大象传媒

I was 23 when I was taken prisoner of war. I was a tank man in tank corps.

We were woken at 4 a.m. to assist Queen鈥檚 Regiment 鈥� we got to the front and too close to the Germans. The tan was hit and the second time the tank was set on fire. We were ordered to 鈥渂ail out鈥� but I couldn鈥檛 get out straight away and I was left alone.

By the time I got out I jumped over a hedge but was hit again in the leg. I rolled down a hill and when I landed at the bottom a German with a machine gun was covering me. We stayed there all day. He moved off and I tried to escape, but was surrounded by German infantry men. They marched me back about 2 miles behind line, to an Italian village.

They moved us by train to Munich 鈥� I was kept prisoner for 10 months. I worked in a sugar factory carrying 100 kilo sacks of sugar. I was freed by the American division in 1945 when I was able to come home.

I got six weeks leave and then I was prepared to go to the east. Then the Japanese surrendered and we were shipped off as an army of occupation to Germany 鈥� where I was for about 18 months.

This story was collected by Lis Edwards and submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Becky Barugh, both of the 大象传媒 Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Harry Ratherem and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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