大象传媒

bully between two, 1 biscuit with jam, 2 slices bread and butter.
Lights fused in whole camp. Out for 1 1/2 hrs.

Saturday 23rd December. Very cold day. For tea potatoes and bully beef,
2 slices bread and jam. Canteen issue 1 cigarette and 1 box matches.
Supper 1 biscuit, tea and jam. Bed later 8.30 p.m. Water frozen in our
barrack.

Sunday 24th December. Usual procedure as previous except we had
prunes for tea.

Monday 25th December. Xmas day. Prunes and spam - potatoes, good tea
and supper.

Tuesday 26th December. 12 p.m. air raid alert - planes over. Excellent
tea, boiled potatoes in good quantity - supper.

Wednesday 27th December. Had excellent tea. 2 issues spuds, 1/2 tin bully
as flavourer. Barley and fat issue. Jam and bread.

Thursday 28th December. Tea. Jerry cheese, 2 slices bread and butter -
Went to see film, "Andy Hardy Comes Home Again". Supper, 3 slices
bread and ham and portion of cheese, jam and bread, tea and finished
off by having smoke. (Snowing and cold).

Friday 29th December. Red Cross parcel issue. Tea, potatoes, bully,
biscuit, jam and bread. Von Kluge supposed to have committed
suicide. Runstadt called to Berlin.

Saturday 30th December. Cigarette issue 25. Tea consisted of box cheese,
English cheese, spam, bread and butter and jam, tea and 1 biscuit.
Supper, 1 slice bread and jam. Nothing out of the ordinary. Weather
cold.

Sunday 31st December. Double bread issue - on account of New Year's
Day. Tea, 2 issues boiled potatoes (^ tin bully for two), bread, jam,
biscuit, tea - Good feed. Cigarette issue consumed. 12 midnight -
Scottish pipes played round camp with drums.
Monday 1st January, 1945. New Year's Day opened up with cigarette
ration consumed. Breakfast, salmon - 2 slices, 1 jam and 1 biscuit.
Brew of tea later 9.30 a.m. 10 a.m. poor potato issue. 11 a.m. barley.
Managed to get 1 issue from cookhouse to add to tea meal which
consisted of 1/2 turnip, handful potatoes and few carrots, tea, bread and
butter. Snow during night. Cold day.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 2nd to 4th January. Nothing unusual.

Friday 5th January. Rev. 04:00 hrs. Sent to work on Railway side at
Neudorf. Boarded train at Ammanof. Returned by 4.45 train. Work
shifting earth and levelling up (grub, peppermint tea - bread issue,
butter - 3 tins potato soup). Amp by 5.15

Saturday 6th January. Rev. 05.30. Neudorf job brought in plenty of
wood. Cheese an extra issue. Returned by 1.45 train. Camp 2.30.
Parcel issue 1/6.

Sunday 7th January. Day off (tea) mashed potatoes, bacon and egg. Jam
and bread and tea with milk and sugar. Supper, cocoa, bread and jam.
Sold wood for 25 cigarettes.

Monday 8th January.
Tuesday 9th January. Parcel issue Bulk.

Wednesday 10thJanuary. Snowing on way to work.

Thursday 11th January. Parcel issue Bulk.
Friday 12th January.

Saturday 13th January. Working till 3 p.m. Parcel issue Bulk. Lovely
Christmas setting. Trees covered with snow, sleighs with bells on
roads. Boys with skis on - real Xmas card views and scenery but very
cold. Feet like lead all day. No extra bread ration on job but have fires
of wood - brought bundles of wood to barrack. Food situation very
fair (cigarette issue).

Sunday 14th January. Slept in till nearly 9 a.m. Had breakfast - ragout
spread on bread, 3 biscuits and bread and honey. Tea 1p.m. Cup of tea
and cheese and bread. Wrote home to my darling wife and chapel.

Monday 15th January. Substitutes for Neudorf party arranged. Laid in till
reveille. Cold all day.
Tuesday 16th January. Parcel issue. Nothing to report.

Wednesday 17th January. As previous day (no parcel issue).
Thursday 18th January.On Neudorf party once again. Brought in wood
for 30 cigarettes. Train to return to Annahof 1 hour late and packed to
overcrowding with evacuees. Stood on outside platform. No room
inside. Got to Lamsdorf 6.45 p.m. Air raid alert and lights out for 1 1/2
hrs. Had tea in the dark. (parcel issue) 1/6.
Friday 19th January. Neudorf party cancelled till further notice -
transport difficulties. War news good. 50 cigarettes issue. Air Raid
alert.
Saturday 20th January. 1 Christmas parcel issued between 2 men -
tempting tea, mashed potatoes, stew steak, bread, butter and honey.

Contents of Christmas Parcel (for two men)

Xmas Cake 16 ozs
Xmas pudding 16 ozs
Roast pork and stuffing 16 ozs
Chopped ham 12 ozs
Stewed steak 16 ozs
Butter (total nett weight 133 ozs) 8ozs
Baked beans (total net weight 81b 5ozs.8ozs
Honey 8ozs
Sardines 3ozs
Tea 2ozs
Block sugar 4ozs
Milk 14ozs
Cake, chocolate 4ozs
Greens custard powder 2ozs
Pack pancake powder or shortbread

Sunday 21st January. Barley soup. Tea (mashed potatoes, roast pork and
stuffing, Heinz beans, - prunes and custard. Xmas pudding, 4ozs each
and custard. 1 piece Xmas cake, tea (Jerry) mint, 2 slices bread and
butter. Real good feed then laid in bed content. Supper: bread and
honey, tea.

Monday 22nd January. 3 spuds ration (poor). War News good -
according to rumours fighting for Oppein 24 miles away. Many
parties coming into camp from outlying jobs - some marching. 5000
men expected. Beds being prepared. Rumour that Red Cross
distributing centre has been captured by Joe? We have been told that
any hour to be prepared to move on foot. Everyone on edge
wondering what is going to happen. I am sat up in bed having eaten
my spud ration. Block 2.3. 495 moving out at 2 p.m. We stand ready,
kits packed, everyone on tenterhooks - shaved and packed.

Tuesday 23rd January. The great Russian drive had begun and Stalag 344
had to be evacuated. This meant a considerable undertaking as
approximately 10,000 men were housed here. Outside the camp, the
weather was grim - snow had fallen. We arose early on the 23rd,
Tuesday, in preparation for an early move and had breakfast. We had
had no bread issue the previous day so we contented ourselves by
having pancakes and tea. I packed my small pack to overflowing,
containing 9 tablets of scented soap and many other articles which
would come in very useful as barter for food. We formed a party of
four men, comprising myself, John Lees, Geordy Bell and Arthur
Gold, the latter dropping out after he had been issued with a bread
parcel and cigarettes. He was none too well and the distance we had to
go was well over 100km, but not that day, 25 km being our daily
journey. I had hit on a bright idea of drawing along, sleigh fashion,
our blower which I had anticipated would come in very useful. We
also carried a supply of fuel in an attache case. At last, the hour
arrived and we lined up in fives to draw our parcel and 50 cigarettes,
1/2 a loaf per man and margarine. How long this had to serve us one
never knew. I could be seen amidst the crowd drawing along the
blower. It was at this point that Arthur Gold dropped out leaving the
three of us to carry on. We departed from the main gates at 11 a.m.
leaving the happy home in the rear. The blower by now had become
laden with Xmas parcels. The load consisted of 3 Red Cross boxes
and a suitcase containing fuel. Trudging along in the cool morning air,
we slowly but surely left Stalag 344 behind. At first things went well,
but now and again the boxes would slide off and frequent adjustment
was necessary. Through the village of Lamsdorf we passed on into
bleak open country. We had done 6 km when the blower failed as a
sleigh. Its constant overturning finally made it inevitable to throw the
thing by the roadside, helped by a Jerry Under-Officer who was using
language which was non too pleasant. Now had gone our only hope of
a fire. Fuel and all had to be thrown away, as we had no means of
carrying it. Burdened with Red Cross parcels we carried on despite
the odds against us. I carried one pack, one kit bag and one Red Cross
parcel. My mates carried the same weight plus 1 1/2 loaves in a small
bag. We halted after 50 minutes and not before time either, my
shoulders were aching under the weight I carried and although it was
bitter cold I was quite warm. By the roadside, one could see where
previous parties had halted. It was a sight, which I shall always
remember. Practically every item of underwear could be seen lying
about in the snow, pants, socks, tunics, boots, suitcases, pans, pots,
soap, towels, vests, overcoats, blankets. It was inconceivable the
material disposed of to lighten their loads. The local civilians were
getting a real treat salvaging etc. Even musical instruments,
saxophones and trumpets, were flung away. Empty tins of Xmas
puddings, Xmas cake, cheese tins and butter tins lay about in
hundreds, the tin opener having played a great part on this march. At 1
p.m. we halted for one hour and dined. We had 2 slices of bread and
butter and 4 biscuits with cheese. The honey was half frozen and like
gum but we ate like weary travellers. The sound of guns and the
rumble of explosions could be heard in the distance. The country here,
as I surveyed it, was desolate, covered in snow with only pine forests
to break the landscape - sheer desolation especially if we had to sleep
out. We marched on again kilometre after kilometre, the going got
worse with soft snow making the progress hard and tiring. I stopped at
a village, I know not the name, only the fact that road sign stated it
was 23 km to Miesse, but we bore to the right here. Whilst I was
making the necessary adjustment to my pack a German tank-like
transport came up the road and skidded into a telegraph pole just
missing me. Had I been one yard further back I would not have been
able to write this. One or two more halts brought us to our destination
for the night, which was a big barn. One can judge the chaos in the
dark, stepping on each other, etc. We finally got settled in a comer
and thenceforth proceeded to make a lamp from margarine and
prepare a meal. This consisted of bread, 1 tin of sardines and 1 tin of
spam, also bread and honey. Having eaten and none too warm we got
down to it. I just managed to keep warm. We awoke at dawn and
prepared a hasty meal from Bemax and peas, the peas having become
frozen. I may say my boots were frozen and putting them on was a
difficult operation. The breakfast was cooked on an improvised fire
made of straw and the tea consisted of thawed snow. Before we
moved off on our next journey we three, with many others, decided to
go sick. Knowing the distance we had to go and the conditions and
not feeling too fit it was the best plan. The rest of the party had begun
to move off so we went back to a farmhouse awaiting the MO The
MO did not come so we were told to go into another barn and await
orders. In the meantime our friend, Geordy Bell, had succeeded in
gaining admittance to the kitchen and was preparing a good meal. We
had boiled potatoes. We had plenty of food that day and retired for the
night.

Wednesday 24th January. For dinner, we had Xmas pudding, two slices
of bread and honey and a good pot of tea. We, of course, had custard
with the pudding. As we had just carved up the pudding ready for
consumption, word went round that a large party of Russian POWs
were coming into the barn we occupied so we were told to move out
into fresh apartments next door. The case was this, they the Russians
would be moving out early next morning and if we were mixed up
with them the German guards would make us march as well, so
hastily eating the pudding we found fresh digs elsewhere. We had
only two sick Jerry Guards left with us and an Under Officer. We
were now more or less under British authority and in a sense free men
for the time being at any rate. We had supper consisting of pancakes,
bread and honey and Xmas cake and retired for the night.

Thursday 25th January. We arose and found we could no longer use the
house for cooking. So I had to light a fire, fuel being in abundance,
briquettes and coal etc. I just forget what our meals for that day were,
but our bread ration which we had drawn on leaving camp had begun
to dwindle very alarmingly so we had to barter underclothes and
pullovers for bread, meat and cheese, even a candle and matches were
produced by the local civvies. If we had only a spare pair of boots
great wonders could have been done. Things by now had become
more organised, the barracks were numbered, and a roll call made of
the men some 400 strong. Hot water four times a day was available
and a fair issue of spuds and carrots at 12.30 p.m. The two remaining
guards cared neither what we did nor where we wandered. Some fools
overdid things a little by being found milking the cows in the shippon.
News came up each night as to our situation.

Friday 26th January. The food continued to be of the best, our cook drew
up a diet sheet, which provided the three of us with meals for another
seven days, provided we could secure bread. In the morning the
German Under Officer had cycled to Lamsdorf with a letter from the
Captain in Charge, giving those at Lamsdorf a picture of the situation
at Friedewalde. According to reports from authoritative quarters,
Lamsdorf still existed.

Saturday 27th January. We had tea, bread and butter at 7:30 a.m. and at
11.30 a.m. dined off Xmas pudding and custard, potatoes at 2.30 p.m.
more potatoes and Xmas cake. At 5 p.m. potatoes, dumplings, pork,
stuffing and pancakes and tea. 7.30 p.m. tea, bread and butter, spam
and honey. The Under Officer returned about dinner time and told the
MO that the Jerry authorities at Lamsdorf didn't care what became of
us, all organisation round about seemed nil. Even evacuees in
neighbouring towns were picked up by transport, dropped anywhere
and told another vehicle would pick them up, but the transport never
came leaving them stranded. However, later in the day another letter
was brought in by another Under Officer from Lamsdorf, which stated
that Colonel Crawford wished us to return as early as possible to

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