大象传媒

After a week of this we were visited by a German Colonel. Who questioned us as to who we were, and where we were picked up, he expressed his surprise at the way we were being treated, he soon altered the conditions. I must say now that our original captors at least did treat us a bit better than the Hitler Youth kids. We were allowed to visit the toilet when we wished to, the food was improved and we were allowed to walk outside for half an hour each day, of course under guard, there wasn鈥檛 much love lost between the average German soldier and the Hitler lads at all. Another two days we were interrogated as to where we were captured in the first place, what camps we had been in and where did we escape from. Eventually we were left alone and our food was brought to us and we bedded down for the night, just imagine our position, dressed in raggy Itie clothes, unshaven, no identity whatsoever, not a very pleasant situation. Next morning the German Colonel came again and said we would be taken to a prison camp somewhere in Germany. Later in the day the Germans who captured us in the cave arrived to escort us out of the gaol to our next stopping place, we were put onto a lorry and driven away. We drove into a camp at Aquilla, this had been a P.O.W. camp for the English prisoners of the Ities. There were several more who had been rounded up in the surrounding countryside waiting to be removed. We were given food and bedding, next morning another batch of prisoners were brought in, all the same as we were, unshaven and in rags. A couple more days later more arrivals came and soon we were taken to the railway station and bundled into cattle trucks eventually bound for Germany and who knows what.

We travelled all day and at night we were let out of our trucks to receive food, black bread and sausage. We were marched into a large field and told to sleep for the night. Sleep!! it rained all night. Next morning up again to the railway station and into the cattle trucks again, this time a different train with different guards. Our journey took us through Milan, Bologne and eventually through the Brenner Pass. There was only a small window high up in each corner of the truck so visibility was limited. After what seemed ages the train stopped and we were let out onto the platform of a station, it was Innsbruck in Austria, here we were given some food and water but were kept under strict guard, after a short while on the train again until we finally arrived at what turned out to be our destination, Moosberg in Bavaria.

Here we were met with sentries accompanied with huge guard dogs, snapping and growling, we marched off and came to our destination, Stalag 7a, to start another spell of prison camp life. In Italy we were called Prigionere de Guerra (prisoners of war), in Germany we became Kriegsgefangener, Kriedies for short. We were taken to the showers and were given a close hair cut and then kitted out in British battle dress and eventually finger printed and our photograph taken, each holding a board in front of us on which our prison number was chalked, nine was 131143. Then we were asked our name, army rank and civilian occupation, and were each given a card to fill in to let our families know we were once again in captivity. We had been settled in about five days when my twenty fourth birthday came up. I had not written to my family since August 1943, it was now May 1944. This camp was a large one, it contained British, Canadian, Australian, South African, New Zealanders and a few American, each nationality being kept in separate compounds. We were allotted to various huts in our respective compounds and so started another spell of prison life. Conditions here were much better than in the Itie camps, the beds were at one end of the hut, the other end near the door contained three large tables, and a large wood burning stove for cooking purposes. After a few weeks of this there came a call for volunteers to work on the local farms, this seemed attractive enough so eighteen of us put our names down and were taken to a village about ten miles away.

We were each allotted to a farm, I ended up with a farm wife, middle aged who ran the farm with her sister, both of whose husbands were prisoners of war somewhere in England. Life here was fairly good doing the odd farm jobs, mucking out, helping to gather crops, helping to thresh the grain crops etc., we had our main meals with the family, those I was with consisted of the two sisters and the two young children of the younger one.

After a month of this we were returned to camp, someone had made an attempt to escape, there were a lot of prison farm workers, Poles, etc, scattered around the countryside. Soon the winter began to make itself known, somewhere in camp was a radio, from which we had news bulletins, we already knew of the invasion of Normandy, but not a lot of detail. We now began to prepare ourselves for Xmas and winter. Most thought 鈥淕ood Heavens鈥� another Xmas away from home, this was my sixth. Would this damn war ever end!! There was a plentiful supply of Red Cross parcels, and fire wood for the stove, when the snow was very thick, the commandant let us fetch a Christmas tree in from the surrounding woods, the camp was situated in a large forest. The old commandant had himself been a prisoner of war in England in the First World War (Swanwick), he was a bit sympathetic to our cause.

About the middle of February 1945 all sergeants and upwards were told they would be taken to yet another camp, so packing up again we marched to the station and entrained to travel to yet another camp, we eventually arrived at a small station and were met by a large contingent of guards accompanied by the huge dogs, we fell in an were marched up a hill into the mountains to our new camp, Hohenfells by name. The huts here were smaller than at Moosburg but never the less very comfortable. Here in this camp was hidden a radio and from this we learned that things were not going too well for the German army. Then panic stations, we were all told to pack our bits and pieces and assemble on the football pitch ready to move our. No time was lost they were shouting and yelling at us, eventually we marched out of the camp and into the countryside. Our guards marched us by night and hid us in the woods during the day. After a couple of days there were some aircraft overhead, they were allied bombers on their way to Regensburg, a large town we could see in the distance, they plastered it well, there were thick black clouds of smoke rising, we began to cheer, but our guards didn鈥檛 think it was very funny, there was an ominous rattle of rifle bolts so we thought better of it.

We had been on the march for about three days without food, then one day we were herded into a field and some white lorries appeared, they were the International Red Cross bringing food parcels for us, I don鈥檛 know how many there were of us but we had a good feed and were then on our way. After a few more days and nights of marching we ended up in a large farmyard, there were no inhabitants, except a few scraggy hens in the farmyard. The guards herded us into a large barn where we bedded down for the night.

Next morning a chap got up and tried the large door, it was not fastened. In the yard piled up were the guards鈥� weapons and no sign of the guards. We all made ourselves a meal out of bits we had, there were at least two hundred of us. Later in the day two German officers came and told us that the war for them was practically over, but we must be on the lookout as there were still German soldiers in the area who could still be a problem. Amongst them was an R.S.M. named Holt, he suggested we split ourselves into groups to keep guard and lookout for any signs of danger. However, nothing happened, until one chap looking out over the open plain shouted there are a lot of men coming this way. To us they looked like Germans, but it transpired they were Americans, 鈥渨hat a relief鈥�. They ascertained we were P.O.W.s and told us we would be looked after and would be moved to an American camp and fed and eventually be returned home.

It hardly seemed possible, we were Free. It did not seem real, but never the less it was true. The next day a fleet of lorries came for us and took us to Ingoldstadt where we were put into planes and flown to an American camp and given food and accommodation, at last away from it all. The next day we were visited by a high-ranking R.A.F. officer who told us we would be flown home to England as soon as possible. This took place the next day; we were placed in groups of fourteen and boarded onto Lancaster Bombers, the ones that took part in the Dams Raid. After a short flight we touched down somewhere in Buckinghamshire, I can鈥檛 remember where, too excited to be in England again. I left England on January 19th 1940, the same day as my daughter was born and I never saw her at all until she was five and a half years old.

One thing arises from all this, if there had not been a war I probably would not have seen the countries I travelled through, most of all Palestine, Jerusalem, Jericho, Bethlehem and Nazareth. In Egypt, I saw the Pyramids and Sphinx, Cairo, Alexandria and the Valley of the Kings up the River Nile where Tutankhamen鈥檚 tomb was found, what a price to pay for a tour of the Middle East.

Our thanks are due to the Italians who helped us in these hard times, the Germans carried our reprisals on the Italians if they helped P.O.W.s, not only for helping us but in general, taking their cattle, food and men for labour camps, after all one day the Italians were allies of the Germans, and the next day enemies.

Xmas 1939 Panton Hall Lincs
Xmas 1940 Mercia Matrua Egypt
Xmas 1941 West Desert Libya
Xmas 1942 Camp 54 Italy
Xmas 1943 In the Mountains Italy
Xmas 1944 Camp 7a Bavaria

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