大象传媒

The World War II Memories of
Gunner Harold Quick
950013
387th Battery, 97th (Kent Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery

In June 1939, every young man in England who reached the age of 21 in 1939 had to register for military service (for 6 months training and 2 years in the reserves). I was called up for Army training in August 1939 to Deepcut Barracks at Aldershot. War was declared on 3rd September 1939.

In early 1940, after my training I was shipped to France to a reinforcement holding camp. After the Germans invaded Holland and Belgium I was assigned with some others to reinforce the Kent Yeomanry, Royal Artillery somewhere in Belgium. After a train ride to the northern area of France near Lille, we marched to many places all around the area but because of the rapid movement of troops we never met up with the Regiment. We kept attaching ourselves to other units for a short time.

I know now that the regiment was located in 15 different places in the 18 days before finally being evacuated from Dunkirk. (In July 2005 my family took me on a trip to revisit the area and some of the places e.g Oppy, Pont 脿 Vendin, Neuvireuil, Gavrelle, Ypres and Les Moeurs). Eventually, we were instructed to go towards Dunkirk. In fact, we were told, 鈥淢arch towards the column of smoke.鈥� Although I don鈥檛 remember all of the places we went through, I have a vivid memory of marching through the Menin Gate in Ypres. After several days marching alongside a canal, we eventually reached the outskirts of Dunkirk. We had passed through miles of abandoned equipment 鈥� trucks and guns pushed off the roadsides. When we reached the sea, our small group split up and I spent some time in the dunes north of the town. Each day we all waited for ships and tried to avoid the air attacks. We had no supplies and we were all filthy and desperately tired. Finally, I was directed to the Mole where I was lucky and I got aboard a ship back to England. I believe I arrived back in Dover but I cannot be sure 鈥� everything was so chaotic. We were immediately loaded onto trains, given some food and a drink and moved away to the West Country.

Once back in UK, I was initially assigned to private digs and took some leave with relatives in Hampshire. The Regiment was reformed in Abergele, North Wales 鈥� this was the first time that I had actually been with the regiment! We were initially sent down to Swansea for training and to man naval guns as defence of the docks. In February 1941 we were moved to Essex as coastal defence. I was billeted in various places, Galleywood, Writtle, Roxwell and St Osyth. During this period we did a lot of training for overseas duty including a week on Salisbury Plain. We manned guns on Martello Towers on and off the coast. During a brief leave in late May 1941, I returned home to get married by special licence. My wife, Joan, was doing war work on the buses back home in Nottinghamshire but she did manage to come to Essex to visit me.

At the end of August 1941, the regiment was assigned to reinforce the army in the Middle East. We moved from Essex to Scotland by train and were put on a ship (RMS Orontes) 鈥� we had to wait aboard until the convoy was put together. We were at sea for nearly 2 months, calling at Freetown and Capetown before arriving in Bombay on 23rd October 1941. We were only in Bombay for a day before being transferred to HMT Devonshire and sailing towards Iraq. After landing in Basra, the Regiment was posted to Habbaniya for desert training. We had 6 months in Iraq training and working with other units of the 10th Indian Division.

In late May 1942 we were sent to Libya in North Africa. As we drove our trucks and guns from Iraq to Egypt, it was my first wedding anniversary and I picked a rose from a roadside bush and sent it in a letter to my wife.

We were to defend Tobruk against the German forces commanded by General Rommel. Because the official British anti-tank gun (a 2-pounder) was useless against the German Tiger tanks, we were assigned with our 25-pounders to be an anti-tank defence in front of the infantry. The Germans attacked on 28th May and soon reached the Tobruk area. On 16th June 1942 we were camped in Salum defending the route back to Egypt when my battery was ordered by our Colonel to stand until all of the light troops had pulled back. Because our equipment was heavy, we were slower in getting away and were encircled by the rapidly advancing German troops (1st Panzer). We were trying to escape through the German lines when our truck was badly shot up and caught fire. We had to stop and my mate and I pulled our driver, who had lost his leg in the shelling, out of the truck - as we thought it would explode with all of the ammunition inside. The other 2 members of our crew had been killed instantly.

In all, 4 guns and about 50 to 60 of our regiment were captured. I have read since then that the total number of Allied troops captured during this offensive was 30,000.

Initially, we were taken by lorry to Tripoli. We were guarded by Italian Abyssinian troops and were about 30 to a truck. We could not sit down. We were put in a compound on the outskirts of the city. We lived in tents for about a week until we were shipped to Brindisi in Italy. We were put into a prisoner of war camp there. Conditions were very poor, no proper accommodation 鈥� a few tents for shade or shelter, not much food and water was rationed 鈥� only available every few days and often in the middle of the night. The Italian Carabinieri controlled the camps. They were very tough and you had to watch what you did or said, as they were very quick to hit you with their rifle buts for any minor rule infringements. By September 1942 I was in a big camp (Capua north of Naples) (we could see Mount Vesuvius 鈥� which we could see glowing at night. This camp, (No. P.G. 66, Settore 5), was only a transit camp and after a few weeks I was moved again to Camp P.G. 65 in Gravina, which was a proper camp with huts and we had bunk beds. In this camp disease became a problem because we didn鈥檛 get a good and regular supply of water. I made friends with Sgt. Harold Reddington, who was a PT instructor, and he made a small group of us exercise and wash regularly to keep us healthy. Some other prisoners died of malnutrition and disease.

I was in Gravina and a few other camps during the next year. Finally, being in camp P.G. 53 Sforza Costa, until the Italians capitulated in September 1943. Our Senior British Officer (SBO) told us to stay in our camp as the Red Cross officials had recommended to him. However, some prisoners left the camp and removed the POW red patches on their uniforms. The Germans, who were moving into Italy to take over from the Italians, thought they were paratroopers and shot them. The Germans moved us from the camp and sent us by train to Germany. I was assigned to Stalag IVG 鈥� which was a huge camp 鈥� over 5000 prisoners. The Germans deloused us, shaved our heads and gave us injections.

The huts in the camp held about 100 prisoners. We slept in 3-tiered wooden bunks. We had a straw mattress, pillow and a blanket each. Occasionally we were allowed to replace the straw in the mattresses. Food was still very basic - thin soup, bread and water. We made up for it with our Red Cross parcels. These should have arrived every week but if the Allies were bombing the German ports there would be a delay sometimes as long as a month. The regular parcels contained basics such as soap, cigarettes, chocolate and powdered milk. We also sometimes got special parcels sent by our relatives that held things such as socks or scarves. The Red Cross made regular inspections but we knew when one was going to happen as the Germans made sure the camp was in better condition and that all of the parcels had been distributed.

After a period, I was sent to a work camp allied to Stalag IVG that was situated between Dresden and Leipzig. This camp had stone built barracks that we had to keep clean at all times. The guards would not tolerate any fleas or lice. The work was in a large stone quarry, where we had to break up large rocks into smaller ones that could be transported to a crushing machine to make road stone. We worked in pairs, 7 days a week, to break up the rocks and we had a daily quota of 10 tons. My mate was a big Welshman who could break rocks at a great rate. One day I was caught in the eye by a bit of flying stone. For a time I had to go regularly down to the German troop barracks to receive medical treatment. Because of my injury, I was transferred to driving the small diesel locomotive that pulled a train taking the stone from the quarry floor to the crushing machine. An old German professor, whose sons had been killed by the Nazis, was assigned to act as my civilian supervisor in the quarry.

Cigarettes were used as currency in the camps. I did not smoke, so I could barter my allowance with the local civilians for food such as dark black rye bread. My mates used to give me their cigarettes to trade on their behalf. My supervisor knew I was doing it but he didn鈥檛 care. I used to smuggle loaves of bread back into camp by hanging them between my legs and covered by a long Russian greatcoat I had been given. The food in the work camp was only slightly better than in Stalag IVG 鈥� we did get some potatoes and lots of sauerkraut!

We had roll calls at least twice a day, morning and evening, or whenever there was suspicion of an escape attempt. Many of the guards had been on the Russian front and had been wounded. They were very bitter and it did not take much to anger them. One guard regularly used to throw water over us to wake us up in the morning 鈥� leaving us with wet straw in our beds. At this work camp we had a football (soccer) pitch and we played every evening after our work. We played teams of other prisoners and eventually we even played a team of German guards. We had to make our own entertainment 鈥� one Christmas we had a fancy dress party 鈥� I dressed as an African native using black boot polish on my face. Others actually dressed as German guards! One of my hut mates actually had an affair with the only German women working in the quarry 鈥� she operated the crushing machine. He would break out of the camp at night through a loose set of window bars to meet her 鈥� returning in the early hours. The guards had a suspicion about him but never managed to catch him. When the war was over he stayed behind with his lady friend.

We got news of how the war was progressing through our contacts with the German civilian workers in the quarry office or from the guards. We heard about the D-Day invasion and the progress towards the final occupation of Germany. As our camp (nr Oschatz) was very near to the Polish and Czech borders, our guards were frightened of the advancing Russian army 鈥� many of them had served on the Russian Front 鈥� so to avoid the camp being liberated by the Russians, they marched us all westwards towards the advancing American and British Armies. Groups from several work camps joined us so we were a large contingent. I 鈥渇ound鈥� a small 4-wheeled truck that we used to pull with our kit bags on. Eventually we came to a large river (the River Mulder, I think). We could see military movement on the other bank and some of our group, who been signalers before capture, signaled across the river. Several US Army officers came across the river and our guards were happy to surrender to them.

We were shipped across the river in small boats to an American camp. Here there was lots of food and I was told where I could get loaves of bread 鈥� lots of them. We were kept here for about 2 weeks before being taken by train to a large transit camp in Belgium (just outside Brussels). The Americans ran this camp and we were kept here until transport back to England could be arranged. Initially several Avro Lancaster bombers were sent for us to ride in the bomb bay but the weather was too stormy for this to be safe, so we had to wait until some Dakotas (troop transport planes) could be sent. I landed near Yeovil (Yeovilton?). Once back in UK, I was given a few days leave which I again used to visit my relatives in nearby Hampshire. We were all medically examined and issued with new kit (I had had to make do with my original kit for the 3 years I had been a prisoner). I was assigned to an ATS camp in Hucknall near to my home in Nottinghamshire, so I was able to cycle home every night. In June 1946, I was sent to the demob (de-mobilisation) camp in York, issued with my demob suit and sent home.

Harold Quick

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my son-in-law, Alasdair Heathcote, who has transcribed my recollections and who has verified some of the dates and places for me.

Boris Mollo, the Curator of the Kent and Sharpshooters Yeomanry Museum has been helpful as well as David Whitehouse, Curator of the SYA Museum Trust in Bexleyheath, who transcribed the Regiments key dates from Colonel Lushington鈥檚 book.

References
The 大象传媒 web site has excellent summaries of the major battles of WWII 鈥� North Africa is covered at ^{About links}

This is a good account of the reality of POW camps in Italy and Germany

^{About links}

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