大象传媒

We all had a bad night and when we did wake up some of the men were already up and about. We heard one of the guards shouting "roust, roust" which translated to get out. We all paraded and a N C O took the parade. His staff were all senior
N C O's. Then marched out was a German Officer and we noticed a British soldier standing by the wooden box, which the Officer had used to stand on, so that everyone could see him. The parade was called to attention and some of the men took notice. The N C O, that was in charge of the parade saluted the other Officer and the salute was returned by the other Officer. The officer spoke in German so the British interpreter repeated what had been said. This went on for about a half an hour. We were then dismissed and the Officer marched away. The N C O that commanded the Prisoners-of-War was C S M Savage of the Seaforth Highlanders.
Men were walking around the camp and we found the toilet. It was along trench which had been dug deep and there was a tree pole running right around the trench. It had a roof but it was full of flies and it was very dirty and smelly. This toilet was used by the N C O's and all of the men.
After a few days we were documented and a photograph of each man had been taken. Each man either held or he had hanging a board around his neck with his Stalag number. On it, you were then handed a metal tag to hand around your neck. My Stalag number was 5353. If you died or you got killed, half of this tag was put on your coffin and the othher half was sent to the International Red Cross.
Half of the camp had soup at midday and the other half had bread, this was changed every week. Bread once a week, soup the next. The food was bad, it was unfit to eat, rotten boiled potatoes, barley soup mixed with cattle blood or spinach. before you ate this you had to drain off the water and took out the spinach. Then you had to tip the sand which had been left on the bottom. Nothing was washed before it was cooked. potatoes were shovelled into a boiler. My comrades, Benham and Norris got the job of cooking potatoes. One would have thought that there would have been extra for those of us that they knew, not on your life. You exchanged cigarettes or anything worth exchanging to get the extra potatoes, but it was better to burn the bad potatoes before you ate them.
Now men were beginning to suffer with the runs(diarrohea) and we told them to burn their bread also the potatoes and to eat wood ash, that helped some of the men. Some did as you told them but there were others that did not. I cannot say how many men lost their lives due to this.
Next, the Germans were asking for home addresses and also what work you had done before joining the Services. They also wanted your nationality address. You would never have believed of some of the addresses that the men had given. Some of them said the Tower of London, Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, and also to living on barges on the rivers. It was unbelievable that jobs such as Road Sweepers, Dancers, Clockwinders, Bank Staff and Fruit pickers and hearing the wit that went with these answers. Later we learnt why they wanted this information. They started interviewing the Irish men and they asked them why were they fighting with the British? At an interview, an old soldier was asked this question and he replied that he had served in the British Army for 26 years for 3 meals a day, a Sunday suit and 14 shillings (old money) a week, also that he had seen the world. Some days after this we noticed that a working party was being formed. It consisted of about 75 -100
N C O's and Irish men. We wondered if they were going to work in the S S Barracks, the lads said say no more.
The German Officers in the camp took photos of men, one on a visit showed Buckingham Palace with the German flag flying above it. This did not go down very well. Another time there was two Officers and they asked two Prisoners-of-War to do the Nazi salute and their photos were taken. The Officers gave them some bread but as the Officers walked away, the men grabbed and the cry went out "What shall we do with them" and someone shouted "Throw them in the Cesspit" and they did!
One morning when we were on parade, the Camp Commandant told the interpreter to climb on his box. This he did and he was told to say "Tell them you are a Jew" and he said to shout it louder. This the man did and all of a sudden, one large cheer went up for the men.
We were walking alive with lice, Night and morning one could see the men's shirts and trousers had been taken off and they were trying to kill the lice.
When a German Company of troops or the Hitler Youth passed the camp they always broke into singing one of their War songs singing the "downfall of England", then the men would mock them and sing the same song but ended it with "Germany no more"
The other Prisoners-of-War in the camp were 250 Polish officers and every night at sundown they would gather at the top of the camp for a sing song and also prayed for about a half an hour, this happened 7 days a week. Ted Benham and Norris were together and I met a man called George Gee, who was also from the East Surrey's. We worked together, waiting for a working party, a man went sick. This working party lived in the camp but went out every day but returned at night. The farm was about
5 miles the other side of the village. When we arrived at the farm, my job was
painting the doors and house. The farm belonged to a German officer. He had lost a leg in the War with Poland. While I was working in the house, the others worked with the Polish labour on the land. We had good food here. We had a snack about
10.30a.m and lunch at 12.00p.m then a snack when we finished work. I had some paint undercoat so I rubbed it down to do it and I noticed a window was open above the door. I stood on the steps and looked in and I saw sausages hanging down also pickled eggs, so I helped myself and I took this food back to the camp. George also manged to get some extra, but you had to keep this to yourselves. I got potatoes, swedes, you name it, if it was there I found it. I had this job for 5 weeks. After having a snack, I was sitting down when the farmer walked in and he called me everything and then he hit me with his walking stick. I was taking out of the house, to wait for the farmer. Then a rope was put around my neck and I was then tied to the back of a buggy and the horse walked all the way to the camp. Then out came the guard and spoke to the farmer. By this time the farmer had cooled down a bit and he said sorry. The guard told me to march and as I did I got a kick up te backside and then I was taken to punishment camp. We never left the camp. To get our food, two men would collect our rations then the men would return to the punishment camp, which was a large tent. We slept on straw and after our meal, I joined them, baling out the new toilets. As I was the newest member, I was at the bottom. We used a pail, which we part filled with toilte, then we passed it up to a tank which was on a cart. When the tank was full, it was pulled and pushed out of the camp onto a field. As it run out at the back, it was pulled along the field and once the tap was open, you pulled hard. I did this job with others for 14 days and then I was returned to the main camp.
We were writng cards to home then the first Red Cross parcel arrived. The N C O moved the parcels to the Stores. When the job was finished, there was 50 parcels went missing. It could not have been the N C O because there were 4 guards present at all times when the parcels were issued. It was 12 men to each parcel and we all got a taste of the ration of bread which was 12 men to a loaf. But when the bread was unfit to eat then it was down to 8 men to a loaf. If the bread was mouldy then we just burnt it in the fire and then we ate it. I have seen men give up their bread rations for a cigarette, this was then passed around and their bread was shared with Gordon Rolls, who was also in the camp.This man had been left a fortune before the war. It was a pity to see him let himself go. He would give out I O U's for a man's ration of bread. An old soldier took a hand in trying to help this man and to try to keep him clean. He looked after him all the time that he was a Prisoner-of-War. He had parcels sent to him and a brand new uniform, shirts, underwear and boots. He did look very smart, while the rest of us had Dutch clogs to wear. We had no boots to wear and we had to wait until they arrived. As our uniforms wore out we were dressed in Polish, Dutch or Belgium uniforms.
George Gee and myself plus another 100 other Prisoners-of-War were going on a working party. We arrived at a Nunnery but without nuns! This was our billet and we were to build a road between two large lakes. The Polish villagers said that this was a complete waste of time,but the Germans knew better! Men were digging into a hill, loading the skips. They then pushed them to the site, shifting the soil on the land between the lake. One day, after lunch our guard took the men to a Jewish Cemetary and there we were ordered to break every tombstone. The lads said in no way! But next we heard the bolts on the rifle going back, it was a stand off, either we did it or we would have been shot. Under protest we carried out what was ordered and went ahead and done their dirty work. I think that night every man prayed for forgiveness for carrying out this barbaric action.
Winter 1940 was now on us and we could not work, the men now had started to understand some German, so men went out working in the town. We did this in turn.
We were about early this morning and along came a job at a German Barracks unloading coal. For this we got half a loaf of bread each and thick soup befor we returned at night to the camp. Also we had German weak tea laced with Schnapps and this made us feel warm. Schnapps is a spirit.
We were sending letters home once a month and we were aslo receiving letters also some parcels. The first parcel that I received was of carbolic soap, chocolate and clothing. The chocolate tasted of carbolic soap but we all ate it and that was for 12 of us in our room.
It was Christmas and no work. We had such a blow out on pea soup that we wondered if we could take the strain!. It was just to say you had a meal at Christmas away from home, not knowing what was happening. None of us slept that night.
Two days later and once again at the Barracks unloading food from Railway wagons. We, each had 15 men on the job and had a loaf each. Even the guard took a shave. We had also stolen a box of dried vegetables. This was in packets, the guard also had one. Some of the guards would turn a blind eye, so some would tell you what was going on in the news, but even they had to watch what they said or done. Throughout he winter it had been bad, the money that we had earned was now gone and the lads were now using brown paper or cardboard as substitute cigarettes. You smoked whatever you could get hold of.
It was back to working off the road, we still got work at the Barracks and also got extra food, but we still stole whenever we could. We then returned to the camp.

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