Description
Object description
Ms diary (163pp, with a ts transcription, 59pp), April 1945 - May 1945, recording his experiences, as a prisoner of war (POW) captured while serving with the 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment at Arnhem, in Stalag IIIA (Luckenwalde) and then Stalag XIA (Altengrabow, April 1945); on the march westwards to avoid the Soviet advance (April 1945); his liberation by American troops (April 1945 - May 1945); and his return by Dakota to the UK (May 1945); and commenting on Red Cross parcels and their contents, working as a pair with his friend; the rations, 'brewing up' tea, Allied raids, shortages of fuel for cooking, roll-calls, dreaming of returning home, writing home omitting the worst so as not to worry his mother, his hatred for the French and Italians for stealing food from them, using cigarettes to barter for food, the camp newspaper "Camps" - a subtle form of German propaganda, seeing German jets and V-weapons, German air raid warnings, punishment of the local inhabitants for handing out water and lemonade to the POWs, his ill-fitting boots, the conditions on the march, scrounging food, witnessing the strafing of a train by US aircraft, Sikh and Gurkha POWs, the increasing sickness rate, the youth and defeatism of the German troops, the rumours, the weather, his main occupation of cooking and eating his rations, cliques within the POWs, the officers and NCOs who keep the best food for themselves, the effects of POW life, hearing gunfire from the Soviet advance, German refugees, his treatment by and opinion of US troops, meeting the Soviets, his admiration for the Gurkhas, army life, women, looting, non-fraternisation with and conditions for German civilians, his off-duty entertainment including seeing films, reading books from the camp library, eating and drinking V2 fuel the effects of which kill his friend. Also included is a photograph of him as a private in uniform.
Content description
Ms diary (163pp, with a ts transcription, 59pp), April 1945 - May 1945, recording his experiences, as a prisoner of war (POW) captured while serving with the 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment at Arnhem, in Stalag IIIA (Luckenwalde) and then Stalag XIA (Altengrabow, April 1945); on the march westwards to avoid the Soviet advance (April 1945); his liberation by American troops (April 1945 - May 1945); and his return by Dakota to the UK (May 1945); and commenting on Red Cross parcels and their contents, working as a pair with his friend; the rations, 'brewing up' tea, Allied raids, shortages of fuel for cooking, roll-calls, dreaming of returning home, writing home omitting the worst so as not to worry his mother, his hatred for the French and Italians for stealing food from them, using cigarettes to barter for food, the camp newspaper "Camps" - a subtle form of German propaganda, seeing German jets and V-weapons, German air raid warnings, punishment of the local inhabitants for handing out water and lemonade to the POWs, his ill-fitting boots, the conditions on the march, scrounging food, witnessing the strafing of a train by US aircraft, Sikh and Gurkha POWs, the increasing sickness rate, the youth and defeatism of the German troops, the rumours, the weather, his main occupation of cooking and eating his rations, cliques within the POWs, the officers and NCOs who keep the best food for themselves, the effects of POW life, hearing gunfire from the Soviet advance, German refugees, his treatment by and opinion of US troops, meeting the Soviets, his admiration for the Gurkhas, army life, women, looting, non-fraternisation with and conditions for German civilians, his off-duty entertainment including seeing films, reading books from the camp library, eating and drinking V2 fuel the effects of which kill his friend. Also included is a photograph of him as a private in uniform.
History note
Cataloguer SNR
History note
Catalogue date 2006-05-04