大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Bill Ross of the 鈥楢ction Desk 鈥� Sheffield鈥� Team on behalf of Walter Hobson, and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr. Hobson fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
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This story tells in graphic detail, of the incarceration within the many P.O.W. camps that the contributor of this story was forced into, during WW2. It also describes the squalid, degrading and sub-human conditions that he was compelled to endure, not only within the camps, but whilst 鈥榦n the run鈥� from them. The deaths of and devastating injuries to his colleagues, whilst actually in his presence, are also described鈥︹�︹�ill Ross - 大象传媒 People's War Story Editor.
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Other parts to this story can be found at:
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There were no window frames, just a hole. So he said, 鈥淵eah, OK.鈥� I went out and there were two guards there. They said, 鈥淲here鈥檚 your friend?鈥� I said, 鈥淎lright Jack, come on.鈥� So he came out; then they marched us up a track to where there was a wire at the side (we鈥檇 three guards by this time), they said 鈥淪oldi, soldi,鈥� that means money. I said, 鈥淥h, they鈥檙e wanting our money.鈥� We鈥檇 got what we鈥檇 been earning doing the bricklaying. I said, 鈥淛ust gi鈥� 鈥榚m a few bob, don鈥檛 gi鈥� it 鈥榚m all, we might want some later.鈥� So we gave them a handful of notes. Then they took us to the wire and they鈥檇 made a hole in it. They sent us through and told us, 鈥淗ead north! Keep heading north.鈥� We鈥檇 already been told that, and that we were to avoid towns. So we set off and it was moonlight, dark and cloudy. So, we were trundling on, then we came to another wire, a big wire with bells across the top. As soon as the wire was touched, the bells rang.

I said, 鈥淭his must be no man鈥檚 land that we鈥檙e in, I reckon if we get through that wire, we鈥檒l be in Switzerland.鈥� But under the wire, they鈥檇 put bits of wood and bits of railing etc., so I got hold of one and pulled it back. Jack crawled under, and when he鈥檇 gone under, he shoved it back for me.

We set off through the fields and we came to the mountains. I said, 鈥淥h, these must be the Swiss Alps.鈥� I started climbing up a mountain, but it got dark. We tried to follow what we thought was the North Star, but all of a sudden, I disappeared. I went rolling over; I鈥檇 fallen down a ravine. I was in a right state. I could hear Jack saying, 鈥淲alt, weer ah tha? Weer ah tha? (Yorkshire dialect, Where are you?). I鈥檇 smashed my shoe and it鈥檇 made a blister on the side of my foot. Anyway, I scrambled back up, set off again and got back down, then through the fields and arrived at a road. We were marching up the road, when all of a sudden, we could hear, clomp, clomp, clomp, clomp, clomp. I said, 鈥淥h, it鈥檒l be the Swiss police.鈥� I said, 鈥淲i鈥檚 eter gi鈥� us-sens up sometime, (We鈥檒l have to give ourselves up sometime), it might as well be now.鈥� This was about 3 o鈥檆lock in the morning. Anyway, we went straight to 鈥榚m; it was two German guards. 鈥淎ndioch! Andioch!鈥� And we were in civvies. Anyway, they prodded the bayonet into us and told us to walk on, put our hands on the back of our heads, and all this stuff. They took us to their headquarters and they got this Jerry officer out of bed. He was grumbling and grousing. I could hear him swearing, and he kept saying something to us, but I couldn鈥檛 tell what he was saying. . I sez to Jack, 鈥淲ot the dickens e on abart? (What鈥檚 he talking about?)鈥� So he said, 鈥淎re you English?鈥� I said, 鈥淵es.鈥� He said, 鈥淲hy didn鈥檛 you say so?鈥� I said, 鈥淣obody鈥檚 asked us.鈥� He said, 鈥淲hat do you think I鈥檝e been asking you for the last ten minutes?鈥�

So, he asked us what we were doing, we told him we were escaped prisoners. Where had we been etc.? So he said, 鈥淩ight, lock 鈥榚m up.鈥� So they shoved us into a鈥︹��.I don鈥檛 know what it was, a coalhouse or what. When we got inside, there were a lot of spuds, potatoes; that was our bed. Anyway, the next morning, they whipped us out; they said nothing about washing or anything like that. They took us through to a big hall, like a school hall. Inside the hall, was a series of desks, and there were two at each desk. We found out that one was a German officer and one was an interpreter, and there must have been twenty of these. They took us in one at a time and they sat us on a stool in the middle. We鈥檇 arranged what to say beforehand; it鈥檚 a good job we had. I said, 鈥淔or goodness sake, don鈥檛 tell 鈥榚m who鈥檚 helped us. If they say 鈥榳eer鈥檝e ye got yer clooers, tell 鈥榚m wi鈥檝 pinched 鈥榚m (If they say (where have you got your clothes, tell them we鈥檝e pinched them). And tell em, 鈥榣ook, wi鈥檝 bin livin鈥� offer t鈥檒and soorter thing鈥� (and tell them 鈥榣ook, we鈥檝e been living off the land, sort of鈥�).鈥�

Anyway, they set off asking questions, they asked them from different points of view, and they鈥檇 ask us the same question three or four times in different ways. What they wanted to know was, 鈥溾�︹��.where are you from? What camp have you escaped from? Where have you got your clothes? Who had given them to you? Who has helped you? How have you been living?鈥� Well, we daren鈥檛 tell 鈥榚m for the life of us. I mean, they鈥檇 have gotten into trouble wouldn鈥檛 they?

They put us into jail, Milan Jail; we鈥檇 got fourteen days for escaping. When we went in, there were some more lads in there. We鈥檇 got a blanket, cut it in two, half for me and half for Jack, and that was our bed. In this room, which was about 10 by 10 (feet), there were seven plant pots, well, I called them plant pots, in the corner, with just a board round, like a shield. That was our toilet. Seven of us had to live in that place. They used to let us out for one hour a day, and that was for washing and toiletry etc. Apart from that, we were locked up, on the top floor in Milan jail. I鈥檒l never forget that; not very happy days. But I guess it was all part of living in those days. After we鈥檇 spent the fourteen days in there, they took us to a barracks. There were some more lads, about seven of them. Of course, we were dressed in civvies, and they were in a mixed uniform comprising green trousers and light blue jacket. On the table in front of us were a loaf of bread and a tin of jam. We got to talking, and one of 鈥榚m said, 鈥淎re you English?鈥� 鈥� I said, yeah, what about you?鈥� 鈥淲e are.鈥� They said, 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 look it.鈥� 鈥淚 said, 鈥淣o, we were in civvies and this is the uniform they鈥檝e given us.鈥� Anyway, they came with us; I鈥檇 a pair of light green trousers, a blue jacket and a khaki, French cap. Oh, and a grey shirt, and that was it. That was our uniform; anyway, we鈥檇 to stay in these barracks, under guard. The officer came one day and said, 鈥淵ou come with me.鈥� He took Jack and me; we went into a house, attached to the barracks. There were two women in; one was his wife. She鈥檇 never seen an Englishman, so she wanted to have a look at what we were like. Ha! Ha! We were on show. Anyway, we stayed in those barracks for about a month, and, there was a Serbian Sergeant Major, whom I got pally with. Me and him, we used to wander as far as we could around the barracks. We couldn鈥檛 get out, there was no way out. But then, we found a road out of the back. We鈥檇 to get through the wires. I said, 鈥淪ithi, wi鈥� 鈥榥 gerart er 鈥榚re (Look, we can get out of here).鈥� I said, 鈥淲ell, wi鈥檚 e鈥� te鈥� get prepared (we鈥檒l have to get prepared), get some food.鈥� So, we decided to get some food and said, 鈥淩ight, tomorrow, we鈥檙e going.鈥� Just me and him. But of course, I was taken bad with pneumonia wasn鈥檛 I? I was in a right state; I didn鈥檛 know what it was, I thought it was just 鈥榝lu. The Italians, whom we鈥檇 been bartering with, through the window, wanted to know where I was, and they sent a doctor. Jerry let the doctor come in and attend to me. He gave me some pills and what not, took my temperature and told me to keep wrapped up. Well, the Sergeant Major, he went without me; he went on his own and got away. I was still a prisoner.

They took us through the Brenner Pass, then into Austria. We went to a camp there, near Moosburg, and at this camp, there were a lot of civilians. There were men, women and kids, and there was a compound, full of French and Belgians, but the compound that they put us in was full of Americans and English. There were long rows of beds, three storeys high, no bedding at all. One day a week, they used to take us into this big concrete blockhouse thing. It had no windows in, just one door that we went through. In the middle of the ceiling, was an aperture, and they used to put a hose pipe through, with water, cold water of course. That was our bath, but before we went in, we鈥檇 to take everything off, and the clothes went on a belt, then on to the end to be deloused. We got our clothes, well, we might not have got our own clothes, but we got some. Anyway, what we didn鈥檛 know was that the 鈥榮hower鈥� was a gas chamber. If they didn鈥檛 want to put water through, they would put gas through. I thought, well, I鈥檝e been two or three times in there, and when I think about it afterwards, they could have done away with us couldn鈥檛 they? So, we stayed there about a month, after which they took us through into Germany, to Camp 11B. There, we had to work in the iron ore mines. They used to march us off in the morning, around 4 a.m. if we were on days; we鈥檇 march about three miles, work a shift, come out and march back. If we were sick, that didn鈥檛 matter, we still had to go. I did quite a few weeks down the pit there. It was boring, tiring, all the lot, and I鈥檓 goina tell ya, it was heavy work, very heavy.

They started to let us use the baths after a while, but they didn鈥檛 provide us with anything, no clothing or anything. We used to get bathed, then get back into the same clothes that we鈥檇 worked in because that鈥檚 all we had. One day, they decided to let some of us work on the pit top. We鈥檇 a nickname for all the deputies: one we called Fishface, one we called Weasel鈥︹��..well, I can鈥檛 remember them all, but there were all sorts of funny names. But while we were down the pit, we had settling lamps and Fishface had a stick; all deputies had sticks, as you know, they do in our pits. What he did, he got hold o鈥� one o鈥� our lads, and he was brayin鈥� (Yorkshire dialect, 鈥渉itting鈥�) 鈥榠m wi鈥� t鈥檚tick, so we went across to him and took his stick off him and threw it away. Then he started with the lamp, so we took the lamp off him. Anyway, they had us up in front of the camp Commandant and we explained what had happened. He let us off that particular time.

When we were on the pit top, my first job every day was to get two sacks of dandelion, clover and such as that to feed the rabbits for the deputy. Well, because I had been messing with the soil, on my hand I got a wicklow. I was in pain, I couldn鈥檛 go to work because my fingers had swollen up. I said to the Medical Orderly, 鈥淟ook at this hand.鈥� He said, 鈥淲hat yer done?鈥� I said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a wicklow, well, I think it is.鈥� So, they got a German doctor who came in on a Friday. He said, 鈥淩ight, we鈥檒l have to operate.鈥� They didn鈥檛 give me any aneasthetic or anything, he just ordered a German guard to hold my arm, and he just cut it. I nearly went mad. A couple of days later, it was still swelling up and there was like, yellow stuff coming from it, so I showed it to the orderly again and he said, 鈥淚鈥檒l show it to the officer when he comes.鈥� When the medical officer came, he said, 鈥淥h! I鈥檝e cut it the wrong way, I need to cut it up, over and down on the other side.鈥� He said, 鈥淕et him ready for Friday.鈥� So I said to the orderly, 鈥淲hat can I do?鈥� So he said, 鈥淐an you get any salt?鈥� I said, 鈥淲ell, I don鈥檛 know, the only salt I鈥檝e seen is in the German cookhouse.鈥� But, I managed to get some salt, and I got some boiling water, put the salt in and I kept bathing it and squeezing it until I got all the puss out. Then when the doctor came on Friday, he said, 鈥淥h, an abscess.鈥� So he got a pair of tweezers and pulled the abscess out, and do you know, I can still feel that to this day; it still affects me after all that time, and that was 1943.

After a while, the R.A.F. came over, bombing, and each hit seemed to be on farms all around. On this particular day, came the order: 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not going to the pits today, you鈥檙e going to clear up these farms.鈥� The farm that we went to, we were getting all the debris out of the way, and there was a big whicker basket in the middle of the farmyard. We went to this basket, and after a while, I could hear this clucking, so I went over and saw an egg. I got the egg and I managed to get it back to the camp in one piece where we boiled it. And that egg, six of us shared it. It was a novelty. None of us had tasted an egg for several years prior to that day.

They decided to move us again. Now, we stayed in the same camp, but they moved us to different works. This place where we were working, we couldn鈥檛 understand it at all. They were making a big ramp, and we were supposed to be working on it, but we wouldn鈥檛. We were having our own way. The ramp was built on a hillside, and there were some wooden steps. I said to the lads, 鈥淲e can get out here.鈥� We climbed up a shaft, and there was a trap door at the top. We opened the trap door, and we were out into the fields. We all three got out, but there was somebody else. They said, 鈥淗ave you told somebody else?鈥� I said, 鈥淣o.鈥� But who it was, it was a German who鈥檇 followed us, and he took us back. He took us into the office, and the officer went wild. When we got back to camp, they said, 鈥淎fter all we鈥檝e done for yer鈥︹�︹��.鈥� I said, 鈥淲ell, it鈥檚 our duty to escape and we were trying to escape.鈥� Anyway, we fouled it up.

They took us on a march and they were trying to get us through to their lines. We marched all day and then they put us into a building for the night. We set off the next day, and as we were marching down a road. I said to this lad with me, 鈥淕eoff,鈥� I said, 鈥淟ook, work your way to the back.鈥� So we went from the front to the back, and a corporal said, 鈥淲ot ye playin鈥� at, you two?鈥� I told him, 鈥淲e鈥檙e goina get away.鈥� He said, 鈥淒on鈥檛 bother.鈥� 鈥淲hy?鈥� I asked. He said, 鈥溾�機os we鈥檙e heading for the Yanks.鈥� So I asked, 鈥淗ow do you know?鈥� He said, 鈥淐an鈥檛 you hear that rumbling across the back?鈥� I told him, 鈥淚 thought it was Jerries.鈥� He said, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not, them鈥檚 Yankees.鈥�.............>

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