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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Bill Ross, of the ‘Action Desk — Sheffield’ Team, on behalf of Mr. D.J. Wilson, who, after recovering the diaries following their disposal, has assumed responsibility for them. They have been added to the site with the Mr Wilson's permission who fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
The story is in five parts.

Pt 2: A4350980

Pt 3: A4351015

Pt 4: A4351079

Pt 5: A4351105

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George Staniforth
Prisoner of War Diaries
Preface
By Douglas J Wilson

George Staniforth died in 1976. Mrs. Staniforth moved house soon after, but before she moved, she dumped some of George’s possessions by the side of a skip. The skip was in Mather Road Playing Field Yard, where I worked. I recovered the diaries and a workmate found a cigar box which contained George’s medals. This was in 1976.

George had worked at Davy United Steelworks where he was the Secretary Of Works of the Chrysanthemum and Dahlia Society. I spoke to George many times; he lived just across the road from our cabin. He never spoke about his time in the war however. I have had these diaries for 30 years (May 2005).

Douglas Wilson.

The Diaries:
29 June 1942:

On this morning, I was taken prisoner for the second time by the Jerry. The first time was on the 12th of June, 42, but I escaped on the 15th of June.

At 05.45 on the 29th, a very heavy mist hung over the ground and before we knew where we were, 9 of us were 20 yards from the Jerry A.T. guns. My bren carrier caught one in the side and for ten minutes after, I didn’t know if I was in Heaven or hell. When I looked up, I was looking down the barrel of a Jerry Breeder gun. We were placed in some steel railway trucks for the day and at 17.30, we were moved onto lorries. Up to this point, we had gone 24 hours without food or water. On the back of the truck we were on, was a box of 24 tins of our own bully (corned beef) and 17 packets of biscuits, which were to be shared among 20 of us. Of course, Jerry didn’t know we were eating them.

We travelled until 15.00 hours of the 30th June; that night we received one tin of bully, one pint of water and one packet of biscuits.

On the morning of 2nd of July, 42, we were again on lorries, leaving the prison at Tobruk. We travelled from 07.15 until 12.00 hrs when we had a rest and a drink of water. By the time the sun started to sink, it was about 19.00 hours, four of us jumped over the side (the lorries were travelling at 30 — 35 m.p.h.). As we hit the ground, we rolled down the banking by about 20 feet. We were on our feet before we reached the bottom of the banking and we were away as fast as our legs could go. Before we had gone ten yards, the bullets were flying all around us. One lad in front of me just dropped. We had just six yards to go before we entered the thick scrub, when one of the other lads fell. When we were among the scrub, we looked back and the Jerry’s went towards the two that lay still. They turned them over. One looked dead and the other must have gotten it in the leg. The two Jerrys came towards the scrub where we were. It didn’t take very long for us to make up our minds, we were off. We didn’t stop until we saw the sun rise over the hills in front of us. We crept under some scrub and fell asleep.

The sun was well up when we awoke, so we started on our way again. As night fell, we came upon some Italians, so we started to run again, and that was the last I saw of my companion. I walked all night with a few short rests. Just before sun up, I saw some troops, about 600 yards to my left, so I had to carry on. It was well into the morning before I stopped again. It must have been about 5 o’clock when I fell asleep; it was dark when I opened my eyes again. I didn’t know what time it was, but it was the start of a very long night. I think it must have been about 4 a.m. when the first bit of light showed through. At that time, I came to a very deep dug out. It was too dark to go in, so I waited. As I lay there looking over the side, I could see some boxes. It didn’t take long to figure out they contained stores; there were two tins of bully (Italian) and biscuits, plenty of water and Italian clothes. I stayed there all day. That night I came across a three-ton lorry. Looking around, I couldn’t see any signs of life, so I went towards the side of the lorry. Looking into it, I could see someone asleep. The first thing I got hold of was a double-ended spanner. I went to the back and dropped the tail really loudly. When the man jumped up, I could see that he was an Italian soldier. He made a grab for his rifle as I threw the spanner at him. He fell to the floor and when I was inside, he sat up and looked at me, trying to say something in Italian, which I didn’t understand.

I’ll not say what happened to him, but I did have a good meal of English bully, bacon and cheese, which I found in his box. I had been there for about an hour when I saw four lorries some way off, so I made off in the other direction. I walked all day and I saw more troops than I had seen during the previous four days. I knew I must have been near one of their camps. As the sun went down, I saw about six of them coming my way. They were no more than 300 yards away. I turned to make a dash when four more stood up in front of me, so I had to wait until they came. One of them hit me with the back of his hand. As I made a grab for his hand, everything went black. The next thing I knew, there was cold water running down my face. I looked around and saw some of my own colleagues. Once again, I was in the prison pen at Tobruk.

The following day, we left for Dirna; it took two days to get there but this time, there was no getting away. In the Dirna pen, we received two Italian biscuits and a pint of water. We arrived in Benghazi prison on the night of 13th of July. The food was very little and the weather was hot. Our daily ration was one tin of Italian bully and a small loaf weighing no more than ten ounces. Once a week, we got boiled rice; cigarettes came in at 10 per week.

On the 28th, I was taken ill and I lay in the tent until the 3rd of August, when I was sent to hospital. The food in hospital was little better. I came back to camp on the 23rd of September, feeling good. The weather started to get colder and all I had were a pair of boots, a pair of socks, one pair of K.D. shorts and a shirt. In the first week of October, we received half a blanket. When it rained, we had no sleep.

On the 11th of November, we had the two minutes’ silence; at 15.30, we were on the boat from Tripoli, where we spent 36 hours in the hold of the ship.

On the 28th, we set sail for Italy and landed at Naples on the 30th. The first thing I saw was the volcano, Mt. Vesuvius which looked very lovely at night with its red glow. We had a hot bath in Naples, the first for months. We travelled in cattle trucks to Bari where I went into hospital two days later. I had my first meal for five days; it consisted of jelly, custard, bread and butter and tea. Two days later, we received 25 Players’ cigarettes, the first English ones since June.

On the night of the 23rd of December, I was transferred to Altermura hospital. At this stage, I weighed only 7 stone, 10 pounds and I could not walk. The food in the hospital was pretty good. Every day, I received two pints of goat’s milk, one pint of wine, two loaves of bread, a piece of cheese and two bowls of rice.

On the 20th March, I went back to the Bari camp where I received my first letter from home. On the 24th, I received my first Red Cross parcel, which contained 50 Players. I didn’t know what to do, whether to have a smoke or eat the chocolate. After looking at everything twice I decided to have a smoke and it has to be said that I have never enjoyed a cigarette as much as I did that one.

The contents of an English parcel:

1 tin of biscuits
1 tin of condensed milk
2 tins of M and V (12 oz (ounces) each)
1 pk of tea (2 oz)
1 bar of sugar (3 oz)
1 tin of fish (8 oz)
1 tin of peas (8 oz)
1 tin of cheese (2 oz)
1 tin of meat roll (8 oz)
1 tin of margarine (8 oz)
1 tin of chocolate (4 oz)
1 tin of cocoa (4 oz)
1 apple pudding (8 oz)
1 pk of sweets (3 oz)
1 bar of soap.

The contents of a Canadian Parcel

1 pk of biscuits (1 lb (pound)
1 tin butter (1 lb)
1 tin of jam (1 lb)
1 tin of bully (12 oz)
1 pk salt (1 oz)
1 tin of mat roll (8 oz)
1 pk cheese (4 oz)
1 pk coffee (6 oz)
1 pk sugar (4 oz)
1 bar chocolate (5 1/2 oz)
1 tin of Clim powdered milk
1 pk raisins (12 oz)
1 pk prunes (6oz)
1 tin of salmon (8 oz)
1 tin of herrings (3 ¼ oz)
1 bar of soap.

Contents of a New Zealand parcel

1 lb butter
1 lb jam
1 lb honey
1 lb bully
1 lb rabbit and bacon
1 tin of coffee Olay
1 tin of ration chocolate
1 pk of raisins (12 oz)
2 tins of tea (3 oz)
1 tin of cheese (1 lb)

We received one parcel every seven days and 50 cigarettes, plus 20 Italian cigarettes and a cigar. While I was in Bari, there were no more than 400 in the camp, so we had a pretty good time. The football ground was full sized and we had a baseball pitch. The camp itself was very clean and there was a South African Major in charge, who would do anything for the S.A. and nothing for the Tommy (British). The camp R.S.M. was Australian and liked by every man in the camp. The Red Cross sent plenty of books and indoor games, footballs, rugby balls and even a small band, which gave a concert every Sunday night.

Up to now, we had been walking round in Italian clothes, while the staff who were nearly all South African, went about in B.D. (Battle Dress). A few more and I were going around in bare feet for nearly three weeks. The Australian R.S.M. acquired for us, B.D., full boots, overcoats in July.

On the 17 of July, we left by train for another camp, which is the one I am now in, P.G. 70. On the way here, I could see where our air force had been and the damage done. When we got off the train, just outside P.G. 70, it looked pretty good from the outside, but when we saw the inside, our views changed. In one bungalow, 600 men, eat, sleep and live. There are 8470 men in the whole camp. Some of them don’t know what cleanliness is, they throw dirty water on the floor, coffee dregs and empty tins all go on the floor. But while some try to be clean, others would never get out of bed if they could help it. We have one man who sweeps up twice a day, others never think of washing any clothes. They walk around in a dirty vest and dirty shorts all day and only have one wash a day. The water isn’t plentiful, but there’s enough to get washed three times a day. We were given a bowl on entering the camp, which is for a hot meal and to wash out of. We made our own drinking mugs from biscuit tins, knives from tin and plates and reading lamps from tin.

Camp Daily Orders
Rise.................................06.30
Roll Call..........................07.00
Tea or hot water...............08.00
Parcels.............................09.30
Bread...............................10.00
Hot water.........................12.00
Hot meal..........................16.00
Roll Call..........................17.00
Hot water..........................18.30
Lights Out........................22.30

Camp Strength....................................8470

One can always find something to pass the time away; there are plenty of indoor games. Football all day, Rugby, Cricket, and there is always a talk on something, and there are different meetings going on.
There’s the PG 70 Times newspaper and posters, and there’s a market. If we have something in our parcels that we do not like, we can go to the market and change it for something else.

In a camp with all these men, we can always find someone who has done a type of work in civil life. The ones who run the PG 70 Times are three that have worked in printing, two are cartoonists and others are journalists. The concerts are run by one who did stage work and the band is comprised of people who have played for some band before the war. The stage shows are taken from pictures (movies) that have been shown in England. The stage is made out of Red Cross boxes and Italian ground sheets. Dresses for the actors are made by the lads in the camp. The cloth is bought from the Italians by all the men in the camp.

The Italians have been building a tower in camp, which holds 3,000 gallons of water. But now that it is finished, it leaks and now it takes three days to fill up, and three hours to empty. It will not fill whilst it is being used.

20 August 1943: There are just 12,074 Red Cross parcels in the camp and eight days’ bulk. Every morning, one of the lads in our bungalow goes round for Griff (information) from home. Anyone who receives a letter with anything of interest in it such as, so and so film star was married, or cigarettes are 1 / 2½ (6p) (1s 2½d) for ten, or beer is 10d (4½p) per pint, these things are written down and read to everybody in the camp (a camp being 2,200 men), and there are four camps.

Football
The football ground is 75 yards long and 35 yards wide, we only have the one ground and everybody wants to play. So, No.1 camp has it one day and No. 2, the next etc. There are approximately 48 groups of 50. One of the boys runs the football; two teams of nine players take play for half an hour, then two more take over, and so it goes on until 18.30., then there is a big match played. Last night it was England (2) v Wales (2). Tonight, it’s D.L.I. v R.A.

Pr-BR

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