Description
Object description
British private served with 10th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB and France, 1939-1940; POW in Poland and Germany, including Stalag XXA and Stalag IXC, 1940-1945.
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of period in Coxhoe, County Durham, GB, 1919-1939: family background, childhood and education; description of employment as driver's mate and at Bowburn colliery; reaction to outbreak of war and being called up, 9/1939; medical examination and physical condition; posted to Brancepeth Castle, 15/Nov/1939. Aspects of training with 10th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 11/1939-3/1940: opinion of food; description of six weeks basic training at Willington; billeted in Masonic Hall; sleeping arrangements, uniform and kit; opinion of instructors; story about unpopular lance- corporal; weapons training and bayonet drill; various memories of friends; description of training with MT section as driver and mechanic; types of vehicles driven including Bren gun carrier; accommodation in St John's Church Hall, Meadowfield.
REEL 2 Continues: passed driving test in Durham; celebrated 21st birthday, 3/1940; posted to South Shields; billeted in school; posted to Southampton; attitude to overseas service; description of voyage to Le Havre, France, 3/1940. Aspects of operations with 10th Bn Durham Light Infantry in France, 3-5/1940: attitude of French civilians to British soldiers; moved to St Pol; daily routine and duties as labourer preparing airfields; story of listening to the Last Post; story about policeman killed by thieves in Coxsoe, 5/1940; story of truck crashing at night and transferring to canteen wagon; description of retreat to Beauchamp; story of volunteering to man Bren gun on bridge; billeted in farm house with Moroccan soldiers; reaction to seeing French officers on horses; description of bridge being blown up and German tanks falling into river; story of being found by French farmer in barn and handed over to German tank unit, 28/May/1940; taken on tank into field to join other POWs; attitude to being captured; description of being marched along roads with refugees; story of being given wine by local civilians.
REEL 3 Continues: further description of march, food and treatment by guards; story of stealing cheese and turnips; wounded POWs carried in carts; story of sleeping on cobblestones; problem of losing control over legs; rest breaks; weather conditions; route of march through France, Belgium and Luxembourg to Trier, Germany; description of journey in cattle trucks from Trier to Thorn (Torun), Poland; sanitary arrangements and food ration; condition of feet. Aspects of period as POW in Stalag XXA, Thorn, Poland, 7-9/1940: first impressions of town; description of accommodation in marquee; problem of lice and delousing procedure; opinion of food; story about forging dinner ticket; interrogation; relations with other POWs; reason for having head shaved; personal hygiene; parades; opinion of medical facilities and latrines; story about sergeant-major collaborating with Germans.
REEL 4 Continues: role of Stalag XXA as transit camp; documented and interrogated; problem of overcrowding; various memories of friends in camp. Aspects of period as POW in Stalag IXC, Sondershausen, Germany, 9/1940-9/1942: description of camp, facilities and staff; number of POWs; sleeping arrangements; relations with guards; description of work at salt mine owned by IG Farben; working conditions and hours; use of time cards; opinion of food; method of dividing loaf between seven men; opinion of soup; description of Red Cross parcels and method of sharing out contents; personal hygiene; story of bartering cigarettes for food with German civilians; number of women in camp; problem of clothing wearing out; story of finding personal belongings in trucks used to take Jews to Nordhausen concentration camp; description of work loading sacks of salt onto trucks; problem of having no protective clothing and effect of salt on hands.
REEL 5 Continues: further comments on damage to hands caused by salt; discipline and organisation of British POWs; cases of psychological stress caused by prolonged captivity; entertainment and recreational activities; method of payment for work with camp money; story of camp caretakers opening shop for POWs; sporting activities; story of family not receiving news of captivity for 13 months; story of being stabbed in arm with bayonet by German guard and medical treatment; description of parcels sent by family; account of escape from camp in salt truck with friend Adam Erskine, 21Sep/1942.
REEL 6 Continues: conclusion of account about escape and recapture after three days; interned in POW camp at Trier for seven days; description of journey on passenger train to transit camp at Molsdorf. Aspects of period as POW in Molsdorf, 9-11/1942: status of POWs in camp including DUs (Definitely Unfit); interrogated by commandant; story of working for local farmer harvesting potatoes; role in helping two Scottish POWs escape, 3/1942; roll calls and parades; amusing story about German guard losing belt and bayonet in latrine.
REEL 7 Continues: story about friend Alec Dawson shot while escaping; repetition of previous material about period in Stalag IXC. Aspects of period as POW in Ilmenau, 11/1942-4/1943: description of work in glass factory; story of farmer emptying latrines at Molsdorf; repetition of previous stories about period in Molsdorf; further description of work in glass factory at Ilmenau.
REEL 8 Continues: story about French POW sabotaging bottles in glass factory; story of escaping from glass factory and recapture; punishment for escaping; story of problem with teeth and medical treatment in hospital at Hildburghausen, 1943. Aspects of period as POW in Molsdorf, 5-6/1943: story about Canadian POWs captured at Dieppe having hands tied and handcuffed; reaction of other POWs and method of unlocking handcuffs with key from corn beef tin. Aspects of period as POW in Freyburg, 6-11/1943: description of work in stone quarry; opinion of accommodation and working conditions; story about stale bread buns; problem of clothing and footwear; story of finding magnetic strips dropped by Allied aircraft; effect on morale of seeing Allied bombers over Germany; difference in sound of British and German aircraft.
REEL 9 Continues: further description of work at stone quarry. Aspects of period as POW in sugar factory, 11/1943-2/1944: description of work cleaning and oiling machinery; description of factory and processing method; working hours and pay in camp money; story of stealing bags of sugar; memories of female Russian cleaners; story about friendship with German worker in sugar factory. Aspects of period as POW in salt mine, 2-5/1944: description of work in factory and effect of salt on clothes; further comments on air raids improving morale; problem of haemorrhoids and treatment in hospital at Obermassfeld, 5/1944. Aspects of period as POW in Muhlausen, 5-9/1944: story of injuring left knee playing football; padres and religious services; sporting activities with camp football teams; listened to news on clandestine radio; story of POWs placing bets on date of Second Front; story of exchanging identity discs with Canadian sergeant.
REEL 10 Continues: religious beliefs; attitude of German civilians to arrival of Russians; opinion of guards. Aspects of period as POW in salt mine at Unterbreizbach, 9/1944-5/1945: description of train journey with guard to camp; opinion of billet with Scottish POWs; number of POWs in camp; description of work with drillers on salt face in deep caves; working hours; relations with German workers; opinion of working conditions; story of Germans burying boxes of paperwork in caves; awareness of Nazi concentration camps. Aspects of period as POW in Germany, 30/Mar-14/May/1945:description of preparations to evacuate camp; weather conditions and clothing; story of leaving camp and first day of forced march to Vacha; ratio of guards to POWs; sleeping arrangements.
REEL 11 Continues: attitude of guards to prisoners leaving column and making own way; organisation of small groups to secure food and accommodation; food rations including Red Cross parcels and food from farms; description of making oat cakes; use of cigarettes to exchange for food; problem of scurvy; sanitary arrangements; opinion of conditions on march; reason for keeping daily diary; story of liberation by US troops at Palling, Bavaria, 4/May/1945; problem of heavy snow; attitude to segregation of black and white troops in US Army; duties guarding German POWs; story of capturing German generals in Mercedes staff car; haircut; further comments on liberation by US 42nd Infantry Div (Rainbow Div); description of journey to US camp at Dachau; story of listening to VE Day speech by King George V, 8/May/1945; wrote to family; debriefed; recreational activities including watching films; description of flight in US troop carrier to Brussels and in Lancaster bomber to GB, 14/May/1945; posted to camp at Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire.
REEL 12 Continues: Aspects of period in GB, 1945: story of returning to home in Coxsoe and reunion with family and friends, 22/May/1945; question of adjustment to civilian life; story about Italian POWs.