大象传媒

As I was growing up I was always aware that my grandfather had fought in World War Two and that he had been captured in Crete, my Mum has told me that he was reluctant to talk about his experiences in the war and so we know very little about what he experienced at first hand. Unfortunately Grandpa died in 1989 when I was eight so I never had the opportunity to listen to any of his war stories. However in 1991, when I was 10, I had to do a school project on the Second World War; and to help me with this my Gran wrote a little bit about what happened to Grandpa throughout the course of the War. This is the only written account that I have, apart from letters that Nana received from Grandpa when he was a prisoner of war.

鈥淚n 1936 Grandpa joined the Territorial Army with one of his old school friends, Reg. Although Hitler was making himself known across Europe neither Nana nor Grandpa entertained any serious thoughts of Grandpa having to go and fight in a war. However, by 1939 Britain had declared war on Germany and Grandpa was one of the first to be 鈥榗alled up鈥� and was attached to the Royal Artillery Regiment. At first he was stationed on the 鈥業sle of Dogs鈥� and helped to man the heavy guns waiting to fire on any German planes which got as far as the River Thames. This was not a permanent station though, and in 1940 Grandpa was sent to Norway, but not for long as Hitler鈥檚 bombers were getting very busy.

Finally, the British Force was evacuated and Grandpa was one of the last to leave the fjord to board the waiting ship. There was a very hurried dash to locate a destroyer somewhere in the North Sea, this must have been a very hair-raising occasion, as the soldiers with all their heavy 鈥榢it鈥�, had to walk a wooden plank to get on board, there was nothing to hold on to and the two ships were heaving up and down in the rough sea.

This was a bad time for Britain, as Germany had been preparing for war very much longer than Britain, and had overrun all the Continental Countries including France. The occupation of France meant that there had to be another evacuation, this time from Dunkirk. This was a great set-back for Britain and many men were lost including my brother Fred (your Great-Uncle), who was in the Military Police.

By 1942 Grandpa was in the Middle East where Hitler was also very busy. His Regiment was eventually taken to the Greek Island of Crete where he was under the command of New Zealanders. After some vicious dive-bombing attacks on the troops, they took to the hills and were looked after by the Cretans. Eventually the New Zealand commanders surrendered and Grandpa was taken Prisoner of War. After surrender the march across Crete to the marshalling area on the northern beaches was very unpleasant. Some of the men died and many contracted dysentery. There was no proper prisoner of war camp on Crete and eventually he was loaded into a 鈥榗attle truck鈥� type train and transported through Yugoslavia to a holding camp in Marabor, and then into Southern Austria where he stayed in Stalag camp XVIIIA in Wolfsberg, Austria. After a time in the camp, the prisoners were given the opportunity to go and work on local farms in the area. Grandpa, and his friend Reg, decided they would do this. Conditions were so bad in the camp that they decided working on a camp could be no worse. Luckily, the farm where Grandpa went, which was in a small village under the jurisdiction of Stalag XVIIIA called St Georgen, was run by a nice family and conditions were not too bad, and he was treated fairly. The son of the farmer had been forcibly conscripted into the German Vermacht. Grandpa stayed here until sometime beforel Germany surrendered in May 1945.鈥�

As a post script, I know that close to the time of the German surrender Grandpa and Reg simply walked out of the farm and began to make there journey home. We are unsure of the route that they took, but Grandpa told my Mum that he saw Himmler鈥檚 body whilst he was on these travels. We do have a letter that Grandpa wrote to Nana on the special 鈥榁 for Victory鈥� paper telling her that he was safe and coming home. In 1956, Grandpa was reunited with the old farmer when he took his family back to Southern Austria to see where he had been a prisoner.

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