Royal Engineers in the Second World War, The Wartime Memories Project. Business Furniture for Schools, Offices, Churches, Daycares and Preschools Why Buy Furniture from Worthington Direct for your School, Classroom, Office, Church. The Allied Health Research Unit was established in September 2004. Its mission is to increase our understanding of allied health practice and improve the quality of. Licensing, certification, and college practice for adult learners. Northstar Workforce Readiness’s solutions provide: Preparation programs built from exam. Terry Gorman 5th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment
At first he was based at Ismailia taking ammunition up to Mersah Matruh by train. At Mersah he had his first meeting with Australian troops who had been pulled out of the front line and were on their way to protect the oil fields in Iraq. Watch full length FREE highly rated on rotten tomatoes movies and TV series in HD on Tubi TV on any device. Entertainment streamed online for free. Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive USS Swasey (DE 248) Flag Hoist / Radio Call Sign: N - Y - Q - D. Watch full length The Pact Movie for Free Online. Streaming Free Films to Watch Online including Movie Trailers and Movie Clips. The Pact is a 2002 drama f. Introduction to the Best Online Real Estate Courses. The real estate industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the United States economy.He was very impressed with the Australian troops who seemed taller, fitter and better equipped than the British Army. They were also far better paid – about . He got on very well with the Australians who shared their (far better) rations. Dad was wounded and captured on 2 June and spent a brief time at a transit camp at Derna, then some months at a terrible open air POW camp at Benghazi. The camp lacked even basic sanitation and the Italian guards were trigger happy and brutal. Eventually they were loaded in the hull of an Italian freighter and sailed across the Med all fearing that they would be torpedoed (as some POW ships were) by the Royal Navy. Later he was moved north to Campo 5. Chiavari near Genoa. Life in Chiavari was relatively good. There was food, Red Cross parcels and plenty of sport and books. Dad, and his friend Charlie Murphy, were experienced with horses so got out on a small work detail to work on the estate of the Marquis of Turin – he looked after a string of thoroughbred race horses and was allowed good grub and plenty of cheap wine. Then Marquis hated Mussolini and wanted the Allies to win the War. The Italian Army gave up the ghost and the Germans took over in Northern Italy. The POWs were rounded up and moved to Germany. Dad’s camp was sent to the Juventus football stadium in Turin. Dad spent three nights sleeping in the goal mouth whilst the Nazis sorted themselves out. They were then taken to the railway station where they were crammed into wooden cattle trucks and set off for the East. After a couple of days they arrived at a grim railway halt in Silesia and were marched up the road and into Lamsdorf POW camp, Stalag 3. B – the most easterly of all POW camps in the Reich. The Germans segregated POWs according to ethnic origin. There was a very large compound for Russians who were treated terribly (they did not have the protection of the Geneva Convention) – many living in the open or crude dugouts in the ground. They were a ruthless lot and had managed to cut the throat of a couple of guards (or goons as they were known). As a reprisal all the Canadians were chained to their bunks or radiators and Dad had to do this whilst waiting for transfer to the main compound. Of course, the Canadians thought he was a stooly – a plant put in by the Germans to get information about possible escape plans etc – and they threatened to kill him. One question was “What is the Band on the Wall” which Dad knew to be a jazz club (which many of the Canadians had visited). There was very little food and nothing to do. One option was to join working parties outside the camp which gave you double rations (8. Dad signed up and was put on a train which took him to Katowice – about 9. Lamsdorf. He worked as a mate to a German electrician, then laboured in a sugar beet farm, then ended up in an arbeitskommando (work camp) in the Auschwitz complex. What he saw there haunted him for the rest of his life. Allied POWs worked in many small work camps, and there was also E7. E stands for Englander tho’ that included Australians and New Zealanders) at the infamous Buna camp at Monowitz. About 1. 00. 0 POWs existed here and were forced labourers in a plant which was supposed to produce oil – not one drop was ever produced as many acts of sabotage were undertaken by the POWs. It was coal fired and his job was to clear out the old “clinker” from the grates under the large furnaces and boilers – his only protection was pieces of sacking with which he covered his head and body. The Red Cross parcels, which he still got even at Lamsdorf, were now very infrequent and often looted by the German guards. Dad was 1. 1st 5lbs when he left England – he was less than 5st 1. Food and tobacco were the gold dust of the concentration camp and could be bartered and exchanged for anything. The Jews lived in terrible concentration camp compounds and were treated like dirt by the Germans who thought nothing of shooting a Jew for minor infringements. Some of the Allied soldiers also had little time for the Jews and felt they had “got it coming to them”. Dad had little time for this - he had witnessed the Blackshirts organising in Manchester before the War and had little truck with them or their ideas. It turned out that the bricks were replacement fire bricks for the gas chambers and crematoria used to murder and incinerate Jews by the thousand. The Germans didn’t trust Jewish labour to perform this job as they feared sabotage. On more than one occasion emaciated Jewish women were shoved into the shower blocks by the guards - nobody, as far as Dad knew – ever molested them. The men slept on bunks and the man below him was a South African who had been put “in the bag” (captured) at Tobruk. His surname was Silver. One day there was a routine inspection - the POWs came to attention and the Guards had a look around. This time they were accompanied by a man in the dark blue uniform of the SS. He walked along the line and stopped in front of Silver. He shouted, “Your name isn’t Silver, it’s Silberstein – you are a Jew! Take him out!” The Guards grabbed his lapels and dragged him outside where he was shot through he head by the SS man. The sky was lit up at night as the Russians advanced. It was a particularly harsh winter, and one night in early January the men were ordered to gather there belongings and line up outside – they were going to march West away from the Russians. This was the start of the infamous “Death Marches” – POWs marched West for the next four months through the worst winter of the last century. Many died and any who dropped out were left for dead or shot. Dad remembers pulling over to pee in a hedge and seeing many Jews who had been shot and lay frozen stiff in a ditch. Food was almost non existent or they got watery potato soup. They slept in rat infested barns. Dad’s column marched from Silesia, into Czechoslovakia then Bavaria in Germany. In late April 1. 94. Plattlin. As they sat on a hill near the town they saw allied planes come in and bomb the station – the POWs were set to work pulling the bodies from the wreckage of passenger and freight trains that had still been in the station. He heard the roar of a powerful engine and realized a tank had driven into the farm yard – and an American tank at that. He stood up and shouted “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” The Yanks were amazed to see the emaciated and starving POWs emerge from the pig sties and hedgerows. They handed out cigarettes and chocolate – and many of the POWs were sick as they had not had such rich, sweet food for years. Some were given weapons and drove off to wreak revenge on the local population. Dad remembers walking down to a local German village. Many homes had been looted with men making off with local delph china (Dad wondered how they would get it back via Army transport). He walked into a large house to see if he could get a cup of tea and bumped into a German woman. He asked her to make him a cup of tea then get upstairs and hide – many German women in the village were not so lucky. They marched to a local airfield and were loaded, 2. Dakota airplanes and flown to Antwerp in Belgium. The plane in front of Dads crashed on landing and all were killed. He was then transferred to RAF Lancaster bombers and flown to Guilford in England – flying straight over the White Cliffs of Dover. He was debriefed and given leave to go home. Then transferred to Ireland to fatten him up. One of Dad’s colleagues was Arthur Dodd who came from Northwich in Cheshire and had been put in the bag at Tobruk in June 1. Arthur eventually ended up in E7. Monowitz. One day he was marching back to camp and he noticed some Jews digging a ditch by the road . As they got closer one of them shouted – “I’m English mate, I shouldn’t be here, help me!” Arthur reached into his pocket and threw a packet of cigarettes at the man as they passed. He had written a book, “Auschwitz: Spectator in Hell” and made a programme about E7. BBC. After the talk he was signing copies of his book when, from behind, he heard a voice - “I’m English mate, I shouldn’t be here, help me!” It was Leon Goodman, who had been picked up by the Nazis in Holland and was the only English Jew in Auschwitz. He survived and, some fifty years later, and amidst many tears, was able to thank Arthur in person for the cigarettes he had given him in 1. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies. Green Howards served with 1. Brigade, part of the 5. Division which fought at the defense of Arras and retreated to Dunkirk. Green Howards, one of the last units to embark from the beaches. The Division except 1. Brigade went to Palestine and 1. Brigade to Western Desert and was rejoined by the rest of the Division in February 1. Brigade was in a box area without mutual support. Rommel's forces went on to capture Tobruk at this stage in the desert war. Many were captured and most finished up at POW camps in Italy before eventually going to Stalag 8. B. On the morning of 3rd September 1. Great Britain were informed that they were now at war with Germany. My memories of Elgin were pleasant, the people were friendly, and on a Sunday after church parade some families would invite two or three of us into their homes for afternoon tea. I thus found myself in Dorset alongside men who had already experienced the hazards of the battlefield and the withdrawal from Dunkerque. During the months ahead we embarked on further training, always on the alert to help repel the invasion of the south coast which never took place. Ireland for the ceremony. It took me thirty- three hours of travel to get there as the train was held up repeatedly due to the continuous air raids between Southampton and London. When I arrived at Stranraer harbour the steamer for Larne had already cast off and was about three feet from the quay. Ireland to spend the time with me and also meet my family for the first time. During the week I was desirous of letting my wife see as much of Glasgow and surrounding district as possible. We could see a large convoy of ships waiting to transport us, the flagship being the S. S. Georgie, a Union Castle liner. Orduna, an old CP liner of around 1. It gave us all a queer feeling to think how unprotected we had been for the past few days. Continuing south on our way to Durban we experienced a fire in a forward hold where the motor transport was stored, but it was quickly got under control and so averted another crisis. At last we reached the safe haven of Durban where we spent five memorable days. On arrival at Port Tufich our convoy was under attack from the air and the liner Georgie was severely damaged. During my stay there I contracted sand- fly fever twice. Iraq where we remained until mid February 1. The washing facilities left much to be desired while the latrines would even have had a herd of pigs turning away in disgust. It wasn’t long before I contracted dysentery and had a very sore time of it for several days. He was quite a friendly person and showed me pictures of his young wife. It was a comforting thought to know that they were quite distressed to see us in our present state. The camp Commandant who was a colonel and his staff of Italian officers then came out to take a roll call to make sure that there were no absentees. Breakfast consisted of a cup of coffee unsweetened, lunch was a bowl of soup and the evening meal consisted of a small portion of dark brown bread plus either a piece of cheese or meat about two inches square. Inside these were two long benches about twenty feet long on which were a number of galvanised water channels into which a trickle of cold water would drop from taps spaced at intervals above them. It was only a matter of weeks before everyone became infected with lice. Some were disappointed, but what a joy it was to receive a letter from a loved one at home - it would be read over and over again. The inmates of the huts would often have a spelling bee to keep their minds active. I think they cost ten lire each which was about half of what we received for pay at the camp each week. Through the camp interpreter it was made known to us that the war in North Africa was over and that the Allies had since made landings in Sicily and on the mainland of Italy. The idea being to prevent any intended escapee being able to hoard and build up a stock that would provide sustenance for a few days to anyone that might attempt to escape. The extra rations proved to be a great incentive and around fifty of us were taken to Bologna railway station and we occupied a normal coach in a passenger train, and were soon on our way. After alighting we then had a short bus journey to a single line railway station where we boarded a two coach electric train and travelled through very lengthy tunnels sometimes which went right through the mountains. The ground was very rocky and hard and we did not make much impression on it. It was rumoured that German forces were taking over all POW camps and that a strong force was on its way to our camp. To do that he would have to climb Il Cardinal first to get into the province of Belluno and then find his way from there. Within ten minutes we had slipped out of camp and made our way across the river to the workings of the old mine. Here we rested and contemplated the step we had just taken. It was difficult to sleep as the cold was intense despite us wearing our new issue of battledress plus the blankets. One could see a distance of fifty miles on a clear day. He told us he had worked in the coalmines in the U. S. A. It was very palatable and was our first decent meal in two days. This he did and after providing us with a piece of bread and salami sausage each, we said cheerio the following morning early before the villagers were up and about. This downward trail was narrow and winding and halfway down we were accosted by a man who immediately said to us 'Tu sei inglese', to which we responded 'Si'. Her younger brother Don Gelindo was a priest in the village of L’Arena two or three miles away while her sister was a nun in the town of Feltre, all these places being in the province or region of Belluno. He was in fact a farmer come dealer in timber and had a good sized area of hillside behind his property with a good cover of trees. These apparently belonged to wealthy Italians who used them occasionally during the summer to perhaps spend a long weekend in. It had two windows, one commanding a view of the road going towards the hotel which was out of sight around a bend in the road, the other window looking down a valley in which lay the village Aune, about 6. The ground in front of the hut sloping gently downwards while to the rear wooded slopes rose to several hundred feet and likewise on the right hand side of the valley leading beyond Aune and on to Zorzoi. We had a visit from the local priest Don Piero who was slightly built and of a very nervous disposition. He was constantly impressing upon us the danger to the people of the vilage should the Germans (Tedeschi) become aware that they were harbouring us. He was a sort of civil servant and he was employed in council buildings under the control of the Germans. We could go down to the village of Aune during the day and could be sure to get a meal of some sort at the various houses. It had a kitchen table and four chairs and a short flight of stairs which led to a bedroom upstairs. It was approached by a path some quarter of a mile long. It had a massive trunk and branches and on many an occasion we would climb up and eat the ripe cherries. There at a height of 1. The rest of the mountain slopes were well swept and the leaves stored in the various huts and chalets scattered around. We knew what these eagles were capable of as from a vantage point on several occasions we had watched them swooping down and lift up a young lamb or chicken and carry them up aloft to their eyrie. A good meal of hot stew was served up to us followed by bread and cheese and a glass of milk. It consisted of thick soup with a good portion of meat thrown in. I thought if they can do it so can I. When we had stamped our feet and swung our arms a bit to restore circulation we started the ascent. I remember shouting out in alarm “Help, help, please God help me”. He replied, “You must if you want to save your life, you are only about four or five feet from the edge of the drop”. It had to be eased off gently because of dried blood. It was bathed with clean cloths in warm water and re- dressed with a bandage provided by the Major this time who also stated that I needed the service of a doctor as soon as possible. The partisans then paid him and enquired about a place for us to stay. The doctor mentioned a family and gave directions and eventually we ended up bedding down in beside some cattle that night. The partisans said they would bed down not too far away. I was beginning to get a headache. We were finally able to look down on Croce D’Aune, Aune and further on at the end of the valley the village of Zorzoi. It was a good feeling to know that help would be available in the way of food and shelter again. Once we reached the town I would have to follow behind him just keeping him in sight until we came to his own village where he would wait for me and conduct me to his house which had a main door just on the village square. This apparently led into a schoolroom where young children were taught each day. I told Don Gelindo and he instructed his housekeeper to put a fire in my room to warm it up. The commotion was caused by partisans entering the village and entering the Germans’ billets had forced them to take off their boots and uniforms at gunpoint and then taken this clothing away with them and left the soldiers in their underwear. He had since had treatment and was ok and I was told all my comrades were in the village of Zorzoi waiting for me to return. POWs all signed our names, rank and numbers and told the local priest to make sure someone in authority received it so that the community could be rewarded in some way. We were placed in accommodation, confined to billets and told to be ready to move off to Rome in the morning. We were given an aerogramme on which to write home to our next of kin. It was a lovely clear evening as we paused outside a big cinema to look at what was being shown on screen. By this time the person whom we presumed to be the manager appeared in a dinner suit and said to us . We were left in our seats undisturbed throughout the showing of the films. We relaxed there for an hour before going back to the beach where some of the lads were watching our clothes. Forces until February 1. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies. Royal Engineers
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2016
Categories |