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On the move again
After a few weeks we were once again on the move, same mode of travel, packed into cattle trucks for two days until we arrived at Altengrabau nor far from Berlin. We were housed in a huge barn like structure.

Our next move took us to a small Arbeit lager (work camp) at Aulander, about 8 miles south of Brunswick. Thankfully this was a better camp. We had our own British Medical Officer and a sick bay. Our quarters were two long single story buildings, divided into six separate rooms, which held 20 men. Our beds were steel bunks with a mattress and blankets and unbelievably a wood burning stove in the middle of the room. The weather was terribly cold and we were still ravenously hungry. My 23rd birthday December 23rd passed unnoticed. Christmas 1943 arrived and Christmas dinner consisted of one boiled potato, half of which was rotten and a cup of ersatz coffee (ground acorn).

The 60 party
60 of us formed what was known as the 60 party. Awoken at 5am, then marched about 4 miles too where we had to repair damage to railway lines, caused by air raids.
Our job was to re-lay the sleepers and replace twisted rails. We returned to camp about 6pm. where we got an issue of soup (God knows what went into it) and a hunk of black bread. (This was said to be made from sawdust and potatoes) After a few weeks the Red Cross parcel issue started again and this made all the difference to the starvation diet.

After being on the 60 party for a few weeks we were switched to a quarry. Here every day a train brought 4 or 5 big skips full of molten slag from Herman Goring’s steelworks. This was tipped into the quarry and our job was to move the railway track over to the edge as it filled up. After a time we began to inch the rails closer to the edge. As a result a few days later when the slag train came rolling up to where we were working, the line on the tip side sank and the train and two skips along with the two Russian drivers disappeared down the tip with the molten slag. Two German soldiers at the back managed to jump clear. Then we were joined by a group of Rumanian SS who started lashing out with fists and rifles.

I was knocked to the ground and this big Rumanian repeatedly slammed his rifle into my spine until I blacked out. Three of us were taken back to the camp sick bay on a cart; I couldn’t walk for a week and thankfully never went back to the 60 party.

Civilian factory
Once I had recovered, George Davis and I were hired out to a civilian who had a small factory. Herr Weber the boss was a pleasant little man. Apart from us there were two Russian blacksmiths, a Frenchman, Rene and a Belgian foreman. George was a tinsmith and I was an acetylene welder. We were fairly comfortable with this setup and as the weeks went by in what was one of the better times. We used to barter stuff from our parcels using a little Ukrainian girl as our go-between. We gave her something from our parcels, a bar of soap, or a bit of chocolate and she would get us white bread, a luxury, or other things we might require.

Things were looking up, on the morning of 6th June 1944 we heard over the grapevine about the landings in France. Everyday now we could see the vapour trails of the American bombers high overhead. During the night we could hear different cities getting a hammering. We had a shelter in the camp but nobody used it. Until one night it was Brunsweig’s turn, which was only a few miles away. It was 2am when the air raid warning sounded, planes were roaring overhead and nearly everyone dashed for the shelter. By the time I got there it was full. The whole camp was illuminated by flares it was brighter than daylight. We heard the sound of light and medium bombers dropping their loads and about half an hour later the all clear sounded. The death toll was enormous the Brunswick paper consisted of 2 pages of deaths from A to Z. a gang of us were sent to Brunswick to help clear the debris and open up the roads. Most of the guards knew there was no future for them and their attitudes began to change.

Another Christmas
Yet again my 25th Birthday went unnoticed, as did Christmas 1944. I think it was February when we had an influx of Paratroopers who had been taken prisoners at Arnhem. They put us in the picture regarding how the war was progressing. Freedom couldn’t be long now.

On the move again.
Almost at the end of March we were told to pack up as much as we could carry and we marched out of camp, joined by a company of SS Guards. Then began 10 days of sheer hell. We tramped day after day in the bitter cold wind and about 6 inches of snow. No one seemed to know where we were going. Gradually men unable to carry on were falling out and after a few minutes we would hear a rifle shot.

We didn’t know if the SS had been told to get rid of us, but if this continued they’d have no need to, we’d just collapse and be unable to carry on.

What proved to be the last night’s refuge was in a 2 storey factory. I don’t think anyone slept that night as the factory was under shellfire throughout the night.
At dawn I said to the others I was going to stretch my legs. When I got to the door there were two sentries, on was Willi. I stood with them a few minutes wondering if I should try. Then I said quietly, ‘Abort Willi bitte toilet please’ and nodded towards some bushes. He shook his head warily and looked at the other sentry who didn’t seem interested. Then unslinging his machine pistol he nodded. I walked slowly down towards the bushes, tensing against the sudden burst of fire. I crouched down and looked back, Willi was slipping his pistol back on his shoulder; there was no sign of the other sentry. I gave him a wave and slipped into the undergrowth.

Going home
It was the 11th April 1945; I walked or rather limped all day. About noon I heard the ominous rattle of tank tracks. I waited surely it couldn’t be Russian, then, coming towards me an American Sherman tank with a big white star. It slowed to a halt and the turret opened. The tank commander looked to be a kid of about 18 years old. He asked who I was and which regiment I had been in. and I told him the Second Battalion Scots Guards. He said they were just a few miles north of us, I told him they could stay there. I was going home.

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