigan (E) Read ) (E)
Lythgoe (E) – Amos (A)
Self- Mace (E)
[blank] – Graham (E)
[blank] – Self
[underlined] SAGAN [/underlined]
N.
103/8
AMOS (A)
BAINES (A) (Slater) (A)
BRICKHILL (A)
COLLETT (E)
EDWARDS (E)
Self
[underlined] BELARIA [/underlined]
4/6
WILLIAMS (E)
GOODWIN (E)
BUCKLEY (I)
CULLING (E)
ALLEN (E)
KOCH (A)
WATSON (S)
HAYDEN
LEWIS (E)
OLDING (C)
HUNTER (C)
SELF
(HUGHES (E)
MACKENZIE (I)
OSBORNE (A)
Luckenwalde 220 others
[page break]
93
[underlined] Cooking [/underlined]
To boil water a large jug labelled “Kein Trinkwasser” (no drinking water) is used.
For 130 men in a barrack, the Reich supplies 3 large brown pots – nothing else. This is supplemented by Canadian Red X pots & frying pans.
Baking and frying is mostly done in trays made from Klim tins.
There is one stove 3’ x 2 1/2', with an oven with 2 shelves, coal fired. Each room has to share with another one, having 3/4 of an hour in the afternoon & the same in the evening. (Catering thus for 24 men.)
All flour is obtained by grinding down biscuits.
[page break]
94
[underlined] MAIL AVERAGE TIME 2 – 3 MONTHS EACH WAY [/underlined]
[underlined] FIRST LETTER WRITTEN [/underlined] 12-5-41
[underlined] FIRST LETTER RECIEVED [sic] [/underlined] 16-6-41
[underlined] PARCELS [/underlined] MINIMUM 2 -3 MONTHS
1st. CLOTHING PARCEL 16-10-41 (SECOND SENT, 1st. LOST)
1st. CIG. PARCEL 19-8-41
1st. AMERICAN PRIV. PARCEL 21-9-41
TOTAL AMER. PRIV. PARCELS RECVD. 34
- DUTCH - - - 11
[underlined] RED X PARCELS RECVD. BY ROOM OF 3 MEN [/underlined]
[line chart]
[page break]
95
[underlined] Choc. Raisin Pie [/underlined]
Line tray with shortened pastry and bake. Boil raisins, add butter, sugar, choc. or cocoa, and milk. Bring to boil and thicken. Spread on pastry and serve cold with cream.
[underlined] Amer. Do-nuts [/underlined]
Fill dough-nut with ice-cream, pour over choc. sauce, or cream. Sprinkle with chopped nuts.
[underlined] Candied Carrots [/underlined]
Boil and mash carrots. Spread with honey or syrup and bake in oven.
[page break]
96
[underlined] Piyella [sic] [/underlined]
Semi-fry rice until fat is soaked up. Add little saffron, and bake in oven, adding little water and turning over constantly Fry chopped ham, bacon and pork, add same to above. Fry carrots, peas, onions etc and add to above. Bake well, with continual mixing to prevent top getting too crisp. (Pre-cook veg.)
[underlined] Klim icing [/underlined]
Mix dry klim, butter and sugar cold.
[page break]
97
[underlined] PHOTOS. [/underlined] ON MARCH: JAS. HILL
R.A.F. PHOTO UNIT
PINEWOOD STUDIOS
DENHAM.
LUCKENWALDE: JOSE MULLER
ROBERT CARMAN
JEFFERSON
IOWA, U.S.A.
[page break]
98
[black and white photograph of head and shoulders of Max Schmelling]
[page break]
99
[underlined] Autograph photo of Max Schmelling: [/underlined] obtained during his visit to Luckenwalde on March 2nd. 1945.
Reason of visit unknown, perhaps connected with visit of unknown S.S. Obergruppenfuhrer. Air raid alarm that morning for 2 hrs.
[page break]
100
K.H. ANTHONY,
90. QUEENSBURY AVE.
TORONTO, 13 (GROV. 8011)
N.N. AMOS
122, ALEXANDRA ROAD
CLAYFIELD. BRISBANE (M 3595)
R.P. BAINES
3, CAMBRIDGE ST.
NORTH BRIGHTON S. 6
MELBOURNE. (X 3058)
ROBIN BUCHANAN
STONEHAM
HELENSBURGH (116)
S/L G.N.S. CAMPBELL
4. MEADWAY,
LITTLE THURROCK
GRAYS. ESSEX
O.S.R. COLLETT
PULHAM MARKET
DISS,
NORFOLK
A.G. EDWARDS
1, FILEY ROAD,
NEWPORT, MON.
S. WALES.
2/L DAVID FARRELL
430, JUNIPERO
LONG BEACH
CALIFORNIA (3 – 2928)
H. GOODWIN,
150, WIGHTMAN RD.
HORNSEY. LON. N.8 (MOV 6448)
LT. BILL MOSES (C/O JULES CLUB JERMYN ST. LOND.)
1705, WAYNE AVE.
S. PASADENA
CALIFORNIA.
PADRE MACDONALD
PORTREE
SKY.
K.W. MACKENZIE
’LAKEVIEW’
ENNISKILLEN
N. IRELAND
TICH READ,
HILL LANE
RUISLIP
MIDDLESEX
SAM, SMALL,
P.O. BOX 999
DURBAN.
S.A.
R.D. SHUMAN
STATESBORO,
GEORGIA.
ART HUNTER
530 N. BRODIE ST.
FORT WILLIAM
ONTARIO (SOUTH 2254)
R.J. ALLEN
BREVET CLUB
CHARLES ST.
LONDON.
48, BAKER ST.
WESTON.
J.M. OLDING.
638, TRANSIT RD.
VICTORIA
B.C.
JOE HUNT
241, POWELL AV.
OTTAWA
ONTARIO
J.K. WATSON,
MANIWAKI
QUEBEC
[page break]
101
J. CARRIE,
35, HOWARD ST.
ARBROATH.
W.C. HOWELL
45 EASTBOURNE CRES.
MIMICO, ONTARIO
J.L. WILSON (WILLIE)
1046 ALGONA AV.
MOOSE JAW, SASK.
R.G. CLARKE.
173, WESTMORLAND AV.
TORONTO. ONT.
B.M. FITZGERALD
6, PROVENCHAR APTS
ST. BONIFACE, MAN.
E.L. HOUGHTON
20, KARAKA ST.
PALMERSTON. NORTH I.N. 2
J. McCAGUE.
C/O MRS. CUMMINGS
1144 11S DALE AVE. N
TORONTO
WYNN AYER
1543 NORTH PROSPECT AVE,
MILWAUKEE.
WIS. U.S.A.
GEO. HARSH
2814, PEACHTREE ROAD
ATLANTA, GEO.
U.S.A.
WILF KIPP
425 FADER ST.
NEW WESTMINSTER. B.C.
A.H. DEACON.
SOUTHWOOD
BROADSTONE
DORSET.
P.N. BOYLE
DINVIN
PORT PATRICK,
P.P. 200
STRANRAER.
FRANK DOLLING
16 VINCENT RD.
TOTTENHAM
LONDON N. 15
TEL. BOW 1361
GORDON GALLAGHER
2341, KEMPER LANE
CINCINNATI
OHIO
W.H. CULLING
18, WOODLANDS RD.
BUSHEY
HERTS. (WATFORD 2904)
JOHN H. RATHBONE
3067 STRATFORD AVE.
LINCOLN 2, NEBRASKA
L.O. STANLEY
68, STRATHCONA AVE.
TORONTO.
ONT.
W.A. HORSLEY
14 Wolseley St.,
DRUMMOYNE: Sydney
WA2038 ov JA 1492
JOSE MULLER
18, IRWIN ROAD,
BEDFORD
ENGLAND.
124 VAN SCHOOR STRAAT
BRUSSELS
BELGIUM.
[page break]
102
WINTER SPORTS. 1 MONTH
Patrick Conyton
The Rectory
Bonchwoch.
Ventnor 357. Isle of Wight
[underlined] Clothing [/underlined] Take with you Lounge Suit Dinner Jacket
Travel in flannels & sports jacket
Ski boots, ski socks, trousers cap and jacket to be purchased in [underlined] non winter resort [/underlined] swiss town approx £3.10
[underlined] Fare [/underlined] Reduced Swiss Federal Rly Excursion fare can be done £5 - £7 return.
[underlined] Localities: [/underlined] Suggest 14 days Adelboden in the Berner Oberland, Do not pay more than 1 £ a day all in. Write to Fran Gurtnev Grand Hotel & mention
[page break]
105
my name, if she is unable to do it at price ask for her advice saying you are Ex P.O.W. & old friend of mine
Hire Skis, (good ones essential)
Best Ski teacher in S = Christian Pierien
[underlined] 2nd fortnight [/underlined] AROSA (Grissons)
Travel across Switzerland 3rd class suggest POSTE HOTEL, or SCHWEIZERHOF try Pow flannel & ask for moderate terms, you can always change if unsuitable, book for 1 week. Poste Hotel is 1/2 mile from Nursry [sic] slopes. Schweizerhof 1/4 mile. Magnificent place, bags of sun & good snow. Take camera. Overheads according to what you want, I found 5/- - 10/- ample per day but unecessary. [sic]
Total cost: Fares £7.10
Hotel £30
Clothes & skis £5
Etc £6.10
£50 Can be done for £40 without discomfort
P.T.O.
[page break]
106
Best months: February & March., End of January quite good too.
Before leaving England take exercises to strengthen ankles, legs, thighs, saves a lot of stiffness later.
Get in touch with me first & I may be able to fix you up some things as I have my own skis, skates boots etc. It is also much cheaper to stay in private chalets, good bed & food but no hotel special comforts. This would need enquiring into from my friends etc. Speaking German a great help for mixing with Swiss in good cheap pubs, avoid smart set & lovely lovelies who fall down in front of you & say “Ooo how strong you are” when you pick them up.
ALWAYS PICK PLACES WITH SUN (eg Avoid Grindelwald)
Rucksac [sic] essential
[page break]
107
[underlined] Programme for meeting in London. [/underlined]
Stay [underlined] Wings Club. [/underlined]
[underlined] Evening: [/underlined] Visit: Shephards
Cumberland Bar
Hay in the Pound
Berkely [sic] Square
Scotts
Café Royal
Hamburger
[underlined] Next Day: [/underlined] Breakfast: at Dorchester
Lunch: at Majorca
Tea: at Shearns
Wings Club
Snack
Show
Scotts
Pubs
Bath House
[page break]
108
[drawing of blocks in camp with volleyball and basketball courts]
FORE:- Theatre & Loudspeakers & Volleyball
BACK:- Block One, Tents & Basketball court [signature]
[page break]
109
[plan drawing of interior of block]
[page break]
110
[drawing of bunk beds inside block]
[signature] 3/9/44
[page break]
111
[blank page]
[page break]
112
[German label]
Konnisbrot
[aerial photograph]
Windows, from Am daylight on March 15th, 1945
[two sets of Windows]
Picked up at Luckenwalde.
[page break]
113
[blank page]
[page break]
[map drawing]
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
[blank page]
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
Jim Tyrie's Wartime Log. One
Description
An account of the resource
A wartime log kept by Jim Tyrie whilst being kept a prisoner of war. He was shot down on 10th April 1941 and imprisoned for 4 years, 1 month and 16 days. It contains cartoons, sketches and maps.
He lists the men who were shot after recapture during the Great Escape.
Included are poems and parodies, a list of their daily rations, an account of the Mass Escape, recipes and small strips of Window dropped by the RAF.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Jim Tyrie
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One handwritten book.
Language
A language of the resource
eng
deu
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Artwork
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
STyrieJSB87636v1
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Poland
Germany--Barth
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Luckenwalde
Germany--Oberursel
Poland--Żagań
Germany--Bernau (Brandenburg)
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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
David Bloomfield
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
arts and crafts
bale out
Dulag Luft
escaping
pilot
prisoner of war
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 1
Stalag Luft 3
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1343/22221/STyrieJSB87636v2.2.2.pdf
9ce0536309a442a2c66aa959c8974410
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
Tyrie, Jim
Tyrie, JSB
Description
An account of the resource
34 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Jim Tyrie (1919 - 1993, 87636 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, photographs, correspondence and prisoner of war log as well as a photograph album. He flew operations as a pilot with 77 Squadron before being shot down in April 1941.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Brian Taylor and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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
2019-06-01
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
Tyrie, JSB
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[lion crest]
A WARTIME LOG
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
A WARTIME LOG
FOR
BRITISH PRISONERS
Gift from
THE WAR PRISONERS’ AID OF THE Y.M.C.A.
27, Quai Wilson
GENEVA – SWITZERLAND
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
[lion crest]
THIS BOOK BELONGS TO
JAMES S.B. TYRIE F/L
STALAG LUFT 3
BELARIA
[symbol]
P.T.O.
P.O.W. NO. 530
[YMCA crest]
[page break]
[underlined] CHANGE OF CAMP. [/underlined]
STALAG 3A (OFLAG) LUCKENWALDE
[page break]
CONTENTS
Page
ARRIVAL IN GERMANY 1 – 3
KLIM TIN DISHES 4 – 5
ADDRESSES 9 – 15, – 33 [brackets] RESTAURANTS ETC. 31 – 2
CARTOONS 21 – 25 CLUBS ETC. 27 – 28
DAY’S MENU (HOME) 37 – 39 BRIDGE GAME 29
ROLEX 58 ITALIAN CENSORS 59
G. ARTICLE (BOMBING) 62 – 67 GERM. CARTOON 60
PAROLE CARD 68 – 69 INVASION HEADLINE 61
WALKS (BELARIA) 70 – 71 GERM. CARTOON 72
GERMAN CAMP MONEY 76 LETTER FROM COMM 74
GERM FIGHTER CLAIMS 78 – 82 EXAM PASS 75
GERM. POSTER ON ESCAPE 84 – 87 CHEQUES 83, 92
JAP CARTOONS (V.B.) 89 – 90 CARTOON 88
1944 – 1945 XMAS MENU 93 GERM POSTER 94
MOVE FROM BELARIA 98 –
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
[lion crest] 1 [lion crest]
SGT. LEE. 1st PILOT.
SELF 2nd “
SGT. YOUNG OBSERVER
SGT. BUDD WIRELESS-OPERATOR
SGT. HULL REAR GUNNER
10-4-41
[underlined] FAMOUS LAST WORDS. [/underlined]
SGT. BUDD: “DO YOU KNOW THE PORT ENGINE IS ON FIRE?”
[underlined] TARGET. [/underlined] RAILWAY STATION IN E. BERLIN.
NO. OF A/C TAKING PART. 98
NO. OF A/C LOST 10
HIT BY FLAK OVER TARGET & SET ON FIRE. SGT. YOUNG WOUNDED IN LEG. HEADED N. FOR SWEDEN, BUT
[page break]
2
FORCED TO ABANDON A/C 15 MINS LATER. BAILED OUT AND LANDED IN GARDEN OF HOUSE IN BERNAU. FOLLOWED DOWN BY SEARCHLIGHTS & CAUGHT IMMEDIATELY ON LANDING. TAKEN TO POLICE STATION, WHERE, MIDST MUCH NOISE & CHAOS, YOUNG’S LEG WAS BANDAGED BY ELDERLY V.A.D. LADY. PHOTOGRAPHED BY ALL AND SUNDRY.
TAKEN NEXT TO FLAK SCHOOL CELLS. LATER INTERROGATED AND SPENT NIGHT IN CELL. NEXT MORNING, COMPLAINED TO VISITING LUFTWAFFE OFFICERS OF POOR BREAKFAST. REWARDED BY WHITE BREAD, JAM &
[page break]
3
SOME JELLIED MEAT. ALSO PERMITTED TO VISIT FREELY REST OF CREW.
ABOUT 10 AM. PROCEEDED IN WAGON TO BERLIN, ANHALTER RLY. STATION, WHERE WE CAUGHT TRAIN FOR FRANKFURT-ON-MAIN AND DULAG LUFT. ARRIVED ABOUT MIDNIGHT AT COOLER.
INTERROGATED AND SEARCHED NEXT MORNING, AND ALLOWED INTO MAIN CAMP IN THE AFTERNOON
[symbol]
[page break]
4
[underlined] KLIM TIN TRAYS. [/underlined]
Made a total of 6 for mess at Belaria, quite successful.
[drawing of work bench and tin]
Start by cutting off bottom of tin with table knife. Then by laying the tin flattened out along the crack in stool, cut off ragged edges, and get uniform lengths. Also cut out strips 1 inch wide.
[drawing of flattened tin]
The edges of big sheets are folded over in 1/4" flanges, ditto with small binders Then all sheets are joined together to form a large flat plate [symbol]
[symbol]
[page break]
5
[drawing of flattened tin] which looks something like the above rough sketch. The joints are firm by hammered down and the sheet is folded into a tray according to depth required.
[drawing of box shape] The ends are folded round, it being arranged that there is an over lap at narrow ends to hold corner flaps in place. Similarly a flap in left along sides and a thin strip put on to strengthen.
[drawing of KLIM box]
[page break]
6
[blank page]
[page break]
7
[cartoon drawing of officer sitting at table]
“HEBREWS: 13. V. 8
[page break]
8
[blank page]
[page break]
9
Jimmy Anderson, 3 Arkley Pl. Dundee
Bill Amos, 122 Alexandra Rd. Clayfield Brisbane. M3595
K.H. Anthony, 90 Queensbury Av. Toronto 13 Grover 811
Betty Bowles, Hever Farm, Singlewell, Kent
Mrs. Brough, 15 Maryfield Terr., Dundee
Dorothy Bates, 104 Ledbury Rd. (B.F.) Bayswater, W11
Mrs D. Brough, 7100 Staedman Av. Dearborn Michigan
Mrs. Morris Baldwin, 338 Highland, Wyandotte, Michigan.
Mr. & Mrs. Bruce, 2511, 23rd. Street, Wyandotte, Michigan.
R.P. Baines, 3 Cambridge St. N. Brighton 5. 6 Melbourne. X3058
Robin Buchanan, Stoneham, Helensburgh
Geo. Combe, 2 Tayview Terrace, E. Newport
Mr. & Mrs. Callow, 11 The Green, St. Leonards
[page break]
10
S/L C.N.S. Campbell, 4, Meadway, Little Thurrock, Grays, Essex.
OSR. Collett, Pulham Market, Diss, Norfolk
A.T. Davidson, 43 Kings Road, East Sheen, London SW.
Mrs. G.W. Dagwell, 6 Torr View Ave. Peverell, Plymouth.
Mr & Mrs Elder, Bruce Terrace, Errol.
Mrs Elliott, 63 Loans Road, Dundee
Ted Edwards, 1, Filey Road, Newport, Mon. S. Wales.
Miss Pauline Elliott-Beevor, 16 Hyde Park Gardens, London, W2
2/L David Farrell, 430 Junipers, Long Beach, California. 3 – 2928
[page break]
11
Val Galloway, 190 Arbroath Rd. Dundee
Chris. Gordon, 11 Cardean St. Dundee
OH Grunke, 1543 York Ave. New York
Harry Goodwin, 150 Wightman Road, Hornsey London N. 8 MOV 6448
Douglas Hill, Dalgleish Road, Dundee
Pat Hamblin,
Baroness H. van Heickeren, (Rote Kreug) de Steeg, Holland.
Helen Harle, 3 Commercial Road, Spittal B. on Tweed.
Jack Hynd, 68 Forfar Road, Dundee
Lt. Carl Holmstrom, Sherwood St., Branaford, Conneticut. [sic]
Mrs. J. Johnston, 445 Riverbank, Wyandotte, Michigan.
Joan Kelson, 4 Severn Drive, Thornbury, nr. Bristol
[page break]
12
Mrs. Thomas Kenworthy, Glenside, Pennsylvania
Grethe Kavli, Eilerts Sunds Gt. 2 Oslo, Norway.
Margaret Lemmens, R.N.O. Hospital Gt Portland St. London W1
Mrs. Harry Locker, 156 First Street, Wyandotte, Michigan.
Mrs. Lasseter, Missippi, [symbol] Morton.
Mrs. J. Morris, 90 Beech Road, Clevelys Lancs.
Bruce Mackenzie, c/o Mrs. E.G. Twyanan 990 Erin St. Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Mrs. McKechnie, Trafalgar Apts. Cote de Leige Road, Montreal.
Lt. Bill Moses, c/o Jules Club, Jermyn St. London.
1705 Wayne Avenue, South Pasadena, California
[page break]
13
Padre MacDonald, Parish House, Portree, Sky
Miss Ethel Newman, 9440 Savery, Detroit, Michigan.
K.W. Mackenzie, Lakeview, Enniskillen, N. Ireland.
Miss Jean Nicholas, 49 Leith Ave., Portchester, Fareham, Hants.
Alice Partington, 80 Friendship St. Bolivar, New York.
Miss Emily Price, c/o Landes Bros. 130 W 30th St. New York.
Fred Randall, 127 Ferry Road, Dundee
Pat Roper, 134 Hurst St. Cowley Rd. Oxford.
Anne Reid, Greenwich, Conneticut. [sic] P.O.B. 427
Tich Read, Fairfield, Hill Lane, Ruislip Middsx.
[page break]
14
Gladys Richardson, 79, Moreland St. London E.C.
Sandy Shepherd, 8 Lochlee Terrace, Dundee.
Isla Stewart, 70 Dalkeith Road, Dundee.
Joan Scott. Ashgrove, Low Utley, nr. Keighley, Yorks.
[symbol] Ethel Sheldrake, 36 Alleyn Road, West Dulwich, London SE21
Sam Small, P.O. Box 999, Durban.
[symbol] Always thro. Mrs Pick, Woodhouse Field Thirsk.
R.D. Shuman, Statesboro, Georgia
Joyce Tillbrook, 45 Wroughton Rd. London S.W.11
[page break]
15
Eve Vere, “Peacehaven” Tavistock Rd. Roborough, Devon.
Eve Wheeldon, 12 Colwick Rd. West Bridgeford, Nottingham.
Mrs. Alex. Wann, 51 Vinton St. Dorchester, Mass.
Lt. Rathbone, Lincoln, Nebraska. (Geologist)
Jack F.M. White, 82 Parkland Grove, Ashford, Middsx. 2455 (Germ. Class)
[page break]
16
[blank page]
[page break]
17
An extract from “All Souls’ Night”, a collection of short stories by Hugh Walpole. It sums up very well the situation which so often arises in camps between friends.
“The perfect travelling companion! Isn’t he or she practically an impossibility? As with marriage you may compromise, and nine out of ten times you do. Is it your fault or the others? Surely not your own, for you start out with such splendid confidence as to your own character. And, to the very last, it isn’t your own character that seems to have failed. Aside from one or two little irritabilities you have been perfect, but the other - ! You had no idea before you started of the weaknesses, the selfishness, the odd, exasperating tricks, the refusal to agree to the most obvious course, the insistence on unimportant personal rights! No, it has most certainly [underlined] not [/underlined] been your fault; and yet, in retrospect, are there not suddenly exposed certain flecks, little blemishes in your own personality, that you had never suspected.”
[symbol]
[page break]
20
[blank page]
[page break]
21
“HAPPY DAYS”
[eight cartoon drawings of life in camp]
[page break]
22
[blank page]
[page break]
23
“HAPPY DAYS”
[eight cartoon drawings of life in camp]
[page break]
24
[blank page]
[page break]
25
[nine cartoon drawings of life in camp]
[page break]
26
[blank page]
[page break]
27
[underlined] CLUBS [/underlined]
1. MURRAYS
2. TATTY BOGLE
3. GAY 90’s
4. TUDOR & CROCKER
5. BLUE PENCIL
6. HAVANNA
7. CHEZ NO 1
8. R.A.F.
9. OVERSEAS
10. CAFE DE PARIS
11. L.’ APERATIF [sic]
12. UNIVERSAL
13. CAPTAINS CABIN
14. PUNCHBOWL
15. BELLE VUE
16. ORANGE
17. QUEENS
18. CAFÉ ANGLAIS
19. AMER. EAGLE
20. N.Z. FORCES
21. BINNYS
22. CAFÉ BLEU
23. WHITE HOUSE
24. NAUTICAL
25. FRENCH HOUSE.
26. SWISS HOUSE
27. BOULLABAISE
28. LADDER
29. COCONUT GROVE.
[page break]
18
[blank page]
[page break]
[drawing of a man’s head and shoulders]
GILBERT DOCKING 45
LUCKENWALDE.
[page break]
28
[underlined] RESTAURANTS [/underlined]
A. MIRABELLE
B. HATCHETTS
C. PREMIER
D. PRINCES BAR
[symbol] E. ODDENINOS
F. CAFÉ ROYAL
G. BODEGA
H. CHICKEN COOP
I. HUNGARIA
J. APPENRODT
[symbol] K. MONACO
L. MAISON LYON
M. TROCADERO
N. SCOTTS
O. CORNER HOUSE
IND. P. VIER SWAWNEY
Q. MARTINEZ
C4. R. LEONS
GK S. WHITE [deleted] HOUSE [/deleted] [inserted] TOWERS [/inserted]
T. WINSTON HOTEL
U. EXPRESS DAIRY
V. POLYTECHNIC
W. QUALITY INN
X. QUALITY INN.
[underlined] Contd: [/underlined] on p 31 & 32
[page break]
29
Bridge Game Him – “Two diamonds”
Goch – “Three hearts”
Goer. – “Four ho trump”!
Hit. – “The club”!?
IV – “Pass”!
E – “Pass”!!
G – “Pass” !!X?
[drawing of three men playing bridge]
[page break]
30
[blank page]
[page break]
31
[underlined] BOLIVAR. [/underlined] PORTLAND PLACE: GOOD BAR & SNACKS.
[underlined] BRISTOL GRILL & BAR [/underlined]. CORK ST. DINE WINE & DANCE
[underlined] SYMONDS HOTEL [/underlined]: BROOK ST. BARS, REST. & SNACK C. (DROP IN)
[underlined] SOUTH MOLTON LOUNGE [/underlined]: DITTO ST. BAR & SNACKS (USEFUL)
[underlined] HOG IN THE POUND [/underlined]: DAVIES ST. & OXFORD ST. BAR. EXC. GRILL ROOM
[underlined] CHICKEN INN [/underlined]: HAYMARKET. REST. & SNACKS.
[underlined] I AM THE ONLY RUNNING FOOTMAN [/underlined]: BERKELY SQ. 1st. CLASS BARS
[underlined] THE CHAIRMAN [/underlined]: BEHIND AIR MINISTRY. BAR. 19th. CENT. ATMOS.
[underlined] SHEPHARDS [/underlined]: SHEPHERDS MKT. (HYDE PK. CORNER) GOOD BARS & DINING. ESPEC. LUNCH. GOOD MEETING PLACE.
[underlined] SNOWS CHOP HOUSE [/underlined]: GLASSHOUSE ST. VERY GOOD QUAL. PLAIN FOOD.
[underlined] MAJORCA [/underlined]: (BEHIND REGENT PAL.) SPANISH ATMOS. MED.
[underlined] TROCADERO [/underlined]: SHAFTESBURY AV. GRILL ROOM. CABARET.
[underlined] GENAROS [/underlined]: NEW COMPTON ST. GOOD ITALIAN CUISINE. FLOWER FOR EVERY LADY. [symbol]
[underlined] SHEARNS [/underlined]: TOTTENHAM CT. ROAD. VEG. REST. EXCELLENT FRUIT TEAS. REC BY BOFF.
[underlined] SCOTTS [/underlined]: PICCADILLY CIRC. (MALE) FAMOUS MIXED GRILLS.
[underlined] SIMPSONS REST. [/underlined] (MALE) EXC. GRILL ROOM.
[underlined] CHESHIRE CHEESE [/underlined]. FLEET ST. EXC. PLAIN COOKING WEDNES. SPEC. STEAK & KIDNEY PUDDING. LUNCH.
[underlined] MRS. COOKS [/underlined]: TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD. SANDWICHES
[underlined] HAMBURGER [/underlined]: DEAN ST. & PICC. CIRC. BEST FISH, CHIP & Bouse IN LONDON. OPEN LATE.
[underlined] BATH HOUSE [/underlined]: DEAN ST. PUB WITH GOOD SNACKS.
[underlined] WHITES [/underlined]: WHITEHALL. RIGHT HAND SIDE FROM TRAFALGAR SQ. 1st. FLOOR. 7 COURSE DINNERS. 1/2 BY BOFFIN
[page break]
32
[underlined] COMMACHIO [/underlined]: FRITH ST. SOHO. ITALIAN. GOOD – CHEAP.
[underlined] WELLINGTON [/underlined]: KNIGHTSBRIDGE. BAR, DANCING – R.A.F.
[underlined] DE HEMMS [/underlined]: SHAFTESBURY AV. OYSTER BAR.
[underlined] STONES CHOP HOUSE [/underlined]: JERMYN ST. (EAST) BEER 18TH. CENT.
[underlined] LORD BELGRAVE [/underlined]: LEICESTER SQ. CHOPS & STEAKS FREE HOUSE. HIGHLY REC.
[underlined] COMEDY [/underlined]: JERMYN ST. MED. CLASS LUNCH. OLD FASH.
[underlined] CAFE ROYAL [/underlined]: REGENT ST. VERY GOOD FOOD
[underlined] RENDEVOUZ [/underlined]: FRITH ST. SOHO. FRENCH CUISINE. WINES.
[underlined] ESCARGON [/underlined]: GREEK ST. FRENCH CUISINE.
[underlined] LES JARDINS DES GOURMETS [/underlined]: OLD COMPTON ST. FRENCH.
[underlined] (PETE WILLIAMS) THE VOLUNTEER [/underlined]: UPPER BAKER ST. (1/4 ML. PAST MARYL. RD) GOOD LUNCH, SNACKS, BEER.
[underlined] THE DUTCH OVEN [/underlined]: LOWER BAKETR ST. ALL MEALS
? [underlined] THE CHILTERN [/underlined]: BAKER ST. TUBE STATION. LIC. LUNCH, DINNER
[underlined] QUALITY INN [/underlined]: COVENTRY ST.
[underlined] LYONS CORNER HOUSE [/underlined] -DO- FOR EARLY BREAKFAST.
[underlined] CAPTAIN’S CABIN [/underlined]: PICC. CIRCUS. BEER & SNACKS
[underlined] FULLERS [/underlined]: VICTORIA. TEAS (CAKES ETC.)
WELLINGTON HORSESHOE [brackets] TOTTENHAM CT. RD. PUBS, LUNCHES
MAPLES: 149 -DO- REST.
[page break]
33
E.F. (Ted) Bridgman, R.C.A.F.. – Berlin 3/1/44 Ste. 14 Harold Apts., Winnipeg, Canada.
Rudy J. Lacerle – F/O J16789
11022 – 92nd Street
Edmonton, Alta, Canada
GILBERT C DOCKING F/O AUS 419930
“TREMAINE”
HARTWELL – VICTORIA – AUSTRALIA.
YOU’RE VERY WELCOME AT THE ABOVE ADDRESS JIM – AUSTRALIA IS A GOOD PLACE AT ANY TIME.
[symbol]
Bill Stapleton
c/o “Bashar”
Winslow Way,
Walten-on Thames
Surrey.
[page break]
34
[underlined] Wings Club: [/underlined] Hyde Park Corner. 5/- night, finest in town, preference to flying personnel.
[underlined] KING GEORGE VI CLUB [/underlined]: 102 Piccadilly. 5/- night. Rest., snackbar meals no bar (YMCA) All services.
[underlined] Brevet Club [/underlined]: Charles St. off Berkeley Sq. 7/6. Bar-snacks (RAF)
St. Regis Hotel – Cook St. OK
Plaza – Leicester Sq. NO
Bonnington – Kingsway OK
Symons Hotel – Brook St. Good bar & rest.
Annexe Char X Hotel – Park Lane. Good.
[page break]
35
[blank page]
[page break]
36
[German voucher]
[page break]
41
[German voucher]
[page break]
52
ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF [underlined] JANUARY 1945 [/underlined] A WAGER OF [underlined] ONE D-BAR [/underlined] WAS MADE BETWEEN:-
[underlined] FLIGHT LIEUTENANT W.H. CULLING [/underlined] AND
[underlined] FLIGHT LIEUTENANT J.S.B. TYRIE [/underlined]
THE LATTER STATING THAT THE WAR WOULD NOT BE OVER BY THE [underlined] 15TH.DAY OF MARCH, 1945 [/underlined].
IT HAS BEEN DECIDED MUTUALLY THAT, IN VIEW OF THE PRESENT LACK OF PARCELS, THE WAGER SHALL BE:
[underlined] ONE GOOD DINNER IN LONDON [/underlined], TO BE CONSUMED WHEN [underlined] CONVENIENT TO BOTH PARTIES. [/underlined] EXPENSES TO BE PAID BY LOSER, WHO WILL PRESENT WINNER WITH [underlined] HALF A POUND OF MILK CHOCOLATE [/underlined], TO BE CONSUMED THE SAME EVENING. [/underlined]
AS WITNESS OUR SIGNATURES:
[underlined] [signature] F/LT R.A.F. [signature] F/L R.A.F. [/underlined]
[underlined] THE 26th. DAY OF FEB. 1945. LUCKENWALDE [/underlined]
[page break]
53
WH Culling
“Rostellan”
18, Woodlands Rd.
Bushey.
Herts.
Tel: Watford 2904.
[page break]
54
[blank page]
[page break]
[drawing of bunk beds]
Rough sketch of block of six 3 tier beds in Stalag 3A.
[circled A] my pack.
[circled B] Boff’s back with blankets
[circled C] Red X box of food.
[circled D] Handles added after 1st. day, great help
[drawing of bed made into sledge containing numerous items]
Hedge. Runners made from sides of bed, nailed to 2 boxes.
[page break]
[underlined] BLOWERS [/underlined]
[drawing of home-made fan]
Large wheel with drive to fan in klim tin, which gives forced draft to bottom of small fire. Fire uses coal, if available, wood, rubbish etc. Boils Klim tin of water in approx. 5 mins.
[drawing of home-made biscuit grinder]
[underlined] Biscuit Grinder [/underlined]
Handle rotates tin with holes punched to give grater effect. Box to collect flour.
[page break]
[newspaper cutting and photograph of Flight Lieutenant Don Dougall, D.F.C with his fiance Miss Patricia Sellares who were married upon his return to Britain.]
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
[photograph of middle aged woman]
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
[newspaper cutting and photograph regarding a P.O.W. who married a Lithuanian woman so that she could be free, and has now petitioned for a divorce]
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
[photograph of middle aged woman standing at a garden gate with a house in the background]
[page break]
[photograph of young woman smiling with hands behind her head]
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
[symbol] AUTOBAHNS
[symbol] MAIN RLWYS
[symbol] MAIN ROADS
[symbol] OTHER ROADS
[symbol] RIVERS
[symbol] CANALS
[underlined] SCALE
APPROX: 1 INCH = 16 MILES [/underlined]
[page break]
[map drawing of part of Germany]
[page break]
[drawing of interior of block with tiered bunk beds]
[page break]
[drawing of clothing hanging up inside block]
[page break]
56
[German newspaper cutting]
[German postage stamp]
[page break]
57
[underlined] “MUMMY – I’M SO AFRAID!” [/underlined]
Consider the horrors and alarms of an air-raid! Think of your child’s nerves! Think of how you would reproach yourself, if something happened to your child, because you did not send him in time to the safety of the ‘Childrens’ Evacuation Scheme”. Then you will remember the truth of Dr. Goebbels’ words:
“Nothing is harder for parents than to be separated from their children . . . . but there is the force of conscience, which is stronger than all human laws”
Children do not belong in the dangerous air-raid areas – children should be in the Evacuation Scheme, until the enemy air terror has been broken once & for all!
If you love your child, send him to safety!
[page break]
58
[blank page]
[page break]
59
ITALIAN CENSORSHIP
[censored letter]
[page break]
60
[German newspaper cutting showing a cartoon]
[underlined] THE THREE “EMANCIPATORS” [/underlined]
SING LOUDER, YOU CAN STILL HEAR TOO MUCH GROANING
[page break]
61
[German newspaper cutting]
[underlined] BEGINNING OF THE INVASION: IMMEDIATE COUNTER-BLOW [/underlined]
LANDING IN NORTH FRANCE. – AIRBORNE TROOPS PARTLY ENGAGED IN COURSE OF LANDING: MANY PARACHUTE UNITS SMASHED – ARTILLERY ENGAGEMENTS WITH ENEMY SHIPS.
[page break]
[duplicate page]
[page break]
[duplicate page]
[page break]
62
[German newspaper cutting]
[page break]
[duplicate page]
[page break]
[duplicate page]
[page break]
63
[underlined] THESE DEAD ACCUSE [/underlined]
The chief of an English Bomber Squadron stated on Tuesday before the House of Commons “The allied bombing has nothing to do with revenge. It is guided exclusively by strategical & military necessity. No english [sic] or American crew is ever instructed to destroy a German target, which cannot be definitely regarded as a military or industrial objective.
We read this. We have previously heard the same from the lips of Mr. Sinclair or Mr. Atlee. It is the English theory.
But we also read: Victims of a British Terror attack, were Adeline, Ruth and Sieglinde. Or Greta, Edith and Gertrude. Or Martha, Paula, Anna & Liselotte. Or Elisabeth. Ingrid & Emmy. We read: Aged 60, or aged 61. Aged 72, 73, 79 or 80. We read “Fell in January 1944 – born 1888. Or 1886. Or 1884, 1875 or 1869 . . . .
We read the same thing daily in many German papers. The examples are not picked:
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To them, unfortunately can be added thousands of names and dates. In an air-raid on 29th. January fell Louise, nee Franck, born in October 1872. On the same day fell also Georg Krang, born 1886, and his wife Helene, born 1890. Thus have so many fallen.
In one night, the head & all members of a family have fallen, with one blow, entire households have been wiped out. Three women here, 4 men there, six, nine. Fathers, mothers, children lie crushed beneath the wreckage.
That is the English practice.
The English practice is murder. Those who carry it out are murderers, nothing else. And those who are its victims, were murdered, in a cowardly way, in the dark and from the rear. That is the way the English wage war. What the Chief of an English Squadron says in the House of Commons, or what the English Minister for Air says, is a lie, destined to keep alive the old lie of the “fair” English gentleman.
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If he ever existed, then he has met his inglorious end forever under Churchills methods of war.
Those who fly, and drop their bombs, are his companions: he however, the British Prime Minister, the discoverer, agitator & organiser of their deeds, is the most guilty. He murders from the desolate desire of an unsound mind – a mixture of cowardly brutality and Sadism, typical of his whole career. War brings him satisfaction.
Even in peacetime he dreamt of war. In 1934 he wrote an article re the scientific methods of destruction in modern warfare. It ran:
“All that happened in the first four years of World War, was only a prelude to what was being prepared for the fifth. Thousands of aircraft would have bombed German towns. Poison gas, to which only a secret mask offered protection, & which the Germans could not produce in time, would have destroyed
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all resistance. (Following para is condensed)
New forms of explosive might have been discovered, bombs, automatically steered by wireless control, chemical warfare with its germs and plagues. Etc. Etc.
Ten years ago, this was the theory, which the British P.M. now practices. While others in times of peace think and plan good works, his sick mind broods over death.
War was always his aim. He poisoned all England with his plan to wipe out the German race. Today they all think like him. If the BBC announced on 3rd. March 1943 “One is glad that women & children are forced to suffer so terribly” If in January 1941, British United Press demanded. “For God’s sake, lets begin to clean up the German people”. If 3 yrs. ago the Daily Mail announced that they would regard it an honour to do without cigs. alkohol, [sic] sweets etc. in the knowledge that the German capital was being destroyed.
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If the Arch-Bishop of York preached in June 1943. “It is only a small evil to bomb German civilians, & one cannot avoid killing them. – then all this is Churchill’s harvest.
The Fuhrer knew Churchill. In January 1940 he warned us that that [sic] Churchill was thirsting for bombing. Of course it was announced that women & children would be spared. When did England ever halt before women & children.
Since then, women have been killed in thousands – and defenceless men & children.
Every death notice writes a new sentence in the process of accusation against England, against the English and against Churchill. The accusation is Murder. Lies are of no avail against this proof. Judgement has been given. Its execution draws nigh.
(Free translation from the Volkischer Beobachten)
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[German P.O.W declaration that they will not attempt to escape]
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[underlined] Parole [/underlined]
I give my parole as a British Officer that on every occasion I use the new sportsfield to the West of this camp (altered later to: on every occasion I take a walk outside the camp) I will not
1. Attempt to escape
2. Make any preparations for future escapes.
3. Have any dealings with other persons (outside the fences)
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[underlined] Walks: Sagan – Eckersdorf. Petersdorf [/underlined]
About the end of July the sports field adjoining the camp was closed, while new huts were being erected to form an extension to the camp. To compensate for lack of games, a system of parole walks, with German guards, came into being. There were 3 times. 8 AM, 10.30 AM and 2.30 P.M. The 8 A.M. walk was perhaps the best of all, a nip in the air, sun just coming up, peace & quiet everywhere. Against these, however, must be set the very early hour of rising, and walking on a more or less empty stomache. [sic] This poem, written by my room-mate ‘Boff’, is his impression of an 8 AM walk.
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[underlined] Autumn on the Baher [/underlined]
MISTY IN THE HOLLOW, WREATHY PHANTOMS ON THE HILL
GRASS & FLOWERS, RICH GEMS OF MORNING, DRENCHED IN DEWY POOLS
WOODLAND EDGES, GHOSTS ARE GUARDING, SLUMBERING EARTH LIES STILL.
IF THE WISE MEN SLEEP PAST DAWNING, WHO THEN ARE THE FOOLS.
EARTH AWAKENED, BRIGHT THE HOLLOW, SUNBEAMS PAINT THE HILL
GOLDEN LEAVES ARE RIPPLING, STIRRED BY ZEPHYRS OF THE FALL;
GHOSTS OF THE DAWN, AS FLAMING GIANTS, STAND REVEALED, AND FILL
THE MINDS OF FOOL & WISE MAN, WITH THE MYSTERY OF IT ALL.
TWILIGHT SOFTLY FALLING, HILL & HOLLOW SINK IN SLEEP,
MANTLED NIGHT HER CLOAK UNFOLDS, AND LULLAYS ALL TO REST.
CHOOSE! TO SLEEP, FORGETTING ALL, OR WAKE WITH MEMORIS [sic] DEEP
AND POIGNANT; FOOL OR WISE MAN? ONLY GOD KNOWS BEST.
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[German newspaper cutting]
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27-2-45 [underlined] SELECTION OF RUMOURS FOR ONE DAY AT STALAG 3A. [/underlined]
1. The Danish Red X have placed a lorry at our disposal to fetch parcels.
2. The Norwegian Red X have despatched supplies of dried cod and herring.
3. There are 3000 parcels (Danish) available of which Norwegians have promised in a share.
4. We are to have 3 issues of 1/4 loaf this week to make up for short ration of spuds.
5. Mussolini has been bumped.
6. Announced in Amer. Block that Danish have despatched lorry load of dry fish.
7. American fighters seen other day shot up & blew up engine of train from Berlin to Luckenwalde.
8. 47 (or 4 parcel sacks) have arrived after being forwarded from Sagan.
9. British troops on outskirts of Cologne.
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To: Col. Goodrich. South Compound
From. Oberst von Lindeiner. Kommandant.
On the 28th. Nov. 1943, prisoners of your camp, after going to a concert in the North Camp, in spite of express orders to the contrary, played the British National Anthem.
This conduct - - - - - - is a serious provocation to the German Armed forces and civilian population, if at the same time that many thousands of innocent women and children are being killed - - - - those who are causing this misfortune behave in such a manner.
To avoid such incidents - - - I forbid the South Compound to practice instrumental music. Contravention will result in the punishment of those responsible and the confiscation of the instruments.
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[counterfoil for entry into examination]
[underlined] January 23rd – 27th. 1945 [/underlined]
Sat [brackets] Advanced German Elementary Spanish Intermediate Spanish
Papers left behind during evacuation in care of Padre.
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[German voucher]
P.O.W. Camp – money.
Voucher for 50 Reichspfennig.
This voucher is only valid as P.O.W. currency, and may only be used by them inside camps, or, on working parties, in the special shops permitted to do so. This voucher may only be exchanged for legal currency at the official office of the camp administration.
Contravention, forgery etc. will be punished.
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[two Portuguese postage stamps]
[underlined] Taken from a Portugese [sic] food parcel. [/underlined]
At one time, these arrived in fair quantities, consisting mainly of tins of sardines.
Stamps were generally removed from all parcels and letters, to check for possible messages underneath.
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[German newspaper cutting]
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[underlined] ARE YOU INTERESTED, MR. RIPLEY? [/underlined]
[underlined] Men against Aircraft Masses.
13 German fliers shoot down 2961 enemy maschines. [sic] [/underlined]
In the West, the South and the East of Germany, the men of the German Air Force take the air daily; inferior in numbers, but unbroken in fighting spirit and ready, despite their overwhelming superiority, to dive with fatalistic determination on the enemy formations and shoot down as many as possible. Against the masses of enemy aircraft we set the brave individual fighter of the air, who heeds not a ten – or even twentyfold superiority, and throws himself undeterred against the stream of enemy bombers to deal destructive blows.
The example of those men, whom no fliers in the world excel, shows what individual fighters can achieve, if they
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engage with determination the superiority in numbers of the enemy squadrons. Recently, the leader of the famous german [sic] arctic fighters announced his 200th air victory – his name, Major Ehrler. Thus the German Air Force has once again in its ranks 13 fighter pilots, who have reached the number of 200 or even 300 air victories. Over 100 other German fighter pilots have won more than 100 air victories.
The names of the pilots with more than 200 victories are:
1. Major Hartmann 303
2. – Rall 273
3. – Barkhorn 272
4. – Nowotny 258
5. Haup. Batz 224
6. Oberstl. Graf 207
7. Maj. Rudorfer 206
8. Leut. Schuck 206
9. Oberl. Hafner 204
10. Leut. Kittel 204
11. Major Bar 203
12. Hauptm. Wiezenberger 201
13. Maj. Ehrler 200
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These 13 most successful German fighter pilots have thus destroyed a total of 2961 enemy aircraft. 37 complete squadrons of the Soviet and Anglo-American Air Forces, with maschines [sic] and crews, were wiped out by these few German pilots alone. Consider that there are many four-engined aircraft amongst this 3000, and take a conservative estimate of an average crew of 5 men per aircraft, we thus find that each of these pilots has either killed or sent to captivity 1000 enemy soldiers. Just 13 men have destroyed 15,000 front line soldiers! – as the army man would say, 10 enemy regiments wiped out.
The size of these German successes is best seen by the announcements of the enemy press, regarding the “Aces” of the enemy air force. Thus the English announced recently that W/C Braham (?) had been taken prisoner. With 29 victories he was amongst the best of the RAF.
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The Americans announced the death of a Lt. Beeson, who was tops of the Amer. fighter pilots with 21 victories. Both pilots were decorated with the highest English and American orders. The Soviet Air Force names Major Popoff and Haupton, Pokrischkin, with 82 and so victories, as the best Russian pilots. Both have been twice decorated with the order of “Hero of the Soviet Union” The German air force can point to 150 pilots, who have won as many or more victories.
The German fighter pilots will take care that the words of an american crew, in a book just published, remain true.
Don’t deceive yourself; its no piece of cake over there. Respect these Goring boys. These nazi-fighters are fanatics, who make life very unpleasant for us.
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That the war would be over by the 2nd. Dec. 1944
Made November 1944
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[underlined] The following is the text of a poster issued by the German Authorities. [/underlined]
To All Prisoners of War.
The escape from prison camps is no longer a sport.
Germany has always kept to the Hague Convention and only punished recaptured P.O.W’s with minor disciplinary punishment.
German will still maintain these principles of international law.
But England has besides fighting at the front in an honest manner instituted an illegal warfare in non-combat zones in the form of gangster commandos, terror bandits and sabotage troops even up to the frontiers of Germany.
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They say in a secret and confidential captured English military pamphlet.
THE HANDBOOK OF MODERN IRREGULAR WARFARE
“. . . the days when we could practise the rules of sportsmanship are over. For the time being, every soldier must be a potential gangster and must be prepared to adopt their methods when ever necessary.”
“The sphere of operations should always include the enemy’s own country and any occupied territory, and in certain circumstances, such neutral countries he is using as a source of supply.”
England has with these instructions opened up a non-military form of gangster war!
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Germany is determined to safeguard her homeland, and especially her war industry and provisional centres for the fighting fronts. Therefor [sic] it has become necessary to create strictly forbidden zones, call death zones, in which all unauthorised trespassers will be immediately shot on sight.
Escaping prisoners of war, entering such death zones, will certainly lose their lives. They are therefore in costant [sic] danger of being mistaken for enemy agents or sabotage groups.
[underlined] Urgent warning is given against making future escapes [/underlined]
In plain English: Stay in the camp where you will be safe! Breaking
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out of it is now a damned dangerous act.
[underlined] The chances of preserving your life are almost nil! [/underlined]
All police and military guards have been given the most strict orders to shoot on sight all suspected persons.
Escaping from prison camps has ceased to be a sport!
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[German cartoon]
Hallo – Hey! What about helping me? Sorry, Sir – We are no longer responsible for that!
Ex. Das Reich. 10-44
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[German newspaper cutting]
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[German newspaper cutting with four Japanese cartoons]
TRANSLATION ON NEXT PAGE
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[underlined] Japanese Caricatures [/underlined]
How do his country’s enemies appear to the Japanese caricaturist? To answer this question, we publish today four caricatures from the Japanese newspaper “Manga” Except where it is obvious, as in the case of the drawing of Churchhill, [sic] we give a short description of each.
The union of the peoples of Greater East Asia under the leadership of Japan runs contrary to Roosevelt’s imperialistic plans. Using the same methods as in Europe he appears to the Tschungking Chinese, and their General Tschiangkaischeck, as the Angel of Peace. Now, when Tschungking China is in greatest danger, it feels more and more the thorns of the
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promised victory laurels.
Churchill cannot pursue a policy of his own in East Asia. He contents himself therefore with the roll of Sancho P. in Roosevelts Don Quijote [sic] policy. It is all the same where he goes on the mule, China.
The allies won’t reach Tokio, unless their entry looks something like what the Japanese caricaturist depicts.
[symbol]
Ex. Volkischer Beobachter, 16-12-44.
[symbol]
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XMAS 1944
[hand painted greetings card]
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F.LT. J.S.B. TYRIE
[list of signatures]
MENU
SOUP
ROAST TURKEY
CORNISH PASTIES
PEAS CARROTS ROAST POTATOES
GRAVIES
XMAS PUDDING & CREAM
MINCE PIES
CHEESE & BISCUITS
FRUIT & NUTS
COFFEE
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[German poster]
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Issue of 1/5 DANISH PARCEL FROM NORWEGIANS.
OUR PARCEL DONATED ORIGINALLY BY:
ARKITEKT, THORVALD DREYER
TRONDHJEMSGADE 12 0
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[underlined] Birkenstedt [/underlined] Thursday 1-2-45.
Taking this chance to jot down a few notes. Things started on 13/1, with the opening of R. offensive. Crowds round the loudspeaker once again & more rumours than ever before. No word at all of camp being moved despite rapid advances made by R. Suddenly on the night of Sat. 27th. at 7.30 pm. a shout is heard – move in 1/2 hr. At first hardly believed, it is soon confirmed & chaos ensues. The day before, 20 NCO’s from Bankau (Nr. Cracow) & 500 Dutchmen. Stories of forced marches and
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terrible hardships, no food etc. this made everyone decide to take bare minimum. Beds, boxes, lockers etc were broken up, sawn up etc and improvised sledges built. I had already made a rucsack [sic] – just in case. 1500 parcels, 1/2 million cigs, countless clothing and so on were left behind. After a false start about 1 AM. we eventually set off in snow & darkness about 7 AM. For the previous week we had been watching streams of evacuees pouring down the road in carts, mostly old men & women & kids. Information received, high mortality rate amongst children.
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From Belaria we went first thro’ Sagan to N. camp. The guards had heavy packs, which a lot put on our sledges, in exchange for bread etc. Rations had stopped coming into camp a few days before leaving. Learnt later that N. camp etc. moved off much same time as us. Did about 21 kls. first day, arriving for night in Kanan, a small village. On way thro’ one village, old German peasant asks with broad Am accent, who we are! Quarters are chaotic, in an old barn. Total strength of column approx 1200 Spent night (racket) in house on
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farm, in a room occupied by Russian family 2 men, old woman 2 kids. Conversation done thro’ Germ. kid who had picked up Russian, myself speaking in German. Everyone unbelievably helpful & kind.
Moved off at 8 AM next day to arrive in afternoon at Gross Selten, another 20 K’s approx. Same accomodations, [sic] large barns. Spent night in barn, uncomfortable, but slept OK. Tank company there who had been forced back from Kiele. They had lost everything. Bill Kingsfield Upper Warder Wooden Way 90 miles
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Paul [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] Putterill, Cedars Road 34, Chiswick, London W4 Excursion with Sam Brown. Spend a day of so-called rest. Tank unit gave away biscuits everyone one big happy family. 40 km. shell. Milk cows in Amer parts. Off next day, sharing our sled with Dave Simpson (my partner being Boff Goodwin) made 21 kls to Birkenstedt including our biggest hill so far.
[underlined] Luckenwalde. [/underlined]
Birkenstedt much the same as other places – big barn for sleeping
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no sanitary arrangements, washing facilities or hot meal. Guards are educating civil pop. who now want choc & coffee for bread. Overnight a tremendous thaw sets in and by morning, all is a sea of slush and mud. Stayed day here once more – waste of time and food, as not really any rest in the meaning of the word. Next day Americans set out independently – sorry to lose them (approx. 300). We follow, sledges being abandoned after a few yards. March into Muskan, 7 kls. Open bartering in market square with civil pop. Then on a further 17 kls. to Steinan – a gruelling total of 24 kls. with few rests. Arrive in dark, and split up into groups of 100 to go to individual
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barns. Our particular barn could not be found by ration party, so that we go without the only Germ. issue. Off at 9 AM next morning – 6 kms. Walk from Steinan to Spremberg where we go to large army barracks and join with 400 of East camp. Issued with Wehrmacht soup – first hot meal for a week, - locked in for air raid. Average of 1 by day & 1 by night of raids. March 3 kls to goods yard, arriving 4 PM. where we get into box cars – 46 men in a truck. As usual, no light and no room to lie down. More bartering
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Eventually set out at 7 PM and after many trials thro’ the night owing to absence of abort are still travelling when day comes. Stops made alongside various army trains – more bartering. Arrive in Luckenwalde about 5 pm – heaven knows where we went to during night. March in darkness, after being counted, thro’ town and 3 kls. to camp where we stand in rain for 3/4 of hour waiting to get in. Getting in, are herded into small space to wait for shower air-raid, no lights, chaos. After waiting 6 hours, fight our way with all kit to have communal
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shower. After crowded shower, to Abwehr hut where we are searched & extra blankets etc removed. My searcher Pow in Aus. last war, internee till 1941 in England this war. Then to huts where conditions are dirty and overcrowded, without any heating or other facilities. Next door we have a hut of Americans in quarantine for Scarlet fever, then a hut of Polish Pows mostly in civvy clothes. Have met quite a few old friends. Have heard American S. camp did march of 33 kls. on first night – 1/2 dozen died of exposure.
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[underlined] Wed 14th. Feb. [/underlined] Have now more or less settled down in this place. In our half of the hut there are 225 men, sleeping mostly on [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] 3 tier beds which are built in blocks of 6 and rather shaky. Very little straw for sacks and very uncomfortable. About 10 tables available and about 1 stool to 8 men. Most of E camp seemed to have had far more food than Belaria which is rather annoying. Cigs. are increasing in value by leaps and bounds – they will be our only medium of exchange till more parcels arrive. German rations are 1/6 loaf of brown army bread, which give 5 – 6 slices. Very new & doughy. Midday, an issue of 1/2 klim tin of soup – watery porridge barley mixture or pea soup etc. Each day we get about a matchbox full of marg, fat or meat paste between two – this is spread. Twice a week, about a tablespoon & 1/2 of sugar. Even these rations are variable and at times fail to materialise. Besides the Polish officers, there are several hundred Norwegians who were removed about 18 months ago from Norway and have eventually got here.
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There are also Italian officers in our compound, and American Army officers from Shukin, who marched 3 – 4 weeks and were even worse off than us. Remainder of Baukan people have also arrived. Elsewhere in camp are British Army privates, Russians, Serbs and other nationalities.
I brought with me 2 blankets, pair trousers, shirt, underpants, numerous socks, & handkerchiefs. 2 log books and all photos, spare pair of boots, 700 cigs approx, small pillow, 1/2 dozen odd tins of food, white jug, one red cross Am. parcel 3 packets (2 oz) tea and 1/2 lb. sugar. 16 cakes of barley choc. Was wearing cap, great coat, tunic, pullover, white sweater, shirt, thick vest, un/pants & trousers, socks & boots, scarf & gloves (2 prs) Pockets filled with odds & ends like razor, boot laces, K.F. Spoon etc.
We now learn that R. have reached Sagan. What happened to 500 sick left behind? Remainder of British gone to Bremen, Americans to Buckenwalde? From Spremberg we appear to have gone towards Leipzig, coming
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here from sw direction. (Only conjecture). Since coming here there has been an air raid warning practically every night, usually 2 or 3, and almost every day. Great lack of containers to do washing and drying facilities. No newspapers issued at all. Two [deleted] infinites [/deleted] very poor stoves for 450 men to cook on and meagre coal ration. Quite a few jam tin stoves of various types. Tending to dream by day and night of food and proposed meals on return home. Before leaving Belaria, had been suffering for some time of lack of feeling in all toes & tendency of other extremities to suffer from pins & needles. Vit. B injections by Doc. Twee. Symptoms seem to be quite common amongst friends. Last 2 days has seen some improvement, perhaps due to warmer weather. Present rates of exchange £15 watch – 400 cigs. D-bar 100, loaf of bread – 50 (if you can find deal!) Great shortage of reading material.
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[underlined] Friday 16th [/underlined] About 6 pm, warning given that we may be off again in early morning. Reason, instructions having been given to kitchen to have hot barley ready for 6.30 am. [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] chaos on roads with evacuees, I expect. Lights in barracks usually off for 1 1/2 hrs each night – saving current. We shall be prepared this time – too easy, nothing to prepare!
[underlined] Sat. 17th [/underlined] Nothing happened. Apparently only to enable kitchen to prepare extra soup, which was to be issued to make up for cut in bread ration. Ration had been cut from 300 to 200 grms. Per day per man, or 7 1/2 men per loaf. Announced today we are to go back on old ration of 5 to a loaf. Disturbing feature of low rations & slops is necessity of getting up in night for A.R. Extremely common, even at Belaria, but first time for myself. 109 crashed near camp, pilot just made bale out. Large truck of parcels for Norwegians arrived. Potato ration remains same – about 4 average potatoes, overcooked, unpeeled and rather dirty, each day.
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JW. Reilly
95, Kennedy Cresc.
Kirkcaldy.
[underlined] 20-2-45 [/underlined] Several days ago Norwegians gave 500 Danish parcels to compound. Issue already made to Amers. & Poles, but we still await fate of our 1/5 parcel. Delay due to investigation of health of Baukan NCO’s in opposite compound. Trading goes on apace. Loaf of bread 60 cigs. Considerable trading in Red X food, origin unknown. Annoying to watch Serbs etc. collect Amer. Red X parcels each day. Red X merely feeding them to work for Germany. Extreme lack of reading material, and my cig. supply is getting low. Pea & Cabbage soup at midday, 90% water. Contin. air activity day and night.
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[underlined] 24-2-45 [/underlined] Air raid in morning, issue of 1/5 Danish parcel per head in evening. Extremely welcome and excellent parcel. Contents: 1 lb. Butter, 1 lb. Sugar, 1 lb. Cheese, 1 lb. bacon sausage, large packet porridge, small piece of toffee, large packet Ryvita bisc. small piece of soap, 1 lb. tin of treacle. Trading with army organised on revised price list. Outcome awaited. Evening raid. Probable jettison of bombs blew open barrack doors and knocked tins off shelf. Feel absolutely without energy to do anything, otherwise OK except for head cold and dry irritating cough. Wrote another P.C. home Total issue here, 1 change of camp P.C., 1 letter, 1 P.C.
26-2-45. Wrote letter home. 27.2.45. At long last met F/L Patterson from E camp, of whom I had heard so much in letters from home.
6.3.44 [sic] Announced today that Germans have stated we shall get 1/2 issue Amer. parcel probably tomorrow. Practically finished my butt ends, & just becoming efficient in rolling non-sticky papers. It was announced too some time ago that we were moved on request of our Senior Officers, the decision being greeted with cheers by camp. Several officers were to be repatriated for good conduct etc. on march. This
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later given up owing to bombing of Dresden. Showers of snow lately, but not lasting. Lights out in future at 9 pm each evening. Made cribbage board & cig. holder. Compiled lists of rests. dishes & menus. Recent visit of Max Schmelling to camp. Great scarcity of paper, above all writing paper. Canteen issue of coloured crepe, presumably as bumf. 7.3.44 Announced that 23 truck loads of Am. parcels have arrived in station. Policy of immediate full issue & another. 8.3.44 The fuel, coal etc. Bedboards going. Received Am. parcel per head 9.3.44 Moved beds round block, built stove, v. tired. 10.3. Received 1/7 Swedish Grocers’ parcels. Contents Knackebrot, Gooseberry Jam, 2 tins pork meat, milk powder, alum. cup & teasp. soap, sugar, 2 box. matches, 2 tins sardines. Last 3 nights unable to get to sleep due to mental activity After bash of Swed. food slept well. Biggest problem dhobie & keeping body clean. 17.3 Watched large Am. daylight raid on Berlin & district. Help arrange Foodacco & Norwegian Exchange. Another Parcel and promise of 5 day issue in future. Saturday brings rumours of another move. 27.3. X-ray for TB. 10-4-45. Told of rumour that we move on 11-4. Finally start moving at 8 AM on 13-4, token search & arrive at station 12 PM. 40 men to a truck. Trading & barter produced bread & onions. 15.4. We move back to camp. Raid on Potsdam heard very plainly esp. flak. News terrific – also the rumours
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3 ncos attempt to escape from camp, 1 shot dead other died later. Heard that Dugal MacTaggart was with Bankan mob. Contacted him and had long natter. Thunderbolts seen on numerous occasions, dive bombing, strafing etc Weather continues fine. Wizard cake to celebrate 4th anniversary. Rations variable, 1/8 loaf bread fairly constant.
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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
Jim Tyrie's Wartime Log. Two
Description
An account of the resource
A wartime log kept by Jim Tyrie. He lists his crew on the night they were shot down over Berlin, the construction of tin trays, addresses of co-prisoners, cartoons, London restaurants, newspaper cuttings in German and English and finally more detailed notes as the Russian offensive of 1945 got closer.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Jim Tyrie
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One handwritten book.
Language
A language of the resource
eng
deu
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Artwork
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
STyrieJSB87636v2
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
David Bloomfield
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Poland
Germany--Barth
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Luckenwalde
Germany--Oberursel
Poland--Żagań
Germany--Bernau (Brandenburg)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
anti-aircraft fire
arts and crafts
bale out
bombing
bombing of Dresden (13 - 15 February 1945)
C-47
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
Dulag Luft
escaping
evacuation
fear
Lancaster
military living conditions
prisoner of war
Red Cross
shot down
sport
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 1
Stalag Luft 3
the long march
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1343/22172/BTyrieJSBTyrieJSBv1.2.pdf
a3c3d60d1ceae9d6dcc5d3d3cbdad658
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
Tyrie, Jim
Tyrie, JSB
Description
An account of the resource
34 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Jim Tyrie (1919 - 1993, 87636 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, photographs, correspondence and prisoner of war log as well as a photograph album. He flew operations as a pilot with 77 Squadron before being shot down in April 1941.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Brian Taylor and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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
2019-06-01
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
Tyrie, JSB
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[centred] JIM TYRIE [/centred]
James Sedric Bruce [Tyrie] - b. Montrose Scotland 18.10.19
Educated Secondary School Dundee and took Scotts Higher Leaving Certificate in German
Joined General Accident Insurance Co. Dundee
RAFVR 1938 as A/C 2 but automatic promotion to Acting Sgt. to learn to fly.
Called up 1.9.1939, No 3 IPW Hastings Oct 1939.
No 1 EFTS May 1940 (Tiger Moths)
Cranwell as Officer Cadet July-Oct 1940 (Oxfords)
Commissioned P/O Oct 1940, posted No 10 OTU Abingdon.
Joined 77 Sq. Topcliffe (Whitleys, 4 Group Bomber Cmd.) as 2nd pilot.
Flew 7 Ops.
10.4.41 Target Railway Station in E.Berlin
Sgt Lee 1st pilot
F/Lt. Tyrie 2nd pilot
Sgt. Young Observer
Sgt. Budd Wireless Operator
Sgt Hull Rear Gunner
No of A/C Taking Part 98
No of A/C Lost 10
Hit by flak over target & set on fire
Famous Last Words:
Sgt. Budd "Do you know the Port Engine is on fire"
Sgt. Young wounded in leg, headed N for Sweden but forced to abandon A/C 15 mins later.
[page break]
Bailed out and landed in garden of house in Bernau
Followed down by searchlights and caught immediately on landing.
Taken to Police Station where midst [sic] much noise and chaos, Young's leg was bandaged by elderly VAD Lady. Photographed by all and sundry
Taken to Flak School cells, later interrogated and spent night in cell.
Next morning complained to visiting Luftwaffe officer of poor breakfast - rewarded by white bread, jam and some jellied meat. - also permitted to visit freely rest of crew.
About 10 am proceeded in wagon to Berlin, Anhalter Rly station, where caught train for Frankfurt - On - Main and Dulag Luft - arrived about midnight at cooler.
Interrogated and searched nex [sic] morning and allowed into main camp in the afternoon.
11.4.41 Telegram to J.B.Tyrie Esq. 1 Robson St Dundee - "your son reported missing as result of air operations on 10.4.41 [sic]
2.5.41 Telegram - now prisoner of war. - reported 'missing' in local press which stated he was in big raid on Kiel at beginning of week
17.4.41 - 9.4.42 Stalag Luft 1 Barth
"Among the most dedicated tunnellers [sic] of the early inmates at Barth was Jim Tyrie [sic]
[page break]
Jim Tyrie's tunnelling [sic] efforts also included one from his own block. Besides digging he copied maps, planned prospective escape routes and brushed up his German - He tried whenever he could to chat to the guards to perfect his German and exploit any opportunities conversation might present. Information on gate-passes and travel permits would be passed on via the escape cttee [sic] to Mike Bussey, a brilliant artist who was one of the first officers at Barth to apply his skills to forgery.
Towards the end of March '42 after a camp wide search of Stalag Luft 1 by SS and Gestapo it was announced that officers would start leaving for a new camp in 3 days time
The move was in 3 groups
1st group Friday 20th March '42
2nd group Sat. 7th April 42
3rd group, incl. Jim Tyrie moved Tues 10th April
11.4.42 - 20.3.43 Stalag Luft 3 (East Camp) SAGAN
30.3.43 - 29.2.44 Stalag Luft 3 (North Camp) SAGAN
29.2.44 - 28.1.45 Stalag Luft 3 (Belaria) SAGAN
28.1.45 - 4.2.45 By sledge, foot and cattle truck via Kunau, Gross Selten, [?] Birkenstedt, Raustein [?] Spremberg to Stalag 3A, Luckenwalde.
4.2.45 - 12.4.45 Stalag 3A (OFlag) Luckenwalde
12.4.45 - 14.4.45 in Cattle Trucks in Luckenwalde Goods Sation (intended destination ST.7A Moosberg nr Munich.[sic]
[page break]
14.4.45 Stalag 3A (Luckenwalde)
21.4.45 Germans evacuate camp.
22.4.45 (0603 hrs) Russian Tanks and Motorized Infantry Arrive
20.5.45 Proceed by Russian Transport to Elbe, where met by American Trucks and go to Halle, arriving 10 pm
25.5.45 By Air in DC3's to Nivelles (Brussels) arriving 2 pm - By lorry to Brussels
26.5.45 By lorry to Schaacht, by air in Lanc to Dunsford, by train to Cosford (106PRC)
27.5.45 By train to Dundee.
10.4.41 to 26.5.45 - 4 years 1 month 16 days
Worked tirelessly for SSAFA and Royal British Legion, organising The Poppy Appeal - organised a trip for volunteers to visit Poppy factory and I spent many hours with him counting the poppy collections in Shenfield Essex.
A real gentleman and a man I was proud to know.
[page break]
About middle of January 1945 a wager of One D-Bar was made between
Flight Lieutenant W H Culling [?] and
Flight Lieutenant J S B Tyrie
- the latter stating that the war would not be over by 15th of March 1945
- it has been decided mutually that in view of the present lack of parcels, the wager shall be
One good dinner in London - to be consumed when convenient to both parties - Expenses to be paid by loser who will present winner with a Half a [sic] pound of milk chocolate, to be consumed the same evening.
Both signed the above 26th Feb 1945 Luckenwalde.
2nd March '45 - autographed photo of Max Schmelling [?] obtained during his visit to Luckenwalde
- Reason of visit unknown, perhaps connected with visit of unknown SS Obergruppenführer - air raid alarm that morning for 2 hrs.
[page break]
Post-war. Stayed on in RAF
Joined 90 Squadron flying Avro Lincolns as F/L and short time as acting Sq cdr. [?]
Still as A/S/L four years in Germany (3 in Berlin) as interpreter with Foreign Office 1948-52.
Met Glemnitz at Gatow [?]
Then back to F/L.
Full medical in London revealed failing eyesight, so changed to Air Traffic Control at RAF Workshop [sic]
1953-56, a Meteor FTS.
Air Traffic Control Germany 1956-58, then Chivenor, North Devon.
RAF Shawberry as Ground Control Approach/Radar Instructor.
Cyprus, Akrotiti, Nikosea: [sic] led evacuation of families from Limmasol [sic] during Turkish Insurgence 1964.
Then RAF Walton, I/C joint military/civilian installation of area radar control.
Bishops Court NI.
Retd 1969 Joined Barclays Bank and spent fifteen years as First Cashier in various branches
Retd. 1984.
Jim Tyrie died in April 1993.
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
Jim Tyrie
Description
An account of the resource
A biography of Jim Tyrie. He was called up on 1st September 1939 and learned to fly on Tiger Moths. He was shot down on his 7th operation over Berlin. In POW camp he was described as a dedicated tunneller. There is a list of the camps he was kept in with dates and details of their transport. After the war he stayed in the RAF until his eyesight meant he could no longer fly. He was transferred to air traffic control.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BTyrieJSBTyrieJSBv1
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
Poland
England--Hastings
Germany--Barth
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Luckenwalde
Belgium--Nivelles
Belgium--Brussels
Cyprus--Limassol
Poland--Żagań
Scotland--Dundee
Poland--Żagań
Germany--Bernau (Brandenburg)
Belgium
Cyprus
England--Sussex
Cyprus--Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia
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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Joy Reynard
David Bloomfield
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
1940
1942
1945
10 OTU
4 Group
77 Squadron
90 Squadron
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bale out
C-47
Dulag Luft
escaping
Flying Training School
Lancaster
Lincoln
Meteor
missing in action
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
pilot
prisoner of war
RAF Abingdon
RAF Bishops Court
RAF Chivenor
RAF Cranwell
RAF Shawbury
RAF Topcliffe
RAF Watton
RAF Worksop
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 1
Stalag Luft 3
Tiger Moth
training
Whitley
-
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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
Hazeldene, Peter
Peter Vere Hazeldene
P V Hazeldene
Description
An account of the resource
19 items. An oral history interview with Rachel and John Gill about their father, Peter Hazeldene DFC (b. 1922, 553414 Royal Air Force) and 16 other items including log book, memoirs, medals and photographs. He flew operations as an air gunner with 106 and 57 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Rachel and John Gill and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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
2017-03-07
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
Hazeldene, PV
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
MEMORIES OF MY CREW OF 57 SQUADRON LANCASTER
ND 954 ‘Q’ – Queenie
By
PETER VERE HAZELDENE DFC
(16.01.1922 – 27.04.2003)
I was a member of 57 Squadron based at East Kirkby from 22 April 1944 until my last operational flight from the base on 19 July 1944.
This was my second ‘Tour’ having completed my first with 106 Squadron.
I was the Wireless Operator/Air Gunner.
Our Lancaster’s call sign was “Q” for Queenie.
After my first tour I was sent to Husband’s Bosworth, in October 1943, where I met my ‘new’ rookie crew who were undergoing training in readiness for their first tour.
They were:
Flt Lt, J.B.P. “Tuesday’ Spencer – 20 years – Pilot – Tuesday was from Greenside, Co Durham
Sgt W.D.E. West – 21 years – Mid Upper Gunner – from Barking, Essex.
Sgt H. Gordge – 21 years – Bomb Aimer - - Itchen, Southampton
Flt Lt R.T. Clarke DFM – 21 years – flight Engineer – Teddington, Middlesex
Sgt E.D. Anderson – 19 years – Rear Gunner – Kirkstall, Leeds
P/O N.E. Hughes-Games. – 21 – Years – Navigator. ‘Hughie’ was a member of the RCAF and from Kelowna, British Columbia.
[page break]
[underlined] Flt Lt Spencer and the crew [/underlined]
I met ‘Tuesday’ at 14 OTU, Husband’s Bosworth in October 1943, when we were crewed together.
We carried out many training flights on Wellington’s[sic] and Stirlings before being posted to 57 Squadron at East Kirkby “ ‘Silksheen’.
I don’t know why we called him ‘Tuesday’.
I remember him well: he was a flamboyant character who once put us up at an expensive hotel in London after a forced landing.
We had many good nights together; he was one of a few who had a motorcycle.
Often we went to Spalding where [sic] and spent many a night at The Greyhound Inn (now a draper’s store) where my wife, Olive, worked.
We usually got drunk and it did us the world of good.
I cannot recall much of the background of the rest of the crew but they were all ‘good types’ and very friendly.
‘Hughie’ was quite a character; he was typical of many Canadian airmen I met. He never showed concern and was able to laugh, and make us laugh, often in the face of great danger.
He was a great tonic and morale booster for the rest of the crew.
Flt Lt Clarke, DFM, was very popular on the Squadron as Engineering Leader.
We carried out many raids from East Kirkby up to and after D-Day.
[page break]
I remember attacking the gun-emplacements on the Normandy Coast on 5/6 June 1944.
I recently visited the area for the first time (on land!) and the evidence of those raids is still apparent.
After 25 Operation [sic] with the crew I was sent on ‘End of tour leave’ – I was told that having completed one tour of 30 Ops, I was not allowed to do more than 25 on my second.
So of on leave I went.
On return to base, about 2 weeks afterwards, I was immediately called to the C/O’s office and was told that ‘Queenie’ had been lost over France on 31 July whilst returning from a daylight raid on Joigny-La-Roche.
Sadly all my crewmates had been killed [symbol].
Tuesday’s parents were present in the Station Commander’s Office and they had asked to meet me, as the only surviving crew member who had flown with him – they were such a kind and caring couple and I am sure it was a comfort to them to talk to me about their son.
Sometime later they sent me £5.00 to help me celebrate both my commission and the award of the DFC.
I actually spent the money on a pair of silver candlesticks in memory of him and the rest of the crew – we still treasure them.
[symbol] It later transpired that Hughie had survived the crash but after being taken prisoner of war he died of meningitis.
Many years later I found that my replacement, WO/AG, Sgt Grice (St Georges, Wellington, Shropshire) was also taken POW – ending up in Stalag IIIA. Luckenwalde, and survived the war – I never met him.
[page break]
[underlined] What happened to Queenie on that ill-fated operation? [/underlined]
The evidence is obviously sparse but some details emerged over time and is as follows”
In an interview with Hughie, in Stalag Luft III, he told the Red Cross that a fire had broken out on board and this was so sudden and catastrophic that ‘Tuesday’ Spencer had not been able to give the order to abandon aircraft.
The evidence later gathered from the Germans indicates that 3 parachutes left the aircraft although the third was on fire.
‘Queenie’ crashed and was burnt out.
Sadly Hughie contracted meningitis whilst in Stalag III and he died on 28 September 1944 – he was just 21 years old.
All except Hughie lie in the British Commonwealth War Cemetery at Banneville-Le-Campagne.
I visited their graves recently – in such a peaceful and beautiful setting near Caen.
Hughie lies in Ponzan Old Garrison Cemetery, Poland.
Sgt Grice, I later found survived the war but I believe he may now have died.
Finally, as for me for me, [sic] I received permission to commence a third tour and was well into this when the war the war [sic] ended.
Peter Hazeldene
November 1995.
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
Peter Hazeldene memoir
Memories of my crew of 57 Squadron Lancaster ND954 Q - Queenie
Description
An account of the resource
Peter's RAF service with 57 Squadron is detailed. This was his second tour and he lists his new crew:
Flt Lt J B P 'Tuesday' Spencer, 20 years, Pilot from Greenside, Co Durham
Sgt W D E West, 21 years, Mid Upper Gunner, from Barking, Essex
Sgt H Gordge, 21 years, Bomb Aimer, from Itchen, Southampton
Flt Lt R T Clarke, DFM, 21 years, Flight Engineer, from Teddington, Middlesex
Sgt E D Anderson, 19 years, Rear Gunner, from Kirkstall, Leeds
P/O N E Hughes-Games ('Hughie'), 21 years, Navigator, member of RCAF from Kelowna, British Columbia.
He gives descriptions of 'Tuesday' Spencer, and 'Hughie' Hughes-Games.
Peter carried out 25 operations since he had already completed a first tour of 30 operations. While he was on leave, his aircraft crashed and his crew died, including one who survived the crash but later died of meningitis in prison.
Peter then commenced a third tour but the war ended before it was completed.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Hazeldene,P
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1995-11
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four typewritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BHazeldenePVHazeldenePVv10001,
BHazeldenePVHazeldenePVv10002,
BHazeldenePVHazeldenePVv10003,
BHazeldenePVHazeldenePVv10004
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Canadian Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Leicestershire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Spalding
France
France--Normandy
France--Caen
France--Joigny
Poland
Poland--Poznań
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.
1943-10
1944-06
1944-07
1944-08
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
106 Squadron
14 OTU
57 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
bomb aimer
bombing
crash
crewing up
Distinguished Flying Cross
final resting place
flight engineer
heirloom
killed in action
Lancaster
navigator
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operational Training Unit
pilot
prisoner of war
RAF East Kirkby
RAF Husbands Bosworth
Red Cross
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 3
Stirling
training
Wellington
wireless operator / air gunner
-
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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
Hooker, Fred
Fred J Hooker
F J Hooker
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Hooker, FJ
Description
An account of the resource
31 items. Two oral history interviews with Sergeant Fred Hooker (b. 1924, 1850487 Royal Air Force) and his scrapbook containing photographs and documents. He flew operations as a mid-upper gunner with 102 Squadron and became a prisoner of war on 12 September 1944.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-05-25
2017-08-26
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.
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
Andrew Wiseman
Description
An account of the resource
A page referring to Andrew Wiseman who got separated from the main group during the Long March. A business card with his name, Linguist Russian, Polish, German is included.
This item has been redacted in order to protect the privacy of third parties.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed sheet with a business card
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SHookerFJ1805487v10046
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
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.
aircrew
prisoner of war
Stalag 3A
the long march
-
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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
Hooker, Fred
Fred J Hooker
F J Hooker
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Hooker, FJ
Description
An account of the resource
31 items. Two oral history interviews with Sergeant Fred Hooker (b. 1924, 1850487 Royal Air Force) and his scrapbook containing photographs and documents. He flew operations as a mid-upper gunner with 102 Squadron and became a prisoner of war on 12 September 1944.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-05-25
2017-08-26
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.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Shot Down 12th September 6-30 approx.
Spent first night in Army barracks, one bench between three.
[underlined] 13 September [/underlined] moved to [indecipherable word] Camp; short interrogation; & took ring from me.
First night with out blankets 2 & 3rd night one blanket
first day & half no food or drink; rest of time black coffee & Bread with potatoes in jackets and cabbage for dinner
16 Sep:- started journey to “Room without a bath” (“O. Breasal”) 6-30 in morning. Duration of journey 28 hrs, more confinement until Wednesday morning being interrogated on the Tuesday?
Arrived at Wetzlard [sic] Wednesday afternoon searched again and given a Red Cross Parcel and had a good
[page break]
hot shower. First real wash since the [underlined] 12th [/underlined] had a good tea and a good shave after it;
moved on the following evening (Thursday) to P.O.W. Camp. Journey lasting 3 1/2 days; was given Red Cross parcel for journey
Moved to new compound 13th October.
First snow end of November
went to midnight service Xmas
Camp evacuated 19 Jan [inserted] 19 [/inserted] 45 at 3-30 in morning
19-1-45 WINTERFELD
20 Karlsrune
First night march [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] duration 14 hours.
[underlined] 21. [/underlined] BAUKWITZ after crossing
[underlined] 22. [/underlined] JENKWITZ
23. WANSEN 2 days
25 HEIQERSDORF
27. PEATTENDORF
[underlined] 28 [/underlined] SCHWEIDWITZ to STANDORF
[underlined] 29 [/underlined] Moved 6 pm in [indecipherable word] arrived [underlined] 30 [/underlined] PETERWITZ
[underlined] 1 [/underlined] PROUDNITZ
[inserted] parade [indecipherable word] A 28 13 41
Oct 22 23 30 19 R4 22 15 [/inserted]
[page break]
[duplicate page]
ORIGINAL NOTES MADE WHILE P.O.W. REVERSE SIDE UN READABLE [sic]
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
Fred Hooker's notes after being shotdown
Description
An account of the resource
Notes kept by Fred Hooker after being shot down. It details the evacuation of the camp from Stalag Luft 7 to Stalag 3A with deaths recorded.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Fred Hooker
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-09
1945
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two handwritten sheets from a scrapbook
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Diary
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SHookerFJ1805487v10020,
SHookerFJ1805487v10021,
SHookerFJ1805487v10022
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Luckenwalde
Poland
Poland--Tychowo
Germany--Winterfeld
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.
1944-09
1945
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Dulag Luft
prisoner of war
Red Cross
shot down
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 7
the long march
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/544/19188/SHookerFJ1805487v10019.1.jpg
8e18870779233b830243a71430e5e8b3
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
Hooker, Fred
Fred J Hooker
F J Hooker
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Hooker, FJ
Description
An account of the resource
31 items. Two oral history interviews with Sergeant Fred Hooker (b. 1924, 1850487 Royal Air Force) and his scrapbook containing photographs and documents. He flew operations as a mid-upper gunner with 102 Squadron and became a prisoner of war on 12 September 1944.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-05-25
2017-08-26
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.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Forced March
Description
An account of the resource
A sketch map of the route taken by the prisoners from Stalag Luft 7. It names the towns passed through, the numbers of prisoners killed and their rations for 21 days.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1945-02
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One hand drawn sketch map on two pages of a book
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Map
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SHookerFJ1805487v10019
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Poland
Germany--Luckenwalde
Poland--Tychowo
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.
1945-02
prisoner of war
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 7
the long march
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/544/19187/SHookerFJ1805487v10013.2.jpg
9303f80c87df4d06ce6099d3beccd40a
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/544/19187/SHookerFJ1805487v10014.2.jpg
86aefda5ac3f075121d7a6ecbdcfbd39
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/544/19187/SHookerFJ1805487v10015.2.jpg
188b3c3f265cb6fa58d7ebf8d969493b
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/544/19187/SHookerFJ1805487v10016.2.jpg
537e0bf0b89f128deb0f7ba1257685ad
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/544/19187/SHookerFJ1805487v10017.2.jpg
4ad9bf6c4fc45019118b2a5239729de4
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/544/19187/SHookerFJ1805487v10018.2.jpg
e23d382332076714b1d0b93c69ce8cf2
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Hooker, Fred
Fred J Hooker
F J Hooker
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Hooker, FJ
Description
An account of the resource
31 items. Two oral history interviews with Sergeant Fred Hooker (b. 1924, 1850487 Royal Air Force) and his scrapbook containing photographs and documents. He flew operations as a mid-upper gunner with 102 Squadron and became a prisoner of war on 12 September 1944.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-05-25
2017-08-26
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.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
12 Photographs of Second Camp Stalag 3A
Description
An account of the resource
Photo 1 captioned 'View of Sleeping Bunks', shows three tiers of bunks.
Photo 2 captioned 'Table and Bench Seat' shows two men at the table, one seated.
Photo 3 is of a church, captioned 'Converted Hut by Russian POW for Worshipping'.
Photo 4 is of rows of tents with men squatting and eating, captioned 'View of American Compound'.
Photo 5 is looking through barbed wire at prisoners walking in a circle, captioned 'Daily Exercise walking perimeter of compound'.
Photo 6 is of five people in uniform, one man has an accordion, captioned 'Group of Russian's [sic] soon after our release'.
Photo 7 is a cemetery, captioned 'View of Local Cemetery. Attended funeral, Basingstoke lad buried here'.
Photo 8 is a tented area, fence with washing on it and people walking about, captioned 'Another view of American compound'.
Photo 9 is of four men using a pole to carry a large cooking pot, captioned 'Soup ration for 250 men +F'.
Photo 10 is of a football match watched by large numbers of prisoners, captioned 'Playing Fields'.
Photo 11 is of prisoners and American troops captioned 'First Americans to arrive speaking of there [sic] plans for us'.
Photo 12 is of two topless men with their hands raised, by a wall. Two soldiers with rifles are standing facing them. A third soldier is standing by the prisoners. It is captioned 'Photograph in camera when found'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1945
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
12 b/w photographs from a scrapbook (two to a page)
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SHookerFJ1805487v10013,
SHookerFJ1805487v10014,
SHookerFJ1805487v10015,
SHookerFJ1805487v10016,
SHookerFJ1805487v10017,
SHookerFJ1805487v10018
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
United States Army Air Force
United States Army
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Luckenwalde
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
final resting place
prisoner of war
sport
Stalag 3A
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/544/19186/SHookerFJ1805487v10012.1.jpg
0b73d93e054cc06b11e4efa9f22c786a
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
Hooker, Fred
Fred J Hooker
F J Hooker
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Hooker, FJ
Description
An account of the resource
31 items. Two oral history interviews with Sergeant Fred Hooker (b. 1924, 1850487 Royal Air Force) and his scrapbook containing photographs and documents. He flew operations as a mid-upper gunner with 102 Squadron and became a prisoner of war on 12 September 1944.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-05-25
2017-08-26
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.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
The following twelve photographs are those mentioned in my writing about
Stalag 3A
The photographs were taken in late April 1945.
I received my copies in
November 1945.
Cost £1-0-0.
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
Stalag 3A Photographs
Description
An account of the resource
An explanatory note for a set of 12 photographs taken in Stalag 3A in April 1945.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One typewritten sheet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SHookerFJ1805487v10012
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
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.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Luckenwalde
prisoner of war
Stalag 3A
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1259/17112/MWhiteheadT1502391-180307-03.1.pdf
bc36af3388bfb1480d3997730ad3fd96
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Whitehead, Tom
T Whitehead
Description
An account of the resource
31 items and an album sub collection. Collection concerns Warrant Officer Tom Whitehead (b. 1923) who served as a rear gunner with 428 Squadron operating from RAF Dalton in Yorkshire. He was shot down over Duisburg and became a prisoner of war. Collection includes his prisoner of war logbook, official correspondence to his mother, official documentation, letters from the Caterpillar Club, German prisoner of war propaganda, 14 editions of the Red Cross prisoner of war newspaper and photographs of Royal Air Force personnel including himself.
Album in sub collection consists of 47 pages of prisoner of war related photographs.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Pamela Hyslop and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
2018-03-07
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
Whitehead, T
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
The Prisoner of War
[symbol] THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE PRISONERS OF WAR DEPARTMENT OF THE RED CROSS AND ST. JOHN WAR ORGANISATION, ST. JAMES'S PALACE, LONDON, S.W.1 [symbol]
Vol 3. No. 36. Free to Next of Kin April, 1945
The Editor Writes –
THERE is god news regarding the distribution of supplies from Switzerland to camps in different parts of Germany to which prisoners from eastern Germany have been sent. Fifty railway wagons, 48 with food and two with medical supplies, which left Switzerland for the neighbourhood of Moosburg, some distance north of Munich, have reached their destination and supplies are being distributed from there by lorry to British and United States prisoners of war in the vicinity.
Supplies by Road
Eighteen lorries which crossed the Swiss frontier into Germany for Northern Czechoslovakia have reached their destination and distributed food parcels to some 18,000 British and United State prisoners of war in the Eger, Prague, Marienbad and Carlsbad areas. An extra 100 lorries are available in Switzerland for use as opportunity offers.
In the north at Lubeck, two large lorries already in use by the I.R.C.C. have been supplied with petrol and oil and it is hoped to obtain further lorries for use in this area from Sweden.
Ex-Prisoners at Odessa
Various estimates have been made unofficially of the total number of prisoners of war released by the Russians, but the only information that has been verified is that which has been given in reply to questions in the House of Commons. On March 6th Sir James Grigg announced that the arrival of 14 officers and 464 other ranks at the transit camp at Odessa had been reported by our Military Mission in Moscow, and on March 9th Mr. Arthur Henderson, Financial Secretary to the War Office, in answer to a request for information about the 2,600 prisoners reported on their way to Odessa, replied that no further information had been received. Sir James Grigg has, however, given an assurance that he will give all the information he receives.
The advancing armies in the West are also overrunning prisoners of war camps, and one report speaks of 3,000 Allied soldiers, liberated from Krefeld, but there has as yet been no official confirmation of this report.
Exchange of Prisoners
Negotiations for the exchange of British and German able-bodied prisoners have not yet been completed but if they are successful the proposed scheme may well affect a considerable number of British and Commonwealth prisoners, captured before July 1st 1940. But, lest too high hopes are raised, I must emphasise that the whole matter is still in the preliminary stages. During this war most of the prisoners exchanged have been gravely wounded men and non-combatants covered by the Geneva Convention of 1929, and the present negotiations are the first for an exchange in which the prisoners involved would be active and physically fit men.
Six British Red Cross welfare workers are waiting at a northern port ready to embark for Sweden.
As I write, approximately 800 Britons, Turks, Portuguese and Argentines have arrived in England in the repatriation ship [italics] Drotningholm [/italics] for an exchange of German civilians.
[photograph]
OFF TO SWEDEN. Officers of the British Red Cross and Order of St. John, bound for Sweden to look after British repatriated prisoners, take leave of Colonel Montague Brown at Red Cross Headquarters in London.
Leave for Repatriates
Repatriated prisoners of war are given 42 days' leave as soon as they are fit to go to their homes after arrival in this country. They are able to obtain ration cards, vouchers for handkerchiefs and Naafi ration of chocolates, cigarettes and tobacco. Arrangements are also made for them to be placed on the Service register as electors.
This was officially stated in the House of Commons
[page break]
2 The Prisoner of War April, 1945
last month when it was also announced that if an ex-prisoner on leaving hospital is discharged from the Army on medical grounds he is given not 42 but 56 days' leave.
New Arrangements
Repatriates receive this amount of leave only if they are not subject to the new arrangements for members of the Forces. That is, if their in-patient treatment in a Service or E.M.S. hospital is not complete, they will not be discharged from the Services until at least eight calendar months, including 56 days' notice leave have elapsed from the date of their first absence from duty through illness. The new rule does not apply to patients such as those suffering from tuberculosis, once they have been transferred to civil sanatoria. Nor will it shorten any longer period of retention in the Service now allowed under normal regulations.
Tribute to Medical Officer
A prisoner in Stalag 383 who has been suffering from a badly septic hand has written home praising enthusiastically the British medical officer who has been attending to him in hospital. Of his time in hospital he says: “Of course, I've had a lot of pain and it made me ill, but, oh, the treat to be in this quiet room (only four men with me) after years in the crowded Stalags and to be out of the bitter cold. We get a little more food in here too, and I'm afraid that means a great deal to all of us now.” Like many other prisoners, he spends a lot of his time studying, and goes on: “I have had to give up my Spanish studies as I find that two subjects will be as much as I can cope with before next summer, as the standard is, of course, much higher than matriculation. My period of study for European history is 1500-1914, which is a big undertaking. My Polish teacher is now one of my closest friends. He is very fond of music and we go to a lot of gramophone recitals together. I hope I can show him a little hospitality after the war, in England, before he returns to his own country.”
Contents of Food Parcels
It has been announced that from the beginning of April food parcels for prisoners of war will each contain 8 oz. of butter. Up to the present time 54 per cent. contained butter and the rest margarine. In future no more margarine will be sent.
May I call the attention of next of kin to the important announcement from the G.P.O. about parcels which appears on page 16.
[photograph]
INDOOR MEETING. Men at Stalag IVB meet together in one of the camp huts.
Camp Hospital Conditions
I am grateful to a repatriated prisoner for information about conditions in the tuberculosis camp hospital at Reserve Lazaret 742, Elsterhorst. He wrote to the parents of a staff-sergeant who is official interpreter at the hospital and camp: “I was a prisoner at Lazaret 742 for six months, where I was able to see the splendid work your son is doing. He runs the administration of the whole place, and runs it very well indeed.” The food and living conditions, he added, were much better than in the ordinary prison camps.
A Rifleman's Violin
A rifleman in Stalag IVC had a very agreeable surprise last November, when he received his violin. It had been sent off to him two years before by his wife. Writing to Red Cross telling the story, she says: “It had been to Italy and followed him to Germany. I felt you would be interested to know this, as I brought the violin up to St. James's myself and your organisation packed it and sent it off for me. It says much for the way it was packed, for it arrived quite intact and my husband was able to play it at once.”
Lucky Reunion
By a chance in a thousand, a captain captured in Normandy found to his amazement, on arrival at Oflag 79 that his elder brother was in the camp. His brother, who has been a prisoner for about three years, was captured in Egypt, had been a prisoner in Italy and in several camps in Germany as well. Sheer coincidence brought them to the same camp. In brotherly fashion, the captain writes: “Try as hard as I can, I can detect neither mental nor physical difference in him, there isn't any. Neither fatter than he was nor thinner; neither older nor younger, in looks or in manner. Take it or leave it, Olly is Olly, and if anything a bit more so... so far I have been unable to do anything at all except talk and talk and talk to Olly.”
Repatriate's Tribute
I much appreciated a letter sent me by a private recently repatriated from Switzerland. “Without your marvellous organisation,” he wrote, “it would have been just a horrid existence.” He added that since he had been home he had derived a lot of pleasure from reading [italics] The Prisoner of War. [/italics] “They must have proved a big help during that worrying time.” He enclosed a donation with his letter, writing: “May I help others who are still behind the confines of the prison camps even as others helped me whilst I was in the same position?” A letter received from an officer in Oflag VIIB shows that those who are still prisoners are hearing news of repatriated prisoners. He writes: “I knew a number of officers from here who have been repatriated, and we sometimes hear from previous repatriates. They seem to have ample rations, petrol, clothing coupons, etc., given them on arrival.”
Food for Body and Mind
Over 28,000,000 Red Cross parcels of food and invalid comforts and over 1,000,000 next-of-kin parcels have been sent to British prisoners of war and internees in European prison camps since the beginning of the war. But it must not be forgotten that while the greater number of food parcels are packed in England, all the Dominions, and the British communities in the Argentine and Brazil contribute to the work either by packing, by financial aid, or by provision of bulk food, for which a parcel equivalent is included in the figure above. In addition many thousands of pounds have been spent by the Red Cross on sending to the prisoners about 500,000 books of every kind needed for education or recreation, on music and musical instruments, indoor games and outdoor sports equipment. Not only the body, but also the mind of the prisoner of war has been kept fit and healthy.
[inserted] HAVE YOU MOVED?
If so, do not forget to notify the Army, Navy or R.A.F. authorities as well as the Red Cross of your change of address. [/inserted]
[page break]
April, 1945 The Prisoner of War 3
Released by the Russians
[photograph]
Russian seamen at Odessa watch the ships depart.
(By courtesy of “Soviet War News”)
RELEASED by the Russians during their swift advance into Eastern Germany, 400 British prisoners of war are, at the time of writing, on their way home to the United Kingdom. They form an advance party which will be followed by others, bringing an even larger numbers of freed captives back to those who have waited so long for their return. The majority of these men come from camps near Torun, Stalags XXA and XXB.
A second shipload of repatriates follows closely in the wake of the first.
Upon arrival in the United Kingdom they will receive 42 days' home leave, after which they will attend a medical board. Then, depending on their state of health, they will either return to their units for a course of training in the United Kingdom, or receive the hospital treatment which has been prescribed.
Three Welfare Officers of the British Red Cross and St. John War Organisation passed through Moscow, where a special British staff is now established to contact released British p.o.w.s, on their way to Odessa.
Other Red Cross personnel plan to join those now in Russia, and together they hope to set up a semi-permanent depot at Odessa, with supplies of Red Cross comforts sufficient for 10,000 men.
These comforts include books, games, tobacco, cigarettes, soap and other toilet requisites, handkerchiefs, gramophones with recordings of E.N.S.A. shows etc. Food, clothing and medical supplies are also being sent to supplement those provided by our Russian allies.
Special consignments of tea, milk, sugar and biscuits will be available to repatriates during the journey home, so that they may enjoy “elevenses.”
More Are Coming
Almost every day trains draw into Odessa, chief southern port of Russia, bringing prisoners rescued by the Red Army – British, American, French, etc. – a great many of them civilians freed from internment camps.
When they reach this old fortified city of the Ukraine, built by the Empress Catherine in 1784-1792, and now badly damaged in the war, British p.o.w.s are taken to warm and spacious quarters in large buildings adapted as rest homes, where hot baths and excellent food are provided. Worn uniforms and ragged underclothes are exchanged for new outfits, comprising great-coats, battle-dresses, and warm underwear. New badges of rank and medal ribbons are issued to those entitled to wear them.
“See you in Berlin”
Various entertainments have been arranged to fill in the days of waiting until ships can take the men home.
Winter in the Ukraine is both longer and colder than in Western Europe. In January the temperature is much the same as in Stockholm at that time of year, whilst in July it is on a par to that experienced in Madrid.
As the first repatriate ship, a luxury liner of pre-war days, weighed anchor with her load of excited, happy men, someone shouted to the crowd of Russians watching from the quayside: “Thanks for everything. See you again soon, in Berlin.”
The remark brought a thunderous reply from the Russians – “Da da” (Yes, yes) roared back from a dozen throats.
Ex-Internees Welcomed Home
[photograph]
Homeward bound internees leave Liebenau camp.
AFTER years of internment, between two and three hundred British civilians, men, women and children, have been released from the German camps of Biberach, Wurzach, Liebenau and Ilag VII.
The large majority of those freed are Channel Islanders, who were forcibly deported from their homes by the Nazis in September, 1942.
A number of medical cases with their families were included in the draft. Fourteen men who joined this repatriation had been scheduled to join a previous one, but were held up in Sweden at the last minute. They had been detained at the request of the German Government when the total number of British to be exchanged was found to exceed that of the German.
Help and Gifts
At the port of embarkation at Gothenburg, in Sweden, and during the homeward voyage in the [italics] Drottningholm, [/italics] the Swedish Red Cross looked after the comfort and welfare of the repatriates. When they reached the United Kingdom they were met by officers of the British Red Cross, who gave them every assistance in addition to dispensing gifts of chocolates, cigarettes and newspapers. Warm clothing costing up to £10 per head had been provided by the British Red Cross, through their Swedish colleagues, to each ex-internee before sailing.
The Ministry of Health is responsible for all arrangements made for the reception of British civilians released from enemy hands. There are excellent hostels provided at the port of disembarkation, where those requiring temporary accommodation may stay.
Previous repatriations took place in January, 1942, October, 1943, and August and September, 1944.
[page break]
4 The Prisoner of War April, 1945
[picture] [picture]
The Brighter Side
[inserted] Most of the paragraphs on this page refer to activities in the big base camps and it should not be assumed that they are typical of conditions in all camps or in outlying working detachments where facilities for sport and amusement are much fewer. [/inserted]
Pantomime programme at Marlag und Milag Nord.
FEW camps have put on a more impressive selection of shows than Marlag und Milag Nord. [italics] Bandwaggon and Marlag Coons [/italics] are among the regular features. Such well-known plays as [italics] French Without Tears, Hobson's Choice, and The Importance of Being Earnest [/italics] have been produced; while Gilbert and Sullivan have been well represented with [italics] H.M.S. Pinafore, The Gondoliers and Pirates of Penzance. [/italics] Pantomimes are regular favourites and the men have produced [italics] Aladdin, Cinderella, Robinson Crusoe and Dick Whittington. [/italics]
Their skill in reproducing all of the atmosphere of a West End show is shown by the front and back covers of the programme devised for [italics] Dick Whittington, [/italics] which was written and produced by one of the prisoners. There were three acts of two scenes each and music by Mac and his Grand Pantomime Orchestra. The cast consisted of 25, with a chorus of ten villagers and eight “rats.”
On New Year's Eve the Merchant Navy arranged a Fancy Dress Ball with some of the prisoners dressed up as girls, and had an excellent entertainment.
Hogmanay Dinner
A prisoner in Stalag IVC writes of the New Year celebrations in the camp: “Two of my pals, being Jocks, they insisted that at New Year we should have a real Hogmanay Dinner. One chap, a sign-writer, did some excellent painting of seasonal greetings, decorated the room and gave it a really cheerful and cosy appearance. Three of us did the cooking and 18 sat down to dinner.” Afterwards they had impromptu turns and a sing-song accompanied by an accordion and guitar, and finally finished up with a supper.
In the same camp they recently put on the sketch [italics] The Monkey's Paw. [/italics] It was originally intended to produce it as an “eerie hair-raising drama,” but as things were rather hectic they eventually put it on unrehearsed as a farce, rather, it appears, to the despair of the promoter. Still, the audience got plenty of good laughs.
High Opinion of Shakespeare
They have a very high opinion of Shakespeare in another camp, where [italics] The Comedy of Errors [/italics] is halfway through its run. It is being played as a sort of pantomime farce, with song and dance, bright colours and red noses, and one prisoner writes: “I think the audience enjoy it, but they can't get over an almost religious respect for William Shakespeare; they sit and chuckle, refuse to applaud the songs and afterwards tell one that they are coming to see it twice more. Very odd . . .”
On Tour
A corporal from Stalag 344E3 has written home to say that he is now at an entirely new place, 600 miles from his own camp. It appears that he is out on tour with one of their shows, [italics] Night Must Fall, [/italics] which they are playing to prisoners who are not able to put on shows of their own. He added: “I am having some quite novel experiences. It is quite a change after four years in E3. You have probably read of the camp in the papers. It is a very nice place.”
Plenty of Entertainment
There is plenty of entertainment to be had at Stalag IVB and prisoners have a choice of going to the pantomime or the musical revue, listening to music, or reading, playing football or indoor games. At Christmas they produced a modern nativity play, [italics] Christmas on the Green, [/italics] which, in the words of one prisoner, recalled “a beautiful Miracle play of the Middle Ages.” The pantomime started its run just after Christmas, following a musical revue, [italics] Springtime for Jennifer, [/italics] which had been written by a prisoner and was “one of the best yet.”
English football enthusiasts at the same camp are feeling very pleased with themselves because England recently beat Wales 3-0.
Another prisoner who writes home is more enthusiastic about music. He writes: “Bolt, who recently gave the [italics] Unfinished, Rosamunde, [/italics] Ballet and Gluck-Motte Suite, has thrilled us with Beethoven (Ind. Sy. [italics] Fidelio, Egmont [/italics] and that exquisite poem [italics] Romance in F [/italics]). The orchestra of 45 men is international and now plays finely. A young Warsaw violinist gave a sensitive rendering.”
Prisoner Playwright
As a pleasant reversal of the usual conditions, it is interesting to be able to record that a prisoner of war in Germany was able to bring laughter and joy to a large number of people in England this Christmas. L/Sgt. Derek C. Lunn, a prisoner since Dunkirk and now at Stalag 357 (22), was asked by his fiancée in Woking to send her something for her Girl Guides to perform. He forwarded a delightful outline of a pantomime, which, being too ambitious for her small company, was taken up by the local Commissioner. A treatment was worked out by an amateur playwright in the neighbourhood, and four performances were played to crowded houses.
The net result was a cheque for £100 being handed over to the Y.M.C.A. Appeal Fund, and the pantomime has been so successful that hundreds of would-be spectators who were unable to secure tickets have insisted on further performances in the near future. The whole of the cast, comprising Brownies, Guides, Rangers and Sea Rangers, signed a special letter of thanks to the author.
Indoor Games
At this time of year indoor games and recreation are naturally very popular. In Stalag IVB they organize quiz shows, and entertainments and lectures as well as all the usual indoor sports. Before the prisoners at Stalag Luft III were moved to the south-west, the camp had for a time a special
entertainments section, with provision for lectures and classes. The most popular were those on French, German and shorthand.
[page break]
April, 1945 The Prisoner of War 5
[photograph]
Hot showers are enjoyed by all.
Escaped Prisoners Reach Italy
DOROTHY M. CLARKE,
Official Red Cross Correspondent, Describes Their Reception There
ONE Belgian and thirteen British soldiers who had escaped from German prison camps reached Italy at the end of December. Several of them had been prisoners of war since 1940, when they were captured defending Metz during the Battle of France.
Private J. Creighton, whose home is in Sligo, Eire, was one of those taken at Metz. After a long period in prison in German Occupied France, he managed to break out and reach Switzerland. Then, when the American Army invaded Southern France and advanced to the Swiss border, he crossed the frontier and joined them.
Private William Powell, who comes from Sydney, Australia, told me that he had been on the run in Northern Italy for many months after escaping from a German prison camp. After many adventures he made his way through the enemy's lines into Allied territory.
Upon arrival at a special reception camp in Southern Italy each man received a hot meal and a comfortable bed. Next morning after breakfast, which was served from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., the new arrivals had to report at the reception office and fill in forms giving full particulars about themselves and their movements. Then they went to the disrobing-room and removed their somewhat heterogeneous collection of garments, which were taken away for disinfestation whilst the men themselves enjoyed hot showers. This was followed by medical inspection and injections, and a full issue of fresh clothing from the Quartermaster.
Called on the Red Cross
Dressed in their new outfits, the men called at the British Red Cross store, where an officer of the War Organisation presented each with a Red Cross “Glory Bag” containing various toilet necessities, writing paper, etc.
The men had next to be interrogated by officials of the Security Department, who checked their credentials and established their identity; after this they received their first pay as free citizens – a memorable occasion they will not easily forget.
Whilst awaiting repatriation to their homes the men are at liberty to enjoy all the amenities of the reception camp; their only fatigue, if it can be called such, is attendance at the one parade daily to answer their names at roll-call.
Three times a week a cinema performance is given at the camp. In charge of the large and well-equipped club room, with its billiard and ping-pong tables, dart-boards, and E.F.I. canteen, are two English ladies, members of the W.V.S. One is Mrs. Dimbleby, mother of the well-known broadcaster.
The days of waiting need not be spent in idle leisure only, for a fatherly War Office has provided the facilities of a warrant officer's education for those desiring to avail themselves of the opportunity of hearing lectures, studying maps, joining in discussions of topical interest, and making use of the well-stocked library.
From the Folks at Home
The British Red Cross Welfare Officer attached to the camp has been largely responsible for equipping the sick bay and small chapel. She made the altar-cloth in the chapel herself, and on her orders local craftsmen executed the wooden crucifix and candlesticks.
Gifts of the British Red Cross in the sick bay are the cheerful looking yellow counterpanes, hiding drab Army blankets; and the bright curtains at the windows, which give the plain flambo [sic] hut a more homely appearance. The wireless set, gramophone, easy chairs, hot-water bottles, bedrests, floor rugs, heating stoves, flower vases, games, etc., which do so much to ease and cheer sick men who have known little comfort or happiness during long years of captivity, were all bought with those pennies subscribed each week by the folks at home.
“When you write your report there is one thing I would like you to be sure to mention,” the Camp Commandant said to me before I left; “and that is, that every man who comes to this camp tells me he would not be alive if it had not been for the British Red Cross food parcels which he received whilst a prisoner.”
I can report how Red Cross money is being spent, but if only subscribers at home could actually see the use to which their gifts are put, then they would be amply repaid for what they have given. It is not only the material contributed, but the spirit of remembrance and gratitude of the giver, which means so much to men in exile. As Sir Walter Scott wrote:-
“It is the secret sympathy,
The silver link, the silken tie,
Which heart to heart, and mind to mind,
In body and in soul can bind.”
When the “cease fire” sounds, and all prison gates open, the still captive comrades of these men will return to a changed world; but not, one hopes, to a world in which people will easily forget their sacrifice and their suffering.
[photograph]
The first real rest in years.
[page break]
6 The Prisoner of War April, 1945
Official Reports from the Camps
[photograph]
BESIDE THE STILL WATERS.
View of Oflag IXA/H.
DULAG 339, MANTUA
This is the new name for the transit camp in German-occupied Italy formerly known as Stalag 337. The camp is intended to serve as a transit camp for prisoners captured on the Italian front while awaiting transfer to Germany. As a rule prisoners are here only two or three days, but lately, owing to the bombing of communications and transport, prisoners have been kept two or three weeks. On the day of visit there were 321 British and 95 American prisoners of war in this camp.
The camp is situated on the outskirts of Mantua, near the Lake Inferiore. Four large buildings and an old garage have been converted and made habitable, two are used as dormitories, one is reserved for stores, and the fourth is used for workshops, showers, etc. A kitchen has been installed in the middle of the camp and underground there is an air-raid shelter to hold 500 prisoners.
The dormitories are not heated and are well aired. The temperature is at present adequate. Each prisoner has three blankets. The beds are two-tier type. There is practically no lighting in the camp.
There is a large washhouse with running water. Fifteen shower-baths have been installed, but there is no hot water. The prisoners receive soap. The kitchen is run by a German N.C.O. helped by six prisoners. The food was not plentiful, but appeared sufficient. Supplementary rations are provided for prisoners who work. It has not been possible to install a canteen in the camp. There is a shortage of clothing.
Medical treatment is available at the neighbouring hospital, where the prisoners can also have dental and eye treatment. There is no British chaplain.
The prisoners are entitled to send a postcard to their next of kin as soon as they arrive in the camp. Permanent staff may write every week.
There is a library of 350 English books, and the prisoners have supplies of games and playing cards.
(Visited November, 1944.)
OFLAG IXA/H, SPANGENBERG
Upper Camp
28 newly captured officers had arrived from the Western front, making a total of 185 officers and 36 other ranks.
Interior arrangements are adequate at the moment, but it is feared that if many more prisoners arrive from the Western front the dormitories will be overcrowded. This will also apply to the library and recreational rooms.
All the Roman Catholic prisoners of war have been moved to Oflag IXA/Z, since there is no priest in this camp.
Recreational facilities are satisfactory. Walks are organised twice a week.
Lower Camp
Total strength on day of visit was 210 officers and 34 other ranks.
The situation with regard to overcrowding was the same here as in the Upper Camp. Many dormitories are already very full. If many new captures are sent to this camp the overcrowding is likely to be serious.
The central heating will be out of use when the present stock of coke is exhausted. It is hoped that further supplies will be forthcoming, this being a camp for senior officers, the average age being 43 years.
Recreational facilities are well organised. The prisoners go for two walks each week and in addition parties go out of the camp nearly every day to collect wood.
Mail is stated to be very good. Letters from England arrive within two or three weeks.
The general impression from both the Lower and Upper Camps is that at present conditions are fairly satisfactory; but it is the future which causes anxiety, in that if there is to be a large increase of officers, both camps will be seriously overcrowded and the existing facilities such as heating and lighting, water supply, and sanitation, will be unable to stand the increased burden.
(Visited November, 1944.)
OFLAG IXA/Z, ROTHENBERG
Total strength 405 officers and 56 other ranks.
Interior arrangements are satisfactory at the moment, but an increase in the camp strength is expected, which will cause overcrowding.
[photograph]
CAPTIVE BUT NOT DOWNHEARTED. A smiling group of men at Stalag IVF.
There has been no improvement in the lighting of the camp, and if extra lighting is to be given in the recreational rooms it will be necessary to reduce the lighting in some of the other rooms. Central heating is at present only available for a few hours in the evenings. The shortage of coal, owing to transport difficulties, is currently throughout Germany, and it was considered unlikely that the full scale of coal could be delivered before the winter. The officers are allowed to go out most days to collect wood.
[page break]
April, 1944 The Prisoner of War 7
[inserted] In every case where conditions call for remedy, the Protecting Power makes representations to the German authorities. Where there is any reason to doubt whether the Protecting Power has acted it is at once requested to do so. When it is reported that food or clothing is required, the necessary action is taken through the International Red Cross Committee. [/inserted]
[sketch]
LAST CHRISTMAS IN GERMANY?
A sketch of Oflag IXA/Z drawn by a senior British Officer, and sent as a Christmas card to the Red Cross.
Owing to the shortage of coal, hot showers are available only once a fortnight, and the prisoners are only able to have a hot evening meal four times a week.
Nearly 300 prisoners have been inoculated against typhus, with anti-typhoid inoculations to follow. German supplies of drugs and medicines are now better, but most of the supplies are received from Red Cross sources.
There are three chaplains in the camp – one Church of England, one Roman Catholic, and one Baptist.
The spirit in this camp is high, and it is hoped that there will be no considerable increase in the number of prisoners, since the existing facilities are likely to prove inadequate.
(Visited November, 1944.)
LABOUR DETACHMENTS
Dependent on STALAG IVF
No. Z128, Marienthal. – 20 prisoner of war work in a tramway factory 10 hours daily. Sunday is generally free.
The only complaint is a lack of working gloves, which the Germans promised to provide.
9 British prisoners at W123, Bogenstein, are employed digging air-raid shelters for 55 hours weekly. Sundays are free.
[photograph]
HOLD IT NOW!
Members of a work-party at Stalag IVG pose for their photograph to be taken.
There are no complaints at Detachment No. Z15, Suedkampfbahn, where 97 prisoners of war are engaged on various maintenance jobs for nine hours daily.
No. G168, Glauchau. – This camp is housed in a large wooden barrack and has good air raid shelters. There are 26 British prisoners of war employed in an artificial wood factory for 60 hours a week, with Sundays generally free. There are four sleeping rooms with a separate dining room and a separate room for the medical orderly and the cook. There are sufficient tables and chairs. Some of the roofs leak. Each prisoner has two blankets.
The washing facilities are adequate and the prisoners can have a hot shower each week in the factory. There is a small library in the camp, also a gramophone. Prisoners are able to play football.
Detachment No. L106, Loessnitz. – The 38 British prisoners of war in this detachment live in a two-storied stone building near a small village. There are no air-raid shelters in the camp, but there are good shelters at the factory where the prisoners are employed manufacturing cotton for 60 hours a week. Sunday is generally free.
Interior arrangements are adequate. There are two sleeping rooms. Lighting and heating are in order. Every prisoner has two blankets. Hot showers are available at any time in the factory. The prisoners of war have their own cook. Prisoners do their own laundry, but the soap issue is said to be insufficient.
Detachment No. 87, Oberstuetzengruen. – 53 British prisoners work 60 hours weekly loading and unloading wood. Every third Sunday is free.
The prisoners had only been having a hot shower once every fortnight. In future they will be able to have one every week. The 191 British prisoners of war in Detachment No. 104, Kohlenschacht Lugau had no complaints. They work eight to nine hours daily on the surface of a coal mine, and every second Sunday is free.
At Detachment No. 129, Rachau, 20 British prisoners of war work in a paper factory. The hours are 60 a week with Sunday generally free. The 16 prisoners at No. A13, Lindengarten, work for the German Red Cross eight to nine hours a day, and had no complaints.
There were no complaints at the following detachments:-
No. W149, Wuestembrad, where 18 British prisoners of war work for 8 1/2 hours a day at digging air-raid shelters; at No. C89, Neemestrasse, where 24 British prisoners of war work at load-
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8 The Prisoner of War April, 1944
ing and unloading glass for nine hours a day; and at No. C104, Limbacherstrasse, where 7 British prisoners of war are employed in a brickworks for 9 1/2 hours a day.
(Visited November, 1944.)
RESERVE LAZARET HOHENSTEIN
(STALAG IVF)
On the day of the visit there were 41 British and 38 American patients in this hospital. There are two British medical officers and four British medical orderlies on the staff of the hospital. There were no complaints on either the conditions or the treatment at this hospital.
The drug supply is in order, and there was a good stock of medicaments. Dental treatment is done by a French dentist and is reported to be satisfactory.
(Visited November, 1944.)
[photograph]
RED CROSS STAFF AT STALAG IVG, where the general health of prisoners is reported to be good.
LABOUR DETACHMENTS
Dependent on STALAG IVG
The delegate only visited a few working detachments, but met most of the district Men of Confidence.
District Leipzig East. – There are 971 British prisoners of war in 11 detachments. The Men of Confidence had no serious complaints.
District Leipzig Nord. – 344 British prisoners of war in five working detachments. The only complaint was that in this district all stocks of Red Cross parcels have been moved outside the camps and the keys not given to the Men of Confidence.
District Leipzig West. – 497 British prisoners of war in seven working detachments. Here again the Men of Confidence complained that stocks of Red Cross parcels are inaccessible. Arrangements will be made to secure more storerooms.
District Espenhain. – 500 British prisoners of war in three working detachments. The chief complaint was that there was a French doctor in charge of the prisoners who does not speak English. As it will hardly be possible to get a British medical officer to this area, arrangements will be made to secure an interpreter.
District Grimma. – 368 British prisoners of war in six working detachments. There were no complaints.
District Wurzen. – 533 British prisoners of war in ten detachments. There were no serious complaints.
District Berna. – 266 British prisoners of war in five detachments. The only complaint was that at Detachment No. 102, Bad Lausick, the men had been unable to play football although there is a sports field at their disposal. It was agreed that prisoners will again be allowed to play football on their free Sundays.
Detachment No. 654, Coswig. – 26 British prisoners of war are employed 65 hours a week in workshops and had no complaints about working conditions. There was no Sunday work.
The prisoners are well accommodated in a large barrack with two sleeping rooms. Lighting and heating are satisfactory. There are adequate air-raid shelters. The clothing position is bad in this camp. The laundry has to be sent out to a German firm, who often lose the prisoners' garments. Medical attention is good.
Detachment No. 434, Grossteinberg. – 79 British prisoners of war work in a stone quarry for nine hours a day. Prisoners work one Sunday in each month. The prisoners sleep on wooden three-tier beds and have two blankets each. Lighting and heating facilities are in order. Medical attention is satisfactory. The camp is visited regularly by a padre. There were no complaints.
Detachment No. 104, Rittmitz. – There are 41 British prisoners of war in this camp, some of whom work in a factory and the others in a stone quarry. There was no Sunday work. Living quarters in a stone building are adequately furnished with double-tier beds. Hot showers are available at the factory. A stove for cooking Red Cross food was expected to arrive shortly. The general impression was that this was a fairly satisfactory camp.
(Visited November, 1944.)
RESERVE LAZARET
HAID(b)/ TRAUN
This lazaret is attached to Stalag 398. It consists of several barracks forming part of a large compound housing foreign labourers engaged in a nearby ironworks at Pupping.
The hospital accommodates prisoners of any nationality. At the time of the visit there were 30 British prisoners, and 14 Americans for whom special rooms are reserved. These arrangements are considered satisfactory.
Clinical equipment is adequate. There is one British medical officer who is able to carry out any treatment required. The British medical staff work amicably with the German authorities. Cooking is done by foreign prisoner cooks and the rations are considered to be very unsatisfactory. The chaplain from Stalag 398 pays regular visits to the hospital. There are sufficient recreational grounds within the compound.
(Visited November, 1944.)
Reports on Stalag IVG, Oshatz and IVF, Hartmannsdorf, will be found on page 16.
[photograph]
BRITISH AND SOUTH AFRICAN
Back Row, Left to Right: Bobs Tatham (Natal); Ned Sparks (Gt. Britain); Bob Cullen (Natal); Ronald Abbot (Cape Town); Geoffrey Reid (Cape Town).
Front Row: Bobby Gain (Cape Town); Paddy Doyle (Gt. Britain); Neil Orpen (Cape Town); Billy Reynolds (Somerset West); Zander Dewar (Natal); Tony Burch (Uitenhage).
[page break]
April, 1945 The Prisoner of War 9
The Letters They Write Home
[photograph]
THE FIRST ROUND OPENS. – Men of a working party at Stalag XVIIA hold a boxing match in a wood.
Like Great-Grandmother's
Oflag VIIB. 26.12.44.
AS by a German order all reserves of food in the camp must be consumed before new parcels are allowed in, everyone has had (and is having) a very well-fed time of it. I made a really excellent brawn from bully, meat roll and bacon, and Steve and I produced a Christmas cake which would not have made too bad a show of it even in the presence of the genuine article [italics] à la [/italics] Great-Grandmother's recipe!!
The ingredients may interest you: 1 small tin Horlick’s, 3 Canadian Red Cross biscuits ground to flour, egg powder, milk powder, bicarb, of soda, chopped raisins and apricots, and prune kernels and hazel nuts, butter, sugar.
Officers made toys, which were auctioned and the money and toys are to go to the Ilags for the children – mostly from the Channel Islands.
We had an old-time Boxing Booth [italics] à la [/italics] Sanger. They produced an excellent Christmas number of our magazine, with a ghost story and a new poem on Cheshire. Steve and I got up in darkness for the 7 a.m. service, and it was jolly cold, but we made it.
We are able to help the new boys out over food, and just at present there is plenty for all and the future will have to look after itself.
Carved Crib with Razor
Oflag VA. 27.12.44.
WE have had days now of very hard frost; Christmas Day itself was beautifully sunny, clear and crisp, without a cloud all day. I managed to finish the crib I tried to make. It finally consisted of a very plain stable of cardboard, with a star over it, and inside Joseph, Mary and one shepherd. The Child was a vague head sticking out of a bundle of cloth in the manger – only just adequate – but Joseph was quite imposing with a green robe, and Mary was really very sweet, in blue, sitting on a stool, leaning forward to put a covering over the Child. The Shepherd, in what looked like a brown gym, tunic, was kneeling at the other side. It was put in the chapel, and, I says [sic] it as should not, really looks very nice.
I really enjoyed carving the figures – though with nothing but a razor blade some bits were difficult, and, to begin with, my “anatomy” was bad – arms and legs would not come right.
I went to Mass at 7.30, when there were 140 there. At 9 o'clock there were twice as many.
We had a good breakfast in the mess (porridge, sausages, eggs and coffee), and later on an excellent lunch (meat pie, mashed potatoes, peas, trifle, cake, mincepie [sic]), complete with orchestra playing.
Christmas in Cookhouse
Stalag 383. 27.12.44.
CONSIDERING the circumstances, we had a very good Christmas as prisoners of war. Wacky and I spent Christmas Eve and Day with Dai (a sergeant in the Welsh Guards) who, being in charge of the soup kitchen, has a room in the cookhouse.
On Christmas Eve we had a litre or so of beer and a bit of a sing-song. The following morning we started the day with an English breakfast (we managed to save a few tins during better times). Our dinner consisted of mashed and roasted potatoes, peas, swede and roast meat, followed by an excellent pudding (made with bread and raisins) with “Klim,” washed down with a bottle of beer. I suppose the beer here is no stronger than it is at home nowadays.
We had a very nice cake for tea; Ivor spent a few hours endeavouring to give it the necessary seasonal appearance and finished up by having the words “A Merry Christmas” printed on the wrapper.
Imposing Little Ceremony
Stalag IVF. 6.11.44.
My last outing was on All Souls Day, when I went down to the hospital cemetery to attend a short memorial service conducted by the French chaplain. I went there with the French and Belgian Men of Confidence, and the Italian chaplain, in the French Red Cross lorry.
A large contingent from the hospital marched down to the cemetery. After prayers the names of prisoners of all nationalities who had died, were read out. Our senior doctor read the British names.
Then we went on to the civilian cemetery in the town, where other prisoners are buried, and the service was repeated. It was quite an imposing little ceremony.
A Pretty Decent Chap
Stalag IVD. 23.2.45.
THIS week has been a record for illness. We all have rotten colds – It has run all round the [italics] Stube [/italics] – 40 of us. Tons of snow and very cold still. But hope you are free from colds yourself.
Still plenty of work and the hours are long. Am on night shift every other week on a metal press. Have a pretty decent chap in charge named Max, who has a bit of sympathy for us. No cigarettes or mail yet, but tell Hilda to get the baking pans ready as we are betting on seeing you in the near future.
Fire Fuhrer
Oflag VIIB. 1.1.45.
AT present, as I am our room “fire fuhrer,” I seem to spend my entire days trying to make lumps of wood fit into our tiny stove, which won't burn when we want to cook, and soars through anything when we try to damp it down.
It really isn't fair, this business of ten officers living, sleeping and eating in the kitchen; or you might call it cooking, eating, living in one bedroom.
To-day I spent hammering old tins out flat and joining them together to make tops for cooking pots, my tool kit consisting of a rusty iron bar and a jagged knife. I get quite a bit of amusement out of it really.
To turn to a less squalid side of life, I've spent half to one hour daily, for the last week, on skates on the flooded hockey pitch.
News and Rumours
Stalag IVF. 29.10.44.
MOST of our lads have just received their first personal parcels, and are they happy? Socks with the foot complete, shirts in one piece, and cigarettes are arriving as well. So just at a time
[page break]
10 The Prisoner of War April, 1945
[photograph]
CLOTHES AND THE MAN. – An Able seaman gives a realistic rendering of Lady Bowden during a theatrical performance at Stalag 344.
when things looked black, owing to food parcels being cut to one between two men, we are laughing again. It is good to see how everybody takes all hard knocks with a smile, and they are numerous these days.
You were asking in your letter, do we get news of the progress of the war? Yes; we hear and see enough to help us form opinions on what is happening. But genuine news is far out-weighed by rumours, so we have to sort it out.
I notice you have not been able to make any plans for the post-war. I believe that applies to most of us. I often think of the worry ahead for all of us. What a splendid opportunity for all of us to make a great effort to create a better standard of living in Europe. Nobody should go short of food after six years of suffering. May we be able to give the lead to other nations. I am continuing my letter on another card.
Arguments and Discussions
Stalag 357. 5.11.44.
THE location of this new 357 is quite good, being on grass this time, and down the side of a real Scottish wood. There are about 6,500 men here, mixed R.A.F and Army and all nationalities, so arguments and discussions are many and varied. We have electric light installed, and now have a hot-plate in each hut.
Lights went out again last night at 7 p.m., so we had an evening's community singing with all sorts of songs and stories. An Aussie in the bed above me is pretty good!
I have been issued with a pair of new boots and a French great coat, so am now well equipped.
Making a Start
Stalag 357 20.9.44.
WE are gradually organising our social life in this new camp. The library has opened and once again I spend a few hours in it every day. For sport we have football, rugby, cricket and racing.
It should not be long before the school is opening and then I will be able to resume my studies.
Saw Volkssturm Practising
SEEING the Volkssturm practising on the range near the camp on Sundays is just like seeing the Home Guard at home.
To-night I saw at the theatre [italics] Spring-time for Jennifer; [/italics] these productions are excellent and amazing.
The editor of [italics] New Times, [/italics] the paper for 4,000 English-speaking prisoners, has asked me to join the editorial board and contribute regularly, so I am not out of touch with my life as it was and as it will be.
Each day I cook our two meals for my “mucker” and myself I am modestly an increasingly good cook. You would be amazed to see me in my skyblue French overcoat, maroon beret, etc.
Midnight Parade
Stalag XIA. 25.12.44.
CHRISTMAS DAY here was really quite amazing. All the boys have entered into the spirit of things and are determined to have as merry a time as possible. On Christmas Eve we had a carol service complete with orchestra and choir. After that we had a concert in our room, and finished up by parading round the other rooms at midnight singing at the tops of our voices.
The following morning at 6 o'clock they had their own back by waking us with a fanfare of trumpets, trombones, drums, etc.
Our Christmas dinner was a great achievement; we had saved some stuff from our parcels and made a big pudding for sixteen of us, and our three-tier cake was the talk of the camp.
We are all feeling a little uncomfortable now, but nevertheless contented. We toasted you all after dinner (in tea) and feel sure we will be with you soon.
New Arrivals
Biberach. 26.11.44.
WE have quite a mixed crowd of people in the camp, including about 140 (men, women and children) who arrived recently. Special arrangements had to be made on their arrival, and they are now getting more settled down. The women are up fairly early in the morning, and soon the lines outside their barracks are full of washing.
We now have 84 persons in our barrack with none in hospital. There are 17 in our room.
The hospital and Red Cross staff have had a little more to do lately, and have done it well. About 2,000 Red Cross parcels arrived here recently, and are very welcome.
Nearly a Black Christmas
Stalag IVD. 26.12.44.
IT looked like being a black Christmas for us here with no parcels, but on Christmas Eve the works foreman came in dressed as Father Christmas and brought some good news. Parcels were at the distributing centre and he had been able to make arrangements for collecting them on Christmas morning. After that the band got going with a swing and the dance was on.
On Christmas morning we went to the pictures. The big picture was an ice skating film and was very good. Also news and a short picture taken in Salzburg area. Going again on New Year's Day, the picture being a circus film, which should be good.
It has been very cold all the holiday – well below freezing point. Start work again to-morrow.
[inserted] SEND US YOUR PICTURES AND LETTERS
TEN SHILLINGS will be awarded each month to the senders of the first three letters from prisoners of war to be printed. Copies instead of the originals are requested, and whenever possible these should be set out on a separate sheet of paper, showing the DATES on which they were written. The Editor welcomes for other pages of the journal any recent NEWS relating to prisoners of war.
Ten Shillings will also be awarded for photographs reproduced across two columns, and five shillings for those under two. Photographs should be distinct, and any information as to when they were taken is helpful.
Address: Editor, “The Prisoner of War,” St. James's Palace, London, S.W.1. The cost of these prizes and fees is defrayed by a generous friend of the Red Cross and St. John War Organisation. [/inserted]
[page break]
April, 1945 The Prisoner of War 11
“Rookery Nook” at Stalag XXA
[photograph]
GERALD: “She's just a sweet, [italics] innocent [/italics] little girl.”
[photograph]
Putz leaves in a nasty rage.
[photograph]
Clive and Gerald tell Twine to get Rona's clothes from the German.
The well-known play [italics] Rookery Nook [/italics] was first produced in London many years ago when Ralph Lynn, Tom Walls and Robertson Hare played the original parts. Since then, it has been revived by many theatrical companies, including those in prisoner of war camps, and is a favourite everywhere. The theme of the play is a matrimonial muddle at a country house, and as the scenes shown here were not marked on the photographs from Germany, we asked Mr. Ralph Lynn to caption them. In returning them he says, “I think they have done wonders by the photographs. God bless them, and good luck to them all.”
LETTERS (Continued from previous page)
Table Bombs
Stalag XIA. 25.12.44.
TO-DAY we put on the best show for the camp at 10 o'clock until 12 mid-day. We all put our iced cakes and puddings on show and all down the centre of the room on the decorated tables were paper flowers and table bombs. They really looked well. Mind you the inscriptions would not pass the censor, but none the less for that we all enjoyed it.
The table bombs gave us all enough hats and flags for the room. To-morrow I have to arrange, by way of entertainment, a mock trial for some unfortunate individual. For all this good food and so on we have to give our thanks to the Red Cross.
A Wizard day
Stalag Luft III. 26.12.44.
WE had an absolutely wizard day yesterday, which I shall always remember as one, I think, of the best in my life. After ten weeks of pretty lean diet on half parcels, a consignment of American Christmas parcels arrived, and from them we enjoyed, among many good things, turkey and Christmas puddings which were the last word.
One fellow from our room has cooking right at his finger tips, and we were supplied through the day with an assortment of eats which, in my opinion, would have graced with distinction the tables of a Royal household! We have plenty left over for to-day and the New Year, which includes a 16lb. cake untouched from yesterday.
Excuse all this talk about food, but here at times it is an interesting topic.
3,000 Feet Up
Stalag XVIIB, B.H.V.101 3.12.44.
THE snow I wrote about went away, but to-day it is snowing again. This time we want it for the sleighs to get in the winter firewood. The Austrians tell us that they get snowed up here.
We are 3,000 feet up in the mountains. One place where we have been working is higher still. On a clear day we can see the Alps in the distance.
I shall soon be a Jack of all trades. We have been chaff-cutting on a motor saw, laying floorlogs, forestry and road-making – a bit of everything. I am keeping fine despite all.
We have a cat that catches the rats; it is hard to feed her these days.
Bit of a Miner
Stalag IVD. 25.12.44.
I HAVE now changed my kommando and am no longer at the sugar factory, but am a bit of a miner. The work is hard, but I am used to that, as you know. Work makes the time pass more quickly.
This Stalag is very well organised, which is a great asset. Last night they held a dance which was a “wow.” You would be surprised to see what wonderful looking girls some of the chaps turned out to be. Went for a laugh and I certainly had it.
To-day we went to a service, and although it was only held in a hut it was as impressive as any held in a church.
[page break]
12 The Prisoner of War April, 1945
[inserted] How They Help
I addition to those mentioned below, we wish to thank the many kind readers whose help to the funds this month we cannot find room to record here individually [/inserted]
MR. PAYNE, of “The Crown and Anchor,” Gallows Tree Common, near Reading, has collected £33 7s. from a sale of goods given by his customers, which he forwards with the comment: “It is only a little, but I must thank you for the Red Cross parcels received by my son who is a prisoner of war in Germany.”
With the help of friends Mrs. Agnew has collected £94 7s. 6d. in Jarrow, also for food parcels.
Mrs. Kellow, who writes from Liskeard that she has recently had two cheerful letters from her nephew in Stalag XIA, sends £3, and a total of £15 is reached by a fifth contribution from Mrs. Millard, Risca, Monmouthshire. On behalf of his staff at Llantwit Major, W/O. A.S. Hamblin has forwarded £20.
Father Helps Son
A further donation of £5 17s. 6d. has been received from the staff of Nicholl's Stores, Kensington, and the staff of 50 at Messrs. R.W. Greff and Company of Bishop's Stortford, who have two colleagues prisoners of war, one in Europe and the other in the Far East, have raised the sum of £112, an increase of £2 on the total for the previous year and the result of the sale of their handwork and toy making.
“Friends at Electra House, London,” have been keeping their eye “on the ball,” and over £2,000 has been collected in sixpences during the past eighteen months or so, and they give us the following “crazy” figures realised from other recent efforts:-
A dart-board ... £15
Three fruit cakes ... £13
A portable gramophone and tennis racquet ... £55
A trug of fresh fruit ... £22
Bunches of cut flowers, per bunch ... £4
Shell eggs ... £1 a piece!
Nat Gonella, the ace trumpeter, and the dance band of the Royal Tank Regiment were the star attractions at a ball and cabaret held in the Bournemouth Town Hall, which resulted in £71 15s. 8d. being raised for prisoners of war. Mr. Leo Wells, the promoter, has a son who is a prisoner of war and he writes that he is already organising another ball which promises to be an even greater success.
Another successful dance, organised by the Aeronautical Inspection Department, raising £170 17s. 4d., took place at the Co-operative Hall, Nottingham.
Jean Medlock and some of her friends at Shefford, all nine years old, wrote and performed a play, and from the entrance fee of 1d. per person were able to send 5s. Rita Burgess, of Luton, who is also nine, has given a second donation, mentioning that she is knitting mittens from the pattern published in the journal, for her father, who is a prisoner of war.
Prisoner Wins Prize
Half of the proceeds of three plays presented by the Upper Killay Young People's Dramatic Society have been devoted to the Red Cross, and the carols of the Wantage Rangers profited the fund by £1. £2 in Victoria pennies has been saved by Jean Rome, Dunstable, and the combined efforts of the Parsons, Jones and West families at Tirphil, New Tredegar, in collecting threepenny pieces have produced £5.
The East Wales vs. West Wales Secondary Schools Union rugby match, which was played on the Gnoll Ground, Neath, was the means of raising £192 1s. 4d., which is a particularly fine result, as the match had to be postponed on the first date arranged because of bad weather.
The two organisers of the Blaenclydach and District Prisoners of War Fund arranged a competition which brought in £120. The prizes were donated by Mrs. Thomas, Tonypandy, and one of the winners was previously a prisoner of war in Italy.
Gave Own Coupons
A courageous helper is Mrs. Futcher, of Catford, who is 87, who through physical disability can seldom go out of doors, and then only in a wheel-chair. Mrs. Futcher gave her first donation in March, 1942, and has now contributed £42 earned from the sale of kettle-holders at 6d. each, and towels purchased with her own coupons which she converted into face cloths.
Mrs. Say, of Marlborough, has sent in £1 10s., which, she writes, “is the result of turning out sundry small things which have been put out of sight. A lot of people perhaps would like to follow suit.” Domino tournaments and competitions run by Mr. A. Garrett, of Hedge End, near Southampton, have produced the splendid figure of £115, while patrons of the Mansfield Hotel, Hove, have raised more than £500 over fifteen months and are aiming at £1,000.
By January 31st, 1945, expenditure and allocations to p.o.w.'s food and comforts has reached £15,511.000.
[facsimile]
Five young tracers of Messrs. Powell Duffryn of Ystrad Mynach, sent the above poem with a donation to the Penny-a-Week Fund.
[page break]
April, 1945 The Prisoner of War 13
Prisoners of War Artists
[cartoon]
Packed and Ready !
A cartoon sent home as a postcard to his wife by Corporal Harold Coulter.
[sketch]
A view seen looking north from an Oflag theatre painted by Major W.F. Anderson.
[cartoon]
Pinocchio was painted by Warrant Officer Gordon C.G. Hawkins and sent home from Germany as a birthday card for his small son Richard.
and
[sketch]
A barbed-wire view painted by Lieutenant Worsley, Official Naval war artist.
[cartoon]
'Pooky Rabbit' was crayoned in bright colours for Richard by his father, Warrant Officer Gordon C.G. Hawkins.
[sketch]
A corner of the hospital was the subject of a first attempt at a pen and ink sketch made by Captain Robert Ferguson who has taken up drawing and painting as a winter occupation.
[page break]
14 The Prisoner of War April, 1945
Examination Successes
SINCE the beginning of the year over a thousand examination scripts have reached the Educational Books Section from camps in Germany. Many more are arriving almost daily and are being forwarded to the examining bodies concerned for correction. It is very encouraging to have this evidence that the autumn and winter examinations have been able to be held before the break-up and dispersal of some of the camps owing to the Russian advance.
Applications for future examinations are also coming in in great numbers: as one camp leader says of the men in his camp, “Will their keenness never flag?” and it does not look as if it will, as since the New Year nearly 1,200 examination entries have been received.
More than one camp education officer has written about the difficulties under which the examinations have been taken, e.g., intense cold, interruptions due to air-raid alarms, shortage of stationery, etc. We have every reason to be proud of the men who can work and study in such conditions.
New Pass List Ready
The most recent edition of the pass list giving the examination results for July to December, 1944, is now available. Copies are obtainable on application to the Educational Books Section at the New Bodleian, Oxford. 3d. in stamps should be sent with the application.
Some copies of previous lists are also still available (July to December, 1943, and January to June, 1944).
News From Camps
Lieut. D.C. Crichton has been elected an Associate Member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers on the results of the examination which he took in camp last year.
A Canadian flight-lieutenant, J.P. Gofton, has been credited with written papers in chemistry and biology towards a medical degree at the University of Manitoba. He took papers in these subjects in the first M.B. examination of the University of London under a special arrangement whereby members of the United Nations may take London examinations for the purpose of obtaining credits in the equivalent examinations in their own country.
Two prisoners of war have passed the Final Examinations of their respective professions, viz., Lieut. E.S. Bell, the Institute of Chartered Accountants, and Sgt. R.C. MacKenzie, the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants.
Another accountant prisoner of war, Sgt. P.C.G. Montgomery, has passed the First Division of the Final Examination of the Chartered Accountants of Scotland.
Lieut. A.H. Eagles, who passed the Associate Membership Examination of the Institution of Sanitary Engineers last year, has been elected an Associate Member of the Institution.
One civilian internee in Ilag Kreuzburg has passed the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English examination, and three in the same camp have passed the Lower Certificate.
Lieut. G.C. Sunley has passed the examination for the Certificate in Russian of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies.
A corporal who passed the written papers for the City and Guilds of London Institute examination in Gas Fitting in Stalag XXA in 1942 has now been repatriated, and has applied to take the practical part of the examination. Arrangements are being made for him to do so.
[inserted] RESULTS AT A GLANCE
[tabulated figures for each six monthly period ending] Dec. 1942 June 1943 Dec. 1943 June 1944 Dec. 1944 Feb 1945]
Applications for examinations ... 450 3,425 5,923 10,738 14,272 15,448
Candidates who have already taken examinations ... 200 853 3,300 5,639 6,333 7,245
Results published ... 176 486 2,265 4,408 5,707 5,964
Candidates who have passed outright ... 126 363 1,760 3,471 4,491 4,680
Candidates who have passed in some papers ... 16 55 101 244 355 372
Candidates who have failed outright ... 32 68 404 693 861 912
Camps in which examinations have been held … 19 24 37 53 82 82
THE ABOVE FIGURES GIVE THE TOTALS BY THE END OF EACH SIX-MONTHLY PERIOD. [/inserted]
Proportion of total successes for results published during February: 82 per cent.
OFLAG 79 – Described by a Repatriate
OFLAG 79 was previously used by the Germans as a Luftwaffe Cadet School, and in consequence the fittings, buildings, sanitation, etc., are of a higher standard than one expects to find in a normal Oflag. There are seven double-storey buildings in the camp, which are sub-divided into small rooms accommodating anything from six to fifteen persons. The centre of the camp has a large pine-grove, which helps to break the monotonous barbed wire outlook. The inside perimeter wire is about a mile in circumference, so really one need not suffer from lack of exercise.
The camp is not actually in Brunswick, but is situated in a small village about 5 kilometres east of the town. The village is called Braunschweig Querem.
The German rations were not good. The sole diet, with a few exceptions, was black bread and potatoes. Occasionally vegetable soup, millet and fresh meat were issued, and once weekly a small ration of ersatz margarine, sugar, jam, coffee and tea.
This diet, of course, would have been almost impossible without the aid of the Red Cross food parcels which were issued to us weekly. I really feel that one cannot do enough to help the Red Cross in the wonderful work.
The chaps in the camp have things fairly well organised. When I left they had the theatre going with a new play every week. The Junior University – covering almost every subject under the sun – was operating very efficiently. The camp library (most of the books from private parcels) was fairly well stocked, and the indoor and outdoor games were going strong.
The treatment from the Germans was not bad, and I personally have not witnessed any individual acts of cruelty.
H.D. G.
[italics] NOTE: This account was written by an officer p.o.w. repatriated in the Autumn of 1944 and therefore describes conditions at the time he left Germany. [/italics]
[page break]
April, 1945 The Prisoner of War 15
An All-Purpose Pullover
WITH SHOULDER CABLE STITCHING
[photograph]
Reproduced by courtesy of Harrap Bros. (Sinlar Wools) Ltd.
[knitting pattern and instructions]
[page break]
16 The Prisoner of War April, 1945
New Film on Loan
A New film entitled “Prisoner of War,” complied for the British Red Cross and St. John by the Gaumont British Picture Corporation, Ltd., with commentary by F.V.H. Emmett, is available free of charge, for private or public display.
The film is 35mm size, one reel, with sound recording, and takes ten minutes to run. It is the story of a man captured in Europe, and records various incidents which occur during his sojourn in enemy hands.
Applications to borrow [italics] Prisoner of War [/italics] must be made at least two weeks before the date fixed for showing.
Private individuals should apply to:- The Central Film Library, Imperial Institute, South Kensington, London, S.W.7. and pay return carriage.
Professional requests should be sent to:- The Publicity Department, Red Cross and St. John War Organisation, 24, Carlton House Terrace, London, S.W.1.
Please Note
OWING to urgent last-minute alterations at the time of going to Press, three errors were made in the camp names in the March issue of “The Prisoner of War.” On page 2, in the article [italics] Transport of Food Parcels, [/italics] Oflag VIIIB should have read Oflag VIIB. On page 16, in the first paragraph of [italics] Camp Transfers, [/italics] Stalag IV should have read Stalag Luft IV; and in the notice [italics] Parcels, [/italics] Luft VIII should have read Luft VII.
REPORTS FROM THE CAMPS
(Continued from page 8)
STALAG IVG, OSCHATZ
The main camp was not visited, there being only 19 British prisoners on the permanent staff. There are 64 British working detachments in the Stalag area containing 4,055 British prisoners of war.
The three British medical officers in the Stalag area reported that the general state of health is good. Dental treatment is done by local dentists and is satisfactory.
STALAG IVF, HARTMANNSDORF
There are only 27 prisoners of war in the main Stalag. The total number dependent on the Stalag is 5,524 British and American prisoners of war, who are dispersed in 95 labour detachments. Interior arrangements in the main Stalag are good and there were no complaints.
[inserted] NUMBER, PLEASE
PLEASE be sure to mention your Red Cross reference number whenever you write to us. Otherwise delay and trouble are caused in finding previous correspondence. [/inserted]
Camp Transfers
LATEST NEWS OF PROGRESS
(Red Cross Map Reference Shown in Brackets)
PRISONERS FROM, DATE OF INFORMATION, LOCATION
Stalag IIB, March 10th, Marching to west part of Wehrkreis II (3D/E).
Stalag IID, March 10th, Marching to west part of Wehrkreis II (3D/E).
Stalag IIIB, March 10th, At Maerkisch Rietz (E.4).
Stalag IIIC, Match 10th, At Scefeld, near Werneuschin (E.4).
Stalag 344, Feb 27th, Teplitz Schonau being used as assembly point (E.6).
March 7th, 4,000 British and American sick journeying by rail to:-
Stalag IXB – Fallingbostel (C.4).
Stalag XIIIC – Hamelburg (C.7).
Stalag VIIA – Moosburg (D.8).
Stalag IXB – Wegscheid Badorb (C.6).
Stalag VIIIA, March 9th, Head of southern group (marching towards Nuremberg) east of Jena (D.6). Sick prisoners and British Medical Officers remained at Gorlitz (F.5).
Stalag VIIIB, March 7th, Advance group at Rakonitz (E.7). Rear groups at Melnik (F.6).
Stalag VIIIC, March 9th, Head of northern group (moving towards Hanover) west of Soemmerda (D.5). Head of southern group (moving towards Cassel) near Gersund, west of Fisenach (C.6).
Stalag XXA, Feb. 25th, Prisoners collected in Uckermark region (E.3) and moving westwards.
Stalag XXB, Feb. 21st, Near Malchin and Tetorow (E.3) and moving westwards.
Stalag Luft III, Feb. 23rd, Prisoners transferred to S.E. region of province of Oldenburg (B.4), Stalag IIIA Luckenwalde (E.5) and other camps (see March Journal).
March 7th, 480 sick here at Sagan (F.5).
Stalag Luft IV, March 10th, 1,500 British and U.S. prisoners proceeding to Stalag Luft I, Barth (E.2). 1,550 British and U.S. prisoners proceeding to Nuremberg (D.7). 3,600 British and U.S. prisoners proceeding to Stalag XIB (C.4) and Stalag 357, Fallingbostel (C.4).
Stalag Luft VII, Feb. 20th, Reported at Stalag IIIA, Luckenwalde (E.5).
PARCEL POST SUSPENDED
THE Postmaster General announces that in the present phase of the war, transport conditions make it difficult to forward next-of-kin and permit parcels to prisoners of war in Germany.
Although, therefore, it is hoped that it may still be possible to forward some, or all, of the present accumulation of these parcels to destination, it is necessary to suspend further posting of next-of-kin and permit parcels for the moment.
Labels and Coupons
No more labels and coupons will be issued for the present. This applies to first and later issues.
Next of kin and acting next of kin (including county branches, associations and packing centres) are asked particularly not to return issues already in their possession, but to keep them until further notice. Parcels partially prepared should also be kept intact with any remaining unused coupons.
The Red Cross will repack and hand over to the G.P.O. any parcels received at the Packing Centres at Finsbury Circus or Glasgow, which were posted before the G.P.O. announcement was made.
[inserted] FREE TO NEXT OF KIN
THIS Journal is sent free of charge to those registered with the Prisoner of War Dept. as next of kin. In view of the paper shortage no copies are for sale, and it is hoped that next of kin will share their copy with relatives and others interested. [/inserted]
Printed in Great Britain for the Publishers, The Red Cross and St. John War Organisation, 14, Grosvenor Crescent, London, S.W., by The Cornwall Press Ltd., Paris Garden, Stamford Street, London, SE1.
Dublin Core
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Title
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The prisoner of war, Vol 3, No. 36, April 1945
Description
An account of the resource
Includes: editorial concerning supplies to prisoners and numbers released by Russians in Odessa; released by the Russians; ex-internees welcomed home; the brighter side; escaped prisoner reach Italy; official reports from the camps; the letters they write home; 'Rookery Nook' at Stalag XXA; how they help (fundraising at home); prisoner of war artists; examination successes; OFLAG 79 described by a repatriate; knitting pattern for an all-purpose pullover; camp transfers; parcel post suspended . Includes photographs throughout.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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1945-04
Format
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Sixteen page printed document
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Identifier
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MWhiteheadT1502391-180307-03
Creator
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Great Britain. Red Cross and St John war organisation
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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.
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Civilian
Royal Air Force
Royal Navy
British Army
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1945-04
Contributor
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Roger Dunsford
arts and crafts
entertainment
faith
prisoner of war
sport
Stalag 3A
Stalag 8B
Stalag Luft 1
Stalag Luft 3
Stalag Luft 4
Stalag Luft 7
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/675/11898/MArrowsmithHL571013-160929-01.1.pdf
bed556a33585b08c3992522c3d95c3fa
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
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Arrowsmith, Les
H L Arrowsmith
Description
An account of the resource
14 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant Les Arrowsmith (b.1920) who flew operations as a bomb aimer with 576 Squadron from RAF Elsham Wolds until his Lancaster was shot down 21/22 May 1944 and he became a prisoner of war. The collection includes his prisoner of war diary, his log book, photographs, a scrap book and correspondence. After the war he continued to serve with the RAF and remustered to become a navigator.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mike Arrowsmith and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2016-09-22
Identifier
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Arrowsmith, HL
Rights
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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.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
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[British Lion logo]
A WARTIME LOG
[page break]
MoA.
[page break]
Entrust yourself to God, as a child would entrust himself to his father.
You will find that even in the darkest hour, He will not let you fall.
MB
[page break]
EVERYTHING GOD DOES IS LOVE – EVEN WHEN WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND HIM.
MB
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
A WARTIME LOG
FOR
BRITISH PRISONERS
Gift from
THE WAR PRISONERS’ AID OF THE Y.M.C.A.
37, Quai Wilson
GENEVA – SWITZERLAND
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
[British Lion logo]
THIS BOOK BELONGS TO
ARROWSMITH. H.L. (F/SGT)
No 571013. (PRISON No 73. (L7)
11, PARK LANE,
KNEBWORTH, HERTS.
[YMCA crest]
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
[underlined] INMATES OF ROOM “64. OLD CAMP. NOW [/underlined]
[British Lion logo] 1 [British Lion logo]
RESIDING BLOCK 44 ROOM 12
T.S. White
188 West St.,
Orillia, Ont.,
Canada
R.P. Olsen,
3 Princess St.,
East Bundaberg,
Queensland,
Australia.
H Dawson
36, Scaitcliffe St
Accrington Lancashire
J.R.B. Crawford
10 Woodhall Drive
Juniper Green
Edinburgh
Scotland
& A.J. Cox Esq. Newcastle.
[page break]
[underlined] Clothes [/underlined] (Essentials)
1.) Suit, Brown Harris Tweed Single Breasted £7.
2) Sports Jacket & Flannels £5.
3) 1 pr. Heavy brown suede shoes – 1 pr. Black Oxfords £7.
4) 3 Shirts (2 detached. 1 sports) £2.
5.) 4 pr socks. £1
6) 3 ties £1/10
7) 12. Handkerchiefs £1[deleted]/10[/deleted]
8) 2 sets under vest & pants £2.
9) Pullover £1.
10) Pigs skin gloves £2.
11) Overcoat. £7. (£36/10.)
12) Pyjamas (2 prs) £2
13) Dressing Gown. [underlined] £3. [/underlined]
[underlined] £41/10 [/underlined]
[page break]
[underlined] Non Essentials[/underlined].
Leather Jacket. £4
Pullover (Roll neck 3 vs Type) £1/10.
Swimming trunks £1.
Hiking Shirt. £1
Rain Coat £4.
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
[underlined] Rumours [/underlined]
[underlined] June [/underlined]. 1st. Warsaw Captured
[underlined] July. [/underlined] Russians within 20 miles.
[underlined] August [/underlined]. I predicted near to end on 27th. Have since changed it to same date 1945.
[underlined] January [/underlined]. Germans pushing in West have penetrated 25K into France, with spearhead armies at Verdun Monty taken over Northern 1/2 of lines.
[page break]
News
2/4/45. British Troops 40 miles past Munster. American 3rd Army fighting in Kassel. Blackout continues on Western Front. Joe 16K from Vienna.
[underlined] Rumours] [/underlined]. 3rd army reach Jenna.
Chaps give time to war end from a few days to 2 or 3 weeks.
[deleted] 12 [/deleted] [inserted] 9 [/inserted] /4/45. British are shelling Bremen. Airborne landings in Holland 2 days ago are now nearly linked up with Canadians advancing to Zuider Zee. Americans 10K from Hanover. Other column has Bypassed the town & are 40 K (M) from Brunswick. Another Am. column taken Gothun. In South 40 K from Nuremburg. French take Karlsbruc. Joe cleared. Large part of Vienna.
[underlined] Rumours [/underlined] Leipzig taken & also bypassed.
13) 3rd Army crossed the elbe [sic] on 40K front 50 miles SW of Berlin. This puts them at Wittenberge. & 25 miles from here. Halle captured. Celle captured.
17) 7th Army Bridgehead 15 miles SE Magdeburg holding firm. Russians open whole front offensive. 28 miles from Berlin & 12 from the uder. Last Parcel issue today Yank 3rd 5 m from Leipzig & 2 1/2 from Chemnitz. Potsdam raid on 15 was a grand sight, & quite near enough. 7th. 7k from [deleted] Vienna [/deleted], Czec border. Yanks bypassed Dessau 2 days ago. [underlined] This makes news of the 13 all wrong [/underlined] x
[page break]
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[page break]
1 – 9 MIN. CO (M) 341.
319T 330M
149 Track 160M 155T 166M 190GS.
55 SECS. FROM. GT. ORMES HD.
CO M. 166.
[page break]
[blank page]
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[underlined] Books Needed [/underlined]
[underlined] Outline of Wireless [/underlined] by. Stranger Newes
[symbol] [underlined] Foundations of Wireless [/underlined] by Sowerby Illif
[symbol] [underlined] Amateur Radio Hardbook. [/underlined] (2 parts) circuits etc anode
[underlined] Radio Receiver Service [/underlined] by Squires.
[underlined] Automobile Engines Vol 1- 4 by Judge. Chapman & Hall [/underlined]
[underlined] 1st. Yr. Engineering Science by [/underlined]
J.C. Engines.
[underlined] Strength of Materials. [/underlined]
Autocar Handbook. (Current Issue).
[brackets] Flight Aeroplane Practical Wireless [/brackets] Years’ Back Nos. May - ? x
[page break]
Parlaphone R 20050 (Odeon Series
Aria Maria
Schubert Serenade Lotte Lehman
DB 1875. The Pearl fisher. (Karuso
Blue Danube Ballet Music. Strauz [sic]
BD Waltz. Eugene Ormonde. Minneapolis Sym, Orch.
2 “G
[page break]
[underlined] More Ideas [/underlined].
Find a good town library & look up all back issues of Flight etc. Also sort out all the text books I want to get.
Find good radio store & buy some records I want to get. Also choose radiogram as present for Mum & Dad. Choose portable for myself.
[page break]
Records
Parlaphone (odeon series). Lotte Lehman. Schubert. Aria Maria. Sch. Serenade.
Blue Danube Ballet Music. By Strauz. [sic]
“ “ Waltz. Played by Eugene Ormonde & the Minneapolis Sum. Orch two sides.
DB 1875. The Pearl Fishers. Karuso.
[page break]
[calendar May 1944 to January 1945]
NO OF DAYS SINCE 21ST OF MAY 1944 [chart]
[page break]
[calendar February to May 1945]
IN MORNING THE GERMAN STARTED DESERTING THE CAMP AND BY EVENING THE LAST ONE HAD GONE & A NORWEGIAN GENERAL ASSUMED COMMAND OF THE CAMP & OUR OWN GUARDS HAD TAKEN OVER. ‘GERRY HAD AN S.S. UNIT IN THE WOODS AT THE BACK BUT THEY WERE THE REAR GUARD. ALL THE NATIONAL FLAGS ARE FLYING. GRAND SIGHT
[underlined] LIBERATED [/underlined]
AT 6 A.M. THIS MORNING THE FIRST RUSSIANS ROLLED INTO CAMP. THEY HAD TAKEN LUKENWALDE IN THE NIGHT. BY 9 AM A RUSKI ARMOURED COLUMN CAME THROUGH. WE HAVE TO STAY PUT IN CAMP TIL THE RUSKIS AND YANKS LINK UP AND WE GO BACK THROUGH THE WEST COUNTRY & NOT TO ODESSA.
[underlined] PRISONER OF WAR [/underlined] 336 DAYS. OR 48 WEEKS.
[charts]
[page break]
[underlined] 4/5/45. [/underlined] The remarks on previous page seem now to be a trifle optimistic. It is now 13 days since we were liberated & exactly nothing has been done to get us out of here. The food situation is getting steadily worse. All our Red X food has gone with the exception of a few brews of coffee & tea. Russian rations are about the same as German & I’m feeling mighty hungry. The ruskys & Yanks linked up at Wittenberge 4 days ago & yesterday 2 American War Correspondents arrived here. They reckon that the roads are blocked with refugees & that nothing was known about us across the Elbe. In all, prospects do not look too bright. For the last week chaps have been leaving for the yank lines in increasing numbers & I think many more will leave now. Personally I cant [sic] decide if it is worth it or not. To cap matters Bert & I are on 24 hr guard from 1 pm today. Up to yesterday there was a lot of fighting in this area but yesterday the pocket was finally cleared up by the Ruskys. Down in town the Ruskys seem to be getting a little of their revenge on Gerry. Many people including women & children have been shot & other atrocities which are best not mentioned. My opinion
[page break]
of the Russians is that they are an uncivilised lot of savages. They do not look like a victorious army. Their uniforms – if any – are dirty & torn, & they look more like refugees.
9/5/45
On the 5th a yank jeep arrived in camp & reported that a convoy was on the way to evacuate us. Next day 25 Rx. trucks arrived & removed the hospital patients. On the 6th 7th & 8th the convoy arrived each day but the Russians would not let us go, although about 1/2 the Yanks & RAF have gone. We are told that the great majority of them have been interned as civillians. [sic] The Russians now state that as soon as we are organised & on a correct list of British POWs still in camp, supplied they will organise evacuation. This messing about for the last 4 days has made us all complete nervous wrecks, but I am now more or less resigned to staying here until the Russians do something about it. We know that once in Yank territory we are taken
[page break]
straight to Hildestein, near [deleted] F [/deleted] Hanover, stay there up to 48 hrs & are then flown straight to England, so with any luck at all we shall be on leave in about 5 or 6 days from leaving this camp. That’s what makes it so mortifying – we could easily have been on leave for the armistice. The only improvements in our situation at the moment are, increased rations, & fine weather. I am scribbling this by the side of a large pond just outside camp & the local scenery is grand. Bert has just been for a swim in the lake, but I am not, I value my health too much.
[underlined] 24th. Halle. [/underlined] Just when we had given up hope of ever leaving IIIA we were told by the Russians that we were leaving on the 20th & this time
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
[drawing of layout of camp] [drawing of sentry box on the camp perimeter]
[page break]
[calculations]
[page break]
[3 drawings]
“SMOKEY. JOE.”
[page break]
[drawing of aircraft]
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
Tent £5
Fly Sheet £1 10
Sleeping Bag 310
Cooking Pans (Set) 15/-
Ground sheet.
Primus Stove
Cost of whole kit £15 max.
[diagram of room]
Weight of all kit [underlined] about 20 lbs [/underlined]
[page break]
[drawing]
[page break]
[drawing]
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[blank page]
[page break]
Dates of Events Prior to Prison Camp
Shot Down on Night May 22/23rd.
Captured 5 pm 23rd. Taken to Civilian Jail in [missing word] which was local German H.q. Stayed there for one Night in Cell 24. Taken to Aerodrome by Car (about 20 miles away) & interrogated. They had packed up my Parachute & Harness. Spent Night in Cell. Next Day (25th) Taken to Jail in Amsterdam. There 3 nights.
28th. Taken to Nants. About 40 of us there. 30th Taken to Dulagluft (about 10 miles from Frankfurt). 1 night in Communal Cell. 2 Nights in Solitary. Interrogated 3rd Day. Sent to other part of Camp. Left Dulag early morning of 3rd & arrived at Transit Camp Wetzlow at 5 pm.
Given Capture Parcels & Clothing & food & Shower.
10th June left Transit Camp for
[page break]
Prison Camp.
Spent 3 1/2 days on the train arrived Bankow on Morning of 14th. Marched 2 1/2 K to this Prison Camp & arrived on 14th at 11 a.m.
[page break]
Camp Life 4/9/44
We seem to have been rather unlucky being sent to this camp, as it was brand new when we arrived, & we were the second crowd of chaps to be sent here. There were only 60 other prisoners on the camp. Our date of arrival was the 14th June & I am writing this account on 4th Sept. & during this time our numbers have swelled to about 860 men. At first our bonds were restricted to the number of huts occupied & those were roped off from the rest of the compound. As more chaps were brought in more huts were occupied & we had more room in which to move about. Now all the huts are occupied with the exception of a few just to the left of the main entrance.
The camp consists of an area about 300 x 200 yds surrounded [deleted] of [/deleted] by a thick barbed wire fence. It is rectangular & at each corner & half way down each side is a wooden tower in which is
[page break]
kept a guard complete with rifle, machine gun & telephone. Inside the fence for a distance of 30’ the ground has been cleared and a warning wire erected. Near the entrance is being constructed the large cookhouse.
The huts are thin wood & cardboard contraptions with floor space of 12 x 20’ & height 5’ 6” walls & 6’ 6” at centre. Six chaps are living in each of these. Our hut is No 64 & the inmates are Dawson, Olsen the Aussie, White the Canadian, Crawford (Scotch), Cox, & myself. We sleep as indicated by the diagram. The two windows are 1’ squared Space & light are a little bit cramped but in the fine weather we have been getting [indecipherable word] so not too bad.
[diagram of room]
The food [indecipherable word] is not too bad. We get a german [sic] ration of Bread, Potatoes, Marge & sugar & also 1/2 a Red X parcel per week each. We used to get one complete parcel but they are getting rather scarce & have been cut down. The bread works out at 4 slices per day, & potatoes are about 1/2 lb per day. Twice a week we get some meat cooked up in the form of stew from the Germans.
[page break]
The tea, Coffee, Cocoa, Oats, are taken from the parcels & turned in to the Cookhouse who serve up hot brews for Breakfast, tea & Supper. To make things easier we share our parcels between two. Dawson & I go shares & the food seems to work out fairly well.
[underlined] 31. December [/underlined]
We have now been moved to the new camp (Fri 13th OCT.) constructed on S side of old camp. Compound is the same size. Accommodation in 8 blocks. Each block divided into 14 rooms.
[page break]
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12.2.45 Stalag 3A. LUBENWALDE [sic]
On the 17th Jan we were told that we would be leaving L7 at an hours notice because of the russian [sic] advance. After getting ready 3 times we finally set out at 4 am on Friday 19th. It was the worst day possible in which to start a march. The weather was working up to a blizzard & temp way below zero. We were given 2/3 loaf of bread & 2 ozs of meat & a little marge for food. The first days march was 25 kilos & we were all dead at the end of it. We were put for the night in small barns of a village & it was too cold to sleep. The 2nd day started at 4 am & we were marched 12 k to a factory arriving at 11 am at 8 pm we were on the road again & marched till 930 am across the Oder 25 k in a foul blizzard. Chaps were collapsing all the way & the M.O. did a marvellous job at the rear. Everyone was feeling rather rough by this time from the food shortage & the marching. At this stop we were given our first food 1 pkt biscuits & 1 cup of coffee. The Jerry promised us [deleted] [indecipherable letter] [/deleted] 2 days rest here but we were off again at midnight & our route was a rec around Breslam at about 40 kilo’s radius. In all we were on the march for 14 days & ended up at a village 8 K from Goldburg. All our stops were at farms in Villages on the way & the great difficulty was to keep warm. We would arrive at a barn at night almost out from fatigue & then be glad to get on the move so as to get some sort of feeling back to our feet & bodies. Over 300 were suffering from
[page break]
frost bite in feet & fingers, & a few have lost their toes. We were at goldburg [sic] for 3 1/2 days from Feb 1st & the weather became quite warm., From Goldburg we were taken by cattle trucks to this camp. The train journey took 3 days & nights. We were 54 chaps per truck & no one could lay down so that the train journey was almost as bad as the march & when we were finally let off the train at Luchenwalde everyone was in a horrible state & I dont [sic] know how I managed to march the 3 kilos to the camp.
[page break]
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[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
[underlined] Johnny Cake [/underlined] {Aussy).
[underlined] Scone Mixture [/underlined] Baked or fried with hot butter Syrup or jam & rolled in sugar.
[underlined] Pastry for Puff cakes. [/underlined] (50) 1/2 lb butter boiled with 1/2 pt of water.. Mix in 1/2 lb white of egg (Commercial is cheap) & 1 lb of ordinary flour. Boil til cooked. looks like ordinary batter, put small amount in baking dish & bake in hot air tight oven (temp 360o) about 3 mins.
[underlined] Fritters [/underlined] 6. 1/2 lb flour, 2 eggs, sugar milk, mix to consistency of thin paste, dip in the Bread & jam sandwich & fry in plenty of cooking fat.
[underlined] Pastry for pies [/underlined] flour, water, suet, [deleted] a [/deleted] baking powder, knead to doughy consistency. [underlined] For Puddings [/underlined] use marge instead of suet.
[underlined] Dough Nuts. [/underlined] Recipe from home.
[underlined] Currant Sad Cake [/underlined] Plain flour, marge, sugar make into dough mix with currants & roll our flat & fairly thin. Bake in oven til cooked & eat with jam or syrup.
[page break]
[underlined] Lancashire Hot Pot [/underlined] [deleted] Chopped [/deleted] [inserted] large [/inserted] lumps of beef in baking dish & simmer in oven with onions, add gravy mixture. When 1/2 cooked Slice up raw potatoes & insert in dish. Bake in oven til cooked
[underlined] French Fried Bread. [/underlined] Mix up egg (?) & milk into a smooth liquid whisk (not much milk). Soak thick slices of bread in the solution & fry.
VERY TASTY
[underlined] Sago Plum Pudding [/underlined] (for 2) table spoon sago soaked overnight. Rasins [sic] Sultanas fruit. Marge, 2 slices bread in milk, egg sugar, little jam flour added. [deleted] till [/deleted] drain off sago, add bread broken up, add milk til wet, add dry ingredient mix & then add flour til right thickness for steaming, or baking. Cook 1 1/2 hrs or less.
Cheese & potato Pie. use marge & strong cheese
[underlined] Fish Cakes. [/underlined] 3 oz salmon 8 oz potatoes, Cream put with small amount marge & mix in the salmon til fairly firm. Coat with flour & fry in plenty of fat til brown.
Fried Spam & Potatoes
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
Contents of Capture Parcel.
1.) Suit Case. (with Straps)
2.) Two Towels.
3.) 1 Vest.
4.) 2 pr thin Socks.
5.) 1 pr underpants.
6.) 1 pr Pyjamas.
7.) 1 pr Sandal Slippers
8.) 1 pullover
9.) 4 handkerchiefs.
10) 1 housewife.
11.) 40 Cigarettes ([indecipherable word])
12) 1 Pipe
13) 2 prs Boot laces.
14) 20 Razor Blades
15. 6 cakes of Toilet Soap.
16) 1 stick Shaving Soap.
17) 1 Comb.
18) 10 pkts Chewing Gum.
19) 1 tin Boot Polish
20) 1 pkt Cascara Tablets.
21.) 1 Polish Cloth.
22) 4 ozs Tobacco.
23) 1 pkt. Pipe Cleaners
24) 2 bars of Washing Soap
25) 1 Razor.
26) 1 Hair Brush.
27) 1 pkt. Vitamin Tablets.
28) 1 pkt Adhesive Tape.
29) 1 pkt. Cig Papers.
[underlined] German Food Issue. [/underlined]
[symbol] Potatoes (each day). [symbol] Meat. (once a week).
Powdered Cheese. or Cheese cakes (occasionally).
Jam (occasionally). [symbol] Marge (every 3 days very good).
[symbol] Bread. (daily 4 slices). [symbol] Sugar. (2 dessert spoons per week)
Barley (occasionally) or Soup Powders.
Molases. [sic] (good).
[page break]
American Red X Parcel
1 Tin Salmon (8 oz) 1 Tin Spam (12 oz)
1 Tin Corned Beef (12 ozs) 1 Tin Meat Paste (6 ozs)
1 Tin Powdered Milk (1 lb) 1/2 lb Kraft Cheese
1 lb Margarine (tin) 1 pkt. Rasins [sic] or Prunes.
1 tin Jam or Orange Juice (4 ozs) 2 bars Chocolate 1/2 lb
1 Tin Coffee (4 ozs) 1 pkt. Biscuits Yoyo.
1/2 lb Sugar. Cubes. 2 cakes of Soap
[underlined] British Red X Parcels [/underlined]
1 Tin Salmon or Pilchards (8 ozs) 1 Tin Meat (Oxtail, Meat & Veg, Mince & Tomato) 1 Tin Meat Roll 1 Tin Nestles Milk. 1 Tin Margarine 1 Pkt Tea 1 Tin Bacon or Veg. 1 tin Syrup or Jam 1 Tin Cocoa (maybe) 1 Tin Pudding (apple, Marmalade or Yorkshire) 10 Sweets (sometimes) 32 Biscuits or 1 Tin with 13. 1/2 lb Sugar (block) 1 Cake Soap. 1 Bar Chocolate (4 ozs). 1 Tin of Rolled Oats. 1 Tin Dried eggs.
1 Tin Oatmeal.
[page break]
FOOD FROM ENGLISH & AMERICAN PARCELS
[underlined] FOR FUTURE REFERENCE. [/underlined]
KLIM, MILKO, NESTLÉS DRIED MILK
LUSTY’S MEAT GALANTINE (or OXTON CARDIFF) MG.
APPLE PUDDING. MIXED FRUIT PUDDING. A.P. (PEAK FREAN & CO LTD)
ROLLED OATS.
COTTAGE PIE, CURRIED VEAL & RICE, RX
TIN OF COOKED BACON. RX
“ “ “ PORK SAUSAGES RX & BALETHORPE
DRIED EGG. (for camp). RX
MIXED VEGETABLES (FOSTERS)
RAISINS STONELESS.
PF. SERVICE BISCUITS.
Yorkshire Pudding Mixture. (Greens).
Meat PATÉ. (AMERICAN.) ROSEMILL PATÉ.
CREAMED RICE.
Dried, fried, COFFEE
[underlined] LATEST PARCELS. [/underlined]
Peanut Butter. (lovely) Meat & Veg in place of the Corned beef. (Poor.)
[page break]
[underlined] Meals Eaten in Camp that are good.? [/underlined]
[underlined] Breakfast [/underlined] Egg, omelette. Barley (German) Porridge.
[underlined] Dinner [/underlined] Tin meat & boiled potatoes, Yorkshire Pudding eaten hot. [deleted] ([indecipherable word]) [/deleted]
[underlined] Stew. [/underlined] Meat, Mixed Veg. Potatoes. Greenstuff.
Fried potatoes, Fried bread, Sliced spam, bacon or sausage.
Boiled Potatoes & Corned Beef Mixed up with Margarine & heated up.
B.P. & [deleted] M [/deleted] Bacon mixed & heated. Fish Cakes.
[underlined] Sweet [/underlined] Apple Pudd. mixed with milk & heated.
Raisins & Milk. (cold).
CREAMED RICE & Milk.
[underlined] Tea [/underlined] as for dinner &.,
Cheese on fried bread & fried boiled potatoes.
Potatoes & Bacon, Corned beef, or greenstuff or salmon. chopped up together & fried.
Egg & Bacon.
[underlined] Special Dishes [/underlined]
Cake made from biscuits, Yorkshire Pudd. dried egg,
Raisins sugar & [indecipherable word] milk.
Bread pudding?
Xmas Pudding. RASins, [sic] Milk Chocolate, Biscuits Bread.
[page break]
ARTICLES TO BUY & NECESSARY EXPENDITURE
[symbol] CAR. £60
[symbol] Clothes. £40
[symbol] Holiday £30
Signet Ring £10
Watch £10
Cig. Lighter & Case. £2
[symbol] Camera £5
Thermos Flask £1
Portable Wireless £10
[symbol] Fountain Pen £5
[symbol] Books £5
[symbol] Set Ordnance Maps £2
Chromatic £1
Ice skates. £2
Leather Jacket £3
Field Glasses £5
Tent & kit £15
Slide Rule. [underlined] £4 {/underlined]
[underlined] 200. [/underlined]
[page break]
[underlined] Suggestion for Places to visit on Holiday. [/underlined]
[underlined] Thames [/underlined] from Richmond to source.
[underlined] North Devon. [/underlined] Somerset, Dorset.
[underlined] Main Ideas For 56 days leave at home. [/underlined]
[underlined] 1st 14 days [/underlined] Home do nothing. Eat, book, get car, clothes, read. Shows in town. Be generally pampered & thoroughly enjoy myself. Main Points Bags of good food, ease & luxury.
[underlined] 14 – 21 [/underlined] Sally forth & get completely kitted out & make complete preparations for next 14 days.
[underlined] 21 – 28 [/underlined] Touring holiday where or who with I do not know yet.
[underlined] 28 – 35 [/underlined] Week with Mum & dad at the sea side.
[underlined] 35 – 36 [/underlined] At home & nipping off for days here & there to various spots, i.e. Oxford, Halton, Dover Barnett. Visit relations. Look up pete [sic] Hessop. In all, do just as I feel with the advantage of a car to get around. Insist on both Dad & Mum & Doris taking long holiday too
[page break]
[underlined] Experiments in food to be carried out at home. [/underlined]
[deleted] To [/deleted] [underlined] Toffee. [/underlined] Butter, sugar, milk +.
[underlined] Chocolate [/underlined] – sugar, milk, cocoa, butter.
[underlined] Choc Biscuits [/underlined] Flour Cream.
[underlined] Frying [/underlined] Eggs Bacon. Bread & Jam. Steak. Potatoes.
[underlined] Baking. [/underlined] Jam Turnover. Pastries. Cakes.
[underlined] Boiling [/underlined] Puddings. (Jam, Raisin. Meat.).
[underlined] Food dreamt about on the March [/underlined]
Unlimited supply of bread. Bread & dripping. Eggs bacon Mixed grill. Pancakes. Apple Turnover. All sorts of jam & fruit pies & tarts. Pastries, Choc. E’clairs, [sic] Cakes. Mince Pies Christmass [sic] Pudding & cake. Scotch Egg. Steak onions, egg & chips. Top of new cottage loaf hollowed out & filled with new foods butter & strawberry jam. Pork pies. Steak & kidney, real ham pie [inserted](or pudd) [/inserted]. [underlined] Pastries [/underlined] Puff, jam [symbol], cream. Flake jam & cream cakes. Solid cakes. Bamcakes, Nelsons. Lyons [deleted] Jam [/deleted] [inserted] Fruit [/inserted] Tarts. Shortbreak cakes. Spotted dick. Jam pudding. Toad in the hole. Fish & chips. Chutney. Ketchup. Curried stew with plenty of boiled onion, meat, dumplings, carrots etc. Marmalade on toast. Cream by the pint. Ham cheese & onions with ketchup for supper. New bread butter & cheese. Chocolate. Cad. Brazil Nut. Choc crisp. Whipped cream walnuts. Choc biscuit fingers. Shortbread. Cheese & biscuits. Heinz Baked beans on toast. Sardines on toast. Custard tart. Baked grill pie. Thick creamy rice pudding. Golden Syrup. Lemon Curd. Sausage & Mash with bacon & tomatoes Salads. tomato omelette. Cold beef, salad, chutney, fried potatoes. Pork Chops. Cottage pie. Toasted sandwich Bacon. Peanut butter.
[page break]
[blank page]
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[inserted] Blended & Packed by McGAVINS’ PURE TEAS GLASGOW for British Red Cross Society Prisoners of War Parcels [/inserted]
[two plastic covers]
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
JIM. W. Rielly, [sic] 95, Kennedy Crescent, Kircaldy, FIFE.
Bob Green, Gainsborough Rd, Dagenham, Essex
[page break]
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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
Les Arrowsmith's Wartime Log
Description
An account of the resource
Les Arrowsmith's wartime note book during 1944 and 1945 whilst a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft 7. In the book he has recorded addresses of friends, a list of clothes and their prices, books and magazines needed, 'more ideas', records, calendar, detailed events pertaining to random days, sketches of the camp, dates of events prior to prison camp, camp life, cake recipes, contents of food parcels, German food issue, future clothes purchases, plans for future holidays and plans for future meals. Also included are the rumours and news received about the progress of the war in May 1945; moving out (as the Russians were advancing) and the Long March to Stalag 3A; the liberation of the camp by the Russians and Americans.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Les Arrowsmith
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One note book with handwritten annotations
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MArrowsmithHL571013-160929-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
David Bloomfield
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.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Luckenwalde
Germany--Oberursel
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
1945
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944
1945
aircrew
arts and crafts
bomb aimer
displaced person
Dulag Luft
faith
prisoner of war
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 7
the long march
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1181/11753/PWagnerHW1701.2.jpg
6a7763552d25d2c08c9178b97a3f8dee
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1181/11753/AWagnerHW170719.1.mp3
7846d95153b605a6327ce0831d9d70b6
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Title
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Wagner, Henry Wolfe
H W Wagner
Description
An account of the resource
15 items. Two oral history interviews with Sergeant Henry Wolfe Wagner (1923 - 2020, 1604744 Royal Air Force), his memoirs, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 51 Squadron from RAF Snaith and became a prisoner of war. He was demobbed in 1946 and returned to education where he remained until his retirement.
The collection was catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2016-05-04
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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
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Wagner, HW
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
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CB: My name is Chris Brockbank and today is the 19th of July 2017. Through a misunderstanding I’ve come along to help with an int — to do another interview. But today the original interview from May last year has arrived. So what we’re going to do now is to just put in some extra items for Henry Wagner and let’s hope that that will be useful. We were talking about being in Stalag Luft 7 and the German reaction to glider pilots. So, what was that?
HW: Yeah. Anyway, the chap in charge of our hut was, his surname was Nettle. So, you can guess what his nickname was. Stinger he was called. Anyway, one morning we, towards the end we didn’t know what the Germans were going to do with prisoners. We were worried about how they were going to, would they be all exterminated? Knowing the German record in that sort we just didn’t know. Anyway, when Stinger came back from a meeting one morning he came into the hut and he said, he had a funny way of speaking by the way. He put in the letter H where it shouldn’t be and left it out where it should be. Anyway, he says, ‘Right,’ he says, ‘Silence.’ So, everybody was quiet, ‘Right,’ he says, ‘Everybody in this hut is to parade outside in ten minutes time to march down to the stores to draw picks and shovels to dig their own graves.’ Well, there was, ‘Oh,’ we thought, ‘Oh. It’s come to that has it?’ So, he let it go for about ten seconds and then a smile spread over his face. Oh, it’s only old Stinger and his jokes again [laughs] And they talk about the Long March from, from Bankau to Lukenwalde. It wasn’t a march at all. We were there. There was no military precision. We just dragged ourselves along through the snow. Bitterly cold. You could rake your fingernails down the side of your face and you wouldn’t feel a thing. So, you had your shoulders hunched and you just shuffled along through the snow like that with the German guards with Alsatians beside you of course. And there was no marching. I’ve got a video tape, that’s right, which I can’t play now but that’s beside the point, of a reconstruction of the, what they call the Long March. But it’s all, it’s all people that are young, healthy, clean. They’re not dragging themselves along through the snow. They’re walking at a fairly brisk pace. It’s all, it’s all [pause] it’s all Pantomime really. I’ve never bothered looking at the thing again, I never will because it was no portrayal of what they call the Long March. There was no marching about it. And in the barns at night. I mean these people had dormitories. They knew where they were going to stop. They knew how far they were going to walk. We never knew how far we were going to walk until we stopped for the night. They were mostly in barns. There might be food available. There probably would be a sort of a soup made on their field kitchens. And you just laid down on the floor. So, that was, the Long March was, well it’s all described in the, in there. If you read through you’ll —
CB: Sure.
HW: You’ll see what I thought of it.
CB: And what was the menu normally?
HW: Pardon?
CB: What was the menu? What did they serve you to eat?
HW: Oh. What? On the march?
CB: Yes.
HW: The so-called march. You got a bit of bread in the morning. In the evening a bit, a little bit of margarine quite often. And a brew of the stuff that they called tea. You got nothing through the day until the evening. It was usually, well a soup made with some sort of a herb. I think they were mostly swede tops and bits of swede and things like that. The lads called it after a popular tune at the time. The lads nicknamed it Whispering Grass. And that was it. Otherwise you drank water. So, there was a thin time.
CB: What happened to those prisoners who failed to keep up?
HW: I think the Germans gave continual warning, ‘Anybody falling out will be shot.’ But I don’t think that ever happened. They were just left lying in the snow and they would have died from over exposure and just given up.
CB: What about your, on your feet. What shoes or boots did you have?
HW: I had my flying boots which were bad to walk in because they were lambswool lined. They were loose fitting. I tied them. I tore a bit of wire off of a, off a fence as we were passing by and wound those around just to keep them on my feet.
CB: And what was your destination?
HW: Our destination. Oh, actual walking was a town called Goldberg. And we were promised that when we got there train transport would be provided to Luckenwalde, near Berlin. Which was duly how it turned out. They got that right.
CB: And what sort of transport was it?
HW: What sort of what?
CB: Was it trucks? Rail? Just cattle trucks was it?
HW: Oh yeah. Cattle trucks. Forty men to a truck. It said, they were, they’d been looted from the French railways and it said on the, painted on the side of each one, “Quarant homme. Huit chevaux.” Forty men. Eight horses. So they put us in. Probably more than forty men. You couldn’t all lie down at the same time. There was straw on the floor. A big bucket in one corner which if you needed a pee that’s where you went. Of course, lying down and trying to get a bit of sleep anywhere near that bucket it wasn’t, it wasn’t a favourite place [laughs] One German guard in the, in the truck with us with a rifle of course. But the German guards you see at this stage they were all the fighting men had been moved to the Russian Front and so on and the combat areas all around Europe. They were like our Home Guard really. They were oldish chaps. They didn’t want any hassle and we, we played along. They didn’t give us any hassle. We didn’t give them any hassle.
CB: So, how many days were you walking?
HW: Well, occasionally we stopped for a whole day in some farmyard. It’s all in, I can’t remember off hand. Somewhere about three weeks, I think.
CB: Oh. Right. And then on the train.
HW: That was only — maybe two. Maybe two days.
CB: Going back to your earlier comment. In the prison camp, the reason you were all concerned about being shot, the joke wasn’t very helpful, was because with Stalag Luft 3 and the Great Escape.
HW: Yes.
CB: Then the Germans shot fifty, didn’t they? So, but the other point was you mentioned about glider pilots. So, the reaction of the Germans to glider pilots. What was that? A confusion.
HW: Oh, they accepted them the same as they accepted them as airmen. They didn’t accept them as fighting men. Although of course when they landed their glider they didn’t just sit there and do nothing. They were fighting men from then on.
CB: Yeah. So, these pilots had been captured where? Where would they have been captured?
HW: What? The glider pilots? Arnhem. Arnhem, and around about there.
CB: Right. Ok.
HW: Crete, some of them had been captured at.
CB: Ok. I’ll stop there for a mo.
[recording paused]
CB: So you were shot down and there was a sequence that occurred.
HW: Yes. Yes.
CB: So, what was the first you knew about there being an attack?
HW: A warning from the, from the mid-upper gunner. Corkscrew port. Err corkscrew starboard go.’ Now, are you familiar with the corkscrew movement?
CB: Yes.
HW: When an aircraft is coming down on you like that and you’re — he’s coming, you’re both going the same direction he can sit tight and take good steady aim where he was. So, the thing to do when you came under attack from a fighter was not to turn away from him and go in the same direction but turn towards him so you were closing. The two aircraft were closing at some five hundred miles an hour. So he had no time whatever to take careful aim. In fact, if there was a corkscrew and you were moving upwards it was forcing him to go upwards as well. And he couldn’t get at the bomber flying down below. So it was this corkscrew manoeuvre that was the good one. If a Messerschmitt 110 pilot had time to take aim then he was nicely placed. But if he’d been detected and a corkscrew movement by the bar was immediately started he was on a loser. So, that was their favourite method of attack. The other method of attack if it was by a Junkers 88 which had a cannon sticking upwards in the roof was to come along underneath the bomber, point his cannon upwards at the fuselage or petrol tanks or wherever and just let rip. Because he was flying at the same speed as the bomber so he could take careful aim.
CB: That’s using schrage music.
HW: Yeah. We, we had, there was a downward looking radar that we had to detect this but unfortunately the Germans were homing on to that, transmissions of that radar. It was helping find a target, in fact. So, this downward looking radar called Fishpond was, was soon, was soon given up.
CB: So, on this, on this occasion how did the attack proceed?
HW: The first attack he was sitting in a nice — he should have known. He should have been able to take our plane. He came down, opened fire but missed. There were no hits. So, he carried on downwards. Came along underneath and up to his original position for a similar attack from a similar sort of position. This time our gunners knew what was going on and started the corkscrew manoeuvre as soon as he started to dive. But he was able to get in sufficient shots with his cannons and machine guns to perforate one of the petrol tanks in the, in the starboard wing. That was all, if they had time they preferred to attack from the starboard side because any pilot learning to fly always sits in the right hand err left hand seat. So pilots had the war, even in modern times they find it easier to look out to their left hand side rather than look right across the fuselage to the other side. So, the [pause] well that’s about it. As I said the petrol tanks were set on fire. One petrol tank anyway was set on fire and it was, oh the pilot, the engineer said, ‘Wilf, we’re on fire.’ And I looked up from down in the nose and I could see a roaring mass of flame where burning petrol was coming flooding in through the wing roots into the fuselage. And that was also where the oxygen bottles were stored. And if they’d got really, when they got really hot they would have gone off like bombs anyway. The pilot just took one look and gave the order to evacuate the aircraft. There was obviously nothing, there was no way that fire was going to be put out so he had no hesitation. On the first attack I’d kept my parachute pack on. On to the parachute harness. So I didn’t have to scrabble around to try and find that and then clip it on. It was on there and ready for when the second attack came. So, that’s it.
CB: So, the parachute you wore on the front or behind you?
HW: Oh, on the front. Two. Two clips on the front.
CB: Right.
HW: On the chest parachute.
CB: So, on the fighter’s second run he was successful and punctured tanks on which side?
HW: On the, on the starboard. Or right hand side if you want. In the wing root.
CB: And when the pilot realised what was going on what did he then do? He called —
HW: Oh, he just said, oh, he looked up, ‘Abandon aircraft.’ There was no hesitation. Not, ‘Well, I wonder if we can get that put out.’ No. There was, as I said there was no way that fire was going to be put out. So, that’s how it went.
CB: So, when you get the order to abandon aircraft what was the sequence that you went through?
HW: I, I was already standing up so my seat had folded over on springs. Folded itself against the wall. Kicked away the legs of the navigation table and that collapsed leaving an open space about, about four feet by three feet I should say. It’s a big trapdoor on the floor. I bent down, turned the handle of the trap door, raised the trap door and when I got above the vertical you could lift it off its hinges. Turn it diagonally, drop it through the hole and then follow it. Facing backwards of course out of the slipstream.
CB: Right. So, that’s straight through the floor and then the idea — what did the rest, what were the rest of the crew supposed to do?
HW: The bomb aimer should have been next. He was, it was all sort of — we’d been well trained at abandoning aircraft. There was no — they were all our drills. There was no pushing and shoving, ‘Get out of my way.’ ‘Let me go first.’ ‘Hurry up.’ ‘Get a move on.’ No. There was none of that sort of. It all fell in to place like that. So, the bomb aimer would have been next. The wireless operator would have been third. The, the mid-upper gunner he would have had to extract himself from his turret which he was very closely held in, hemmed in by machine guns, ammunition belts and heaven knows what. He would have had a job to. It would have taken him time to get out of there, locate his parachute, put it on to his, on the hooks on his chest. The same applied to the rear gunner. He couldn’t keep his parachute in the turret because there wasn’t room for it. He kept it in the fuselage just outside the turret. So, he had to open the turret doors, extricate himself from all the equipment inside the turret, reach for his parachute, put it on, make his way to the main exit door on the port side, open the door. You see, it all took time. Time was getting. They hadn’t the time to do it.
CB: Right. So, in the practicality, the actuality I should say of this you got out as soon as you were told to do so.
HW: Yes.
CB: What happened to the rest of the crew?
HW: Well, presumably trying to extricate themselves but I hadn’t been long out of there, only a few seconds before there was an explosion. And I think a petrol tank with just vapour inside exploded when the flames got to it. Or else the main spar had been so weakened by the fire that under the weight of the engines the wing just fell off and the aircraft would have gone in to a spiral like that. Trapping those inside. They’d never have made their way to an escape hatch then.
CB: So, you didn’t see any other parachutes?
HW: No. There weren’t any other. So, they must have, they must have gone down. Nobody was injured I don’t think. But they must have gone down in this knowing quite well they’d no chance of getting out and that they were going to be killed when it hit the ground.
CB: What height were you flying that day?
HW: When we were attacked we were flying at fifteen thousand.
CB: Did you normally fly within a band or what was the —
HW: Well, on the way to the target, oh and on the way home again you never flew at the same height like that. It was always slightly on the climb, a little bit level, down a bit, up a bit. Down. Down. Down. Down. Up. And like that so that the Germans couldn’t, if they knew we were going to be flying at fifteen thousand they’d have had all their anti-aircraft shells fused for fifteen thousand.
CB: Was there a popular height that you would fly?
HW: Pardon?
CB: Was there a certain height that was more popular that you would fly?
HW: No. No. They were graduated from, bombing height was normally eighteen thousand to twenty thousand. Lancasters could get a little bit higher. Lancasters could probably get up to twenty one. But Halifaxes, well they could struggle up to twenty one but usually not above twenty.
CB: So, at the time you had already dropped. What was your target? You’d already dropped your bombs.
HW: What was that?
CB: What was your target that day? Duisburg.
HW: The armament works at Duisburg.
CB: Right.
HW: I mean, and quite often if you didn’t hit the actual armament works, a lot of bombs did no doubt but if if they were falling in around about within say four or five hundred yards they were going to be destroying railway lines, power stations, the worker’s, the worker’s hospitals, the worker’s homes. They were going to spread chaos around about setting the whole thing on fire. Letting the fire carry on and do the explosives. Scatter them and the flammable material about and the incendiaries we carried set it on fire. So —
CB: So, what was the combination of ordnance that you carried?
HW: Oh, it varied. Once, once we had a two or probably more than once, you’ll see what our bomb load was on, on the report of the operations that our aircraft carried out. You’ll see the bomb load. A mixture of the two thousand pounder. Maybe two one thousand pounders and some incendiaries. Or maybe eight five hundred pounders and some incendiaries. Sometimes a thirty kilogram incendiary device. Phosphorous bomb. Sometimes it was the ordinary five pound incendiary. Just ones that burst in to flames when they hit the ground. It varied from time to time. But you could see by the —
CB: Yeah. Now, the Cookie was a four thousand pound drum. What was in it?
HW: A Cookie?
CB: Yeah. What was in a Cookie?
HW: Just, just explosive.
CB: One single blast bomb was it?
HW: Hmmn?
CB: One single explosive.
HW: Yes. Yeah.
CB: Not combination of things.
HW: No. No. No.
CB: Ok. Just stop there a mo.
[recording paused]
CB: So, in, in how did the crew gel? In the air and socially.
HW: Oh, absolutely. There was no suspicion of anybody not being quite up to the mark. Everybody performed their job perfectly as far as I’m aware. On the ground sometimes we went [unclear] to go together, to hire a bicycle go off to a village pub and have quite a few beers there and sometimes I’d be with one. Sometimes two or three of us would go together. Sometimes the whole crew will go. We had got station bicycles and headed for the nearest pub.
CB: In some cases people got a bit nervous about what they were doing. How did you see the reaction of your crew before take-off?
HW: What? You mean about dropping bombs and killing civilians? Well, their attitude was, well they asked for it and they got it. I remember hearing Air Marshal Harris on the radio once when, when he’d got Bomber Command built up the way he wanted. The strength that he wanted. He had said originally, ‘Give me four thousand aircraft and I can finish the war.’ Well, that wasn’t on. They couldn’t. There were too many other demands for equipment. But he soldiered on until, there came a time when you remember the thousand bomber raids on Cologne for instance? When he’d got enough he’d got enough. And he said on the, on the radio, and he had a very Churchillian way of talking. He said, ‘People say that you can never win a war by bombing alone. Well, my answer to that is that it has never been tried before. And we shall see. I have the men. I have the aircraft. I have the equipment for the navigators to get the aircraft to the right space. The Germans started this business of area bombing in London. Now, they are going to get a taste of their own medicine. Hot and strong. And they won’t like it.’ So it gave new heart to Bomber Command. Right. We finished dropping bombs on open countryside. Now, each bomb is going to do some damage. We’ve got the equipment. We’ve got the gear. We’ve got the organisation. From now on we’re all going forward. And as I say the Germans asked for — they started the business of area bombing so they hadn’t really got any grounds for complaints.
CB: It was a dangerous task going on operations.
HW: Yes.
CB: How did the crew react to that?
HW: Some, some hundred thousand men flew with Bomber Command. And I’ll give you it in very round figures there and fifty six thousand were killed. So, your chances of coming through were less than, less than fifty fifty. And moreover when you’d done your thirty, thirty trips was a tour, when you’d done your thirty you were as they said rested. But in fact you weren’t rested at all. You went to Operational Training Units and to assist with the training of other pilots who were just getting ready to go on operations. So quite a lot were killed in that sort of —
CB: Yeah.
HW: In that sort of activity as well. And then to go back for another. Another twenty. A second tour was twenty. When you’d done that lot, if you’d, very few done it — when you’d done it then they couldn’t make you do any more. You’d fulfilled your obligations.
CB: What knowledge, experience or hearsay did you have about people lacking moral fibre. LMF?
HW: I never came across any of it at all. I can understand that maybe for some people the mental stress was just too much and they couldn’t take any more. I don’t believe they chickened out of their own free will. They just felt that they could not do it anymore. And so I don’t look upon those as cowards. I look upon those who were prepared to give it their best shot but they couldn’t cope with it.
CB: Now, the RAF took a pretty stern line on that.
HW: Pardon?
CB: The RAF took a very stern line.
HW: Oh yes. They didn’t take the same point of view as I’ve just been explaining. They were sent to ordinary Air Force camps. Not necessarily operational. And they were put on the dirtiest jobs of cleaning latrines and wash houses. All that sort of thing. The Air Force regrettably looked upon them as cowards. I don’t think there were all that many of them.
CB: Right. What would you say was the most memorable experience you had in the war?
HW: Well, just getting shot down I think. They were all memorable. The getting shot down, the aircraft on fire, the parachute jump. All these sort of things. The Long March. They all added up to a pretty unpleasant time.
CB: As you said just now you were the sole survivor of the seven crew in the aircraft because the others just didn’t get out. How did you feel about that?
HW: That’s the way the cookie crumbles.
CB: And after that, in Prisoner of War camp to what extent did people discuss their experiences?
HW: Most people told you as much as I’ve been telling you. They seemed to, seemed to be the same sort of thing in most crews. They tell you what happened. Not complaining mostly but tell you what happened. And that was the way it was.
CB: In Stalag Luft 7, did the Germans come and interrogate you after you arrived ever?
HW: No. That was all done at Frankfurt. At Oberursel. They got all the information and that was it. You were just sent to a prison camp. You were just a prisoner.
CB: And what was the procedure they followed in interrogating?
HW: The procedure?
CB: When you were being interrogated what were, how did they do it? What was the procedure?
HW: Oh, when I arrived at Oberursel I was put in a solitary cell. All, all arrivals there were placed in solitary cells. A very narrow cell where the windows were barred. You couldn’t see out. They were frosted glass. There was a bed with a bit of a mattress on it. Not very well stuffed. A blanket. And that was, when you wanted to go to the toilet you had to pull a handle near the door and like a signal arm outside in the corridor fell down with a clang. And the German guards in the corridor came along. And you’d say, ‘Toilet.’ And he’d take you along to the toilet which was at the end of the corridor. Outside that toilet there was a box on the wall with sheets of paper which you had to have to take with you as you went in. I thought — I took two, they were a bit on the small side. I took two sheets of paper. And the German said, ‘Nein. Nein, he says, ‘Ein. Ein.’ So, I had to put one back. And you got escorted back to your cell. And you got your tea in the morning. And a bit of bread. The soup at mid-day and that was very much it.
CB: So, what was the first bit of interrogation they did?
HW: Oh, yeah. I got taken, after about, I’d say two days maybe it was absolutely solitary. It was to break you down a bit, I think. Got taken. A guard took me along to another part of the prison and where the interrogation took place. I was put in an office where there was a German. A major I think he probably was. Wearing a black uniform anyway. It smelt richly of cigar smoke in there. A very comfortable office. I was sat in a chair in front of his desk. And he could speak, of course perfect English. Obviously he had to do that, didn’t he? And he said, ‘There are some things I would like to know about you, Sergeant Wagner,’ he says. ‘Firstly,’ he says, ‘You have no identity tags.’ I said, ‘No. Before we came last evening I had to wear them around my neck on a piece of string but the string broke. So I left them behind me and I thought I’ll put new string on when I get back home.’ ‘Ah,’ he says, ‘Yes’ He says, ‘What squadron were you?’ ‘You know, sir, I can’t tell you things like that. The Geneva Conventions says that I must tell you my name, rank and service number.’ So, ‘Ah,’ he says, ‘It would be a big help to me,’ he said, ‘ If I could believe you, you see,’ he said. ‘We have a man here who has no identity tags and he will not say, he will not say what squadron he belongs to. He says he has been wandering about in Germany for six days. Six days without any food?’ He says, ‘I must think more about this.’ And I was sent back to the cell again. Left for another two days and got called up to his office. And he says, ‘Ah, sergeant. Sergeant Wagner,’ he says, ‘I have had some information. Some more information has reached me,’ he said. ‘I have had a crew in from 51 Squadron who say, I asked them, have any member — and they tell me their squadron,’ he said, ‘They tell me what squadron. You did not tell me what squadron,’ he said, ‘They tell me what. I say has any other crew been missing from your squadron lately? And they gave me the name. They say, ‘Yes. The crew of Warrant Officer Bates.’ ‘Ah,’ he says, ‘And a sergeant was, sergeant, the navigator was Sergeant Wagner.’ He says, ‘Things are beginning to fall into place now,’ he says. He said, ‘You were wandering about for six days without food? What did you drink?’ I said, ‘Well, water out of cattle troughs mostly.’ And he said, ‘What was your bomb load on the night you were —?’ I said, ‘Firstly, sir, you know I can’t tell you that. Secondly, I didn’t know what the bomb load because it was of no interest to me.’ And thirdly he says, ‘What height were you flying?’ I said, ‘We were never on the same level. Sometimes we were going up. Sometimes we were going down. Sometimes we’d be level a bit,’ I said, ‘I can’t remember all the different.’ So, that seemed to satisfy him. He realised that I couldn’t really be expected to remember all that. So, in the end he was still smoking a cigar by the way and it was, he realised I think, well, I’ve got all I can get out of this chap. He’s not being deliberately obstructive. I can’t expect him to remember these things. There’s no point making things more difficult for him. Because getting towards the end of the war they realised they wanted, they didn’t want to raise their heads above the parapet. They wanted to keep a low profile. If he’d been guilty of any, I should say illegal activities then he would have been made to pay the penalty afterwards. So, we parted on reasonable terms shall we say. I went back to my cell. Left there for another three or four days and then got moved by train to, to [pause] moved by this to Wetzlar, that’s right. It was a transit camp. Everybody went there and they were sorted in to batches according to which prison camp in Germany they went to. And when my batch came up after about after three or four days then off I went by train over to, over to Bankau.
CB: So the plane landed where?
HW: The plane?
CB: Where did your plane land?
HW: It crashed in Holland. Just close, just the British had been occupying that area for just a few days. The Germans had just been kicked out. The, so the crew were all buried by, by the Dutch people and, but on my parachute I drifted back across the River Maas and landed behind German lines. In the back garden of a house in a village.
CB: Did you?
HW: It’s all in there.
CB: Yeah. Did you have any detail of where the plane actually crashed?
HW: No. No. It wasn’t until after the war that I went back there because I was in a Dutch twinning club. And I went over there one year and got in touch with the Dutch farmer whose land it had crashed on. And he gave me a big piece of — a big piece of the fuselage of our aircraft. A big piece of metal sheeting which I brought back to England and which is now in our aircraft museum over here at Wisbech.
CB: Did the Germans recover the aircraft or did they just leave them in the field?
HW: Well, the Germans weren’t there when it crashed.
CB: No. No. I just wondered if in general —
HW: Oh. In general.
CB: You knew whether they had left.
HW: No. They wouldn’t. They couldn’t be bothered. If it skated along on the surface.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Came down and was in reasonable condition of course they salvaged it and examined it and tested it and all that sort of thing. But it had gone in. It had gone in deep.
CB: Yes. If it was vertical.
HW: Some that we’ve dug up in this vicinity they, well one over near Downham Market it had crashed between, between two water courses. And we got in touch with the Water Board and they said, ‘You can go down to sixteen feet and no further or you’ll upset the water table.’ So, you have to get permission from the Ministry first that there’s no explosives on board.
CB: Yeah.
HW: So, then you have to get the landowners permission. And if he says no of course you can’t go on his land and dig it up if he says, ‘No. You can’t come on here.’
CB: No.
HW: So, quite often it’s been a matter of just waiting.
[recording paused]
CB: So, after the war did people have interest in you being a POW?
HW: No. No. No. Not really. No interest whatever. In fact, it’s the same with a lot of people. My daughter has three sons and none of them ever showed the slightest interest in war time or my flying career or war time or anything of that sort. They’ve never seen any of these documents I’ve got here. They just show, haven’t shown any interest. My son, on the other hand, he was always interested in flying. He was, he joined the Air Training Corps. Wanted to go into the Air Force as a pilot. He was accepted for officer training. But for aircrew training he failed the medical. They said, ‘No. You’ve got a weak right eye,’ So they said, ‘We can give you other careers.’ ‘No,’ he said, ‘Pilot. I’m not interested in anything else.’ So, he resigned from the Air Force and took on, went into Air Traffic Control. And that’s where he worked all his life. Down at Air Traffic Control down at Southampton.
CB: Yeah.
HW: But he retired last about two months ago now and he’s, he’ll finish off his, the contract that he got, house that he’s got that he rents down at, down at Bishops Waltham. He’ll finish off that contract and then he’s going to buy a house up at Thetford. So —
CB: Right.
HW: And my daughter has just, she’s sold her house at Milton Keynes. They’ve moved up to Dersingham so they won’t be far away. So, but my son took up — he was interested. When I took up the hang gliding of course.
CB: At ninety.
HW: He perked his ears up.
CB: Yeah. Yeah.
HW: And I said, ‘Well,’ I said, ‘If you’re interested,’ I said, ‘I’ll pay for your training. You can come over with me when I go over hang gliding. You can take your elementary certificate and then your club pilot certificate,’ he said. I said. So that’s what he did. So, he’s got as well as his he took his own private pilot’s licence just to, just to prove to himself he could do it. And then he’s, so he’s a qualified hang glider pilot. Same as I. But of course I don’t carry on. They won’t let me go hang gliding now.
CB: No. For your ninetieth birthday what did you do?
HW: I gathered my daughter and her children, sons and my son and his wife and we had an evening over at the Rising Sun pub. No. Not the Rising Sun. The Locomotive pub in Wisbech. And drinks were on me and we had a very happy evening all gathered together there. And we — I’ve forgot what I was going to say now.
CB: Didn’t you go on — did you do a parachute drop?
HW: Pardon?
CB: Did you do a parachute drop?
HW: No. I wanted to do. A friend of mine whose wife has MS, he said, ‘Would you do a standard parachute jump for MS funds?’ I said, ‘Well,’ I said, ‘I’m not very keen, Dick because, well quite honestly I can’t stand this business of going around asking people for money and asking people to sponsor.’ He said, ‘I’ll take of all that,’ he said. ‘Leave all that to me.’ He said, ‘Would you do it?’ I said, ‘Oh, I’ll do it alright.’ So, I got in touch with the appropriate, appropriate Association and they said, ‘Well, yes, they said, you’re going to have to have a doctor’s certificate of fitness.’ I said, ‘I’ll get that alright.’ So, when I went to my doctor he said, ‘Oh,’ he says, ‘I don’t know about that,’ he said, ‘You know you have a slight heart murmur.’ I said, ‘Yes. I’ve had that for years and years.’ He said, he said, ‘I’m not sure about this,’ he said. ‘I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll consult with a colleague of mine who is a heart surgeon and I will ask his advice. See what he thinks. So, and I will let you know.’ So, I went back a week later. ‘My colleague said he does not advise this.’ Mind they were just watching their own backs. I mean if they’d said yes and if there had been trouble, then they would have been in trouble. So, and I don’t blame them for watching their backs in these compensation days. So, I said to Dick, ‘Well, no. I can’t do it, Dick. They won’t let me. I’ll tell you what I will do though. I’ll do a bunjee jump.’ So, he said — ‘And you can, if you can get people to sponsor me for that, ok. You carry on.’ So, I got in touch with the bunjee people, ‘Do I need a medical?’ They said, ‘No. How old are you?’ I said, ‘Ninety.’ ‘Do you take any drugs?’ ‘No.’ ‘Have you had any heart trouble?’ ‘No. Not really. No.’ ‘That’ll be ok then.’ So, so I went. So, I did the bunjee jump and I’d do another one if I had a chance. I enjoyed that.’
CB: What was it, what was it, what did you feel when you did it?
HW: What? While I was going on? Oh, enjoying it. They don’t let you go down like that which would be a bit tame. They swing the jib from side to side. They swing you back and forth like that. So, it’s not a just a straight drop. Yeah. I enjoyed that. I’d like another one of those. But if another, if another, if they come back to Wisbech again and I see, I see, I get the chance I’ll give it another go.
CB: There’s a notion amongst flight —
HW: Hmmn?
CB: There’s a notion amongst flying people that they don’t want to jump out of an aeroplane if they can help it. Do you think having had to get out when the plane was going down that gave you a different perspective?
HW: No. No. It was a case of stay here and die or go. So the obvious answer was go.
CB: But doing it again you would have a choice?
HW: If I had. Yeah. I’d be quite happy knowing what the drill is. Know I’ve got to drop a certain distance before pulling the, before pulling the cord. And, yeah I’d be quite happy to do an ordinary solo jump but of course they won’t let me now.
CB: No. No. Henry Wagner thank you very much for the rematch.
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
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Interview with Henry Wolfe Wagner. Two
Creator
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Chris Brockbank
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2017-07-19
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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.
Type
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Sound
Identifier
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AWagenrHW170719, PWagnerHW1701
Conforms To
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Pending revision of OH transcription
Format
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00:53:56 audio recording
Language
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eng
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Description
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Henry’s aircraft was shot down when the fuel tank exploded on the starboard wing and came down in Holland. Henry was the only member of the crew to bail out. Their target had been the armament works in Duisburg. Henry drifted across the River Maas behind German lines and was taken prisoner. He was interrogated at Oberursel, near Frankfurt, and moved to a transit camp at Wetzlar before being sent by train to Stalag Luft 7 at Bankau.
Henry describes The Long March from Bankau to Luckenwalde, the cold, the guards and lack of food. They walked for some three weeks to Goldberg and then spent two days in cattle trucks going to Luckenwalde. Anyone who fell was left at the roadside to die of exposure.
Henry refers to the large number of aircrew who lost their lives in Bomber Command and one of Air Marshal Harris’s speeches on the radio.
Contributor
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Julie Williams
Sally Coulter
Spatial Coverage
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Netherlands
Europe--Meuse River
Poland
Poland--Tychowo
Germany--Luckenwalde
Germany
Temporal Coverage
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1945
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Henry explains the high attrition rate of Bomber Command and the RAF’s concept of men with a ‘lack of moral fibre’ which he disagrees with. Henry describes the ‘corkscrew movement’, ‘schrage music’ and why the ‘Fishpond’ radar had to be discontinued. He talks of the range of different ordinance they may be required to carry.
Evacuation was never easy from the aircraft, particularly when there was damage to its infrastructure, and there were difficulties removing some of the crew safely. However, due to many drills to this procedure they left the plane in an orderly and pre-arranged fashion. There was also the added complication of any parachute malfunction, fire from other plane enemy/friendly, and anti-aircraft fire from the ground on top of any problems arising from the landing. Landing in an area already ablaze with the very bombs that you were there to drop was also a real concern.
When Henry had to bail out of his Halifax, they aircraft landed in Holland and was buried too deeply to be salvaged.
He describes his journey though Oberursel, Frankfurt to Stalag 7 Bankau, and the march they had to make because the Germans wanted to keep the POWs away from the oncoming Russians. He explains how the POWs survived their time in captivity, particularly after the ‘Great Escape’ from Stalag Luft 3 where fifty were killed. Towards the conclusion of the war, the POWs worried that they too were going to be killed like those of Stalag Luft 3.
The march from Bankau to Luckenwalde took place in the winter of 1944/45. The POWs never knew how far they would be marching each day, what they would be given to eat or where they would sleep. Henry calls modern reconstructions of the march ‘pantomimes’ as they bear little resemblance to the truth. The German guards would threaten to shoot anyone who failed to keep pace with the group, but Henry cannot recall this occurring. Rather those men who fell behind were left to die from exposure to the cold.
The interview concludes with Henry’s post-war life in teaching, his family and what he became involved with once he retired.
Claire Campbell
aircrew
bale out
bombing
Dulag Luft
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
lack of moral fibre
navigator
perception of bombing war
prisoner of war
sanitation
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 7
the long march
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1181/11752/PWagnerHW1701.2.jpg
6a7763552d25d2c08c9178b97a3f8dee
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1181/11752/AWagnerH160504.1.mp3
d0604bd27c672862fb31f835ffeebaa3
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
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Wagner, Henry Wolfe
H W Wagner
Description
An account of the resource
15 items. Two oral history interviews with Sergeant Henry Wolfe Wagner (1923 - 2020, 1604744 Royal Air Force), his memoirs, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 51 Squadron from RAF Snaith and became a prisoner of war. He was demobbed in 1946 and returned to education where he remained until his retirement.
The collection was catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-05-04
Rights
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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
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Wagner, HW
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
JH: This is Judy Hodgson and I’m interviewing Henry Wagner today for the International Bomber Command Centre’s Digital Archive. We are at Mr Wagner’s home and it is the 4th of May 2016. Thank you Henry for agreeing to talk to me today. Also present at the interview are Steve Drawbridge and Tony Hiddle. Friends of Henry. Ok. So, if you’d like to tell us a little bit about yourself. When and where you were born and your early years.
HW: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I was born in 1923 in Ireland but, and for a long time retained Irish citizenship because my mother and father were both Irish. But we came over to England when I was three years old. What the reason for coming over here was I don’t know. My father, my father was a clerk in the Holy Orders. He took a Theology degree at Dublin University. And my mother came from a well-established old Irish family. In fact, she played, played country golf when she was in Ireland. And I and my brothers took up golf, in our, when we were about ten years old. And it’s always been one of my great interests in life. We came over to England and settled down near a little village near Reading where my father set up a dentistry practice and he was always interested in shooting. In game shooting. And he used to gather friends round and with their twelve bores and they would do clay pigeon shooting. And that was one of his great interests. So, he was a dentist and, and a fairly well known game shot because he used to write articles for a magazine at the time called, “The Shooting Times” and “British Sportsman.” Anyway, he deserted the family and again I don’t know the reasons behind it all. I was too small to have any interest in that sort of thing. And left my mother with four boys to look after and no real, not much source of income. My father stumped up a bit from time to time but then packed it in and he had to be chased to carry on. How she did it I don’t know. One mother looking after four boys and a house. Doing all the housework as well. I’ve got to take my hat off to people like that. And we moved to Henley after a time, where they have the regatta and the going wasn’t all that easy financially then. We lived in a council house in not a very salubrious sort of a neighbourhood. But my next brother, there were three brother you see. I was the second one. The third one down, Richard was only a year younger and he and I used to play golf together. In fact, he became quite a good golfer. Handicap down to six eventually and my handicap never came down to lower than twelve. But we played, well certainly twice a week. I went to, was successful in passing the examination to go to Henley Grammar School which was a long established Grammar School. A great tradition behind it. And about a third of children could get Grammar School education. The rest stayed at the, what were called Secondary Modern schools in those days. But at Henley Grammar School I found my main interests were in languages, geography, mathematics. Though I was never any good or much good at. But more about that later. I took school certificate there. Played rugby there. They didn’t play association football it was, Grammar Schools always played rugby and I became a captain of one of the houses. The school was divided into three sections. Three houses which used to compete with each other on the sports fields. And I was captain of Periam House. He rugby team on the rugby fields. We used to play other Grammar Schools around about. So that became my other favourite sport. So we had golf, rugby. By the time I left school — I took the school certificate and then stayed on for the higher school certificate or A level I believe it’s called now and was accepted to go to Reading University. And I would have gone there when I’d be, let’s see, fifteen years, when I was sixteen or seventeen years old. By the time, by the time I went to University the war had already started and it wasn’t going very well. We weren’t prepared for war where the Germans had been preparing for war for years and years. So things were, things were hard. Rationing was hard. Food was scarce. You got — bread was rationed. Jam was rationed. Cooking fats. Butter. Well pretty well everything in fact. Tinned food. Sardines. Pilchards and that sort of thing. They were all in short supply and we used to, in fact our four boys rather we all had our own one jam pot. One pound jam pot a month. And we sort of used to look at this at tea time. Look at the other, the other lad, the other chap’s pots of jam to see how they were getting on with theirs. It was very, things were very, in short supply. There was, soap was rationed. Sweets were rationed. You had to buy sweets which would, you were sure would last for a long time in your mouth. You ate them slowly. You didn’t have chocolate which would be gone in no time. You had the toffees and that sort of thing that would last. So, Reading University now. We were, lived seven miles from Reading University and I didn’t live at the University. I lived at home but we used to go in to Reading every day. I used to go into Reading every day by bicycle. I had to bike into Reading and at the end of the day bike home again. So that was, that was fourteen miles of exercise every day anyway. Sometimes I’d go in on Saturdays because I, for some reason I didn’t play rugby at University. What took my fancy, because this always happened at Henley Grammar School as well, cross-country running was another favourite other sport, other activity at Henley Grammar School. I joined the cross-country club at Reading University and we used to hold triangular matches against other Universities such as Bristol or Southampton or wherever and I mean you didn’t get, you didn’t get, anybody could take part in it. You didn’t get selected. There was, a cross-country team doesn’t have sort of four or six or eight members or whatever there might be. Anybody who’s interested can have a go and of course the better ones were always encouraged. Well, everybody’s encouraged for that matter. So it was mostly cross-country running at University. And also the, so they had the war having started I went to the University in, let’s see 1940. You could, men at the University could either, could join the Cadet Force. They only had an Army Cadet Force. So we, it’s alright, I don’t want to go into the army but every, all the others seemed to be joining the army cadets. I suppose I’d better do the same. No interest in it whatever but after a time, after about a year, the University opened, started Air Training Corps. A Cadet Force. University Air Squadron. That’s what I was trying to think of. And where you could train, anybody from the Army Cadet Force could transfer to the University Air Squadron and so I welcomed that change there. We, it was run as, the squadron commander was appointed. He was the one of the University staff in fact. Professor Miller who was head of geography and also he was Dean of the Faculty of Science. He hadn’t got any Air Force training you understand but he was the, he was in charge. To bring real Air Force personnel into it the Air Force supplied us with a Flight Lieutenant Jordan who was a fighter pilot. Had been a fighter pilot. His flight, he’d been in, his aircraft had caught fire and he was shot down. The aircraft caught fire and he was badly burned about the face. But he was, you looked up to him as one who had been there. He’d been there before you. And also a Sergeant Linton who was an ex-air gunner who’d been shot down in the, in North Africa and he had walked back through the desert back to our own lines. And he was, so he was put in charge of weapons training and that sort of thing in the University Air Squadron. And there were lectures on meteorology which, which Squadron Leader Miller was well trained to do of course being a geographer. And outside lecturers used to come along to talk about Air Force law and organisation and all that sort of the thing and we used to go flying at weekends. Flight Lieutenant Jordan could take us over to Woodley Aerodrome which was about three or four miles away where Miles aircraft were built and he used to take us for a, well we looked on them as joy rides. They were classified as air experiences. So, all in all it was good. The time came for, when I was of an age to be called up and which was at the end of two years at University and I went up to London and, for an interview board and, ‘Why do you want to go into aircrew?’ and so on. I had always been interested in flying. When my brother and I were about ten, what would we be? Ten. Eleven. Twelve. That sort of age. We used to have those, buy those model gliders that you shoot. You had like, they were on a catapult and we used to go to a field near our house. We used to do a lot of kite flying and that sort of thing and always had an interest in flying. Yes. And the, the Air Force accepted me for aircrew training. And as a pilot. I was accepted for pilot training. The system was that some lads being interviewed just chose, well I’d like to be a navigator, or I’d like to be bomb aimer or I’d like to be a gunner or whatever but most put down pilot first of all. And those that failed could either choose one of the other categories. So, it was called the PNB scheme. Pilot, navigator, bomb aimer. And, and those three trades you were trained abroad in those because you needed flying experience. The gunners, air gunners they’d be mostly recruited from, from the ground staff at the various airfields and squadrons and they could be trained there and then because they, it didn’t take an awful lot of training to be a gunner. You had to know how to operate the equipment and services and cure stoppages and how to aim off or deflection shots according to the speed of the other aircraft and so on. They didn’t need very extensive training. They could, that could be carried out by their own squadrons. So, alright. Well, I’m in the PNB scheme then. I’ve been accepted to train abroad as a pilot. But before, before all that I was you got so those who were going to be who were selected to be trained as pilots were sent to different aerodromes around the country where, where flying clubs had been before the war mostly. There were some aircraft manufacturers who had their own aerodromes of course to, you got to fly the stock off when it’s built after all. But the, these were called grading schools and you were, you were taken in charge by a, by a proper Air Force instructor. A very experienced Air Force instructor. And he would teach you the how to fly the, a Tiger Moth. There’s a picture of a Tiger Moth in there in fact and the two seater bi-plane. Not all that easy to fly really but the aim was, or the standard was that you had to have, you had to have gone solo by your ten hours instruction. If you hadn’t gone solo in less than ten hours then you were automatically rejected and put on to your next choice you see. So we used to fly when I was at Brough up near Hull on the, on the Humber Estuary and we used to take off, used to take off and fly over the circuit. Went along beside the Humber then up across the river. Along the south side and back north again across, across the River Humber and a circuit took about a quarter of an hour. So, well it was enjoyable. After, I went solo after a month or so after nine and three quarter hours so I was home and dry there. And I thought, right, that’s all set up now. I’m going to be a pilot. So back on leave after that. And the next call up was for a posting abroad to carry on the, carry on the pilot training. Some people went to Canada where they had the Empire Air Training Scheme. Some went to Rhodesia which is now Tanzania isn’t it? And some went to South Africa and the chap that went solo before me on this particular day he went, he happened, Ron Waters who was at the University Air Squadron with me he went to Canada and completed his training out there. I went to South Africa and did my training down there. So you never knew where you were going to get sent to. Hold on a minute.
[recording paused]
HW: So, after grading school I was posted. I went on leave and then was posted to Liverpool for embarkation for South Africa. We, nobody told us we were going to South Africa but we’d been provided with, with khaki shorts and a pith helmet. A sun helmet and khaki gear so we knew it was going to be somewhere hot. So we embarked on the steamship Strathmore. We set sail from Liverpool around the north of Ireland. We were crowded down below. The accommodation was, there was no room to move about down below. You had a table. Table. Tables for about a dozen people where the food was served up to and that’s where you were fed. You had to sling hammocks for sleeping purposes but they were uncomfortable and most people settled for sleeping just on the floor or on the tables. And we set sail around the north of, of Ireland and the sea was really rough. It was. The boat was swooping. Not just up and down but sideways as well. And most people could be seen hanging over, up on the deck, hanging over the rails and depositing the contents of what they’d had for their last meal. It was uncomfortable until you got your sea legs after a few days. And the weather turned warmer the further you went south. So we went out, out, far out into the Atlantic. We were, the Strathmore was a fast steamship. It wasn’t escorted at all by destroyers to keep away German U-Boats. It just relied on speed. And the first port of call was Freetown in Sierra Leone. As we, as we entered the harbour we heard, we observed destroyers depth charging not far off so the Germans were around about. After a couple of days there we went out into the Atlantic again. Down south, round the south of South Africa and in to the port of Durban. This was, for us this was a real holiday. We’d come away from hard up England and we were, the weather was lovely and warm. We had the access to as much as sweets, chocolates, that sort of thing, as we wanted. And my first purchase was a can of sweetened condensed milk which I consumed in no time flat. Also, being Durban there was, Durban I should say was a transit camp because from there everybody came into Durban but then they were allocated from there to different, different training airfields. So there wasn’t much. It was just, you were it was just a place where you waited for your next posting. We could go down to the down to, down to the sea at Durban and Durban beach. And it was good swimming down there. The Indian ocean. The water was warm. The weather was warm. There was, the food was good. So it was real relaxation until, well I stayed there about what about two or three weeks I should say and then a posting came through to a training aerodrome in the Orange Free State, called Kroonstad. Here the training I should say wasn’t carried out by, by RAF officers or staff. It was carried out by members of the South African Air Force. So, I had a Lieutenant Goddard as my, my tutor. Not one of the easiest of men to get on with but maybe, maybe trainee pilots do get on their instructor’s nerves sometimes. And they’re always quite outspoken. They never, they never console you. They never mince their words. If they mean one thing they say it unmistakably. And so, so after, it didn’t take long before Lieutenant Goddard and Mr [unclear] said, ‘This bloke’s alright for a solo. We can let him get on with it.’ From Kroonstad] we used to fly north for about seven or eight miles. Still in Tiger Moths. They still used Tiger Moths in South Africa. Fly north to an auxiliary airfield called Rietgat which was not much more than the highveld with a barbed wire fence around it and a hut where you could, you could shelter or food. Have your food and, or have a rest. So, after I’d done by the sense of a bit of solo in England and the solos that I went on at Rietgat and Kroonstad I’d done, I’d done ten hours solo on Tiger Moths and it was no, no great hassle at all. It was very enjoyable in fact. The, the Lieutenant Goddard got out one day, oh I should say Kroonstad was a very small area. You could get a Tiger Moth off alright provided, but it was, you had to make sure you only just cleared the fence one end and since the Tiger Moth had no brakes it just ran on and on and on and you would stop not far before you got to the fence the other end. Just enough space to rev the engine up and put full rudder on and turn around and taxi back to where the instructor was. Right. Back to Lieutenant Goddard. He got out, he said, ‘Bring it back down,’ he said, ‘Do your one solo. One solo circuit,’ he said, ‘Don’t hang about. Don’t mess about now,’ he said, ‘I want to get back to Kroonstad because I’ve got another student waiting for me.’ So he got, strapped up his control column so that it couldn’t move and I was, I was in total control. He got out. Oh he took his, no he took he took his control column out with him. You could just unscrew it and he took it out so it didn’t catch on anything, you see. So turned around. Taxied back to the take off point, opened up and off we go. Nice take off. Yes. Up, up, up and away. Around. Around. Around. Cross wind leg. Downwind leg. Cross wind leg. And turn in for the finals. And I thought to myself I’m not going to get over that bloody fence. I said, I’m too low down. So I opened up and took off and went around again. Did another circuit. Coming around the second time I thought to myself I’m going to clear that fence this time alright. And I did clear it by far too great a distance so the aircraft ran on and on and on and on and I thought this isn’t going to stop before it gets to that barbed wire fence. But fortunately it did stop. Just. The propeller still turning. Not enough space in front of me to open up the engine and put full rudder on and turn. So only one thing to do here. I undid my harness, got out, walked around to the back of the Tiger Moth. Caught hold of the, the tail skid. Pulled it backwards by main force until I thought there was enough space to take off. To open up again. Got back in. Strapped in. Back to lieutenant, and as I’d come in the last time I noticed him down in the corner of the field and he’d got his joystick in his hand and he was waving it. I thought I’ve got to get in this time. And when I got back he said, barked like that, he says, ‘Bring it back to Kroonstad,’ he said, ‘Make a good job of it because this is the last time you’re ever going to be at the controls.’ So back I went. The chief flying, I was given the chief flying instructor’s test and he agreed. Well yeah maybe he’s not the man for the job. Of course I was terribly disappointed because, well I’d failed. And I was going to have to do some other sort of job that didn’t really interest me. So, I got posted back to Pretoria which was another sort of a holding unit and they, from there they dispersed people onto navigator’s courses or bomb aimer’s courses. And after a few weeks I got posted to Port Elizabeth for elementary navigational training because navigation was in its infancy in those days. There was no electronics or anything of that sort. It was all done with charts and dividers and rulers and compasses of various sorts. And bearings and radio bearings and you had to learn about all that sort of thing and you got a test at the end. After, oh sort of meteorology that came into it as well and after about what, a month maybe there was a test. Just a theory test of course and, and I passed that all right. And the next step was to go to a South African Air Force aerodrome where you would put it all into practice and show that you could navigate an aircraft. I got posted to Port Alfred. Quite a small place down on the coast. Well as the name suggests of course, down on the coast. Pretty primitive sort of a place. Still, you were still on holiday from the hardships of life in England in wartime conditions and from there they did the training on Ansons. Avro Ansons. A sort of a workhorse of Air Forces all over the world. All over the world in fact. Avro Anson. A very, very stable reliable sort of aircraft. Never heard of any, any one of them suffering from engine failure or, or anything of that sort. You could rely on that. The pilots were South African Air Force pilots. And they took off at a time maybe two navigators and you. One would be for that particular trip the first navigator who would do all the work on the charts with the, with dividers and lines and calculations and time of arrival. And the other one obtained radio bearings for the first navigator to plot. Or with the, or visual bearings by looking out of the window and see, seeing what was down below and checking with a map that he’d got in front of him. He could see what township that was, you were over, for instance. Or using another thing called the astro compass which wasn’t a magnetic compass at all. It was more of a bearing place. He would take bearings on railway junctions and anything that would appear on his map he would keep constant check and pass the bearings to the first navigator to put on to his, on to his chart. And of course everything the first navigator did was in, in his, he had to enter up in his logbook. Without going in to much detail for instance the navigator had to work out the difference between the true airspeed, the airspeed that the pilot had got in front of him on his instrument panel but that was, that’s the higher you go, the lower you go so the air pressure’s different and it registered different. It doesn’t register the speed that you’re were actually going at. It records the speed that you’re going at through the air but not over the ground necessarily so you had to carry out an adjustment to that and tell the pilot what height, what speed you wanted to, him to put to fly at on his, on his air speed indicator. It was, it was a complicated business. It was solid, unremitting brain work. Anyway, there was nothing much to report of the, of the flying training. It was, it was all proceeding. I could cope with all that alright. Didn’t have any great difficulty and passed the, passed the practical tests and log keeping and all that sort of thing and was, by the time you’d done that you were considered qualified. And all the aircrew were guaranteed then to wear a brevet. The one wing brevet with an N in the middle for navigators. So, the picture in there. And the brevets were pinned on to a passing out parade with all due ceremony and you were given sergeant’s stripes. Yeah. That’s a bit of a sore point. Some, some were, some were given sergeant’s stripes and some were granted commissions which I thought, you know, that’s a bit, ‘How? Why didn’t I get a commission? Why do I get a sergeant’s stripes? Why did Walker, get a, why is he a pilot officer and I’m a sergeant?’ And I must have had some sort of a flaw as far as the Air Force was concerned and evidently not considered to be officer material. So it was off to the sergeant’s mess for me and so on. Sew sergeant’s stripes on, and, and sew the brevet on and wait for the next move to take place which would be back to, back to England again. Being, being qualified now and so as a navigator. Of course, back in England things had changed a bit because they were moving into the electronic age then with, with computers and a lot of the work being done by, by means such as that rather than the, rather than taking radio bearings. So it was going to need, further training was going to be needed. But the last, the last few times in the last few weeks at the, at Kroonstad while nobody was, nobody wants to make life awkward for you. You could do more or less as you pleased provided you behaved yourself. So used to go, used to go swimming and used to go to the pubs and the, the various service clubs and always welcomed. Got on very well with the South Africans. There was always a welcome from them. So my time in South Africa was, as far as relations with other people went, except for, except for Lieutenant Goddard of course, were always very cordial. So it was back to England again then on the troopship [pause] oh dear. Athlone. I think I’ve got that right. No. It was the Union Castle boat. Anyway, never mind about that. It was, it went from Durban and it was, by this time the Mediterranean had been opened up a bit. Tunisia had been, the desert had been more or less cleared and we, the ship was going to go up the east coast of Africa and up through the Red Sea and into, up through the Suez Canal. That’s right. What the, oh I was thinking of Panama, yes the Suez Canal and out in to the Mediterranean and we crossed. Went through the Mediterranean. Called in at, after leaving Durban we called in at [pause] at Kenya. What’s the city? What’s the sea port? Mombasa. Yeah. Called in at Mombasa and let off some, some South African Air Force people. Then went on. The next stop was in Tunisia. No. I’m wrong again. The next stop was in Sicily at Syracuse to let South African troops off there. Then through the Mediterranean. Through the straights of Gibraltar. Out into the Atlantic. Up round, up the coast of Portugal. Through, across the Bay of Biscay. Along the English Channel and in to the Thames Estuary and tied up at Tilbury. Yeah. So all very interesting. All very easy going. Nobody making life difficult. And you had to do a bit of duty now and again. For instance sometimes keeping you would be going up on watch and keeping watch for submarine periscopes for instance. That sort of thing. Or, or down in the, in the place where we, oh we had, sergeants had bunks. I think they were four high. Yeah. Yeah. I got the, I was unfortunate in getting the top bunk in a series of four. Which meant clambering up there. But well I didn’t mind that so much but there was a deck head light just above where my head was so the light was on all night long. But just one of those things you might say. And so back to England and on leave. No. Where did we go from England? To [pause] on leave. And I was posted up to oh yes, West Freugh which was up in Scotland. For, to complete, to carry on training in, because while navigating in South Africa being more or less open country with the odd town and village dotted about here and there in England navigating over big industrial area called for a different, different approach to the whole business. So up to West Freugh [pause] which is near the Mull of Kintyre over on the western side of the country. So most of our training flights went out westwards or, or north westwards. Out over the Irish Sea or Northern Ireland but you couldn’t go over southern Ireland of course. They were sort of a neutral country, and if you came down there you’d get interned. So you had to go up over the north of, north of Scotland and over the Ailsa Craig. Isle of Arran and places like that. And used to come back usually to the Isle of Man. And then back up back up to West Freugh again. Still in Ansons so there were still no electronics. It was still basic navigation. But as I said where the basic navigation in South Africa was very easy basic navigation in England in thick cloud or rain storms or the fact that you couldn’t see the ground or industrial areas it took more getting used to. It wasn’t an easy job. You couldn’t just look out of the window and say. ‘Oh yes. I know where we are.’ So, but not bad conditions. Air Force people I always found were inclined to treat you as, as a fellow. They, they weren’t so keen to boss you about. As long as you were carrying on doing your job and they, you let them get on and do their job and as far as training went then they were they were quite happy to accept you on a friendly basis. I lived in the sergeant’s mess and as I say everything went quite, quite nicely. A lot of the navigation was carried out by night time because, because the bomber force, proper bomber force operated mainly by night. So you had to get used to the, in the dark and not being able to see the ground. No lights. No, no street lights or anything of that sort down below. It was become, becoming acclimatised to flying in a different sort of, under different sort of conditions. So this went on ‘til, in the end after this training went on for about [pause] about three months I suppose. Yeah. Somewhere about that and you were qualified to, to proceed to the next stage of training which would be converting to heavier aircraft. The Air Force at the time was, wasn’t very well equipped with heavy aircraft. It’s the, the most reliable of all the bombers, of the bombers was the Wellington. There was, there was another one about the same size. The Armstrong Whitworth Whitley which I was unfortunate enough to draw a place where they trained on Whitleys. The Hampden wasn’t really a heavy bomber as such. They couldn’t carry a very big bomb load or go very far for that matter. The Fairey Battle was a light bomber which would only be used for dropping bombs on concentrations of enemy troops or bridges or railway junctions. That sort of thing. So from West Freugh I went on leave and, with the, with the instruction that when my leave was up I was to report to Abingdon near Oxford which was an old established Air Force aerodrome. And it, from there, well in fact there was no flying at all from there when I got there because they were just having runways made but their satellite was called Stanton Harcourt about ten miles away. And the flying took place from Stanton Harcourt in these Whitleys. Dreadful old machines. Ugly to look at. You could, they didn’t inspire you to take any pride. You could imagine men taking a pride in their Spitfires. The appearance of them gave you confidence. The Whitley didn’t give you any confidence at all. It just made you depressed to think what an ugly looking creature it was. No electronics in it of course. You got, you had to climb up but you climbed into the fuselage up a little ladder and then you made your way up a long fuselage. Then you came to the wing route, passed through the fuselage which was about two feet thick I suppose. You had to clamber over that. Work your way through a sort of a tunnel in the, in the structure, wing route structure, to get to the navigation table. And when you got there that was no great shakes because there wasn’t very much room there anyway. And you checked the escape hatches because there was, apart from the door you came in by there was only one other way out and that was a hole in, a trap door in the floor down in the nose. And to get down there you had to clamber down there. It was an awkward journey but you checked, always checked that the escape hatches, everything moved fairly freely and made sure that — no good in an emergency arriving there and you think, I can’t get this so and so handle open. Where do I go from here? So, well in particular it was the slow moving aircraft. It cruised at I suppose maybe a hundred and forty, a hundred and sixty as far as I can remember. I can’t remember exactly. Oh, I’ve missed out one thing. I can’t remember where it comes in. The formation of the crew. It must be when I came back from South Africa. Oh I’ve got to backtrack. Backtrack a little bit and go back to when I arrived at Abingdon in the first place. And there were, at any one time way a new posting when all the last lot were being cleared out all the new intake would consist of twenty pilots, twenty navigators, twenty bomb aimers, twenty radio operators, forty gunners and that was it. So, everybody was put in to one big hangar. All this lot. And the instruction was, ‘Right. We’ve got enough people here to form twenty crews for a heavy bomber.’ Twenty crews. A heavy bomber has a crew of seven, so ‘But you’ll find that you won’t have, be able to form a crew of seven because there will be no flight engineers here yet.’ Because, I’ll come back to that later. So the instruction was right the door was shut. Ok. Get busy. Sort yourselves out into crews. Into a crew. Pilot, navigator, bomb aimer, radio operator and two gunners. That’s six of you. So you sort of looked around and think oh, ‘Yeah well, what do we, where do we go from here?’ And I still can’t explain how it worked. Pilots, and you’d sort of look up and no I don’t like the look of him. Well, I’ll try that, no he’s got already fixed up. He’s got a navigator. Others were bomb aimers and so on were looking around for a likely. And then a pilot and a bomb aimer came over to me and said, ‘Are you fixed up?’ I said, ‘No. In fact, I’m not. They said, ‘Well would you like to join us?’ I said, ‘ Well yes, yes please.’ And so, so that had got one two three of us. Then he looked, or they looked or mainly the pilot doing it of course because it was his responsibility to form his own crew, to fill in the other vacancies. And so we got six of us. There was no flight engineer to make the seventh member for a heavy bomber because we were only training on Whitleys and twin-engined aircraft didn’t need a flight engineer. Four engined did but a twin-engined the pilot could look after the sort of engines himself as well as flying the aircraft. So the flight engineer would join us later. So we started off on these Whitleys. One particular flight I can remember in a Whitley. We set off from — what was the name of the place? Not [pause] what name did I say for the — not Abingdon. Anyway, we set off south westwards. You always flew away from Germany really because there was, the air space was less crowded. Set off down towards, we were routed to go down to Falmouth and over to the Scilly Islands and out into the Atlantic at some latitude and longitude point. Nothing there but just a point on the map and that was where you turned and started coming back again. So we were on our way out into the Atlantic and the weather was getting worse and worse. There was low pressure coming in which meant there was, it was coming from the southwest. Therefore the, the winds would be anti-clockwise and, and the low pressure would mean that the clouds were being forced downwards all the time. It was getting lower and lower. We couldn’t see anything down below and over the land you wouldn’t have been able to see anything else and in a Whitley that was no joke. So the pilot said, ‘I’m not going on in this,’ he says. By the way, about, I’ll come back to where I stopped in a minute. About names. The pilot was a warrant officer who had done some instructional training himself but nothing operational. The rest of us were all sergeants and, but there was never any, warrant officers they were always addressed as sir. The only non-commissioned officers were addressed as sir but he, we never addressed him as sir. Name. Our names fell into place and they were used without any hesitation. So he was, being Wilfred Bates, he wasn’t known as Wilfred. He was. We referred to when we were speaking to him as Wilf. Now, I was for some reason they balked at the Henry. They never called me Henry at all. I was known, always known as Wag. The bomb aimer, Lesley Roberts was known as Robbie. The, the mid-upper gunner was Thomas Worthington but known as Tommy. The rear gunner, Robert Thomas was known as Bob. So, and the flight engineer, when we got him, Eric Berry he was known as Berry but I was always Wag. And I didn’t, and even after that, all through the Air Force career even in, even in Germany I was always known as Waggy or Waggy. Anyway, yes the pilot said, ‘I’m not going along with this Wag,’ he said, this is absolutely pointless.’ He said, ‘I’m turning around. Give me a course back over Cornwall and back to, back to base. We got over Cornwall and the cloud cleared, lifted a little bit and there was a hole in the cloud. And I said to, I said, ‘Wilf, there’s a hole in the cloud down below. If we go down we get underneath I’ll be able to see the ground and establish my position.’ So we went down through the hole in the cloud. I established the position as Falmouth. And he said, he said, ‘Right,’ he said, ‘Now, give me a course to the nearest aerodrome. I’ve had enough of this.’ He said, ‘Where, where can we put down?’ I said, ‘Well, St Eval is the nearest.’ So the bad weather had closed in again and he said, well he said, ‘Are we going to be able to land at St Eval?’ So the radio operator got the ok and, and he got a radio bearing of the St Eval and we homed on the St Eval beam and put down there. And so that was the end of that particular flight. Stayed there and had our dinner there and by the time the afternoon wore on we could get back to, back to Abingdon again. So that was the sort of difficulties you experienced on Whitleys. No other particular Whitley flight stays in my memory. They were all humdrum sort of things but ranging far afield. Ranging far up into the, out in to the northwest. Out in to the Atlantic. Down Cornwall direction. But mostly lasting about, about five, five or six hours and it was a bit of a strain in that I was working for, with solid brain work for five or six hours. Checking temperatures, wind velocities, radio bearings. Working out the distance to the next point or turning point. Time of arrival. It’s, six hours solid brain work is pretty wearing. While the rest of the crew of course having a pretty easy time. The bomb aimer, you’d think to yourself he’d have a particularly easy time because there weren’t any. Anyway, he was, the bomb aimer at all times even operational was an assistant navigator. He could be given pieces of apparatus to work. For instance I could, on Halifaxes I could ask him to take a bearing on the, on the Gee set while I took a bearing on the air position indicator. Or the other way around because the two things needed to be done at the same time. And so while he did, I put him on to the air position indicator mostly because that was, that was the easier thing to operate and I didn’t want to overstress him let’s say [laughs]. But we worked well together. There was never any, any hassle at all. But when the time came for, I forget what took place at the end of the [pause] Abingdon was an OTU or Operational Training Unit. In the early days by the time you’d finished on Whitleys and Wellingtons you were considered to be ready to sent, be sent on operations. But with the advent of heavy bombers and the advent of new radar and radio equipment and techniques and so on it was realised that you needed a further stage to get you ready to operate heavy bombers such as the Stirling, the Halifax and Lancaster. Stirling was a disappointment. It was too heavy. It hadn’t got the weight lifting capacity. It couldn’t get up as high as the Halifaxes and Lancasters. So it didn’t do an awful lot of bombing but it had other uses such as, they could do glider towing, jamming enemy radar and that sort of thing. But you needed, but for operational bombing, bombing just meant dropping bombs and causing as much damage as you could to the German war effort the, the crews needed a further training. So other units, new units were set up called Heavy Conversion Units. HCU. And the one I went to. Oh, I went to was at Snaith up in Yorkshire. Not far from, not far from Doncaster. And [pause] have I got this right? No. No, the squadron was, sorry, the one I went to was at Swanton Morley. No. That’s not correct. That’s down by Abingdon isn’t it? Oh dear. Oh dear. Could you turn it off?
[recording paused]
The Heavy Conversion I went to was at Marston Moor near York. This was in 4 Group and they would be flying Halifaxes from there because 4 Group flew only Halifaxes. And Lancasters went to 3 Group which was further South Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. So we were converting on to, on to the four-engined Halifax and of course we would need a flight engineer. And that’s where Eric Berry joined us to make up the seven man crew. So the aircraft themselves were, well they were what the Americans referred to as war weary. They’d done their whack. They’d been damaged possibly. Repaired. They’d served their time and they weren’t in the most reliable condition but the ground staff did a wonderful job keeping them flyable and usable anyway. So we got our seven crew now and we’re ready to start genuine bombing, Bomber Command training. This incorporated the use of new equipment as well, because by this time Gee, the Gee set had been fitted into all bomber aircraft. I should explain that the Gee set was, relied on transmissions from the ground from three stations. A slave station, an A station and a B station and these were transmitted and they could be picked up by the Gee set receiver in a bomber and the, which the navigator worked of course and by taking, he could get his bearings off there. He could get his position off there and plot these bearings as he got the information that he got on the Gee set on to a special map that he’d got on his navigation table. And he could establish your position to within a quarter of a mile. Later on, over the Ruhr to within a quarter of a mile. In my estimation, over England it was even better than that. It was spot on to, to within a hundred yards or so. So it was amazing. Night time, thick cloud, no view of the ground, no view of the stars. No view of anything at all in fact. And you could establish your position to within a hundred yards. Marvellous. So I could get my position off the, off the Gee set. At the same time I’d get the air position from the bomb aimer, plot the two of them, join those two up and I’d got the wind direction and speed. So I could look ahead. I could plan my course to the next turning point knowing that the wind velocity would be different because of course as you fly through a weather system whether a cyclone or an anti-cyclone the wind direction and, no not the velocity the wind direction is certainly going to change and you’ve, you can, you need to constantly update your knowledge of what the wind velocity is and maybe even look ahead and in your own brain build in a few degrees extra to compensate for the change that you know is going to carry on happening. It was all, it all sounds a bit vague but it became second nature in time. If I got the bearing that I wanted, that I wanted the aircraft to fly to to get to the next turning point or the target or whatever I’d work out, work it out on the chart and then add on or take off a few degrees as to whether I thought the wind was veering or backing. So a little bit of brain work had to come in extra off the cuff. And there were other things to think of too. When you were approaching a turning point if there was, if it was a sharp, suppose you were coming up and then turning on to making a sort of a sharp turn to the next turning point it was no good telling the pilot there, ‘Turn on to that next course,’ because he would be, he would do that. You had to tell him half a minute before so that he could get the aircraft onto a turn ready to come onto that correct line that you’d got on your chart. So even with all the aids and so on it was still not nothing that you could sit back and leave it to, leave it to the machinery to do. But no. In later days I used to, this is not all that long, well yes it is. It’s maybe ten, maybe twenty years ago now I used to teach navigation at the Wisbech Air Training Corps and we used to go over to get, you used to go over to Marham at times where they had, what was the — ?
Other: Chipmunks or something.
HW: Hmmn?
Other: Chipmunks were they there, Henry. There.
HW: The large aircraft that they had. A Victor.
Other: Oh the Victor or the [unclear]
HW: Yeah. Yeah.
Other: Oh yes the V days.
HW: And to show the lads what the navigational equipment’s like and we had the station navigation officer would conduct us round and show us around the aircraft and then show us the navigation system and he’ll say, he’ll say, ‘You see, you’ve got, in a Victor you’ve got two navigators. One is the navigator radar who takes all the bearings and the other is the navigator plotter who plots it all on the charts and works out the new courses.’ So, you see the equipment changing like that in techniques and tactics have to change to keep up with it. It was, they were always very supportive. I said to the navigator, a plotter and then the navigator radar, I said, How often do you need to take bearings?’ He said, ‘Well about every, about every ten minutes or so. I said, ‘Well what do you do in the meantime then?’ He said, ‘Well. Read a book.’ [laughs] And they, the navigator, these two navigators at their combined navigation table they were facing back into the, towards the tail of the aircraft and right by the side — suppose this is, suppose you are sitting at the navigation table and the door, the entry door is in the fuselage was just to the right of the navigation table. So what happened in an emergency was that the pilot would do whatever’s necessary to get that door open or, or ejected. I don’t know what they did. Whether they, but anyway the two navigators were standing or siting handy and all they had to do was stand up, take a couple of steps to the right and they were out of the door because they were on parachute seats you see. Or they had parachute packs on. But yes. Tactics changed. Now where had we got to? Back to, back to Marston Moor I think. Yes. Well, there’s not much more to say about Marston Moor. Oh well, yeah. The favourite pub. I used to go out for some reason with the mid-upper gunner. I don’t know why I used to go with him in particular. Perhaps he was a good drinker [laughs] perhaps he was the best drinker. We took, got station bikes and we used to bike up to Tockwith. Up near Selby anyway. And I might be — anyway we got the station bicycles and we used to go up to this pub which was in a little village and it wasn’t near an operational Air Force station but used to get quite a few ground staff. It seemed to be a favourite one for ground staff. There was no electricity laid on. The stone flagged floor, the deal tables and the two landladies both, both pretty old, wore clothes entirely of black. Long black dresses and hair done up in buns and so on. They’d bring out, when it got dark bring out Aladdin lamps which worked like primus stoves. You could pump them up and they would provide the illumination. They’d bring those out and put them on the table and a singsong would develop. And the, one of the favourite one I can remember was, “Knees Up Mother Brown.” And one of the landladies, when prompted would always get up on the table and we would all sing, “Knees Up Mother Brown,” and she would caper about on the table. And she must have been in her eighties anyway. So, and but everybody got on well. I mean there were a lot of WAAFs there. There must have been a station where they needed, perhaps a clerical station of some sort. I don’t know but there were a lot of WAAFs there. But there was no standing on ceremony. No ranking or anything of that sort. We were all in there for a booze up so that was it. And then chucking out time. Chucking out time in those days was very rigid.
Other: 10 o’clock.
HW: Yeah. Chucking out time was at 11 o’clock. No. Chucking out time. If you stayed after chucking out time the landlady or landlord could be prosecuted for allowing drinking out of hours. So a quarter of an hour before chucking out time they’d give you, give you a warning. They’d ring a bell like a ships bell. And you knew if you wanted another pint to get one now and drink it in a quarter of an hour. And the police used to hover around outside pubs to check that there wasn’t any drinking after hours. They’d come in and have a look. So anyway.
[recording paused]
HW: So, after Heavy Conversion Unit at Marston Moor we were now a fully qualified operational aircrew. Fit to be set loose against the Germans. So posting took place then to, to individual bomber squadrons. From Marston Moor of course being in 4 Group we knew we were going to be on Halifaxes and our crew under Warrant Officer Bates was posted to Snaith which was near Doncaster. This was only a wartime aerodrome. It wasn’t it, wasn’t a pre-war one like with the, with the big buildings, comfortable buildings. It only had Nissen huts, wartime hangars, runways had been laid of course because heavy bombers heavily loaded needed, they needed a hard surface. They didn’t want, no good having them sinking in to soft mud in the winter time. Heavy Lancaster and a Halifax were almost exactly the same from the performance point of view. So I won’t differentiate between them. The weight of a heavy bomber fully loaded was sort of the aircraft itself, bombs, petrol, the crew and all that. The whole, the whole lot weighed some thirty tons. The take-off weight was about thirty tons so obviously you don’t need you need you don’t need soft earth underneath a thirty tonne weight so Snaith did at least have runways. The buildings themselves were sergeant’s mess, comfortable enough and nobody hassled you at all. Nobody bothered you. If operations weren’t on you were, the navigators used to head for the navigation section really and you could read over there or you could, you could talk to other people over there. You could look up info. Get any new information. You could make yourself a cup of coffee over there. It was it was easy going. You were accepted by the station navigation officer as a fully qualified navigator and from that point of view you were on the same footing as he. Sorry. On the same footing as he was. He was running the place, yes but from the navigational point of view you were on the same level and he accepted you as such. Right. So, to start with we did a few cross-country’s on the, on the Halifaxes at Snaith. You didn’t have our own particular aircraft. You used what aircraft was, that aircraft was available. Some pilots did have their own aircraft but we never got around to that. So we did cross-countrys of about some, about eight hours each. Long, long cross-countrys using new navigational equipment. One, I still used Gee but there had been a new one developed called [pause] oh dear, my memory’s getting something dreadful. Sorry. Maybe it’ll come back to me in a minute or two. Yeah. It’s come back to me now. H2S. H2S. You’ll say well that’s that’s the chemical formula for sulferated hydrogen isn’t it? That smells like, well politeness. Anyway, there you go. And with the people, the person who created, christened it H2S said yes, sulferated hydrogen. This H2S, like the sulferated hydrogen it stinks. So he hadn’t thought much of it. But it worked on a different system. The Germans could jam Gee because it depended on signals being sent out. Being sent out from Britain. H2S depended on signals being sent out by each aircraft itself. It had a revolving scanner underneath which as it went around it projected electronic beams and the Germans could pick those up so if you put the H2S on, if everybody had the H2S on then the Germans would have plenty of bearing. Oh, there’s an aircraft there. Look there’s another. There’s another. And so I preferred to switch, not to use H2S if possible. It was very useful over the coast but because beams projected by the H2S if they, if they came down from the aircraft and hit a building they were reflected back up to the aircraft itself which was acceptable. If they, if they went over and hit the sea they were reflected off that. They just went up and on their way so you could see what was sea clearly and you could see what was buildings clearly. So near coastlines or in estuaries or near big rivers it was useful but another reason why I didn’t leave it on for very long was that the German fighters realising that H2S were, transmissions were being made by bombers they developed a radar for their own fighters. Developed a radar where if you switched on your H2S he could, the German fighter pilot looking at his, looking at his radar would say, ‘There’s one over there. Right,’ And home in on him and creep on him gradually without him being aware of the fact. So, so that’s why I preferred to not to. Anyway, Gee was a better bet. It was a safer bet. But, but so the German pilots started, they started using their, their radar. They’d take a quick look. See an H2S transmission and then head in that direction and switch off. And then they’d take another quick peep. And so they kept, they kept just taking a peep so they knew they were going in the right general direction. So Bomber Command developed a piece of apparatus which overrode the German pilot switch and switched on his radar and left it switched on. He couldn’t switch it off. So, so it was a constant battle back and forth, back and forth. Something was developed, a counter was found. Something else. And so everything that was developed something was developed to, to neutralise it. So, right. The first two, the first two operations I went on. The first one, they were both daylight in fact and the first one was extremely easy. It was to a small town just just over the German border which the Germans at that time, the German border with France that is, the Germans had just been moved back out of France to a town called Soest, S O E — no. I’ve got it wrong. Julich. J U L I C H. And that was, they were using that as a garrison town and a reinforcement town and they were bringing their, back their rear troops up and to that town. That was their focal point and they were dispersing them along to wherever was necessary. So it only meant that we were over German held territory for about ten minutes or so which was, well it was a bonus. And of course the Germans hadn’t got their heavy anti-aircraft fire properly organised because it was too near the battlefront. The heavy anti-aircraft armament was near the big cities. So there was very little flak and we were able to fly in at a low, a low height of twelve thousand feet. We dropped our bombs at twelve thousand feet. The bomb load was normally the same. Normally about, about five tons. Something like that. A mixture. And maybe a two thousand pounder. A couple of thousand pounders, a few five hundred pounders, incendiaries if it was a target that would burn. So we dropped our bombs in. Dropped our bombs in Dropped our bombs, turned around, back home again and it was all over in no time. No hassle. Just across country in effect. Although Lancasters were attacking a town further south called Düren and looking out at the time when we were over our target I saw a Lancaster blow up over there. Just a big explosion. Anyway, the next one was, the next operation was at Munster which is in the north of, well it’s north of the Ruhr anyway. It’s not in a big industrial area. It’s, I don’t know what reason it was being attacked for but also a daylight and the opposition — very little in the way of opposition. Not very much flak. Not very — no fighters seen. It was it was a piece of cake again. I should say for anti-aircraft fire, light anti-aircraft fire was, was something to be reckoned with up to ten thousand feet. From there onwards it went on to 88 millimetre flak where the, with the cells bursting from there. Bursting at whatever height they’d been fused for. At any height up to over twenty thousand feet. So there were those two sorts of flak. They could and the opposition from German fighters, they were armed with cannon which shot, which fired a sort of a pattern. Their, their machine, their cannon belts were made up the same as their machine guns and the same as ours I think. In groups of five. We had in our machine gun bullets belts. We had two ball ammunition. Ordinary bullets. Two ball. One armour piercing, one incendiary and one tracer. So, so those, those groups of five as the gunner was operating his machine guns these, these were passing through in blocks of five. Tracers so as you could see where they were going. Red incendiaries so that they would set the, set the, perforate the petrol tanks, set the aircraft on fire. On fire. Also armour piercing and the two ball for general havoc. Anyway, that was Munster. And as I say then after that the remaining six that I did, I did eight altogether, the remaining six were all on heavy industrial targets. All, all in the Ruhr. Yeah. That vast German industrial complex. And they were at the, it was, it was a complex of so many cities that the whole thing merged together into one sort of a general area. They were cities like Duisburg, Essen, Cologne and so on. They were so much joined together. They were separate cities as well. So the, so much built joined together that bombs could safely be dropped there and they were going to do some damage. We were targeted on factories. Steelworks. Coking plants. Electricity supply places. Aircraft factories. Transport factories. Railway junctions and marshalling yards. That sort of thing. But as I say we were given that. That point. And that’s what we’d set the bomb, the bomb aimer would set his bombsights up according to that information. But even if you missed your target you were still going to, you were still going to bomb out some workers or were going to cause damage, houses. And really the amount of labour that was needed, was caused, with the amount of workers that Germany had to keep in Germany because of the depredations of Bomber Command. That gets entirely overlooked. Because when you come to think of it you’ve got to keep the firemen at home haven’t you? Fire brigades. You’ve got to keep the gunners, the anti-aircraft gunners there. You’ve got to keep the hospitals staffed and working. You’ve got to keep the population fed. You’ve got to, you’ve got to clear all bomb damage. All the rubble and so on. You’ve got to keep the lorries available for doing that. You’ve got, it’s just the amount of labour that Bomber Command caused to be held at home instead of being used in the actual ground fighting. And also, of course their fighters. They needed fighters to attack Bomber Command and so many fighters that could be used on the front line had to be held at home. And it’s generally overlooked what an enormous contribution, apart from the damage to the German factories and so on occasionally the sidelining damage that was done, caused by Bomber Command is, well you just, you see pictures of cities that have been bombed and you don’t realise then the amount of work that has gone to clearing that lot. Of course, as far as bomber crews were concerned the greatest fear was coming down in a parachute over a city that you were in the process and in fact you could get, well, down, well land in the city and be killed by bombs dropping from your own lot. So that was the greatest fear. Bomb. The large cities were covered by mainly by a ring, not a complete ring, by a belt of anti-aircraft fire. They knew that the bombers would be coming from the west so they got there. They had a ring of heavy anti-aircraft guns and, and then if over the target itself they didn’t, not so much heavy anti-aircraft guns the fighters would roam in that area. So they had the bombers had to contend with the anti-aircraft fire, collision with other aircraft because there were so many coming in at any one time. The risk of collision was very great. Bombs dropping from other aircraft flying a bit higher up than you were. The chances of trouble were only all too present. So back to, so you could you got the, you were on the final leg. Imagine now we’re on a final leg to the target of the Krupps Steel Works at Essen. The biggest industrial, the most concentrated industrial area in Germany and obviously of prime importance. So we’re on the run up. About ten minutes before we get there the bomb aimer says to me, ‘I’ll get my bombsights set up and all ready,’ because he guided the pilot in over markers laid by Pathfinder Force just previously. If they were visible. If not he’d have to use his bombsight. The information as he’d already keyed in to his bombsights as to where to drop the bombs. But of course it wouldn’t be so accurate but as I say any damage was beneficial to us, so we’re on the money. So about, so he lies down in front of his bombsight and he’s got, he’ll say to the pilot about a minute before, ‘Bomb doors open.’ And then he’ll guide the pilot up and he’ll be saying to him, ‘Left. Left. Left. Steady. Steady. Steady. Right. Right. Steady. Steady. Steady. Steady. Bombs gone.’ And then he’d have to fly on. We’d have to fly on, on that same course for a half a minute because it took that long for the bombs to get, to get down to the ground because in that half minute, when that half minute was up the cameras in the aircraft would photograph the point of impact. And so when we got back home, I mean you might not be able to see very much, just, just a lot of fires and just a lot of rubble but anyway that was a draw. Fly on half a minute and then after that turn for home. And the route home could be a bit more direct. On the way out it had to be a bit, not straightforward with a good sort of different legs in it so the Germans wouldn’t know, wouldn’t say oh yes he’s heading for Osnabruck. They’d say, well he’s heading towards the Ruhr. Yeah. And then in fact it looks as if it goes to be a bit the northern section of the Ruhr. So they get their fighters up there waiting and then the bomber force would turn and go down. Everything was done to try and confuse them. To catch their forces often by some sort of offbeat move. Army Co-operation Command used to fly Mosquitoes. What was it? Who’s flying Mosquitoes. Bomber Support Group. They used to patrol in Mosquitoes over German airfields, fighter airfields and catch any coming in to land or prevent any taking off and just, just make life impossible for them so they’d hang about. Bomber Support Group they were a great help in that. As I say various, many moves were made to try to, to try to reduce losses as much as possible. Anyway, so we did eight. As I say the eighth trip, all the others had been on the industrial areas of the Ruhr except for one Osnabruck which was nothing special to say about that. The, the eighth trip we were down for, marked down for an attack on Duisburg. Yes. Well ok we’d been there before. No big deal. So all the flight planning was taking place at briefing by the station commander of why we were going there in the first place. The navigation officer, the, the meteorological officer, the bombing leader, and they would all give information as their, the people they were talking to needed to know. So, so and then the station commander comes on, ‘Well, there you are lads. Off you go. Give them a good pasting won’t you?’ Or sometimes he said, ‘Well I shall be coming with you tonight lads so watch out. I’ve got my eye on you.’ That sort of thing. It was all done in a good humoured sort of way. And many a commanding officer failed to return from this. You know, it just, it was the luck of the gods. An anti-aircraft shell could hit him as well as somebody who was on their first trip. So, it was, it was so much was a matter of luck. Some hundred thousand men flew with Bomber Command and of those figures vary a little bit from here and there but some fifty seven thousand were killed. So over half were killed. So the chances of — you had to do thirty trips. That was called a tour. And if you did your thirty trips you got rested for six months and sent to Heavy Conversion Units or something like that to carry on. To give training. And then you come back for another twenty trips. So with fifty trips to do and the loss rate being on average four percent fifty trips tells me that in twenty five you’ve had your lot. If you survived any beyond the twenty five you were lucky. If you, if you get caught in less than twenty five you can’t complain. And of course some figures vary again. Some, I think, I think it was some, no I’m not, I have the figure of four thousand in mind but it must be higher than that were shot down and taken prisoner survived and came down by parachute or crash landed and got taken prisoner. I’m not sure about the figure there. Anyway, to come back to the last trip to Duisburg the weather forecast was supposed to be, oh the meteorological officer said it was reasonable. The forecast wasn’t all that bad. ‘You should be fairly, there will be rain storms at times but it should have cleared over the target by the time you get there. You may have a bit of difficulty with the weather but it’s not enough to, to cancel the operation. So be prepared for a bit of rough weather.’ But the weather, as I said it was part of the navigator’s job to calculate wind velocity and direction and the first, as soon as we were airborne and set course and we were, got up to a reasonable height and I checked the wind velocity I thought this is nowhere near. This is far stronger than, than was forecast. We were forecast for twenty thousand feet somewhere about forty knots. You know the difference between a knot and a [laughs] about forty knots and the further, the one that I calculated at twenty thousand feet was a hundred and two knots. Which would be about a hundred and ten statute miles an hour and so the force became widely scattered. Nobody, I think some navigators thought to themselves, ‘No. A hundred and two? A hundred and two? No. I’ve made a mistake somewhere. Go back. Use the Met forecast.’ Where others would think — ‘Yeah, I made a bit of a mistake. Let’s say, let’s say eight knots.’ So it just caused widespread confusion. So, and by the time we arrived over the target there was no sign of any target marking at all. So the, as we were, as we approached I gave the bomb aimer the aiming point position to put on his bombsight and he dropped his bombs according to that. And, and we turned away and headed, well we did the extra half minute which we were supposed to do and took a photograph of nothing at all in fact. And then turned for home and so we were heading it’s not all that far from the Ruhr to the German border in fact. But that was where the Germans fighters were. They caught on to the fact that the target had been, most aircraft had seemed to drop their bombs over in the Duisburg area and now they’ll be heading roughly north west back for England again. So, and, and one caught us. We turned away and were going quite nicely. Everything seemed to be in order for an orderly return to England. It was the only worry would be with the wind at a hundred and two knots are we going to have the fuel to get there? But anyway you keep going as long as you can. Just bear that one in mind. But so everything seemed to be going alright. Everything was in working order and then a call came through on the intercom, on the intercom [pause] Yeah. Yeah. ‘Corkscrew left. Corkscrew left.’ And you were familiar with the corkscrew of course and it would be going, it would be going and so it meant that one of the gunners. Mid-upper probably. I don’t know. You can’t tell. Had seen a, had spotted a German fighter and he knew he was positioning for an attack. So there was a spiral and, and then and then as the German fighter was manoeuvred further that turned into a diving turn. Diving turn left. Did I say corkscrew right?
Other: No. Corkscrew left.
HW: Corkscrew left. Oh, well there would be a diving turn to the right and so on and the other way round depending which side the German fighter was attacking from. There were two types of German fighter. There was the Junkers 88, a twin-engined one which had a pilot, upward firing cannon which, which of course cannon fired explosive shells. It could. We had no downward looking radar because our downward looking radar was called Monica. The German fighters were homing on to that so that wasn’t used any more. Then he could come along underneath undetected, match his speed with the speed of the bomber fix his, sight his cannon on the precise spot he was going to fire at. And then, as I said the wing tanks were the favourites. Yeah. The other method was by and there were more of these than Junkers 88 was a Messerschmitt 110 which had a crew of three. Which had a crew of two, err a crew of three. The pilot, a radar operator and a gunner. And so the, his method of attack was that he would stand up high up and to one side or another. Usually to the right, to the bomber’s going that way he would be to the bomber’s right hand side and behind because his speed was going to be greater than the one and he was, he could pick his point. If the bomber, if the bomber the bomber was flying sort of straight and level he would come down and aim at the spot that he wanted to set on fire. He could open fire with his cannons and the machine gunner in the turret could use the, could use the machine guns and the, the radar operator of course was carrying out his order. I have in my possession the, the fighter pilot’s report of the aircraft, of three aircraft who, which shot down bombers at that, around about that area and that time. And I’ve got the full report of each pilot and his gunner and his radar operators as well in German and of course I’ve had those, I’ve got photocopies of those and so I know the name of the blighter that shot us down. And I thought, I’ve had them translated into English of course but, but I thought to myself at the time, or well I hope they get those [pause ] and then I thought — no. No. Not fair. They’re only doing their duty the same as we are. You couldn’t, the only thing I’ve got against them is that they succeeded [laughs] So, so, ok our wing tanks were on fire. The engineer standing just behind the pilot says, ‘Wilf, we’re on fire.’ And I looked back up, up the stair from my position down in the nose and I could see a roaring mass of flame just behind the, where the, where the wing root was because burning petrol came swilling into the fuselage. Through the, through the wing root and of course also that was where the oxygen bottles were stored and they got, they’d have gone off like bombs themselves. A nearly the empty petrol tank was going to explode like a bomb and the, oh the burning petrol coming into the fuselage would have so weakened the main spar that it would have just melted. So it was obvious that nothing could be done. The pilot had no hesitation in giving the order and every member of the crew immediately he gave the order, ‘Jump. Jump.’ it was — I was the first one to answer, ‘Navigator jumping.’ And, and then I could get off. Each person had to acknowledge in turn that they’ve heard. That they had heard. If anybody was too, was badly injured and couldn’t move he would say on his intercom and the pilot would, if possible but what can you do if a chap can’t? It was as much as a man could do to look after himself without dealing with other people as well. So, ‘Navigator jumping.’ Off with the helmet and oxygen mask and intercom microphone and kick a leg away, the legs of the navigation table which was on the, on the port wall and it just flopped down against the wall. When I stood up my seat which was attached to the starboard wall was on springs and it just folded itself up when I stood up. So I left a big open space. There was a trap door on the floor. About, about what shall we say? Three feet by two possibly. All I had to do was bend down, turn a handle in that trap door, raise it, when you’ve got it about the vertical you can lift it off its hinges. So I lifted that, lifted it off its hinges, turned it diagonally and dropped it through. Dropped it through the hole and there was a big open space with me [knocking sound] ready to go. So all I had to do was just slip through. And the others, the bomb aimer should have been, why he didn’t come next I just don’t know. But then the radio operator would have been the third out through that hatch. The other crew members would get out where ever they could in fact. So as I stood on the front, on the, on the edge of this hole, the front edge of this hole facing backwards. Not facing into the slipstream you understand. Facing backwards. As I dropped through so my parachute pack which was on my chest caught on the front of the, the exit hatchway. Caught on the front and lifted it up. Up above my head. So I had to reach up behind my back. Try and pull it down. Pull it down a bit. The escape, the handle on the parachute pack was facing backwards of course, it had flopped up. Facing back. Pulled that big metal ring and it, it released the little pilot chute inside. A little parachute which was on springs so that little parachute sprang open and as the air got in it it got into the slipstream so it took, pulled out the main canopy of the parachute and so and then once the, once the air got into that main canopy then, then that was ok. It was opened and you were on the safe side. But, but I thought after, after falling for, well not very long, a few seconds I saw the flashes of lightning, thunder. You don’t get thunderstorms in December. I thought — no. That’s not, it’s not thunderstorms. It’s anti-aircraft shells bursting [laughs] I dropped through that lot fairly quickly. So, but it was an easy enough descent by that time but my main worry was that I knew that the when the air, when I jumped out of the aircraft it was behind British lines in, in Holland. The Germans had just been pushed back across the River Maas and they, the British forces were up to one bank of the Maas and the Germans, well they’d moved back a few miles from the river into, into safe territory. We were going to have to cross the River Maas somehow too if we were ever going to get into Germany. So that was the Germans. So we moved back till so we got a good gunnery range in front of us and if they tried to cross we got them. But I knew quite well that on the average if the wind was a hundred and two knots or a hundred and two miles an hour or down to a hundred and ten miles an hour on the way down —suppose at ground level it’s forty miles an hour so that means, that means sort of, that means that the average wind speeds from my descent is going to take, I’m going to, it’s going to take me from fourteen thousand feet. It’s going to take me about a quarter of an hour to get down. And in a quarter of an hour I’m going to drift fifteen miles anyway. So if I drift fifteen miles I’m going to cross the River Maas and drift about twelve miles into German territory. So if the wind had been an east wind of course, the other way around that would have been me home and dry. But the west northwest wind, it was taking me over fifteen miles on my parachute. I thought that’s a bit much really and, but as I said well I could say to myself this is what’s going to happen. There’s no good whingeing about it so, but I’ve got to be ready. And getting near the ground I couldn’t see because it was raining at the time as well and it’s, there were no lights of any sort. This was about 6 o’clock in the morning and so it wasn’t really light. It was, it was just beginning to get light. And I came down through the branches of an apple tree or it might have been a plum tree for all I know. I wasn’t in any position to assess the fruiting capabilities of the tree. Came down through this tree and hit the ground. Now the instructions were when you hit the ground, when you, when you come down by parachute in enemy territory you’ve got to, the first thing you do is roll your parachute and hide it. Well mine was draped over the top and tangled up in the branches of the tree so I thought well that one’s not on. I couldn’t roll my parachute up and hide it. Furthermore, on looking up at the, it was in the back garden of a house this tree. And looking up at the bedroom windows I saw a curtain apart and a face looked out like that. There was no good hanging around here. I took my Mae West life jacket off and threw that, yeah I still had it on coming down. And threw that down and headed down the side of the house out through the front gate. Realised I was in a little village but with houses well scattered. It wasn’t, it wasn’t packed together. I turned left. Why I turned left. One way’s as good as the other I suppose. And I heard marching feet so I turned the other way [laughs] walked about, oh about a quarter of a mile through the village and out into the open fields. A German soldier was walking down the road towards me and I thought, I just said to him as I went past, ‘Morgen,’ [laughs] and he said, ‘Morgen,’ and he went on his way. He, he was on the same bit as me. If I don’t cause him any trouble he won’t cause me any. So I went on my way and by this time it was almost broad daylight. I kept clear of roads as far as possible and walking across country my plan was to walk. Walk southwards in to occupied France, no France wasn’t occupied then. Walk north westwards, get up behind, because our forces were in Holland. This was about the time of Arnhem. Walk around. If I’m clear around that corner and hide up in, in Holland. Wait till the German advance over, overtook the British sorry the British advance overtakes me and I’ll be free again. So that was the general intention. Walk northwest. Right. So I’ve got his far. Almost broad daylight. It was cold. I was wet. Still suffering I suppose a bit of shock about the turn that events had taken. But in this barn I noticed that there was a ladder leading up to the loft. And I went up. I thought that’s a good place to hide. Walked up the ladder, went up the ladder, found it was full of hay. Oh yes. Comfortable as well. Took off the wet flying suit which was no point in doing really. I thought I’ll stuff that with hay but that wasn’t, looking back I was, that was futile. But anyway I’ll get a bit of sleep. So I managed to drift off. Oh I examined what I had to assist me. I’d got, I’d got what we called a Pandora’s Box. It was a little, a little plastic box. Fairly thin. Maybe, maybe about six inches wide and four inches tall and, and bent around like that so that it would fit nicely inside the, the flying, the thigh pocket on your flying suit. So I had that. I had, and in it there were Horlicks tablets, barley sugars, chewing gum. I don’t know why chewing gum. Energy tablets. Water for your purifying tablets, rubber water bottle like a, like a football bladder in fact. A compass. I don’t remember anything else — oh money. I must admit I can’t remember the other thing. Oh a map. Yeah. A map, printed on silk of the area that we were flying over. And so, so I rationed myself to two barley sugars a day and four Horlicks tablets and I thought that I’d got to make that last a week. If by the end of the week if there’s no hope of anything else I’ll have to chuck it in. So, so, so after that there was, there was nothing else. I had no — oh yes. Yes I did. I had a, always carried inside my flying suit a 38 Webley revolver. Aircrew were allowed to draw revolvers if they wanted them. You didn’t have to but if you wanted one because there were stories about what had happened. I don’t know whether they’re authentic or not but stories about aircrew coming down in areas that had been bombed and getting strung up on lamp posts and shot and beaten with iron bars and so on. I thought to myself if I get a crowd converging on me there’s one in this six shot. One for myself but five of them are coming with me. So, you know, I had that as well. So I used to, I’d walk by night time then to avoid detection and find somewhere to hide up for the day. Sleep for the day. Once I’d dug out the — some straw out of a, like a haystack but it was straw stacks so it was fairly loose. I dug out a hole. Burrowed in there and I was hidden. Well hidden for the day and fairly warm as well. Another time I was approaching a farm house. Well it was open country but as I said I always stuck to open country if possible. In open country, but it looked a bit dilapidated. I thought I don’t know. I thought surely nobody lives there. I thought if there’s nobody lives there it would be a good place to hide up. So I walked up the bit of a path to the door, front door and as I as I got almost to the door the door opened. An old German lady looked out with a little girl standing, standing beside her. The little girl about three years old I suppose. I should think she was the, her husband was probably called up. This was their, their — she would be this child’s grandmother. That’s what I’m trying to, I’m trying to say. And she was white haired and wore glasses and so on. And she looked at me and there’s me standing there with a six shot revolver. I thought [laughs] I thought, poor old soul. I thought put it away again. I felt a real heel threatening an old German lady with a revolver. Anyway, she, sorry, sorry she beckoned me inside and she gave me a slice of bread and an apple and a drink of milk. And so, so then I left her. I went out. She, she said, ‘Herr Paulsen come. Herr Paulsen come.’ I didn’t know who Herr Paulsen was but I thought well I don’t want to know anybody who’s got H E R R in front of their name so I left her to it and, but it was broad daylight then. I walked about. I hid up as soon as I could in a copse full of wet brambles and so on, and blackberry bushes and that sort of thing. And so that’s how I spent the rest of that day. On we walks. Nothing else much too report really. Another time, getting, about four or five days [pause] yeah, yeah about, about four, about five days I was getting lightheaded by that time with nothing. Nothing to eat except these few tablets. There were no crops in the fields. No fruit in the fields or anything of that sort. I was getting lightheaded. Not thinking clearly. I came to a railway embankment and I thought, oh yeah, there was no, no level crossing or anything of that sort but I’ve got to climb over that thing. Up and over and down the other side. I thought — no. No. What am I doing? All I’ve got to do is climb up on to the track, walk along the track until I come to a station, buy a ticket and get back home again. So after about a quarter of a mile or so I must have come to myself. No. What the hell am I doing? Then I got down off the track. I went on my way. So then the night after that, still hungry and not thinking very clearly instead of sticking to the fields, this was night time of course, I always walked at night. Walking I walked down the main road of the village intending to sort of be through and out the other side. But unfortunately as I walked, stumbling along by this time I heard, ‘Halt verdacht.’ Oh blimey. And a click of a rifle bolt. And I thought oh well there you go. I said, I know little bit of German. I don’t know how I come by it but the odd word or two. I got this, ‘Halt,’ and the click of the rifle bolt and I said ‘Ich binn, ich binn ein Englisher flieger’ and that’s, that was enough German. He said, he said, he’d got the rifle bolt, he said, ‘Hände hoch.’ I got that, ‘Put your hands up.’ And then he said, he said get the order right oh yeah he had a dugout nearby with, with a little a fire. A stove, inside. That was his sentry post in fact. He said, ‘Komm.’ And he walked along behind me and he, he said ‘Ein, ein’ I thought or something which obviously meant in. Get inside. So I went inside and there was a bunk in there and floor boards and this sort of wood burning stove. And that was where he, that was his sentry post and, and he didn’t quite know what, sort of, what to do next. I said, I don’t know if my German was correct or not. I said with, one hand like that said, ‘Ich habe hier eine pistole.’ I don’t know what the German is for pistol. Do you?
Other: No [laughs]
HW: Anyway, but he got the meaning meant something. He said, ‘Ah,’ I put my hand back up a bit. He said, ‘Ah,’ he said and he mimed it [pause] and said, ‘Langsam. Langsam,’ which I gathered meant ‘slowly.’ He said, what he was meaning was take it out and put it on the table but slowly. No sudden movement like that or else you get, that’s your lot. So after that was done he gave me some of his bread, some of his rations and some bread and some pate that also went with it and a drink of coffee out of his, acorn coffee it would have been of course, out of his, out of a flask and I had to wait until he said, he motioned that I should take off my wet flying suit and lay it down over in front of the, in front of his heater and that I should lie on the floor and if, he made the sign that people that make when they’re going to sleep. His hand beside the side of his head inviting me to go to sleep in the warmth and that. So I thought what a decent old bloke. He doesn’t want any trouble. I’m in shape to give him any trouble so let’s take it from there. So I went to sleep. Proper sleep I’d had for a long time. And then the next morning his relief arrived from a nearby German aerodrome. There was a German aerodrome I found out later at a town called Alpen. It was a fighter aerodrome. Yeah. A fighter aerodrome. And it was about, poss about three miles. Something like that away. And I was going to get taken by the, by my old, my old friend, he was by that time. I was going to get taken over back to Alpen Aerodrome and handed over in to official German custody. So I was lucky really in because I’ve heard of people since the war. People who’d been handed over to the police, the ordinary civilian police who usually worked hand in glove with the Gestapo. I got, I was going to be handed over to the Service. And not just army but my own type of Service — the Air Service, as well. So I struck it lucky. So when we got [pause]
[recording paused]
HW: Ok. So I walked with this, with this German guard I suppose. He was an old chap really. Like an English home guard. And he took me to Alpen, this German fighter aerodrome. I was taken into the officer’s mess there and was obviously a sort of a curio to them in there for them to see one of the individuals that they had been fighting against. They were interested in my flying clothing in particular. Particular flying boots. A lambswool flying, lined flying boots. And the, well all the flying equipment really. None of them could speak English and I couldn’t speak German but one of them could speak French. And I could. He asked me questions in French. I answered him in French and then he translated it into German for all his mates. So one of the questions he, he said. ‘How many times have you been over Germany?’ I said this was the eighth time. He said, ‘Only eight times?’ He said, ‘I have been over London sixty six times.’ Anyway, they gave me what meal they were having. It was only a sort of spaghetti bolognaise in fact. And then I got shunted off into where I was, the side room where I ate that and then taken down to a cellar and kept there all night with a German just outside the door, well a locked door, with a rifle. And yeah, that was next day I was taken by one of their, one of their police to the railway station and taken to down, down, down Germany to Frankfurt. We went to the Ruhr first. Went to Dusseldorf Railway Station where we had to change trains and, and then we went on down south to Frankfurt. And I was taken, handed over to the reception camp I suppose, well not a camp. It was a sort of a proper building. A reception centre where all crew, air crew went. Were taken for interrogation. Put in a single, taken up, put into a single cell with a little barred window high up and a wooden bunk. And that was it really. There was a blanket. A couple of blankets sort of thing. And my boots, shoes, boots, flying boots were taken away and put outside the door. I wasn’t allowed to keep those. I hadn’t anything else that was of any use. Oh they took my navigationers, navigator’s watch. And the next day I was taken up for interrogation. All aircrew were interrogated separately. Well, pilots, navigators and bomb aimers and radio operators. It’s not much good interrogating gunners because they didn’t know much. Navigators, he wanted, the officer interrogating me wanted to know what height we were flying, what bomb load did you have, what was your exact route into the target and so on and so on. And but there wasn’t much I could, well there wasn’t much I was prepared to. I said, ‘You know sir I’m only obliged to tell you my name, rank and, and’ —
Other: Number.
HW: Name, rank and [pause] Oh well never mind. I was only, with regards information I was only obliged to obey the Geneva Convention. He said, he says, ‘There’s one or two questions about you sergeant, he said, ‘You have been wondering about in Germany you say for six days.’ He said, ‘But we have no aeroplane that you flew in. What aeroplane? Where is your aeroplane that crashed? Where are the other?’ He said, ‘And you have no identity tag.’ He said. I said, ‘No. The string back home broke before I came out that last trip. I was going to put some fresh string on when I got back.’ He said, ‘No disk. No identification. You will not say what squadron you came from. You will not say what your target,’ he said, ‘That was the night of Duisburg raid.’ I said, ‘Well yes it was.’ So, so anyway, he, I got taken back to my cell again. The next day I was called for another. He gave me, he gave me another go and he said, ‘Yes sergeant,’ he said, ‘We have had another crew in from 51 Squadron and they say, they confirm that your aircraft did not come back from Duisburg.’ He said, ‘So I can see how why you cannot identify yourself,’ And he said he accepted the fact that I was telling him the truth. I told him as much as I was going to and he, and he said now about, ‘We have settled that. Now, about your route into the, what other targets have you attacked? What other targets has 51 Squadron?’ I thought well I’ve said quite enough now and I thought, ‘I can’t say any more sir.’ He thought ok. He gave up on that but it was a comfortable office he had with nicely carpeted. A big, big desk, smelling richly of cigar smoke and, oh well. Anyway, went down to this holding unit down at Oberursel where all prisoners are sent. All prisoners. Air Force prisoners went. And I went, I met there a chap called John Trumble who I did training with, navigator as well, training as South Africa and when he saw me he said, ‘Waggy,’ and we stayed together for all the rest of the time. Got sent over by train in cattle trucks. You know, forty men to a truck. That sort of a thing. Six horses or forty men. From there right over to the far side of Germany bordering Poland. Near the Polish border at, near Dresden err Chemnitz no. I’m not sure. Right over the very far corner, southwestern corner of Germany you might say, to a prison camp, Stalag Luft 7 at Bankau. B A N K A U. And this was for air force, Royal Air Force non-commissioned officers. I’d only been there three days, no, four days when, and it was quite established camp. They were the proper bunks and there wasn’t a lot of rubbish about. The food, the food was nicely organised and so on but then the Russians were moving close and the Germans said, ‘We’re going to move you out of here.’ So they marched us out one night. One night the, in fact Russian aircraft were bombing not very far away so we knew the Russians were getting close. But the Germans weren’t going to hand us over to the Russians. They were going to keep us because prisoners were good bargaining counters for them. They wanted to hang on to prisoners because they knew, really they knew how the war was going to finish. So we marched out. They’d given us a little time to get our few possessions together. Our few Red Cross items that we’d acquired. For instance a blanket and pyjamas and shaving kit and a few, a toothbrush and a few, a knife, fork and spoon. A few things like that. And off we went and oh it was hard marching. We used to march. They used to put us up in farmyards. In, in barns. In farmyards where you just lay on the ground in, or on straw if you were lucky. Feeding was by, they had a what sort of a thing, a boiler on wheels that they used to take used to drag round. It was, they used to do soup in it mainly. Cabbage soup or swede soup or something of that sort. Dreadful stuff. Used to issue a bit of bread each day and a bit of margarine. That’s about it I think. Oh a few potatoes. Yeah. Yeah. And so we walked through this bitter winter weather. We were stumbling along. Through thick snow quite often. One particular night there was a blizzard. You could rake your fingernails down your face and you wouldn’t feel anything. It was just numb. So anyway, this marching, well it wasn’t marching it was just staggering along really. And they used to put us up as I say in these barns and the next day we’d be off again. And this went on about six days through terrible winter weather. Until we came to a town called Goldberg where they put us on to, they got rail transport organised to take us to a camp called, to Stalag 3A called Luckenwalde. Near Berlin. Southwest of Berlin. And so we were, things took a turn for the better there. Mind this when we got to Luckenwalde it was an old established camp but proper brick built. It was built as a prison camp but it was, being a proper huts with wooden floors you didn’t have to sleep the earth floors or anything of that sort. And grossly overcrowded because there were other nationalities there. There were, there were Poles, there were Russians, there were Norwegians. Oh, there were all sorts there. And we, there was only room for us. The Germans put straw on the floor and wood. Wood straw. And we used to let, each person had a little area sort of as wide as he was and as long as he was and stretched out on the floor. The barrack blocks were each barrack block used to send up each day well twice, twice a day yeah to the cookhouse. And cookhouse well it was in the morning it was, there was nothing to eat. It was just water. Now, they, they brought they said the man in charge of each hut said, ‘How many men want their coffee made up as coffee, their tea made up as tea and how many want it left dry to smoke?’ [laughs] So through the rest of the day there was nothing to do really but lie on the floor. It was dirty. There was no, you had hang your blankets out on the wire, barbed wire each day to air to get the smell out of them. The wash place was dirty. Later in the day the main meal would consist of potatoes and soup again. A bit of bread. Sometimes a little bit of pate. But, but we made do with the Red Cross parcels. If we hadn’t had the Red Cross parcels I don’t know where we’d have been. The Geneva Convention says that the prisoners must be given the same rations as the home service back area troops. If the back area troops in Germany were living on what we got they must have been pretty hard up. Anyway, there was nothing to do all day. We used to go out, walk around the compound and well that was it. And oh we got the news read every day because, because our, our somebody had got and made a little radio set with bribing the German guards to bring in the odd valve and the battery. Bribing them with cigarettes. That was the general currency. Cigarettes out of Red Cross parcels. So they used to pick up the man who had this little radio set used to pick up the BBC news every day and come around to the huts and read it out loud to each one. So we knew what was happening. That was one thing to look forward to. Otherwise just snooze, slept, talked. There was nothing else to do until the Russians got close and we, the Germans were talking about moving us to some other place to, so they could keep their control of prisoners. But they never, they never made that. The Russians arrived one day and Russian tanks were knocking down the barbed wire. And we were, we were, or our senior British officer said that we were to stay put. We weren’t to go out roaming around the country. We were to stay put because things would get disorganised. Anyway, he said there’s safety in numbers. So we stayed there and after a time the Russians provided us with food of a sort but nothing much. But anyway when we had stayed there I was with this John Trumble. By this time firm friends with him. And we, I said to him, ‘Look John, these Russians aren’t going to let us go. They’ve held on to us. There’s no reason why we can’t go, link up, is there? They’ve linked up with the British. There’s no reason why we can’t go.’ I said, ‘I don’t like the look of it John.’ He said, ‘No,’ he said, ‘Waggy,’ he said, ‘Let’s go.’ So we put the news around amongst sort of a couple of dozen of us around about. ‘Yes. Ok mate. Ok. We got the message. We see what you mean. Yeah. We’re coming with you.’ So we slipped out against the orders of the senior British officer and after we’d walked about four miles or so I suppose we saw a convoy of lorries coming towards us. British lorries. So one of them stopped. We got aboard. He said, ‘I’ll take you lads back,’ he said, ‘The other lorries are going down to the camp to collect the rest of the lads.’ So we got into this lorry and went back. Crossed the River Elbe into British held territory and we were free. So, but those that stayed, those lorries that went to collect the rest of the RAF prisoners, the Russians wouldn’t let them go and they never did. They were never heard of again. I think the Russians thought hello, navigators, engineer, flight engineers, pilots if we got some, a bit top up here we’ll keep them. It’s all, it’s all in it’s all in there. So we stayed at this British Air Force aerodrome. Shönebeck it was called. And after two days the Dakotas came and picked us up, took us back to Brussels. There we were handed over to the, oh they were American Dakotas by the way. Taken back to Brussels. We were handed over and British Dakotas came and took us back to England. We landed at Wing near Aylesbury and we were back. Welcomed back into, into Air Force, Air Force ways again. Given uniforms and sent on leave and so on. So that was that. So that’s Air Force career pretty well finished. We used to get called back now and again for just a couple of weeks. I went back to one, what’s one down there [pause] near Stamford? What’s the?
Other: Wittering? Wyton? Wittering?
HW: Yeah. Went down to Wittering. Yes. And they called us back. Not that they wanted us back but they just wanted to let us know that they, we were still under their control. So after those stages the war finished of course and I went back to University and I’d done two years at University before being called up. So I went back in the January and did two terms to get back into the way of things. Then I had two more years to do my degree. And then I had a year to do for a diploma in education because I was going to be a teacher, you see. So, so and that all went through satisfactorily. The University were very good. The Air Force was very generous. They paid my University fees. All that sort of thing. And it all went nicely. I got a job in, after my teaching training was and so forth I got a job in an independent school. St Johns School in Leatherhead which was a minor public school, teaching French and Latin. Those were my two degree subjects. And I was in charge of rugby there which, and had a jolly good time there in fact. The head master was a very liberal minded man. Prefects were allowed to smoke in their studies. They, they were allowed to have, to brew coffee and to so on in their studies. And they had radio sets in their studies. He treated, he treated them as gentlemen and the one thing that annoyed him more than anything else was if a boy could be accused of ungentlemanly behaviour. Anything else he’d accept. But ungentlemanly behaviour oh. But as I say liberal minded you know. I said to him once about, we used to the crew rugby team used to some of us used to get together now and again. Talk over next Saturdays run and thinking about the captain I said, ‘Would it be alright, sir if I took Warrington down in to, down to the Globe down in Leatherhead. We’ll have a dinner and a couple of pints. A couple of pints.’ He said, ‘Yes. Yes, that would be alright Mr Wagner. Don’t bring him back completely drunk will you?’ So they were happy times. But I moved from there eventually after four years because I wanted to get back into the state system. I was also paying in to the state retirement. The pension system. So I applied for a job in the, at a Grammar. Dear me. Someone gave me a hollow tooth.
[pause]
HW: Yes. A Grammar School near Reading and where I was second in command of the French Department and I taught Latin as well. Taught French and Latin and took a great interest in their rugby and joined Marlow Rugby Club which played all. All my remaining rugby was played at Marlow Rugby Club. They made me an honorary life member for the rest of my days for services to the club. So well, anyway I’d be in this Grammar School I taught at in Reading. I was standing at the window of my classroom one day looking out over the playing fields and it was raining. It had been raining for quite a few days. I thought in another twenty years I’m going to be standing at the same window at this same blasted rain. I’ve got to have a complete change. So I looked in the “Times Education Supplement” for postings abroad. I was married by this time by the way. Yeah. And we were buying our own house. So I thought do a complete change and found one advertised in Kenya. So, for French and Latin. I thought, well there you go. I thought well they were the wrong sort to be learning Latin for, but anyway [laughs] Because at the station at the Delamere High School there were a third Africans, a third Asians and a third Europeans so there was a good mix. And of course they all had to pay. There was no such thing as free schooling out there. They all had to pay school fees so parents made sure that they didn’t waste their, waste their time in school. You got a child a bad report, a word to their parents and that soon brought about a change. We had a daughter by this time. Helen. She went to Kenya High School which was a girl’s boarding school and she only came home once every other weekend. They were allowed home. Otherwise apart from holidays that was the only time we saw her. Phillip was five years old went to, went to Nairobi Cathedral School which was a sort of an infant school you might say. He wasn’t five years old yet. So, but the wife of the canon at the Nairobi Cathedral, she taught. She ran the little school that they had. As an aside, it’s difficult to know, I don’t want to waste your time on this really, but it was run on traditional lines. She was there to teach. You were there to get taught and you were going to get taught. In the old traditional way. No play way. Anyway, it came around to the time of the Christmas pantomime. Traditional. And the usual Mary in the manger and all the, so Phillip was selected as Joseph. Right. So parents were invited of course into this performance and Joan and I were sitting there knowing that Phillip was a good big part and on he came. On to the stage with, with the usual sort of dishcloth around his head and a nightdress, a white nightdress on. All that sort of thing. And the head mistress had said, told the children, ‘We’ll try a new way this year. We’re not going to have the usual talk. You’ve got to do it like it happens at your house. Like when your mummy — when your daddy comes home what does your mummy say to him? And what does he say to her. And you’ve got to carry on like that.’ So Phillip arrives on. Mary’s there holding a big, a big doll and Phillip says, Mary says, ‘Welcome home Jesus. Nice to see you again.’ And Jesus says, Jesus says, ‘Oh yes, I’m glad to be home again Mary.’ And how’s this no, I’m getting it wrong aren’t I? Joseph. And how’s, Joseph says, ‘How’s little Phillip?’ I’m making a pigs ear of this. ‘How’s little Jesus been?’ And Mary says, ‘He hasn’t been a good boy at all. Yeah. In fact he’s been a right little bugger all day.’ And I can imagine Mary’s face. She’s told them to say things that happen just at home. And all the parents are sitting there [ laughs ] . Anyway, I became deputy head at this Queen’s Girl’s School. The head, when the head mistress was on leave I was a head teacher, principal for a whole term and then it got taken over. The Africans took it back they, we knew they were going to take it back. They took it back. Put their own staff in. Most of the Europeans had gone by then. From the whole country in fact. And so it was time for us to go and we went back to our, the house that we had started buying in Reading and settled down there and things went on from there quite normally. I joined, went back to Marlow Rugby Club. I took up, oh no. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Went back to my old job that I had before and the headmaster said, ‘Yes. We’ll take you back Mr Wagner but would you guarantee to stay for two years? I don’t want somebody coming in and then he’ll settle down for a term and then he’ll start looking for a head of department’s job.’ ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘I’ll stay for two years.’ And after two years, when the two years were nearly up I got this job at the Queen’s Girl’s School in Wisbech. Teaching just, of course they don’t do Latin there. And carried on there. I worked there for, until I did nine years there. And when I was eighty, eighty one yeah [pause] Eighty one? Fifty eight. It was 1981 [laughs] when I was fifty eight. My wife had died. Helen had married and left home. Phillip was still at school on, doing A levels. And the house was all paid for and I thought well it was a job I didn’t really like. I was more of a warder than a teacher I thought well if I take it easy I can make do on my on the what I’ve got saved up and the teacher’s pension until I get the old age pension. So it worked. And I took up, I played golf a lot with Steven’s father. With one of the teachers who was at the Queen’s Girl’s School. Norman Davis. Used to go on holiday with them. I took up, I was down on Dartmoor. I used to do a lot of long distance walking on Dartmoor. And down there once I saw a chap, a couple of chaps driving up in a Land Rover and they, I was sitting in my car at the time and they took down from the roof a hang glider, unfurled it, rigged it, took it up one of the tors and I watched them. One of them launched off. I thought, ‘Cor. I’ll have a go at that.’ So when I got back, back home again I got a look, searched around and found that over near [pause] not Thetford. It was near Downham Market there’s a hang gliding school and I thought well, so I went over and enquired and they said, ‘Well yes. If you want to.’ It was a school not a club. You see it was a training school. So I went over there and did my first year I got an elementary certificate. The second year I got club pilot’s certificate so I could join, I was regarded as being a fully trained hang glider and I could fly. I could join a club and fly hang gliders. Which I did and I carried on. I can go back to the same place. They were quite happy for me to go back and fly their gliders but I wasn’t on any training course because I’d, so they thought, knew it all. So I did a lot of hang gliding there. They’re plenty of pictures in there. It was good. And then Phillip who had taken his own private pilot’s licence in powered aircraft and powered gliders and ordinary gliders. He came over. I said I’ll stay, he said, ‘Can I go on one of these hand glider courses if I don’t have a birthday present?’ I said, ‘Never mind about that Phillip I’ll come with you and pay for it.’ And so he got his own hang glider club pilot’s certificate as well. And there we are. That takes me up to the present. Oh went I over when they did the bungee jumping. Yeah. That was one thing I’d always wanted to do. And the, you know when I put the, I signed the you know the.
JH: That happened when you were, when you were ninety. Was that when you were ninety?
HW: Yes. That’s right. Signed the, what is it, what is the permit to fly?
Other: Disclaimer. Disclaimer form.
HW: Just the word.
JH: Disclaimer.
Other: Yeah.
JH: Disclaimer form.
Other: Yeah. It admonishes them from any responsibility.
HW: Yeah. It’s just word has gone. The word when you sign something saying it’s all —
JH: The waiver. Waiver.
HW: Yeah. Disclaimer.
Other: That’s the word.
JH: Yeah. Yeah.
HW: Yeah so and that’s taken me out of the thing. I’ve given up the long distance walking because I get back pain. And that’s why Steven is doing so much work in the garden. But up to that everything’s going nicely and I’ve been extraordinarily lucky with health.
JH: Ok. Well, thank you Henry for your time to record this interview today. Thank you very much.
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Interview with Henry Wolfe Wagner. One
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Judy Hodgson
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2016-05-04
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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.
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03:13:51 Audio recording
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Sound
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AWagnerHW160504, PWagnerHW1701
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Pending review
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eng
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
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Henry Wolfe Wagner was born in Ireland. The family moved to England when he was young and settled near Reading. Henry attended Reading University for two years joining the University Air Squadron. He then volunteered for the RAF and began training as a pilot. He went to South Africa for his training. He was put forward to begin training as a navigator when his pilot training was interrupted. After returning to Great Britain and completing his training he was posted to 51 Squadron at RAF Snaith. On their eighth operation his crew were attacked by a night fighter over Duisberg. Henry managed to walk for several days before he was caught and became a prisoner of war. He was sent to Stalag Luft 7 at Bankau before undertaking the Long March.
Spatial Coverage
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Germany
Great Britain
Poland
South Africa
Germany--Duisburg
England--Yorkshire
Poland--Tychowo
Alps
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Contributor
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Julie Williams
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Henry was born in Ireland and held Irish citizenship. He talks of his family and schooling, but the Second World War had begun before he began attending Reading University in 1940. He joined the University Air Squadron which lead to him choosing the RAF and aircrew training when ‘called up.’ Sent of South Africa to begin learning to become a pilot Henry found himself transferred to the navigator training path when he failed to become a pilot. He gained his Navigator’s brevet and the rank of Sergeant on his graduation.
Henry returned to the UK and was posted to RAF West Freugh, Scotland, then RAF Abingdon to learn about the differences in flying in European weather. He crewed up at Abingdon before moving to the HCU RAF Stanton Harcourt. On being posted to 4 Group HCU RAF Marston Moor he learnt that he would be flying Halifax aircraft and the final member of his crew joined them. Here they learnt about the Gee navigation system. Once the left this base, they were classed as an operational aircrew.
Henry’s crew was posted to RAF Snaith near Doncaster. He explains how it was a constant race to keep ahead technologically ahead of the German. Henry tells of the operations he went on to Julich, Munster, and six in the Ruhr area (Duisburg etc.). He details the types of target, and the kinds of defences the targets have.
After talking of the losses sustained by Bomber Command during the Second World War, Henry describes his final flight during which the aircraft bombed the target successfully but on it’s return journey was shot down. Henry was the only member of the crew to successfully bail out. He describes the small survival kit that the RAF had issued him with and his evasion the any Germans until he was caught and initially placed in the Luftwaffe’s care. He was sent via Frankfurt to Stalag Luft 7 which was for RAF NCOs at Bankau. After the Russian front drew near to the camp, the POWs were sent to the already overcrowded prison camp of Stalag 3A Luckenwalde. The prisoners were only able to take a few items from Red Cross parcels like blankets, shaving kits, toothbrushes, etc. While they were marching in the bitter winter 1944/45, they often had to stay in farm building, were mainly given soup to eat.
Henry describes life in Stalag 3A, and how he came to be liberated. He was flown to RAF Wing and returned to Reading University to complete his education and become a teacher.
Henry details his post-war life in teaching and with his family.
Claire Campbell
51 Squadron
aircrew
crewing up
Dulag Luft
evading
fear
Gee
H2S
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
navigator
prisoner of war
RAF Abingdon
RAF Marston Moor
RAF Snaith
RAF West Freugh
shot down
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 7
the long march
Tiger Moth
training
Whitley
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1157/11716/AThomsonGB171103.1.mp3
a0197b913e467d676a48c2f6a70f7465
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Thomson, George
George Buchanan Thomson
G B Thomson
Description
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Seven items. Two oral history interviews with Warrant Officer George Thomson (b. 1924) and five memoirs giving accounts of being shot down and his time as prisoner of war. He flew operations as a navigator with 15 Squadron and was shot down in September 1944.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by George Thomson and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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IBCC Digital Archive
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2017-10-05
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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.
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Thomson, GB
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AM: Right. So that’s live. Ok. This interview is being conducted for the International Bomber Command Centre. The interviewer is Alastair Montgomery. The interviewee is Warrant Officer George Thomson, and the interview is taking place in George’s home in Newton Mearns near Glasgow. And this is the second part of an interview. The previous one concerned George’s life in the air and this is going to discuss his period from being shot down, captured and hopefully some of the period of the Long March. George, if you’d like to tell us about how you came to leave the aircraft and what happened when you reached the ground.
GT: Right. Well, 12th of September ’44 the target was Frankfurt. Three hundred and ninety eight Lancasters were scheduled to bomb Frankfurt that night. It was because of troops moving through the central station in Frankfurt. That was the target in any event. But we, part of 3 Group actually were doing a diversionary towards Mannheim first of all before turning up to Frankfurt. Others were going direct to Frankfurt. And we flew, flew at low level across France. We actually flew at about a hundred feet across France. My pilot loved flying low and we didn’t start climbing until we got to the German border. And we climbed up and we actually got to the bombing height of sixteen thousand feet and just to the north of Mannheim when we were attacked by two aircraft. There was one came in from the rear and there was a ME110 underneath us with the upward firing guns. And it fired and we didn’t know it was there of course but it obviously it hit our bomb bay and set some of the incendiaries alight. And although the wireless operator was trying to put it out with the fire extinguishers eventually the flames were spreading to the wing and the pilot just ordered us to bale out at that stage. So we baled out probably about local time over there it was about a quarter to twelve. It was a quarter to eleven here our time but I think it was about a quarter to twelve over there. And we’d taken some evasive action so probably we baled out at about twelve thousand feet. And the flight engineer went first. I went second. And the bomb aimer came out after me. And then the wireless operator. And the two gunners went out through the rear door. The pilot never got out at all. Anyway, we got out and we landed. Coming down you just don’t know when you’re going to hit the ground and I did eventually land in this field of maize. It was probably about four feet high. It was a very tall crop of maize which helped to break my fall. When I stood up and looked around I spotted a parachute up a tree in the corner of the field. It wasn’t at the top of the tree. It was lower down but caught up on one of the branches and I wandered over to see who this was. And it was the flight engineer who’d baled out ahead of me. And the two of us decided that we should get out there as fast as we could. We buried our parachutes and Mae Wests and we headed off then. We had a decision to make whether we’d head for Switzerland or head for Alsace Lorraine and we decided to go to Alsace Lorraine direction in the hope that we might pick up with British or American troops that were moving up in that direction in any event. So off we went and we walked that night ‘til we got to probably about 4 o’clock in the morning. We got to a river and there was no chance of us getting across that river. It was beginning to get a bit light anyway. The river was fairly fast flowing. Fairly wide. On the other side there were woods and ideally if we could have got into the woods it would have been better. But we couldn’t get in to the woods. And further down, about a hundred and fifty yards downstream there was a bridge with traffic occasionally going back and forward over it. So we decided we would stay where we were on the bank of this river. And it was actually on the edge of a farm. The farm buildings were probably about a hundred and fifty yards away and there was a slope from the farm fields down to the river and we just decided to stay in this slope in amongst the reeds and we stayed there pretty well all day. Pretty monotonous as you can imagine. And we periodically had a look over the top to see if there was any activity in the farm but there was none at all. We didn’t see anybody moving around and didn’t hear anything happening at all. So we waited there until it got dark enough that we could move down toward the bridge and we took a chance to get across the bridge. Traffic had pretty well subsided by that time. Most of it was military traffic. And we got across the bridge into the woods on the left hand side of the road and the rain came on and it pelted down. And we decided to get in to the woods and shelter there rather than walk on and get soaked. So we went into the woods and got shelter. In fact we found an old tin bath that we thought we’d put over our heads and that would keep us dry. But the noise of the rain [laughs] falling on the tin bath was more than we could bear. So we discarded the tin bath and just got wet. Not as wet as we’d have got if we’d carried on walking. We probably stayed there until about 3 o’clock in the morning and then started to walk on from there. Keeping to the woods but following this road that seemed to be running in the right direction. And periodically there was the odd bit of traffic on it but maybe one or two vehicles in an hour. That was all. During, and all military equipment that was being shipped around at that time. So we carried on walking until we got to the stage where we were, we hadn’t really slept at all so we decided that we’d doss down and have a, we’d taken a decision to walk at night and hide by day. So we, we carried on walking until we felt sufficiently weary that we’d bed down somewhere in the wood and we did. And we spent the day, most of the day there. And then carried on walking when it got dark again. Continued to follow this road which was going in the right direction and had another night in, in the wood. Walking through it and then the following day we rested up again. And we had one escape kit between us. Barry, the flight engineer had left his in the aircraft which wasn’t very smart because your escape kit actually fitted into the pocket of your battle dress. So we had one between us and we, we shared that out as best we could. But on that third day going down we eventually got to a point where there was a, the wood was beginning to thin out a bit and we could see this barn. It appeared to be deserted but it was sitting well off the road. We couldn’t see the farm at all. The barn it belonged to. But we watched the farm, the barn for quite a while. And then when we decided that it was vacant, there was nobody in it we went into this barn to shelter for that day and there was a ladder up to the loft. And we went up into the loft and there was some baggage stored up there. Farm baggage of various kinds and we, we got behind it and the two of us just bedded down for the day there. We took turns at sleeping. One of us kept awake and the other would go to sleep and then we’d turn over. And in the procedure when I was awake one time I was ferreting through some of the rubbish that was up there and I came across a pile of old newspapers. Pre-war newspapers. I couldn’t read them because they were in the old style German and even in the new style German I still couldn’t have read them. But in amongst the papers I came across a page with an advert for a petrol station and it had a map of the area. So I took the map out and that was it. Barry, before then Barry had actually said the first day when we were down by the river sheltering Barry had said, he was a pipe smoker and he had a tobacco pouch. And he said there was a map inside the tobacco pouch. So he opened up the tobacco pouch and took out the map and it was a map of the south of France [laughs] which wasn’t very much use to us at that time. But I found this. This map gave us our area. The roads in the area and it was pretty much as, as they were today. Or at least on that day when we were searching for them. So we stayed there until it got dark again and then we continued walking and again keeping to this road and following it going in the right direction. And eventually we got to the stage where we were really fearing that this walking through the wood was a slow process. So there was very little traffic on the road and we decided that we could probably walk on the road because it was a long straight road. It wasn’t quite an autobahn. It was just a long straight road and you could see traffic coming or going. And if any traffic was coming we just dived in to the side, into the woods and stayed there until the traffic passed. And that was it. We, we carried on in that way. We, it was probably, it was nearly a downturn because we walked on and we ran out of wood. And we had to walk on the road without any shelter from woods that we could go into. And there was a, of course the two of us in one area we passed a big farm field. And there were two labourers working in the field away at the other side. And they saw us and we saw them so we just waved to them and they waved back. I think the fact that there were two of us was a, was a safeguard in a way. And we carried on walking and lost sight of them. And we, we came to a slight bend in the road and we turned down this bend in the road and consternation. There was a village straight ahead of us. Houses on either side of the road. Not a very big village. Maybe about thirty houses. And there were women standing in the street and kids running about and they’d spotted us. And we thought oh what do we do? If we turn and walk back a way it might give some cause for alarm so we carried on walking and we just walked past the ladies. Nodded to them as we walked past. We were still of course still in our uniforms and I suppose the fact that our uniforms were not too dissimilar from the Luftwaffe uniforms maybe they just thought we were Air Force personnel. Luftwaffe personnel. But we just carried on walking straight through them and we got to the other end and then decided that we’d better sort of maybe try and find a bit more shelter. We had a [pause] another night we came across woods again and we walked into the woods and we had another night of shelter there. We changed our plans and decided we’d walk during the day and shelter at night. And we carried on walking the next day. And keeping to the side of the road but just walking down there were thin woods on the right hand side. And we came across a workman’s hut at the side of the road and we decided that, we watched it for a bit. There was no sign of any activity around about it so we went into this workman’s hit and decided to have a bit of a doss. You know lay down and get a bit of a rest. There was a knot in the wood panelling that faced the road. And you could watch what was happening through this knot in the wood. And consternation. An Army truck drew up alongside us. I thought this is it. This guy is coming into the hut. He got out and a woman got out the other side. And the two of them walked towards the hut but never came into it. They walked in to the woods. And about fifteen minutes later they walked back out and got into the truck and drove off. And if they were satisfied so we were we [laughs] because they hadn’t bothered with us at all. And that was how we managed to sort of evade any contact with civilians at that point in time. We carried on walking and by this time we were getting a bit peckish at this point. And we just found that down the roads that there were, the road sides they were lined with apple trees at this stretch. And of course we could get the apples off the trees and that was fine. That was, that helped to augment our poor rations that we had with us. And we got down a bit further on and we came across another workman’s hut set well back off the road. And it was getting towards evening by this time. And we had a look at it and nobody was around it. So we went into it and stayed the night in it and that was, that was fine. We’d also these apples to eat to augment our poor rations that we had. And the next day we carried on walking again and this time we came across another workman’s hut set back from the road. And this was an even better workman’s hut because it had a stove in it and a chimney out the top. And we’d actually passed a field on the way down towards this before we saw this hut with potatoes growing in it. So we dug up some of the potatoes and filled our pockets with the potatoes and took them with us hoping that we might be able to find some way of being able to use them. And of course when I came across this workman’s hut it was set back about thirty yards off the actual road. Up a very small path. It was fine. So Barry went off to gather some firewood to get the stove going and I went off in search of water. One of the things we had in our escape kit was a plastic water bottle with water purifying tablets. I found the river and filled up the bag and went back to the hut. And we got the stove going, roasted the potatoes, threw in some apples. So we had a two course meal. And before going to sleep I went outside to relieve myself. And to my horror there was flames shooting out the chimney about two or three feet in the air. So I went back in put the fire out and we stayed that night in the hut. That was ok. Nobody came anywhere near us. And then the next day we carried on walking. And this was about [coughs] excuse me about our seventh day walking and we got into an area where there was more suburbs. You could see these buildings down the side of the road but we kept clear of them until we got down to a point where we reached the road we were on actually ran in, right into this town. And we decided what we’d do and we thought well we’d better just take the chance and walk through the town. And we walked through, started walking through the town and we heard footsteps behind us and dived into a garden and hid behind a hedge while this person walked past and then we resumed our walk through the town. And we came across a marshalling yard, a railway marshalling yard and decided to go in and explore it. We knew we were getting down towards the Rhine and the, we thought there might be a possibility of getting down, finding a train or something that would take us across the Rhine. We had no idea about the size of the Rhine at that stage. I’ve seen it subsequently and I know we probably wouldn’t have got across it at all. Anyway, this town was called Rastatt. And we, we were in the marshalling yard. We actually got stopped by a uniformed person. He might have been a policeman. We couldn’t tell from his uniform but he nattered away to us and we just stood and shrugged our shoulders. And he lost interest and wandered off. I think he maybe thought we were foreign workers because there was a lot of foreign workers in Germany at that time. Anyway, he wandered off. We just beat it out of this place and decided to get as far away from Rastatt as we could but heading continuing to head towards the Rhine and Rastatt is actually situated right on the Rhine. The north bank of the Rhine. And I’ve been back at Rastatt twice on my travels post-war and it’s a beautiful town and we didn’t appreciate that at the time we were there. And we walked on that, this was the morning of our eighth day we walked on into the wood on the right hand side of the road and kept walking following the road for a bit. And then about 3 o’clock decided we’d better bed down. We weren’t going to get anywhere near the Rhine when it was beginning to get daylight. So we found a sheltered spot in the wood and bedded down and went to sleep there. And I was awakened somewhere about 7 o’clock with Barry shaking me in the shoulders and saying, ‘Look who’s coming.’ I looked up and there was four German soldiers bearing down on us with fixed bayonets. And there was a man standing, an elderly man standing in a corner. Quite a bit away. We decided he’d come in to, he was holding a bundle of wood in his arms. He’d come into the wood to gather wood. Into the wood to gather firewood and he’d spotted us and then gone to report us to this German Army camp which was two hundred yards away. We’d actually, we hadn’t seen it in the dark and it was actually an armoured regiment there but they were Austrians. Anyway the four soldiers took us back up to the camp and we were left there for quite a bit until the two officers eventually appeared. And they seemed slightly amused at the fact that we’d been caught you see. They, they could, well they didn’t speak any English. And eventually after about half an hour decided that they’d better get rid of us. So they loaded us onto a truck with two guards and they drove us into Rastatt and we went into the local county jail. What had probably been this county jail. It was still, this was under the control of the Austrian regiment that was running the camp as well and we got stuck in individual cells. I’d been in the cell about an hour when the door opened and in came this German officer. Well, he was, again he was an Austrian. But I didn’t know that at the time. But he came in with an NCO and the NCO said, ‘English?’ And I said, ‘No.’ ‘Ah, American.’ And I said, ‘No.’ And that was him. That was all the NCO knew was English and American. So he turned and spoke to the officer and then the officer turned and spoke to me in almost faultless English and said, ‘If you’re not English and you’re not American what are you?’ I said, ‘I’m Scottish.’ So he turned and explained to the NCO and the two of them had a wee bit of a conversation. The NCO then left the cell and he came back about five minutes later with a tray with a dish of meat and potatoes, a mug of coffee and a slab of bread. And the interesting thing was that during that period when the NCO was out of the cell the officer never asked me any questions about where I had come from, where I’d been shot down what was the rest of it. He was more interested in telling me he’d been educated at Oxford. He’d been educated at Oxford University. Went back to Germany in 1937. And, and that was it. And then they left me and they went up to Barry’s cell which was two up from where I was. And opened the door and the NCO said, ‘English?’ And Barry said, ‘Yes.’ And they just shut the door and left him. He got fed at lunchtime. I got fed again at lunchtime. But I was grateful for this substantial meal that I got in the morning. So we were there three days and the three days were just I suppose they were trying to organise what they would do with us. The second day I was there I was in the toilets and this English officer came in [pause] wearing, he was a flight lieutenant in uniform. But in his best blue. He didn’t have battle dress on. And I thought that’s suspicious and he said to me, ‘What squadron were you in?’ I said, ‘Mind your own bloody business,’ and walked out and left him. The interesting thing is that when we left there on the third day that officer didn’t come with us. There was just the two of us. So he was obviously a German. Where he’d got the uniform from I don’t know and how they’d managed to get a full dress uniform. Anyway, he didn’t appear and we got taken out and put into a covered in truck. And there was two bench seats, one on either side of the truck and we had two guards with us and we were taken about twenty miles up the road to another village. But the funny thing was, and I was telling a group I was speaking to last night that there were three or four civilians sitting across from us and there was a girl of about eighteen or nineteen. She had a bag at her feet. And she kept looking across at us and smiling. And then she spoke to the guards and I didn’t know what was going on but the guards obviously gave their assent. And she went in to the bag and pulled out two apples and gave us an apple each. Which I found rather strange that a German civilian was feeding prisoners of war. So we go up to this other little village and it was a place that had very very rustic and the prison was something that you’d see out of a western movie. They opened the door in the main street and there was two steps down and that was you in the cell and they shut the door. So the two of us were put in there and discovered that there were three others in there. There were two other Bomber Command aircrew and an American fighter pilot. And the next day the five of us got moved because we were heading to Dulag Luft at Frankfurt, and we actually got a train that took us up to Frankfurt. And then we got a tram car from the central station in Frankfurt which was a bit knocked about out to Dulag Luft which was on the south side of Frankfurt. And we were there. By this time Arnhem had taken place. And of course the place was loaded with airborne prisoners. And we were again, we were there three days and I was interrogated only once. I was taken into a room about this size with a big desk and an officer sitting behind it and behind him was a map of England with all the, all the bomber stations mapped on it. Including Mildenhall where I’d come from. And he asked me questions and I said, ‘Well, I can only tell you my number, rank and name and that’s all.’ ‘What squadron were you on?’ I said, ‘I can’t tell you that.’ ‘Well, you can, you know,’ he said, ‘Because the Army have regimental numbers and you have squadron numbers. So you can tell me your squadron number.’ I said, ‘No,’ I said, ‘Squadron number’s totally different from a regimental number,’ and I said, ‘I can’t tell you.’ So he didn’t press the point. He offered me a cigarette which I refused. I was desperate for one at that time but I refused it and I was taken back to my cell. And the next day we were moved into a large assembly room where they were gathering together prisoners that were going to be moved to a prison camp. And I met up with my bomb aimer and my wireless operator. They were both there and they’d been there all the time that we’d been on the loose. And they were told of course that we were dead because they couldn’t find us. That was, the presumption was we were dead. And the one that was missing was our rear gunner who was Isador Spagatner. He was an Austrian Jew. He’d actually been born in this country but his parents were Austrians who had left Austria and come over here to get out of this Hitler regime. And Spag had been born over here. But he was the most Jewish person I’ve ever seen in my life. And he always carried a revolver in his flying boot in case he got shot down because he reckoned he could take four or five and then keep one for himself. When he baled out his revolver fell out of his flying boot and he landed in Mannheim station without his revolver. And he was halfway up a pole with a rope around his neck when he was rescued by the railway police. And they immediately handed him over to the Luftwaffe. Being in Frankfurt I suppose it was easy. Being in Mannheim that was it was easy for them to do that. There was plenty of Luftwaffe people about. And he got whipped in, he went, he went up to Dulag Luft but he was only there for a couple of days and then he got whipped straight into in a prison camp and we met him eventually when we got to the prison camp. But we left there. We went, we went into, on to a train which was a corridor train and there was sixty each compartment and the guards at either end of the corridor. And we were each given a Red Cross parcel. Which of course had ample food in it but what we wanted. We were desperate for food at that time. We’d had food in Dulag Luft. In fact Dulag Luft had a bad reputation because the people that were serving us in it were Air Force. Ex-Air Force. Well they were still Air Force. Air Force personnel who’d either volunteered to stay on and serve the Germans and quite a number of them actually got prosecuted when they came back to this country. Anyway, we were going —
AM: Royal Air Force personnel?
GT: They were Royal Air Force personnel. Yeah.
AM: Oh I see.
GT: Aye.
AM: Right.
GT: Some of them got quite long prison sentences when they came back because they reckoned they were working for the Germans.
AM: Right.
GT: Anyway, we were five days in this train. Well, we travelled across Germany to get to Stalag Luft 7 which was near Bankau in Silesia. On the borders of Poland and Czechoslovakia. We were the furthest. One of two that were the furthest east camps in Germany. And we got there eventually. Got off the train at a place called Bankau which was about less than a mile, three quarters of a mile from the prison camp. Walked up the road to the prison camp. The prisoners who were already there knew that we were coming because they could see the train coming in. And one of the first person we saw was the rear gunner. He’d got there before us. The German procedure of course was that you, they took your identity disc off and you got a German identity disc. And you were given a number which related to the camp you were in. So my German identity disc had Stalag Luft 7 at the top and number eight hundred and seventy. I was eight hundred and seventieth in to the camp. The camp had only been opened up in June ’44 and it was still in a temporary stage of construction. The compound we were in was occupied by a series of wooden huts. Garden huts. Like big garden sheds. And six or seven men to a shed. And of course we got split up and put into one in here, one in there. We were in these sheds while in the next compound they were still building the new proper camp. Well, we’d been there two or three days and there were about seven or eight Army personnel there who’d been caught at the, mostly glider pilots who’d come down and been picked up and brought up there. And the Germans realised that they were Army personnel and they really should be put, they were mostly corporals and they should really be doing some work. So they arranged that they would have to go into this new compound and help put up the huts that were being erected in the, to develop the camp. So the seven or eight of them went in that day and we sort of, well we didn’t spend all day watching them. I didn’t certainly do that but quite a number were just down at the fence watching what was going on and they were getting the odd tool thrown across to them. Anyway, about 4 o’clock in the afternoon the seven came back in and came back into the camp. And then the next day they went out again but it wasn’t the same seven. It was seven of the Bomber Command personnel wearing the Army uniforms. And of course the German guards had changed and they didn’t know who they were. So they went into the camp and started working on the huts that, there was this hut that was nearest to the wire and they started working on it and actually what they were doing was dismantling most of the work that the Army boys had done the day before. And when they came out they came back in to the main compound. They slammed the door and the roof fell in. And that put an end to working. There was nobody else worked on these camps. Camp buildings. And the seven or eight Army personnel were moved away immediately. Almost immediately. And they would go to an Army camp and probably be working because the Army boys were, were made to work.
AM: Yeah.
GT: I don’t know what happened to any of the Army sergeants and above but any, all aircrew didn’t work. You didn’t. There was no work to be done at all because it was mayhem if aircrew got into it at all. As witnessed by what happened to the roof of this building. So eventually we got moved in the beginning of October. We got moved in to the new compound. Now, the new compound consisted of eight barrack blocks. And each barrack block consisted of fourteen rooms, a centre corridor and seven rooms on either side. And each room accommodated twelve prisoners in double bunks. And it was fresh. It was clean. It was. It was, there was a stove in the room and there was also two latrine blocks. One on either side in between the barrack blocks. There was a cook house and storage room. And there was another room which was a recreational room and we called it a little theatre because there was a stage in it. And it was used quite a bit. So we were in there and the sixteen foot high barbed wire fence that was around us, double fence and inside that there was about four, four or five feet inside that there was a trip wire which was about that height off the ground and you didn’t cross that wire. You crossed it at your peril. If you crossed it you got every chance of being shot by one of the guards in the guard towers that were surrounding the camp. In fact, one chap who obviously had gone a bit [pause] lost the place here. He actually went across the wire and tried to climb the fence to get out of the camp and he was shot by one of the guards. And there was a second one shot. A Canadian sergeant who was in the block next to ours. We were in block number one and there was an air raid had gone. And you weren’t allowed out if an air raid was on. You just stayed in your [pause] The all clear went and he left his billet to go to the cookhouse to collect the rations for their lunch and he was shot by one of the guards in the tower. The problem was the air raid all clear had not gone in the camp. It had gone down in Bankau. In the village three quarters of a mile away and it had been heard there and he thought it was the camp all clear. And that’s why he went out and he was killed as well. That guard disappeared from the camp. He was never seen again. He probably ended up on the Russian front. I don’t know what happened to him but he was away. And that, that was, that was basically it. And then of course we we occupied our time in the usual ways. We had the compound where we, in the centre was was laid out like a football pitch. It could be used as a football pitch. I played rugby on it. I’d played rugby at school. And I played rugby in the RAF on the squadron when I was on it. Now, the bomb aimer he was a Welshman. He was a very keen rugby player and we played quite a few games there. And there was football as well. And of course you walked the compound around to get exercise. And there was a library stocked by the International Red Cross. And there was two or three of the lads from one of the other billets had actually made a Monopoly set by hand. They’d hand-made this monopoly set which, and you could borrow it. A room would get it for a night and it would go around. Played a lot of Bridge. The Bridge situation. The last time I played bridge in my life was actually in the prison camp. But it was, it was, well, well organised and well run. And —
AM: What were the theatre shows?
GT: Well, there was there was two, two orchestras in the camp.
AM: Right.
GT: There was a semi-classical orchestra. Violins mainly. And there was a piano accordion orchestra which was run by a Canadian sergeant who had organised that he was a very very good piano accordion and he had about, there was about six accordions in the —
AM: Where did they get they get the instruments from?
GT: Well, the International Red Cross.
AM: Right.
GT: Supplied them and the, we had concerts. And the first concert was opened up in the beginning of November and we had a concert at least once a week. We also had film shows. We had two film shows. One, the Germans actually operated the cinema equipment and the first one we went to they ran, there were three reels and they ran one, three and two. So it was a bit jumbled up. You didn’t know. You saw the end before you saw the middle part. And then at, at Christmas, just before Christmas they had a big do with both orchestras playing and it was, it ran for two nights. We were, I was there the second night and apparently the first night, at the end of the concert the POWs had stood up and sang the national anthem. The night I was there the commandant who was a guest, the German commandant was a guest, he stood up and said, ‘You will not sing your national anthem.’ And the senior British officer who was a chap, Peter Thomson, an Australian he stood up and said, ‘Land of Hope and Glory boys.’ And we sang it three times. Much to the consternation of the Germans who couldn’t get out of the place. And they opened, they opened the windows and they said it was actually heard down in Bankau three quarters of a mile away. Because the whole, the whole camp took it up at that time and by this time there was fifteen hundred in the camp. And if you can imagine fifteen hundred voices singing Land of Hope and Glory. So that was it. And then we, there was a [pause] my rear gunner was not in a, we were in block number one and my rear gunner was in block number seven. And it was, he was, the room he was in was mainly Canadians and they applied to the International Red Cross for skates. And they got six pairs of skates but they couldn’t use them. So they applied to the German authority for permission to build an ice rink. And it was duly granted and they started building this ice rink between two of their, two of their accommodation blocks. And they were piling up the sand to create a sort of a well that they could flood. And of course it was so blooming cold at that time it froze over without any bother. What the Germans didn’t realise was that the sand that was being built up also contained sand that was coming out a tunnel that was being dug from one of the barrack blocks. About two weeks after they started on it the actual, the Germans found the tunnel and the thing got scrapped. But we were probably the only camp in Germany I would think, the only POW camp in Germany that actually had an ice rink. And the tunnel would never have been used because by this time through the International Red Cross the message had come out that there was to be no more escapes after the Great Escape took place. And they didn’t want any more situations of that nature. So there were no escapes at all. There was two or three guys did try to escape. One tried to escape under a pile of laundry that went out. And he was found just before he got out of the camp. And another chap tried to get out underneath a truck. And he was found and he was brought back in. There was a block of cells. Six prison cells. You got four days solitary if you were caught doing anything that you shouldn’t have been doing. Anyway, that was it up until the time when it got to January ‘45 and of course the Russians were pushing in from the east. They were coming. Moving towards the west.
AM: Do you want a wee break?
GT: Aye.
AM: Aye.
[recording paused]
AM: George, just before we finish the bit about the camp and move on to the Long March was there any way that prisoners could hear what was going on in the outside world or in the war?
GT: Yeah. I omitted to mention that at Stalag Luft 7 there were about three hundred and eighty odd prisoners moved in from other camps.
AM: Right.
GT: While Stalag Luft 7 was being built they were in temporary camps. Mostly in Army camps. And then they got moved in and a group of them who were moved in actually brought with them their own radio. But one of the, one or two of the wireless operators had managed to build a radio. And the Germans knew that they had this radio but they never could find it. Now, they were moved from an Army camp into Stalag Luft 7 and they obviously were searched when they came into the camp. Never found the radio. When we got moved from the temporary compound in to the main compound again we were all searched before we went in. Our baggage was searched, we were searched and yet within two days of getting in that radio was up and working. And they listened in the BBC two or three times a week. They took the message down in shorthand and then had it typed up and there was a group of POWs who went around the blocks and read this out to the residents in each block and then destroyed the paper. And, and that was it. So we, we got news about three or four times a week from the BBC and we probably knew more about what was going on the war than the Germans actually did.
AM: Really. Amazing.
GT: Yeah. And they still never found that radio. The other thing I should have mentioned was that the Gestapo visited the camp about once a month and the German officers in charge of the camp were always concerned about this. And they used to give us about two days notice of when the Gestapo were coming so that anything that we didn’t want to be found could be hidden away in time. And particularly this radio for example. And the Gestapo would come in, spend the day in the camp. Go through the camp. Search the rooms. They still never found that radio. And as I say the Germans were good enough always to alert us to the fact that the Gestapo were coming because they feared them more than, probably more than we did. If they’d found anything that was illegal they would have been for the chop as well. They’d have been demoted or whatever or sent to the Russian front or wherever they sent these boys to. So that was it.
AM: So, perhaps you could tell us a little about the end of the time in the camp and then move on to the, what’s become known since as the Long March.
GT: Yeah. Well, the, the Long March was by January ’45 it was known that the Russians were pushing on. Moving further west and the Germans had made up their mind that they were going to evacuate the camps and move all the prisoners to the west as well. I never found the rationale behind that because to some extent they could have left us and let the Russians get hold of us. Anyway, by about the middle of January we were alerted to the fact that we might have to move soon. And in fact on the 17th of January we were given one hour’s notice to move. It happened, it didn’t take place. It didn’t take place until the 19th. That was two days we had spare. Some of the boys made sledges out of old bed boards so that they could tow their gear with them. I didn’t want to be bothered with that. The chap I shared the accommodation with in the bunks he didn’t want to be bother with that either. I’d got some spare material. A canvassy type of material. I made a rucksack which I could just put on my back and carry whatever I wanted in it and that was fine. But we eventually moved off from the camp on the 19th of January at 3 o’clock in the morning. And the, it was blowing a blizzard. It was snowing like nothing I’d ever seen before because that part of the country is well for snowdrifts. And we left, as I say about 3 o’clock in the morning and we did sixteen miles before we stopped. We had a couple of breaks on the way for about ten minutes. Fifteen minutes. And then we carried on walking. It was difficult to see where you were going and of course there were guards on either side of us in any event. There was fifteen hundred of us on the road, stringing along. And we had, we’d saved some of our Red Cross parcel material which was pretty sparse anyway. We didn’t get Red Cross parcels every week now. We’d saved some of the material from the Red Cross parcels that we could take with us which is just as well because over the three weeks we were on the road marching we got very little food given us. So we moved on. We did the sixteen miles and it was the middle of the next afternoon before we stopped. And we stopped at a school room, a deserted school room and we slept on the floorboards in the school. There was no furniture in the school room but obviously it had been abandoned and we slept there. And we got some small rations in the morning. And then we moved on again from there and we did another fourteen miles. I think the idea was to get us across the River Oder so that they could blow the bridges and stop the Russians from getting across. It didn’t stop the Russians anyway. But the third day we actually got across the Oder and we then spent that other night in a farm. Barns. A working farm but we were in the barns. I buddied up with a chap that — a fellow, Geoff Lee. A New Zealand pilot who was in Coastal Command. And the interesting thing was that I’d actually seen him being shot down a fortnight before we were shot down on the newsreel in the station cinema. It was, they showed in the newsreel a piece that was a Coastal Command attack on on German shipping going up the German coastline. And he was, he was flying a Bristol Beaufort and he and his navigator made this attack and they got, they got struck and he more or less went straight in. And Bristol Beauforts were not known for their floatability. But it stayed afloat long enough for him to get out. And the navigator sat behind him in a separate compartment and his only way out was through a hatch in the bottom. And Geoff, having got out then went down to see if he could find where the navigator had gone, and never saw. Never found. The door was open but the navigator had gone. Never saw him again. And of course he got picked up by the Germans within, they were only about a half a mile off the shore. And when I arrived in Stalag Luft 7 at the temporary camp he was the fellow I was sleeping next to. Geoff Lee. And we just kept together after that. But I went out to New Zealand and spent some time with Geoff and his wife after the war with my wife. So we didn’t do too bad. Anyway we had these, these days of walking and days of resting. We’d only one two day pause when we actually stopped and didn’t move on for two days. And we got some very sparse rations. The [pause] Geoff had been a farmer. He, he didn’t have a farm of his own but he worked on a farm in New Zealand and one of the nights that we spent in this farm building he said to me, ‘Let’s go and sleep with the cattle.’ So we went into the section where the cattle was and bedded down with them because it was warm. And it was fine. And he also went scouting around and he got some molasses which was of course fed to the cattle. And we just ate some of the molasses as well. Gave us something to put in to our stomachs. And then we moved on from there and we were three weeks on the road. They kept promising us that we’d get transport but we never really got it. The third day we were out in the camp there were about sixty of the POWs were so desperately ill that they had to, they put them into what had been a civilian hospital and left them there. And they would actually have been overrun by the Russians in time. And the rest of us just beavered on. They had one horse and a cart that could pick up folk that couldn’t walk any further but mostly carried on. I think probably at the end of the day we lost about eighty out of the fifteen hundred who were left behind. I think one or two of them actually died. I’ve no record of that but I read an article at one time that said that forty or fifty had died but I had no knowledge of that at all. I never heard any message to that effect. Anyway, we eventually got on to a place called Goldberg and we were there for a couple of nights. And then they organised a train from there. And of course it was a cattle train. Cattle waggons. Fifty five men to a cattle wagon. And we got on to this train and we were taken from there going further west over three days. We stopped at night and they would let us out at night for a spell. Then back into the trucks and lock us up again. But we eventually got to a place about thirty miles southeast of Berlin. And that was a village called Luckenwalde and there was a prison camp there and we were stuck in it. Now compared with the one we left at Stalag Luft 7 which was to some extents palatial Luckenwalde was the pits. It was an ex-Army camp occupied by the French and the French by the time we got there there was about three thousand British and American POWs who’d been evacuated from their camps and had walked west. We got there and we were in huts that occupied just about three hundred to a hut in three tier beds in blocks of nine. And it was the filthiest place I’ve ever been in. Within twenty four hours we were all covered in body lice. Every one of us. And we never got rid of them until we got back to this country. We’d been there about, probably about three weeks when half way through the third week when our block with three hundred in it were told we were being moved again. And we were taken down to the station and loaded on to cattle trucks once more. And we stayed there for three days. They couldn’t move us because [pause] we didn’t know what was happening. We had no idea what was going on. And most of the guards that were there were German Dad’s Army guards. And there was wire fencing around the part where the cattle trucks were and occasionally the villagers would come down and stare at us, you know. Look through the fence. See what we were like. Were we human? Whether we had two heads. And some of the prisoners would do a deal when the civilians that come down. And you got two tins of coffee in your Red Cross parcels and they were, they each contained two ounces of concentrated coffee. You used to be able to get them in this country.
AM: Camp coffee.
GT: That’s right. It was, it was crystallised coffee.
AM: Right.
GT: Anyway, they used to trade these for eggs. A tin of coffee would get you half a dozen eggs and that was fine. The only problem was that the civilians when they got back opened up their coffee it wasn’t coffee that was in it at all. It was sand. And they couldn’t come back and complain.
AM: No.
GT: There was also one guy. An Australian pilot. We were allowed out of the vans most of the day and he, he got chatting with one of the guards who was a sort of German Dad’s Army type and asked to see his rifle. And the guy handed it over. And the Australian fella had a look at the rifle. Aye, it’s fine. Handed it back to him. He kept the bolt. The bolt was, the rifle was useless without the bolt but the guard didn’t know he had no bolt in his rifle when he got It back. Anyway, we were there for three days and got moved back to the camp. And there’s a book which I’ve got a copy of, it’s called, ‘Footprints on the Sand of Time.’ And it gives you a bit about each camp in it and also lists all Bomber Command prisoners of war from day one right through to the end. And it tells you in this article that this group that were being moved from Luckenwalde were intended to go to be taken to Berlin to be held as hostages. They couldn’t get us there because the Americans had bombed the railway line and there was no way they could get us there so we got back up to the camp. But the camp was a pretty filthy place as I say. When we got there originally we were desperate for food and the, we discovered that the French prisoners that were in the camp had quite a stack of Red Cross parcels and they wouldn’t hand any of them over. And a senior British officer had words with the German command and eventually the Germans went in and took the parcels and handed them over to us and left the French short of parcels. So we got some food. I’ve got a note here of what we actually got to eat on the way. The rations that we were given on the three week march consisted of, from the Germans three loaves of bread, four packets of crack bake. Crack bake was something similar to Ryvita.
AM: Yeah. Yeah.
GT: A packet of small biscuits, four plates of porridge and a cup of barley. And that was all we got in the three weeks apart from what we could scrounge ourselves. So we were there until, again the Russians were continuing to move to the west. And it was known that the Russians would eventually reach Luckenwalde as well. And they did reach us. Around about April ’45 they came into the camp. We woke up one morning and the guards had gone. We were left on our own and that same morning the Russians came into the camp. And the next day they brought in two vans loaded with rifles to hand out to us. And we told them to go and get lost. We weren’t going to start fighting with the Russians. Alongside the Russians. And that same day an American press photographer in a jeep with a driver had got lost and they found the camp. And they decided that they would hightail it back to the American lines. The Elbe, just southeast of Berlin. Apparently the arrangement was that the Americans would move up to the west bank of the Elbe and the Russians would move up to the east bank and this newspaper reporter hightailed it back to the Americans. And the next day the Americans sent a fleet of trucks to take away the sick and the wounded and the Russians opened fire on them. Drove them back. Kept us there for a month. Didn’t supply any rations. They gave the camp two horses and a cart and we had to go and find our own food. There was a group set up that did that around the farmyards and got whatever they could. And apparently the Russians wanted to have an exchange of prisoners. The Russian prisoners were very far and few between and there was three thousand of us British and American. And apparently the Americans of course did not have three thousand prisoners. So my understanding is that they actually crossed the Elbe and took sufficient prisoners to make up three thousand. And then said to the Russians, ‘We can do an exchange. We’ve got three thousand prisoners.’ And after a month in the prison camp with the Russians there some lads tried to get out of the camp and make their own way. But some were successful and some weren’t. After a month we were loaded on to trucks and the Russians drove us up to the Elbe and we walked across one pontoon bridge and the Russian prisoners walked across another pontoon bridge about fifty yards down river. And I don’t think any of these Russian prisoners lasted more than a month.
AM: No.
GT: They were sent to gulags or shot but they weren’t, the Russians didn’t believe in the International Red Cross. They didn’t supply food to their own prisoners or anything of that sort.
AM: No.
GT: That was it. So we were taken then. The Americans then took us to a place called [unclear] which was a small, well a reasonable size town but outside the town there was a Luftwaffe fighter base. And we were there for three days having the option of eating white bread for a change. And we were well fed and then after three days they flew us in a fleet of Dakotas down to Brussels. Our aircraft was the last, probably the last one to land because they, they either didn’t have a navigator or the navigator didn’t know where he was going. We landed at the airport and we taxied to the end of the runway and the pilot said — there was only twelve of us in the plane. We were, as I say the last one out. Most of the planes were carrying twenty or twenty four. We got out and we were standing at the end of the runway wondering what to do. We could see at the far end where we should have been. There had been a band there to welcome us in and it had packed up and gone away. And eventually an RAF Regiment sergeant arrived on a bike and said, ‘What are you all doing here? You shouldn’t be here. You should be up at the other end. Get moving and get up there.’ So we told him what to do with his bike and offered to help him do it. And he decided that prudence was the better option and he just disappeared. There was a Lockheed Hudson parked at the end of the runway and the pilot came across to me and he said ‘What are you lot?’ And I said, ‘We’re prisoners of war that are trying to get home.’ He said, ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘What squadron were you on?’ I said, ‘15.’ He said, ‘So was I at one time.’ he said, ‘I was on 15 for a while,’ he said, ‘Get aboard.’ So he loaded the twelve of us in to this Lockheed Hudson and took off. And he called up Brussels Airport and said, ‘I’ve got prisoners of war. Where do I take them to?’ He was told to land immediately and bring them back. The other POWs that were, that had landed in the other Dakotas were kept there. They were about three days in Brussels before they got flown home. So this pilot just switched off and carried on flying over to England and then called up and said, ‘I’ve got prisoners of war aboard. Where do I take them to?’ And he was directed to Westcott in Buckinghamshire which had been our OTU. And we landed there and they were expecting about four or five hundred coming in and of course there were only the twelve of us. And we were taken into this big hangar and it was set out, two big long tables set out for meals. Anyway, they did give us a meal. They deloused us first of all. That was the important thing. And then we went in and had a meal. Then the two doctors came in and checked us out. And one of them said to me, he said, ‘I know you,’ he said, ‘You stay in Giffnock.’ I said, ‘Well, my parents stay in Giffnock and they’re still there.’ He said, ‘I used to see you going to school.’ He said, ‘Who was your doctor?’ I said, ‘Dr Armstrong.’ ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘That was a different practice.’ Armstrong actually operated on his own. He was in Eastwoodmains Road and the old Eastwood School which had just opened off Eastwoodmains Road. And it’s about three miles away from where it is now. His practice was up there and he apparently used to see me. And how he recognised me I don’t know because I hadn’t had a hair cut in about two months. And anyway he said, ‘Well, we’re not going to keep you here. We’re going to give you, take the bus into London and you’ll get a train up to RAF Cosford in Shropshire.’ So we got taken into London. We got ten shillings each and we got taken into London and we had about an hour and a half to wait for our train. So we all disappeared into the bar. And after two and a half pints I was getting a bit puggled. And I obviously wasn’t thinking straight because in the bar there must have been a loo. But I left the bar and went out into the station to look for a loo. And of course I was in my decrepit battle dress. I didn’t wear a regulation shirt. I was wearing a navy blue towelling shirt which I always flew in and I got stopped by two military police. Army military police. ‘Where are you from?’ I said, ‘Well, from Germany. Ex- prisoner of war.’ And by this time two or three civilians had gathered around to hear the conversation and three or four of the lads in the bar had missed me and they came out to look for me. So when the, the Army police saw the others coming out they just disappeared. They thought let’s get out of here. So we got taken back in to the bar by some of the civilians that had gathered around us and bought more drinks. Eventually got on the train up to RAF Cosford. Probably about 8 o’clock at night. We had a, a meal and our uniforms were taken away from us and we were measured for new uniforms. And we had a medical and then went to bed in Nissen huts. And the next morning we got up and had breakfast and collected our new uniforms which were brand new. Correct badges up on them. Correct stripes on them as well. Even to the point where one chap, I can’t remember his surname but it might have been Gibson but anyway his first, his initials were VC. Victor. I don’t know what the C was for. But he was registered as Gibson, VC. And he got his new uniform with a VC on it. Which of course he protested about and had it taken off. And at lunchtime that day I was on my way home. We were only there overnight and sent on my way home and got home later that day. And spent, spent about two or three months in between times going up and down to RAF Cosford for checks. And then eventually I got a message to report to London. To a hotel in London. Went down there. This was around about the end of October, early November and I met up with my flight engineer at this hotel occupied by Army personnel. And I said to this Army guy at the door when I went in, I said, ‘What sort of a place is this?’ He said, ‘It’s for overseas postings.’ I said, ‘You must be joking,’ I said, ‘I’m not going to an overseas posting.’ He said, ‘You’re two floors up.’ So we went up and all they wanted to know from both of us was had we got any assistance when we were on the loose in Germany. The eight days we were. And we said no. ‘Well, that’s fine. Thank you very much. Off you go.’ They didn’t need to bother to call us down to London to find out that information. And then back home. And eventually I got another posting to go down to a refresher course. And went down to this refresher course and met up with my bomb aimer. And we were both in this so-called refresher course. It lasted a month and it was a total waste of time. And at the end of the month John of course he had joined the Air Force in 1937 as a boy apprentice. Trained as an engineer and then volunteered for aircrew. And the flight engineer was the same. He was the same. So the two of them actually stayed on. John still had three years to do of his service. So he stayed on and I was taken in to, the day that John left I was pulled into a remustering room. I saw this flight lieutenant and he said, ‘Well, you realise Thomson that you won’t be flying again.’ And he said, ‘You’ll have to remuster. I’m supposed to remuster you as a clerk general duties.’ I said, ‘Over my dead body I’ll remuster as a clerk,’ I said, ‘I joined the Air Force to fly. Well, you can’t get out because you’ve only been a prisoner for nine and a half months and you’ve got to be a prisoner for twelve months you got an immediate discharge when you came back. Anything less than nine and a half months you still had to do your time. So I refused to accept his remustering and I was pulled into the, the squadron leader the next day who was in charge of the remustering group. And his opening remarks were, ‘You’re making a bit of a nuisance of yourself, Thomson.’ I said, ‘No,’ I said, ‘I’m not.’ I said, ‘The guy I saw yesterday was, he wanted to remuster me as a clerk. I didn’t join the air force to be a clerk.’ So he went through the usual gammit, ‘You’ve only been a prisoner for nine and a half months and you can’t.’ He was looking at my file and he said, ‘Oh I see you stayed in Giffnock.’ I said ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘My parents live in Giffnock and I stay there.’ He said, ‘Do you know a family called Whitelaw?’ I said, ‘Yes. They stay in Braidholm Road. And there’s two girls in the family and one was at school with me.’ He said, ‘Oh. They’re my nieces.’ And he looked at me and he said, ‘What is it that you want?’ I said, ‘Out.’ And he signed my papers and I got out. It took me three weeks to get out mind you but my wireless operator did another six months before he got out and he was driving trucks around England. He was re-mustered as a driver. And Spag, the rear gunner he got out because he’d been medically unwell. He was older. He was actually thirty nine when he was flying with us. So he really shouldn’t have been there at all. And that was, that was it.
AM: What did you do after the war?
GT: I went back to the bank. I was in the bank before I went into the air force. Went back to the bank. The interesting thing was I think because of the Air Force training I got it was concentrated training. I mean we did, my initial training was at Scarborough. I had twelve weeks in Scarborough. And then I went to Bridgnorth to Elementary Air Navigation School which was a ground school and spent nine weeks there at Elementary Air Navigation. And then went from there to Northern Ireland for flying training. And eventually went back down to, posted from there to Westcott, Bucks for Operational Training Unit where we crewed up. And that was it then. Went from there down to Shrops, to Suffolk and went to various bases we were in. We were on Wellingtons when we were at Westcott and then we went down there and went onto Stirlings. And we spent quite a bit of time on Stirlings and then went converted on to Lancasters before we went to the Squadron.
AM: Right. Just —
GT: There was a body operating in Wales called Hero’s Return. And I heard about it through the Aircrew Association. And I phoned this Hero’s Return place in Wales and I said, ‘I would like to go and visit my pilot’s grave.’ I knew where it was. It was in a place called Dürnbach. Forty miles south of Munich. And he said, they said, ‘Yeah. Well you can do that. We can finance that for you.’ And I said, ‘My wife would like to go too.’ ‘That’s alright. We can do it for both of you.’ So I phoned my bomb aimer who was in South Wales and I told him and he got in touch with them. And it was arranged that the three of us would go and they paid seventy percent of our costs and we, one of the problems at Dürnbach, outside Munich was that the, it was difficult to get accommodation with a large lake. I think it was called Titisee but I’m not very sure about that.
AM: It is Titisee. Yeah.
GT: It is Titisee isn’t it.
AM: Yeah.
GT: And my travel agent in Helensburgh at that time eventually got us accommodation which she got three places and we had to pick one. And we picked the one that we thought was best located. It was halfway up a mountain because it was a ski resort. And Titisee is used by the people from Munich as a weekend resort and it’s not a place for English tourists. So we got there eventually and we had a mix up getting there because the original plan was the travel agent told us how to get there. Fly to Munich Airport. Take the train in from the airport to Munich. It’s about an hour in the train in to Munich and get a train from there down to Titisee. So we, John, but John had, his legs were not very good and he had arranged that he would get transport when he was in the airports. So when we got to Munich there was a chap waiting for him with a wheelchair.
AM: Wheelchair.
GT: And we were walking along and this this chap said, he was German of course, he said, ‘Where are you going to?’ And we said, ‘We’re going to Munich. We were going to get the train to Munich. He said, ‘You don’t want to get a train to Munich,’ he said, ‘You want to get a bus.’ He said, ‘I’ll take you to the bus. And it’ll take you to Munich quicker than the train will.’ So we got on the bus and I was paying for the three of us and the driver said to me, ‘Where are you going to?’ And I said, ‘Well, we’re going to Munich and then we’re getting a train down to Titisee.’ ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘You don’t want to get the train.’ He said, ‘There’s a bus that’ll come in behind me at Munich. Get on the bus and that’ll take you down there.’ So we did that. And we got down. The only trouble was it went down the wrong side of Titisee and it went right around the whole lake before we got to our destination. Anyway, we got a taxi up to the hotel. We got in to the hotel no bother at all and we were getting the middle of the afternoon. And after we were in our rooms I went down to reception. There was a lad at reception he was probably in his mid-30s and I said to him, ‘What time’s dinner?’ He said, ‘We don’t do dinner.’ They had two dining rooms but they didn’t do dinner. I said, ‘Oh.’ He said, ‘Well, don’t worry,’ he said, ‘I will take you down to the village.’ He said, ‘There’s plenty of pubs in the village. If you went to the pub, have a drink, have a meal, have a drink and get a taxi back up.’ ‘Fine. We’ll do that.’ So we did that and we came back up after 10 o’clock at night when we got back up and he was still in reception. And when John went to his bed I said to my wife, I said, ‘I’m going to go down and have a word with this guy.’ So I went down. I said to him, ‘I should tell you why we’re here. We’re here because I want to visit my pilot’s grave,’ The mid-upper gunner was buried beside him as well, I said, ‘At Dürnbach.’ I said, ‘I know it’s about eight or nine miles from here but,’ I said, ‘How do I go? Do I take a train or do I get a bus or do I take a taxi?’ He said, ‘No. Don’t do any of these things. I will take you.’ So the next day he took a day off and he took us there just after lunch. And he stayed with, he came into the British War Cemetery. He came into the cemetery with us and he stayed with us and then he brought us back up to the hotel. And on the way back up he said, ‘Would you like a meal tonight?’ And John said, ‘I thought you didn’t do meals.’ He said, ‘I can do a cold meal.’ So John said, ‘That’ll be fine. A cold meal would suit me.’ So we all agreed to have a cold meal. So he said, ‘Come down at half past seven. And go into the smaller dining room.’ So we came down at half past seven and went in to the smaller dining room. And there was a big round table set out with plates of various cold meats on it, a bottle of wine, coffee cups and such like. And then this chap came in with a bottle of schnapps and we had a glass of schnapps each before we had our meal. We had the meal and we got a sweet after it and he came back in and gave us another glass of schnapps, and that was it. And he didn’t charge us for the meal. We paid our normal bill for the accommodation and that but that was all. And it couldn’t have been better. So I came back and I told the travel agents when I got back that, ‘Don’t send anybody to Titisee by train. Tell them to go by bus.’
AM: I think, George that’s a remarkable way to finish a remarkable.
GT: Yeah.
AM: Story. Thank you.
GT: My pleasure.
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
Interview with George Thomson. Two
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Alastair Montgomery
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-11-03
Rights
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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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AThomsonGB171103
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
01:27:12 audio recording
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Description
An account of the resource
George Thomson was a navigator with 15 Squadron based at RAF Mildenhall. On their nineteenth operation they came under attack and had to bale out of the aircraft. The pilot and mid-upper gunner both died. When he landed he saw a parachute stuck in a tree at the other end of the field and discovered it belonged to his flight engineer. Together they evaded capture for eight days before they were discovered. He spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft 7 before embarking on the Long March.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Julie Williams
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
Poland
England--Suffolk
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Munich
Germany--Oberursel
Germany--Rastatt
Poland--Tychowo
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
1945
15 Squadron
aircrew
bale out
bombing
Dulag Luft
entertainment
evading
final resting place
lynching
navigator
prisoner of war
RAF Mildenhall
shot down
Stalag 3A
Stalag Luft 7
the long march