大象传媒

1939: Northumberland Hussars, Cavalry Regiment, Territorial Army - Fred Mason, age 17.

Spring 1939: Two weeks camp at Welbeck Abbey "B" Squadron commanded by Lord Ridley. Mainly horse training.

Sept 1 1939: Received callup papers, reported to Gosforth Park. 3 weeks army drill and PT (No horses). Regiment moved to Yorkshire. "B" Squadron billeted at Wydale. Horses arrived.

Dec 1939: Moved to Louth,Lincolnshire. December horses handed over to another regiment. Northumberland Hussars now bcame 102nd Northumberland Hussars Light Anti-Tank and Anti-Aircraft Regiment.

May & June 1940: M.T. Instruction, Bofor gun and anti-tank training. Moved to Alford, Northamptonshire. "B" Squadron based at Moulton. Extra reinforcements drafted into regiment in September in preparation for overseas. November: embarked from Liverpool on S.S.Strathallon, called at Freetown and then Durban, South Afria where shore leave was granted. Arrived at Port Said, Egypt in December 1940. Train to El.Tahag - 70 miles from Cairo near Sweet Water Canal. Billeted in tent's regiment. Equipped for Greece as part of the 1st Armoured Brigade. Further training.

1941: 1st April "B" Battery boarded SS Cameronia for Piraeus, Athens. Left for Northern Greece - Kozani. Complete change of weather - now wet, slush and snow. Tried to hold the Metamorphos Pass with allies including Greek Horse Artillery but to no avail. April 22-23: Dive bombing and heavy tank attacks continued. It was now a rearguard action for the Northumberland Hussars and the New Zealand allies. Athens was reached on 25 April after a 12 hour battle and 160 mile march through the night. 26 April: On Rafina Beach, near Athens waiting to be evacuated. All our guns and equipment were destroyed by ourselves. 27 April: Taken off beach by HMS Havoc (Destroyer)and landed at Suda on the island of Crete. 2 May: Regiment was equipped with rifles to fight as infantry on the Akrotiri Peninsula between Canea and Suda. From 15 May, air attacks were heavy and more frequent. 11 gliders landed in our area but by the 26 May, the peninsula was under our control and all gliders were destroyed. Unfortunately we were gradually losing ground on other parts of the island. May 27: Evacuation of Crete was decided. We had to withdraw across the mountains from the town of Suda to Sphakia, a distance of 50 miles, it was there that we hoped to embark to Egypt. A lot of troops did get away but owing to heavy shipping losses, embarkation was stopped and we who were left had orders to capitulate to advancing German forces on 31 May. We were now Prisoners of War and we were taken from Crete on Italian ships to Salonika, after a few days we were transported by rail on cattle wagons to Germany, it took 7 days and we weren't in a very good state on arrival.

I spent 4 years as a prisoner, 2 years in Stalag IIID Berlin and 2 years in Stalag IVB Muhlberg.

1945: On April 23, our Camp Stalag IVB was liberated by the Russian horse soldiers (Cossacks). They had little food as they lived on the land as they advanced. We were hungry so we left the camp and found our own food. We were invited to have food with the Russian troops later. A lot of them were women - well dressed and well armed. Two to three weeks later we were exchanged with Russian prisoners by the Americans. We were taken to an airforce base from where we were flown to Worthing in southern England and home. Six week leave was granted after which I had to report back to the army. De-mob was still a long way off.

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