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The story published here is the transcript of meetings and tapes provided to Mrs Krista Salter, webmaster of the WWII Memories site (^{About links}) from her meetings with Mr Harry Tapley.

I had the privilege to meet up with Mr Harry Tapley of Horsell, Woking, Surrey on Thursday, 9th October 2003 for the first time.

Harry had written a wonderful and moving poem, featured on this site, about his time in PoW camp.

I have decided to dedicate a page to Harry and his memories of this time in our history and will be updating regularly as I chat to Harry about his memories and experiences.

Harry provided me with some tapes of his memories. I have now worked through them and put the transcript on this page.

Harry Tapley was originally with the 2/5th Queens Royal Regiment and then transferred to the 4th Btn Gordon Highlanders and was held PoW at Kriegsgfangener Lager Stalag XXB, XVIIIB and XXA (PoW No. 5532).

Chatting to Harry, he has some wonderful stories to tell.

One of the first he told me was that he used to go out on the working parties, not because he wanted to work for the Germans, but because it gave him and the others an opportunity to steal more food! When the working party got Red Cross parcels, there was a German guard who was always interested in the coffee (they used to use ground acorns for coffee). The guard asked Harry if he had any coffee and Harry said he did but would only exchange it for 3 loaves of bread and 3oz tobacco. The guard agreed and Harry gave him the coffee. However, the guard then said that he could only give Harry 1 loaf of bread and 1oz of tobacco and would pay the rest by instalment. Those instalments never came and as the guards and workers were not supposed to talk, Harry could do or say nothing about this. The next time Harry got a Red Cross parcel, the guard asked again about the coffee. Harry said he would let him have the coffee but the price had doubled to 6 loaves of bread and 6oz tobacco, all to be given in advance of him getting the coffee. The guard agreed and gave Harry what he requested in exchange for the coffee. This time, however, Harry and some of the other PoWs had been a bit sneaky. Before handing over the 'coffee', they steamed the label off the new jar, keeping the coffee for themselves. They then placed the label on an old jar filled with sawdust and gave it to the guard. The jar looked as though it had been unopened! As the guards and PoWs were not supposed to talk, the guard had no recourse on Harry although he did try a few times to get him put into solitary but was unsuccessful. One to the ingenuity of the PoWs and Harry in particular!

You will see a propaganda shot used by the Germans to give to the Red Cross to show that the PoWs were being treated well and in good spirits.

The PoWs were given clean clothing to wear for the photographs and, of course, they smiled as they didn't want the pictures that their loved ones were to see showing them looking depressed and sad. After the photographs were taken, the clothes were given back to the German guards. Harry is shown in the top photograph, sitting right at the front on the left next to "Ghandi" in the glasses.

Harry has kept some photocopied newspapers detailing some of the "Woking Men in the War" who have been reported missing. They include the following:

Corpl. George Wenn (Queen's) of Station Approach, West Byfleet - wounded
Pte. Norman Baker (Queen's) of Winterdyne Cottages, Station Road, West Byfleet - news anxiously awaited
Lance-Corpl. Howard Maurice G. Pryor (Queen's) of Guildford Road, Woking - reported missing
Sergt. Fredk. Kimber (Queen's) of Pollard Road, Woking - reported missing
Pte. Stanley C. Kimber (Queen's) a brother of Sergt. Kimber of Vale Farm Road, Woking - reported missing
Pte. John S. Probert (Gloucesters) of Church Street, Woking - posted as missing
Pte. Charles Mintram (Queen's) of Poole Road, Woking - wounded by shrapnel
Lance-Corpl. G. Rideout (Royal Scots) of Arthurs Bridge Road, Horsell - posted missing
Lance-Corpl. Thomas Desmond Schofield (Queen's) of Chobham Road, Knaphill and a Woking footballer - wounded by shrapnel
Pte. Stanley John Willgoss (Queen's) of Portugal Road, Woking - reported missing
Lance-Corpl. Wm. Hedley Robert Harfield of Sparvell Road, Knapill - PoW in Germany
Pte. Ronald G. Jackman (Queen's) of Eve Road, Woking - reported missing
Lance-Corpl. Frank Gilbert John White (Queen's) of East Hill, Maybury - reported missing
Lance-Corpl. Cyril May (King's Royal Rifles) of Goldsworth Road, Woking - missing at Calais
Pte. Fredk. James Moore (Queen's) of King's Road, West End - no news has been reported
Pte. Arthur Christopher Elton (Queen's) of Heathside Road, Woking - reported missing
R.S.M. E.W. Bacon (Queen's Royal Regiment) of Walton Road, Woking - killed in action in France

Harry's Son

Harry's first son was just 10 days old then and Harry feels a great deal of pain in that for the best part of his son's early years, he was not there for him or his wife, and he never could really make up for that lost time whilst he was fighting and a PoW.

I hope Harry will not mind me mentioning this but some paperwork I had left for him to peruse at his leisure was at his home when his eldest son came over to visit him. His son, Kevin, noticed the paperwork and asked his dad about it. Harry explained about our contact. Kevin said that he always assumed his dad never wanted to talk about the war and, indeed, never did. Kevin took the information to read and Harry has told me recently that he feels, for the first time, that the precious lost time he missed of Kevin's early years is beginning to be made up as they have become closer.

War Stories

Harry was in the TA, 2/5th Queens Royal Regiment. He was called up for national service in September 1939 after being at camp. His initial duties saw him travelling to Odiham Water Works where he was on guard on a 2-on/4-off rota for 10 days solid. Harry was then sent back to Stoughton Barracks for a week before setting off to guard Farnborough Aerodrome for 10 days on the same 2-on/4-off rota. Harry recalls that the guard duties were very much "Dad's Army" in nature - they had no guns, just pick shafts! Guns were not allowed in the aerodrome as there was so much flammable liquid around. Harry laughed and said that he was sure that the Germans, who were armed with guns, weren't worried about that! It seems a shame that Harry was told recently that he was not entitled to the Defence Medal as he was, apparently, not defending his country for 6 months...Harry was transferred to the Gordon Highlanders as they were looking for drivers and mechanics. He was with them a week when, on 20th October 1939, he was sent to France with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to Bologne.

Late Back

Harry got leave in March 1940 for 10 days. At the time, he was a driver for a Sergent Major in a Morris Commercial with a Bren Gun Anti-Aircraft mounting. He recalls Davey Hughs used to operate the Bren Gun and he brought down a Stuka (dive bomber) with it! Harry went on leave after just having had some vaccinations, so his arm was quite sore. He and his friend, Taffy McKnight, said that they were going to go back to Stoughton to see if they could extend their leave for compassionate reasons, ie. a sore arm. As you can imagine, that was turned down.

Harry was due to go back to France on the Saturday but there was a dance at the Labour Club and Beryl loved dancing and wanted to go. Harry decided to stay until the Sunday and took her out. Sunday came and he decided to stay another day. Therefore, he was now 2 days overdue to go back and that could mean time in jankers for him and, worse still, no pay for Beryl, which was his greatest concern.

Monday came and Harry went to London to get the 'leave train' but the boat had been cancelled. He had to go to rest camp that night (near Waterloo Station). Harry wondered if Taffy had also overstayed but he couldn't see him anywhere. Next morning, Harry was getting on the train and looking for Taffy. He was getting more and more worried about Beryl losing pay as the last man who was just one day late back got 10 days in jankers and loss of pay for his family for that time. Harry was now 3 days late! Harry caught the train and boat back to Bologne and headed back to La Madeleine where the camp was. Suddenly he sees Taffy and they have a chat. Taffy didn't get compassionate leave either so just decided to go back late too. Harry said it just felt better when there were two of you late!

When they got back to La Madeleine, the unit had changed billets (sleeping quarters) to a big chateau. Harry asked where the company office had been set up so he could hand back the leave pass (which had dates on it!). He was told where it was and said to Taffy that he'd hand his pass in two, save them both going down there.

When he got to the office, Harry noticed no-one was around and there were just two large trays marked "IN" and "OUT" full of passes. He quickly slipped his and Taffy's passes to the bottom of the "IN" tray, under the other passes and left.

It seems due to bad filing/organisation, both he and Taffy got away with their extra days leave!

Cow Shed

Harry recalls that whilst a PoW they once stayed in a cow shed, sleeping on 'shelves' with just a blanket and your grey coat to cover you and keep you warm. Men often slept together to try and keep warm as it was bitter cold.

One incident chilled Harry to the bone. At 4am a German guard came into the shed and said to one soldier to get up and milk the cows. The soldier had worked on the farm but had not been shown how to milk cows and said he would but someone would have to show him how. The guard seemed to get irritated and shouted at him to milk the cows. The soldier said again that he would but would have to be shown as he couldn't do it yet. The guard must have misunderstood as he just turned around and shot the soldier straight through the head...

Polish Guard

When at Market Garden, there was a river in which the PoWs could occasionally swim but the current was strong and dragged you downstream to where you could get out. Harry remembers a Polish guard and they used to always have a go at him for joining the Germans. One day the guard turned around and said that none of the PoWs knew the circumstances in which he joined the German Army. It turned out that the Germans came to his village one day and dragged his family out of their house. They said to him that he had to join the German Army or they would take each member of his family and put them in different PoW camps so they never saw eachother again. The guard felt he had no choice but to join...

Shopping

Harry had a job at a sawmill where he, somewhat ironically, made the iron bars to put on the windows of the PoW quarters!

The PoWs got Red Cross parcels which they would trade. Harry had 'fixed' the bars of his quarters window so they could get in and out at night. However, on the first night, he lifted the bars up and they touched the uninsulated overhead power cable blacking out the whole camp! Suffice to say he had to amend the bars so they dropped downwards after that.

To get out and back from the room, you had to hang from the window sill and drop down to ground level. In order to get back into the room, the PoWs had to lower a blanket for their comrade to climb up.

One night, Harry was hanging off the sill and dropped down straight onto something soft. It turned out it was a Luftwafer Pilot creeping along under their windows. The two of them were totally astonished. They looked at eachother and the pilot said the he would not say anything if Harry didn't - the pilot should not have been there! It seems he was off to a civilian house to see the lady there...

One time Harry was asked by the Luftwafter pilot's 'lady' to get soap for the house and gave him a time to bring it to her. He went to the house as planned. Inside the house was a larder with a see-through grill in it. He was there when some German guards arrived. She shoved him in the larder. He heard the guards ask her if she had seen any 'Englanders' or would she have anything to do with them. It seems they had done a 'count' of the PoWs and some were missing! She looked horrified and even spat on the floor saying no, she hadn't seen any or want anything to do with them. When they were gone, she let him out and he made it back to the barracks without being caught.

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