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At the end of April 1945 mainly PoW’s1 Prisoners of War of young age were separately indented for a transport into England. My comrade, Otto Krüger, PoW Nr. A872221, was also amongst [my group]. We left Sedelgem Camp - it used to be a large depot of the German Army - to bring us to Ostende for one or two days to stay in a neglected brickworks. Here I saw photos of German concentration camps [which] I had never heard of before in my life. A first I was unable to believe those cruel things happened in our country [and] many of my comrades could hardly believe that it was true. It was a shock to me. Later on I saw some more of those terrible pictures in Butterwick camp.

The Channel was very rough in these days therefore we could not cross the Channel before the 2nd of May in small landing crafts right into the mouth of the River Thames. Here we were regarded by reporter[s] of different papers taking photos of us Herrenrasse! (Master Race). There must be a photo of mine in one or the other paper I guess; maybe some of these papers should be saved in the archives of the Public Record Office or in the Imperial War Museum or anywhere else. After that we were more walking than marching along streets of London [by] the River Thames, to the left direction Kempton Park. Here we were registered and got a meal containing bread and corned beef and a cup of tea. Next day we left Kempton Park at night by tram - I believe in first class wagons — when British soldiers offered [us] tea and cigarettes and even were having a chat with us. In that night I noticed a much different kind of human being, they were fair and even kindly in the way of treating us. Now and then I took a nap because I was very, very tired. Next morning all of us left the train at a small station, I forgot the name, it was not Driffield - marching from there for hours into Butterwick Camp Nr.163, a tent camp with twelve men to a tent. Lucky now anyway to be able to have a rest, THANK GOD.

BUTTERWICK CAMP Nr: 163

[The] Commandant of the camp was - as far as I remember - Major Harris, a sharp officer. We were collected each morning and furthermore once or twice a day to irregularly times and often during the night even when it was raining. Wet through we went back into our tents not very pleasant to us.

I did not count the number of the British guards; they should have been up to 30 or 40 soldiers. We were about 5000 PoW’s shared out to three cages numbered A,B,C, per 2000 of us in cage A and B, l000 in cage C.

We began by digging trenches around the every tent to prevent water comes inside. It always was very slippery on rainy days and very muddy everywhere in the camp. But very soon sun was shining again and everything was ok until it was raining again.

At the 8th of May we were regarding a sort of firework, but very soon we saw the guardsmen shooting in the air. WAR HAD COME TO ITS END. I personally [felt I] was very lucky at that moment and I am sure the most of us were much more than only lucky.

Butterwick was a PoW working camp; there were no officers among us. At the very first time I was [kept] busy in the guard’s camp for a few days doing all sorts of light duty. In the following [days] I was commanded to a job called fire-point, a place outside the camp across the road. Nearly every day a tall guardsman with rifle expected me at the camp gate. Passing the guards camp on the way to that point he offered me a PLAYERS cigarette. I was wondering and this gesture had been occasion to fill me with astonishment.

Within fewer days we became friends and we are still very very good friends. His name [was] Fred Young [who, pre-war, was] living in Stroud. He gave me his address before he left Butterwick camp. I contacted him after I was repatriated. My wife and I visited him at [his] home in Stroud and we invited him and his wife [to Germany] a couple of years ago to spend a good time with us.

A brilliant story isn’t it!! I think this event should be worthwhile to be mentioned.

Food in Butterwick Camp was pretty short, one trowel with porridge every morning, one with soup at about 12 o’clock and 7 of us [sharing] a loaf of bread with a piece of margarine and small sausage or something else at night. Not sufficient at all for the youngest of us. We always were very hungry. Later I was told that food was even rationed for the people in your country.

On display in the middle of our cage we got the information that the USA had dropped the atom bomb, strange to me I never heard of things like this kind of bomb before. That was the end of WORLD WAR II.

In the meantime farmers had started harvesting the crops. Nearly all the lot of us had to work on farm in the area, it was thrashing time. They took us to the farms by lorries. A change for us being outside the camp at last, contacting people working there. Sometimes we used to sing passing villages on our lorries and we noticed people were listening to our songs, that made us PoW’s happy. In the following time we were picking potatoes, afterwards pulling sugar beets and turnips. We did every kind of farm-work. Farmers sometimes offered a cup of tea or even a cigarette when he was good tempered. Farmer Wilson in Market Weighton - I remember him very well — supplied us with sandwiches, tea and cigarettes because we worked very hard pulling turnips in November. Meanwhile [there was] a fall in temperature at that time.

In the early morning of the 9th of November a few hundred of us set off to camp Bellasize, marching all the way from Butterwick camp passing the village [of] LANGTOFT to get to the railway station [at] Great Driffield. It took us a long time to get there. By the way, Butterwick was camp [Nr]163, not [Nr]159, I am sure.

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