大象传媒

At the beginning of the war I was in the territorial Army in the Royal Artillery. I went to France in early 1940 and was at Oudenarde. When the Germans attacked we were forced back to Dunkirk. I was evacuated by Royal Navy destroyer Jaguar. The ship was attacked by German bombers and I was wounded. I was taken on to the Express and brought back to Dover. From there I was taken by ambulance train to Sunderland and became a patient in Cherry Knowle ao old mental hospital. While here I was fortunate to meet one of the nurses who later, in 1946 became my wife.
When I had recovered I was sent to the Woolwich Barracks where I was put on a draft for North Africa. We set off by boat and travelled round Africa and round the Cape and arrived in Suez. After a short leave in Cairo, I was bored with camp life and with four friends voluntered to join the 2nd armoured division. They were at Ajedabia facing Rommel's troups. The Germans were numerically superior. They attacked and we were encircled at Oel Mechili. A small number of us rather than be taken as prisoners escaped in a truck. Unfortunately we were seen by a German spotter plane and and at the end of a waddi found ourselves surrounded by German tanks. The Germans were anxious to reach Tobruk and we were a hindrance. The commanding officer was prepared to shootus but was persuaded to allow us to be taken prisoner. Eventually we reached the prison camp at Sulmono. Prison life was boring. I learnt Italian and we translated the Italian newspapers with Edward Ward the 大象传媒 war correspondent. He edited our translations with the intention of keeping up the prisoners morale. These were read out each evening in the huts. Iwas intouch with Edith, the nurse I had met in Sunderland and we corresponded. I was sent by my mother the books that I needed to study consumer law. This was a tremendous help to relieve the boredom but also enabled me to qualify after the war as an Inspector of weights and measures.

In September 1943 the Germans invaded Italy. With a close friend, who was determined not to become a prisoner of the Germans we managed to escape and the next day saw the Germans arrive at the camp. Through a sma;ll boy herding sheep we made contact with a freiendly Italian family who took us in and looked after us for several days. Finally we had to leave as the Germans were nearby. Shortly afterwards we got in touch with an Alpini who was taking intelligence to the British forces in the south. We persuaded him to take us along with him. When we got near the British lines we had to leave our guide and make our own way. The British were on the south side of the Sangro and the German troups were between us and them.

My friend Harry was determined to make it across the river. He tried to persuade me to go with him but decided to chance it by himself. I was under the bridge and could hear the shots as he ran across. (I didn't know if he had made it until iI heard from my mother a year later that he had visited her.) The Germans began throwing hand grenades under the bridge. When they stopped I managed to make my way away from the river. For three days I tried to avoid capture but was finally taken prisoner again. I was taken with some newly captured Americans to Mmoosberg. I was in hospital suffering from exposure and when I recovered I was taken to Poland to a coalmine. I was to be put to work but refused until I was threatened with being shot by th manager. I was there for a year working long hours on a starvation diet. We had one day off in three weeks. I was there a year. In January 1945 the Russians came to a nearby village and we were evacuated in the middle of the night. We then brgan a long walk under guard across Europe which ended in Ragensberg which ended in April. Here we worked on the railway track until the Americans released us at the end of April. We then flew home to Brussels and were there with the Americans for VE night. The following day the RAF flew us home in Lancaster bombers. A month later I met up with Edith again who I hadn't seen for five years at Kings Cross. We went to Brighton by overnight train and were engaged at Petworth in Sussex on 6th June. We married on 16th February 1946.

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