Description
Object description
British marine served with No 1 Mobile Naval Defence Organisation on Crete, Greece, 5/1941; prisoner of war on Crete and Dulag 183, Salonika, Greece and in Stalag IV-B, Mülhberg and Arbeitskommando E 503, Wiednitz, Germany, 5/1941-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of operations as marine with No 1 Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation in GB and Crete, Greece, 1940-1941: background to joining Royal Marines, 1939; nature of Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation; transfer from GB to Crete via Egypt, 1941; attack on convoy by Italian seaplanes; reaction to sight of troops evacuated from Greece; setting up of anti-aircraft batteries; move to Georgiopoli; transfer to field hospital with ear complaint; start of German attack and casualties at the field hospital; orders to return to unit.
REEL 2 Continues: attempt to regain unit; sensitivity of officers about news of military setback on Crete spreading; brief encounter with Major-General Eric Weston; destruction of guns; inability of many troops to participate in battle; news of surrender of Crete; strafing by German aircraft and his opinion that it was a deliberate act. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Crete and Greece, 5/1941-6/1941: how he was taken into captivity; initial treatment on capture; march to Suda Bay; captivity in 'Skene's Holiday Camp'; reaction of British and Germans to hearing of invasion of Soviet Union, 6/1941; fatigue parties; nature of voyage aboard SS Arkadia from Crete to mainland Greece.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Dulag 183, Salonika, Greece, 6/1941-7/1941: arrival in camp; German ill treatment of Greek boy who threw bread to prisoners of war; opinion of camp; rations and the 'Salonika black-out'; how he bartered his ring for cigarettes; how black market goods obtained; ill feeling caused by unequal shares in camp; how Germans cleaned up black market racket; lack of contact with German guards; how false stories of progress of war on Eastern Front kept morale up; conditions during rail journey from Greece to Germany. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag IV-B, Mülhberg and Arbeitskommando E 503, Wiednitz, Germany, 7/1941-4/1945: conditions for Soviet prisoners of war.
REEL 4 Continues: isolation of British prisoners of war; story of shooting of prisoner of war by German guard and prisoner of war reaction; importance of Red Cross parcels; how British prisoner of war made himself unpopular over distribution of Red Cross parcels; use of Red Cross parcels; transfer to Arbeitskommando E 503 at Wiednitz; allocation to work parties; prisoner of war suicide; story of theft of bread from fellow prisoner of war; further details of prisoner of war suicide.
REEL 5 Continues: work he did and how it affected his future career; instance of sabotage; strike by prisoners of war and how Germans dealt with it; relations with German civilians; attitude of forced labourers to work in Germany; prisoner of war pay for work; relations between prisoners of war and German and foreign women; German treatment of Soviet prisoners of war; privations of German populace.
REEL 6 Continues: barter with German guards; question of escape; occasion when he 'wandered off'; German clamp down on escapes; inter-personal relations between prisoners of war; receiving news of progress of war; German propaganda; attempt of Germans to play British against Soviet prisoners of war; how British Free Corps was received by prisoners of war; effect of air raids on prisoners of war; advance of Soviet Army, winter 1944-1945; sight of German refugees; prisoner of war eaction to Nazi propaganda about Katyn Massacre; changing German attitudes as defeat loomed.
REEL 7 Continues: march away from camp to Czechoslovakia, 5/1945; liberation by Soviet Army; move to American lines; return to GB and processing; attitude towards Germans; effects of his incarceration; story of how Gestapo attempted to obtain information from prisoners of war.