Description
Object description
British gunner served with 97th (Kent Yeomanry) Field Regt, Royal Artillery, 7th Armoured in North Africa, 1941-1942; prisoner of war in North Africa and Campo PG 82, Laterina, Italy, 6/1942-9/1943; prisoner of war in Stalag VIII-C, Sagan and Stalag VIII-A, Görlitz, Germany, 9/1943-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of period as gunner with 97th (Kent Yeomarnry) Field Regt, Royal Artillery in GB and North Africa, 1938-1942: reasons for joining Kent Yeomanry, Territorial Army, 1938; pattern of service in North Africa, 1941-1942; attempt to escape Axis encirclement, summer 1942; wounding when vehicle destroyed near Mersa Matruh, Egypt. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in North Africa, 1942: initial treatment by Germans; nature of treatment by Italian captors; punishment of prisonera of war for cheering Royal Air Force bombing at Benghazi, Libya. Aspects of period as risoner of war in Campo PG 82, Laterina, Italy, 1942-1943: transfer from North Africa to Italy; rations; accommodation; contact with home; presence of radio in camp; escape attempts; walks outside wire; character of guards; relations between British and South African prisoners of war; receipt of Red Cross parcels; inspections by representatives of Protecting Power; problems with lice.
REEL 2 Continues: rise in risoner of war morale; collapse of Italy, 9/1943; advice not to escape; take-over camp by German Army troops; transfer from Italy to Germany. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag VIII-C, Sagan, Germany, 1943-1944: help with rations from Stalag Luft III; accommodation; work and camp money in Italy and Germany; rations in German camps; obligation to work; nature of work done in sugar beet factory; pro-German attitude of Afrikaaner prisoners of war; sabotage of work; work regime; life in work camp; work in marshalling yards in Breslau; prisoner of war strikes; building latrines; coal mining work; conditions in mine; how other nationalities worked for Germans; injury during coal mining work.
REEL 3 Continues: how he got out of mining work. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag VIII-A, Görlitz, Germany, 1944-1945: deterioration in treatment of prisones of war, 1944; how news of D-Day was received, 6/1944; effect of German Ardennes Offensive on prisoner of war morale, 12/1944; failure of German attempt to recruit for British Free Corps; work in paper mill; relations with German civilians; attempt of prisoners of war to undermine German civilian workers; march away from camp, 2/1945; work in factory in Czechoslovakia; evacuation of camp on German armour; liberation by United States Army; return to GB. Reflections of period as prisoner of war in Italy and Germany, 1942-1945: reluctance to discuss prisoner of war experience on return to GB; morale and discipline of prisoners of war; election of prisoner of war camp officials; treatment of Soviet prisoners of war by Germans; German bread racket.
REEL 4 Continues: story of Soviet prisoners of war eating German guard dog; aid given to Soviet prisoners of war by British prisoners of war; effects of imprisonment; attitude towards Germans.