Smith, William Thomas (Oral history)

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Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
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Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
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Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
Use on personal social media accounts, provided the individuals are not promoting themselves commercially.
Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

If you would like to use IWM collections materials in a way that is not covered above, require a commercial licence, high-resolution copies, or have manipulation requests, please contact the Image and Film Licensing Team. Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use.

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Embed this sound recording for online use under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence
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Sound: © IWM

Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
Use on personal social media accounts, provided the individuals are not promoting themselves commercially.
Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

If you would like to use IWM collections materials in a way that is not covered above, require a commercial licence, high-resolution copies, or have manipulation requests, please contact the Image and Film Licensing Team. Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use.

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Description

Object description

British signalman served with Royal Corps of Signals attached to XIII Corps in North Africa, 1941-1942; prisoner of war in North Africa, Campo PG 75, Bari and Campo PG 78, Sulmona, Italy and Stalag IV-A, Elsterhorst and Arbeitskommando E1274, Bautzen, Germany, 6/1942-4/1945

Content description

REEL 1 Aspects of operations as signalman with Royal Corps of Signals, XIII Corps in North Africa, 1941-1942: voyages from GB to Egypt; pattern of service in North Africa, 1942. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in North Africa, 5/ 1942: capture, release and recapture by Germans, 5/1942; nature of interrogation; dysentery amongst prisoners of war; treatment by Italian captors. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Campo PG 75, Bari and Campo PG 78, Sulmona, Italy, 6/1942-9/1943: voyage from North Africa to Bari, Italy; vaccination with pen-nib; case of stealing amongst prisoners of war. REEL 2 Continues: death of prisoner of war in latrine trench; gift of food from Italian civilian during transfer to Campo PG 78, Sulmona; prisoner of war attempt to curry favour with Italian guards; discovery of escape tunnel from First World War vintage; contact with home; use of camp money; method of passing time; his escape from Campo PG 78, Sulmona to mountains, 9/1943; story of recapture by Germans; suspicion of Italian civilians. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag IV-A, Elsterhorst and Arbeitskommando E1274, Bautzen, Germany, 10/1943-4/1945: transfer to Stalag IV-A, Elsterhorst; work in textile mill; transfer to Arbeitskommando E1274 for work in Wagonfabrik timber yard at Bautzen. REEL 3 Continues: role operating crane in Wagonfabrik timber yard at Bautzen; sight of V1 Flying Bomb; his cultivation of camp commandant; method of smuggling eggs into camp; period in German holiday camp and attempt to recruit Smith into British Free Corps because of his British Union of Fascist sympathies; friendly encounter with German officer in Berlin; march away from Bautzen, 1945; bombing of prisoner of war column by Soviet Air Force. REEL 4 Continues: kindness shown to bereaved German civilian by Smith; his rescue of German woman from Displaced Person; journey to Allied lines in requisitioned car.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1945-1989 (production), Second World War (content), Second World War (association)
Creator: IWM (Production company)
Wood, Conrad (Recorder)
Smith, William Thomas (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 1980-11-25
Dimensions: whole: Duration 100, Number Of Items 4
Catalogue number: 4785

Object associations

Associated people and organisations

Smith, William Thomas
British Army, Royal Corps of Signals
British Army, Corps, XIII
Italian Prisoner of War Camp, Campo PG 75, Bari, Italy
Italian Prisoner of War Camp, Campo PG 78, Sulmona, Italy
German Prisoner of War Camp, Stalag IV-A, Elsterholst, Germany
German Prisoner of War Camp, Arbeitskommando E1274, Bautzen, Germany
Waffen-SS, British Free Corps
British Political Party, British Union of Fascists
Associated places

England, United Kingdom
North Africa
Egypt
Libya
Italy
Bari, Apulia, Italy
Sulmona, Abruzzo, Italy
Germany
Elsterhorst, Saxony, Germany
Bautzen, Saxony, Germany
Associated keywords

Prisoner of War
Associated themes

Prisoners of War in Europe, 1939-1945

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Smith, William Thomas (Oral history)

Description

Object description

Content description

Object Details

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Associated people and organisations

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Associated keywords

Associated themes

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