大象传媒

I was an apprentice plumber and joined the TA in 1933. I went over to France in 1939 with the 5th Northamptonshire Regiment. It was very cold over in France then, and I remember during our first battle we were crossing a field, and we all fell into a hidden dyke. Another time, we stopped to rest and were told to wash and shave. The water froze on our faces before we had time to bring the razors up. We had a few battles around the Albert Canal area and gradually fell back towards the coast. I was actually a sniper.

We got captured at Dunkirk and were marched across France to Germany. When we got to Holland, we sere put into cattle trucks. We ended up going to a prisoner of war camp in Poland. I think it was called Stalag XXB. It was up near Lithuania.

At our first camp, the only food we got was a bag of onions thrown in to feed about 100 of us. When there was food, there was only enough for half of us, so you had to push to get to the front, otherwise it all ran out. We had no knives or forks, just an old tin to eat from.

It got very cold indeed during the winter. We only had our uniform for clothing. No coats or boots. We had to wear wooden clogs with no socks. We had some cloth about 18鈥� square which we had to wrap round our feet to keep warm.

We were sent to live and work on a farm. There were 10 of us there. We had to eat boiled pigs blood and whatever potatoes we could salvage from the swill. We were allowed 1 loaf of bread and about 1lb of butter a week between the ten of us. There was no good food.

We were sent to work in the fields during the summer, and in the winters we went to the forests. We would have to cut them down and pull hem back to the farm with horses and then cut them up for the winter. One of the farms we had to go to was run by an SS Officer. That was very strict.

I spent about a year at a sugar beet factory. It was very cold there. I remember once I stood on a sack of beet, and was knocked over by a German guard. I struck him back and got a week鈥檚 solitary in the Box. I was on bread and water in there. It was brought over by one of our own Red Cross chaps.

I know we worked in a rice factory for a while because we used to fill our boots with it to take back and eat.

After the Russian breakthrough, we had to march 3000 miles back to Germany. Many had no boots on. We had to dig a hole in the snow at night to shelter in and try to keep warm.

I remember that when we were in Germany, we were in another Sugar Beet factory. I can鈥檛 remember what I did, but I got another punishment detail. I had to clean under the machinery for two days. It was dirty work, with freezing water pouring down over you the whole time.

We were eventually released by the Americans, having been prisoners for the best part of five years. We were taken by truck to the Air Force Base and flown home. I was de-mobbed in Aylesbury due to arthritis in my legs, and admit that I suffered with my nerves for quite a time.

I was one of ten in my family, and the only one to go into the armed forces. My three brothers were a baker, farmer and railway man and all went into the Home Guard. All my sisters went into munitions factories.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.