WWII RECOLLECTIONS OF PRIVATE ALBERT JAMES PAGE NO 5571163

WW II RECOLLECTIONS OF PRIVATE ALBERT JAMES PAGE NO. 5571163

As recounted to his son-in-law Brian Maddock in August 2005.

Joined Army 15 July 1939 at Devizes Barracks for basic training.

Transferred to Worcestershire Infantry BA Regiment 148th Division at Marlborough.

Because trained poster design artist was employed camouflaging vehicles and transport equipment for service in France.

Went to France (Douet) end of 1939/beginning of 1940 where he continued camouflaging work. On completion of this work deployed to Maginot Line. This was period of phoney war. Returned to Douet and name was on notice board for leave in UK. Took 2 week’s leave in UK then returned to France. Whilst on leave Regiment had been in action and things had become somewhat chaotic; someone told him ‘that half of the Worcesters had been wiped out’. He had some difficulty in locating his regiment but eventually did so. Not sure where this was as everyone was on the move as the German Army advanced into France and the British were falling back to Dunkirk.

29 May 1940 - in a ditch with half of regiment which surrendered; other half were in a building with Captain who shot two Germans as they entered the building and a German officer said ‘Two lives have been lost unnecessarily’ and shot the British Captain; remainder then surrendered.

Taken by lorry & detained in building with many other British prisoners.

After about a month transferred by lorry/rail to prison camp Stalag XX1D.H56 at Posen in Poland as Prisoner No.5102 where he remained until near the end of the war. At this time his capture/whereabouts were not known by his wife and family in England.

Whilst in POW camp mainly left to own devices. Games were played including football matches against other POW camps, shows were staged, swimming in local river was allowed and prisoners were generally treated OK.

Prisoners had to undertake work such as in coal mines, digging trenches and on farms.
On one occasion when loading a lorry with potatoes some were falling off and the local Polish children were picking them up. A German guard took exception to this and was hitting the children; Albert jumped off the lorry and kicked the guard up the backside who turned and drew his revolver but then ran off without firing it. Albert pursued him, picked the guard up and threw him into the adjacent river. The guard got out and made off. The potato work continued until the end of the day. Nothing happened until he appeared in front of the Camp Commandant some time later and was sentenced to 14 days solitary confinement & banned from working outside the camp.

Thereafter employed in the camp on painting work including producing splendid scenery and props for the camp shows (he has a number of photographs of the shows and his work) and hand painted Christmas cards for himself and other prisoners. On occasions he was allowed to go to the local town accompanied by two guards for protection to obtain wigs and costumes for the shows.

Escape was not an option as the camp was too far away from the allied lines. Food in the camp was adequate (3 meals a day) and after a while supplemented by Red Cross food parcels from home. The large chocolate bars in the parcels were often used to bribe the guards and local civilian workers to obtain more bread at an exchange rate of 4 loaves for 1 bar of chocolate.

Some time later prisoners were allowed to send post cards home and his family were overjoyed to learn that Albert who had been listed as missing was alive and well.

Some prisoners also worked on German ‘Jeep’ type vehicles and were able to acquire a radio from one of the vehicles. The radio was initially hid outside the camp for about a month while the Germans searched for it inside the camp. After about a month the radio was smuggled into the camp in a bundle of firewood. It was hidden in the paint shop by Albert and every night one of the prisoners listened to the news which he wrote down and then spread through a network to all of the huts; so the troops continually kept abreast of the progress of the war!

The camp was on the main road to the Russian front and traffic past it was therefore always very heavy. Some of the guards had come from the Russian front and had become very disillusioned with the war.

Albert remained a prisoner in the camp from 1940 until early 1945. As the Russians approached prisoners were forced to leave the camp and march to another location. The temperature was extremely low (down to —40 degrees C) with a lot of snow on the ground and the march was long and the destination unknown; Albert says that ‘everyone was on the move’. His diary records ‘a forced march of 800 miles made through knee deep snow and frost for six weeks. In order to try and keep warm the soldiers on some nights resorted to sleeping close to cattle in sheds. After a number of days Albert developed frostbite in both feet and was unable to march any further.

He was then taken to a school in Zwittau on 16 February 1945 being used as a hospital. On 23 February 1945 a German surgeon in Zwittau amputated his left foot and his right toes. He remained at Zwittau until 8 May 1945 when he was transferred to a hospital at Usti Nad Orlici in Czechoslovakia from which he was discharged on 10 May 1945 and travelled to Prague where he arrived on 14 May 1945. He recalls that on arrival at the Usti Nad Orlici hospital he encountered clean white sheets, the first he had seen since 1940 and being reluctant to get into bed for fear of making them dirty!

Albert left Prague on 16 May 1945 and was transferred to a hospital in Paris on 25 May 1945, finally returning to England on 1 June 1945, more than 5 long years after he had left. He was admitted to the Gloucester City General Hospital where on 11 June 1945 he was reunited with his wife Ada and 7 year old daughter Belinda.

Albert and Ada had a son Brent born 21 October 1946.

Thereafter he spent the next 3 years in and out of hospitals including the Hartbury Red Cross Hospital near Gloucester undergoing skin grafting and other treatment on his legs and feet before being finally medically discharged from the Army on 29 October 1948.

Because of his disability he was not able to resume his trade as a poster design artist and was employed as a machinist by Garrards on 1 November 1948 where he remained until being made redundant on 7 December 1978 at the age of 60.

Another son Ross was born 25 November 1957.

Sadly Brent died in February 2002 and then Ada in August 2003.

Despite suffering a mini stroke a few years ago which has caused short term memory loss Albert now approaching his 87th birthday remains in generally good health. He still lives in his own bungalow in Swindon and is always busy in his beloved garden. Ross who also lives in Swindon keeps an eye on him and calls in daily; Belinda comes from her home in Portsmouth periodically and when necessary.

Although his short term memory is very poor his recollections of his war experiences remain clear.

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