Interview with Edwin Holt

British private with 1st Bn King’s Own Royal Regt (Lancaster), 25th Indian Infantry Bde, 9th Indian Infantry Div in North Africa, Cyprus and French Syria, 5/1942-10/1943; served with 1st Bn King’s Own Royal Regt (Lancaster), 234th Infantry Bde on Dodecanese Islands, Greece, 10/1943-11/1943; prisoner of war in Stalag VII-A, Moosburg and Stalag XI-A, Altengrabow, Germany, 11/1943-5/1945

REEL 1 Background in Huncoat and Fleetwood, GB, 1923-1941: family; education; move to Fleetwood, 1937; employment; membership of 7th (Blackpool) Bn Home Guard in Fleetwood. Aspects of enlistment and training as private with King’s Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) in GB, 1941-1942: pattern of training; background to enlistment, 2/1941; field training with 6th Bn King’s Own Royal Regt (Lancaster) in Cornwall; voyage from GB to Egypt, 1942. Aspects of period as private with 1st Bn King’s Own Royal Regt (Lancaster), 25th Indian Infantry Bde, 9th Indian Infantry Div in North Africa, Cyprus and French Syria, 5/1942-10/1943: reaction to talk given by General Bernard Montgomery; receiving nickname ‘pongos’ in Tobruk, Libya; surviving sinking of HMT Princess Marguerite by German submarine U-83 on route from Port Said, Egypt to Cyprus, 17/8/1942; contrast in marching with light infantry; move to French Syria. Aspects of operations with 1st Bn King’s Own Royal Regt (Lancaster), 234th Infantry Bde on Dodecanese Islands, Greece, 10/1943-11/1943: German Air Force bombing of destroyer during voyage to Leros Island; attitude towards participation in Battle of Leros; capture by Germans and removal to Athens. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Stalag VII-A, Moosburg, Germany, 11/1943: train journey to camp; issue of prisoner of war clothing; treatment of Soviet prisoners of war. REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Stalag XI-A, Altengrabow, Germany, 12/1943-5/1945: daily life in camp; Red Cross parcels; use of cigarettes to barter on work parties; opinion of British Senior Officer; involvement in work parties; removal to work camp at Denstedt; quarry work; conditions; liberation by American troops and return to GB, 5/1945. Aspects as private with King’s Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) in GB 1945-1947: return to GB, 1945: treatment on return to GB; reaction to returning to Fleetwood; initial duties at Squires Gate Camp, Blackpool; return to King’s Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) Regimental Depot at Lancaster. REEL 3 Continues: attending clerk’s course; duties as camp clerk; demobilisation, 1947. Reflections on military service: membership of King’s Own Royal Regiment Regimental Association; return to civilian employment; attitude towards period as prisoner of war and military service; comradeship; post-war life.