Interview with Julius Cowen

British medical officer served with 2/5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in GB, 1941-1942; served with 5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in GB and Tunisia, 1942-1943; prisoner of war in Tunisia, Campo PG 38, Poppi and Campo PG 47, Modena, Italy, Stalag V-D, Strasbourg, Oflag V-A, Weinberg and Iflag V, Württemberg, Germany, 10/1943-4/1945

REEL 1 Background in Glasgow and Stepney, London, GB, 1909-1939: family; education; medical training; attempt to enlist in British Army, 1939; period as general practitioner in Stepney, London, 1939-1940. Aspects of period as medical officer with 2/5th and 5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in GB, 1941-1942: joining battalion after training with Royal Army Medical Corps Depot, Fleet at Romney Marsh; meetings with General Bernard Montgomery; problems troops had in gaining access to him; voyage aboard HMS Derbyshire from GB to French Algeria, 1942-1943. Aspects of period as medical officer with 5th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), 139th Infantry Bde, 46th (North Midland) Infantry Div in Tunisia, 1/1943-3/1943: nature of action at Sedjenane; death of battalion chaplain from German artillery fire; overwhelming of battalion by German forces; capture by Germans, 2/3/1943. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Tunisia, 3/1943: treatment by Germans on capture; swapping morphine for transport of British wounded; role working as medical officer for Germans. REEL 2 Continues: conditions in Italian captivity in Bizerte area. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Campo PG 38, Poppi and Campo PG 47, Modena, Italy, 4/1943-9/1943: processing of prisoners of war at Leghorn; move to Campo PG 38, Poppi; transfer to Campo PG 47 at Modena; orders to stay in camp during Italian crisis, 9/1943; transfer to Germany via Brenner Pass, Austia, 9/1943. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Stalag V-D, Strasbourg, Oflag V-A, Weinberg and Iflag V, Württemberg, Germany, 10/1943-4/1945: nature of conditions in Stalag V-D, Strasbourg; prisoner of war escapes from Stalag V-D, Strasbourg; move to Oflag V-A, Weinberg; memories of New Zealander Captain Charles Upham VC; Allied air activity in Heilbronn area; German reaction to D-Day, 6/6/1944; move to internment camp at Iflag V, Württemberg, Germany; arrival of penicillin supply, winter 1944-1945; arrival of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp inmates at at Iflag V, Württemberg; liberation of camp by Free French troops; Free French troops' shooting of German guards on liberation. REEL 3 Continues: return to GB, 1945; reception of returning former prisoners of war in GB; post-war medical duties.