大象传媒

Klagenfurt.

In the summer of 1941 gunner 1528711 A.E.Payne became POW 5158 Stalag 18A Klagenfurt, Austria.Eddie was in Klagenfurt for a short while before being sent to a work camp.Food was scarce, the Germans even put an armed guard on a pile of potatoes to stop people stealing them! But one day Eddie's hunger got the better of him and he and another man stole some bread from the guards cookhouse. The bread was still hot but they ate it as fast as they could. When it was discovered the bread had gone the guards called the prisoners to a parade and everyone was lined up. Eddie was afraid of being caught as the bread had swollen in his stomach and if caught he thought that he could have been shot, but he got away with not being found out.

Villach.

Eddie was sent to Villach, a small city, about 30 miles from Klagenfurt. Villach is on the border with Italy and was a vital railroad junction, the railway yards were often bombed. The work Eddie and the other POW's done was corporation work which was mending holes in the roads and clearing snow away in the winter, they also were called to unload wagons in the railway goods yard. They were first of all held overnight in a cellar until a proper camp was constructed for the 30 men of the work party.Every morning when the guards released them from the cellar they stood back as the men were lousy with ticks and fleas. But Eddie said the pests never bit him. When they become established in their camp things settled down but they were always hungry. One day Eddie was out with another POW, as they passed a large barn Eddie told the other man to shut the door when he went in and only open it when he told him to. When Eddie came out he had two sacks full of crows. He had caught and killed by hand 47 birds. The crows were taken back to camp and prepared by cutting the breasts off and putting them in a large stew-pot. The cooking crow meat was a bit smelly and in the end only Eddie and one other ate the food. Eddie said that they should never complain of being hungry if they didn't know good food when it was put in front of them.

Maggi.

The prisoners started to receive Red Cross parcels, which were most welcome, but they were fed their main meals at the local old peoples home. As they were going into the home their hung on a wall a picture of Hitler. Given the chance the POW's would spit at it.
The lady running the kitchen was given the name Maggi as on the kitchen shelves were tins of soup made by a company of that name.
In time Eddie found out that Maggi had a daughter ,Gretchel,living in London.Maggi was very worried about her due to the bombing.Eddie kept racing pigeons in England and before being sent abroad had made a simple code referring family members to certain pigeons.Eddie wrote home using his code and it was worked out by his family that they were to try to help Gretchel. Letters were also sent to Gretchel and in time Eddie's mother,Grace, and eldest sister,Ethel, went to London and brought Gretchel to their home in St. Neots. Gretchel used to come to St. Neots at other times later in the war when London was targeted by V1 and V2 rockets.
Eddie used to do some work in the old peoples home clearing out the rooms of residents who died. On the wall in the home was a poster saying"Do Not Be A Burden On Your Country". If someone became ill and they did not recover in a few days a doctor was called and the person then passed away. Eddie always thought that it was a case of euthanasia.

The people of Villach.

The Town hall was opposite the old peoples home and so the prisoners quite often saw the Mayor. The Mayor greeted the POW's "Heil Hitler" their reply was"Heil Churchill". The Mayor was married to an Italian woman and one day Eddie had to do some work in their apartment. In the bedroom above their bed were two portraits. One of Hitler the other of Mussolini.
One person was called the kind lady as she used to knit woolly hats for the prisoners and also brought them biscuits she had baked. Eddie said that the people of Villach were very friendly towards the prisoners.

Recreation.

During the summer the prisoners were taken for walks in the mountains and in the winter they were taken to the local Alpine arena and were taught to ski Eddie, by all accounts, became quite a good skier. The arena has a ski jump and one day for a bet of cigarettes some prisoners went down the slope, not on skis but on a toboggan!

A death in the camp.

Eddie's best mate was a fellow named Thomas William Rolph. Bill was a fellow gunner from the same regiment as Eddie and sadly died in Villach on the 2nd of May 1944 aged 25. He was buried in the local graveyard and the Germans asked Eddie if he would like to attend the funeral, another man went with him to keep him company. Bill was given a full military funeral and a large wreath was laid by the guards. The grave was regularly attended and fresh flowers laid. After the war his body was taken to the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Klagenfurt.

Trude, Ahfter and the end of the War.

At sometime during Eddie's imprisonment he met a young girl named Trude the more they saw each other the more they fell in love. Eddie and another prisoner ,who also was seeing an Austrian girl, used to sneak out of the camp at night through a hole in the fence behind a pile of logs.
The war started to get closer to Villach with allied troops advancing through Italy. None of the POW's knew what was going to happen to them, they thought that they would be moved away.Even the guards were unsure what was to become of everyone. One guard, by the name of Ahfter, had been a very good towards the prisoners and everyone tried to help him when he said that he was going to try to get back to Germany. He asked Eddie if he would come with him saying he would be looked after by his family when he got home.Eddie said he would, the prisoners acquired a postman's uniform for Ahfter and Eddie wore an overcoat over his uniform. They found two bikes and set off. After travelling some miles they found themselves in a large convoy of German troops. Eddie decided that it was too risky for him to carry on for if stopped they would discover that he was an escaping POW and most probably shoot him and Ahfter.They said goodbye wishing each other the best of luck. Eddie always hoped that Ahfter made it home.
Eddie got back to Villach and left the bike where he had found it ,but instead of going back to the camp he headed for the village of Arnoldstein. This was where Trude lived with her parents. At Arnoldstein Eddie kept himself hidden and grew a moustache as a disguise. One night, a week or two later, there were explosions and small arms fire in the village. In the morning Eddie looked out of a window and saw some American troops outside. He went outside and they had the shock of their lives when he introduced himself to them.They took Eddie back to the camp as all German troops had left Villach.
In time all POW's were sent to an airfield to be taken back to England, before being allowed onto the plane they were told they could only take some personal possessions. Eddie had a small revolver that had been given to him by a German as a memento so he reluctantly handed it over to a Military Policeman as it was more important to get home then try to smuggle the gun onto the plane.
As the plane took off it was not the end of the story, for Eddie had plans for when he got home so he would see Trude again as you will find if you read the story of "The Poacher Comes Home"

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