Hitler's British Slaves (51 page)

Read Hitler's British Slaves Online

Authors: Sean Longden

Tags: #History, #Europe, #Military, #World War II

BOOK: Hitler's British Slaves
8.34Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

19. POWs learned many new skills whilst employed on farms including learning Polish phrases to control horses ploughing, ‘Ho-com’ to move forward and ‘Ha-com’ to turn right. (Red Cross)

20. As the years passed, those men employed on farms established close relationships with local families. These men are harvesting crops alongside German women and children. (Red Cross)

21. Forestry work was heavy and tiring for the prisoners, but at least they worked in the fresh air. The outdoor life was popular with those who had previously worked in mines and factories. (Red Cross)

22. Harvest time saw many prisoners working from sunrise to sunset, in all conditions, to ensure the crops could be gathered. Most prisoners employed on farms soon realised their work changed with the seasons but seldom stopped except in the depth of winter. (Red Cross)

23. In spring 1945 prisoners in Stalag XIb at Fallingbostel were forced to break up their huts for firewood. These South African prisoners were captured at Tobruk. (Imperial War Museum BU 3867)

24. In the latter stages of the war conditions within the Stalags and work camps deteriorated as more and more prisoners were crammed ‘behind the wire’. Many latrines likes these ones, were left overflowing for weeks on end. (National Archive)

25. As prisoners were evacuated westwards many camps became overcrowded, forcing the men to be housed within hastily erected tents like these at Langwasser near Nuremberg. (National Archive)

26. By the time the camps were liberated many prisoners were suffering from malnutrition. This man, Private Buchanan from Glasgow, was liberated at Stalag XIb in April 1945. (Imperial War Museum BU 3866)

27. This emaciated torso belonged to Guardsman Thompson of Palmers Green in North London, also liberated at Stalag XIb. (Imperial War Museum BU 4086)

28. Starvation and disease were not the only dangers faced by the prisoners. This mass POW funeral was for the victims of an Allied bombing raid on a factory at Brux in the Sudetenland where hundreds of prisoners were employed. (Red Cross)

29. The kitchen in the Stalag hospital where Bryan Willoughby was treated. (National Archive)

30. Bryan Willoughby in 1940.

31. Bryan Willoughby in 2004 at Arnhem.

Other books

Being Kendra by Kendra Wilkinson
Junkie (Broken Doll #1) by Heather C Leigh
Opening Moves by Steven James
All the Feels by Danika Stone
Sins of a Duke by Suzanne Enoch
Before & After by Nazarea Andrews
These Dreams of You by Steve Erickson
Dare to be Mine by Allison, Kim
Out of the Blue by RJ Jones