Private Papers of A G Fry

Photocopies of his ms diary (19pp), 18 January - 15 May 1945, (as a Private in the Gloucestershire Regiment who had been captured at Cassel, France, May 1940, and held at Stalag VIIIB, Lamsdorf, Germany, June 1940 - February 1943, and then the Arbeitskommando E 565 working in the coalmines near Krakow, Poland, February 1943 - January 1945) recording briefly his experiences during the evacuation from the Russian advance of British Prisoners of War in forced marches from near Krakow, Poland, through Czechoslovakia to Bavaria, Germany, including: the poor conditions, such as the bad weather, the shortages of and attempts to obtain food, harsh treatment by the German Guards including the shooting of prisoners, and Allied air raids, which resulted in low morale, fatigue, weakness and an unkempt appearance, January - April 1945; the gifts of food from the inhabitants at great risk to themselves, February - March 1945; German attempts to recruit the men to fight the Russians, March 1945; the importance of Red Cross food parcels in lifting morale and keeping the men alive, January - April 1945; the chaos within Germany, April - May 1945; liberation by the 14th US Division, 3rd US Army, and the jubilant reaction of the men to their new freedom, May 1945; his repatriation to Britain by aeroplane, May 1945; his demobilisation, October 1945; and details of various working parties, Germany and Poland, October 1940 - April 1945

Catalogue date 1990-02

Cataloguer SNR