大象传媒

鈥楢s a farmer you had to work under the direction of the Wartime Agricultural Committee. They were a powerful body who told you what to grow and made sure you produced your quota. I know of a couple of farmers who had their farms taken away by the Committee as they did not follow the instructions.
鈥榃hen manpower became short first there was the Women鈥檚 Land Army. They had volunteered. Not only did they work very hard but they brightened up our lives enormously. The conscripts that followed them were never quite as hard working.
鈥楲ater we had German POWs and they were excellent workers and especially skilled at harvesting potatoes. We had one POW who would harness a plough and do an acre in a day which meant walking for nine miles guiding the horse and plough. There was just one soldier sent to guard them so evidently they were not expected to try and escape. I don鈥檛 think anybody ever tried. Late we had Italian prisoners who did not like the weather and were not much use to us.
This story was submitted to the people鈥檚 War site by a volunteer from CSV Oxford on behalf of Geoffrey Green. It is the edited transcript of a taped interview and he gave written permission for the material to be edited and published.

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