My Grandfather's Journal Part 5

Journal Part 3

Leaving the station we noticed where one wall had nearly collapsed by an explosion of one of our bombs dropped the night before. We were marched from the station a distance of about one mile to an out of date Hotel used for an Officer’s Prison. On entering this we were put in separate rooms and for three days were all alone, living on a small ration of German black bread and soup. On the third day I was taken before an Intelligence officer who tried his best to obtain information from me. I can here state that he learnt little for his trouble. The morning of the fourth day received news that at 2 PM I would be taken with the other officers to a camp within the city limits of Karlsruhe. At 2 PM we were duly marched to our new camp, and on entering it our spirits rose on account of seeing so many more British officers. Here we were all searched; our flying coat, boots, goggles, etc were taken away from us. I got a miserable pair of second hand boots three sizes too large. After the searching was over we were shown to our rooms. These were cheaply fitted up, eight officers in a hut. When this was finished we were allowed to explore our new camp. I met quite a few people I knew before and was invited out to tea. How delightful it was to once again drink real English tea, the first for nearly three weeks. The taste still lingers.

The officers at this camp were quite comfortable. The huts were not very clean, but the grounds were very comfortable. Long rows of trees and oceans of fresh air. What a contrast from being caged up like a bird. The following day I drew emergency rations from the British Help Committee. These consisted of a little cheese, tea, Bully Beef, dripping and biscuits. I never appreciated food before as I did then or since. In this camp besides a library we were fortunate in having two billiard tables and a little theater as well as church on Sunday. It was through this camp that all British officers passed before proceeding to a permanent camp. During my stay here I met quite a number of friends besides making new ones. The German rations were insufficient to feed one, but with the emergency rations from the Red Cross we were able to exist quite comfortably. I used to save up my potatoes and carrots when I got them and mix them up with Bully Beef, make a pie crust of crumbled biscuits and send it to the cookhouse, in this way I usually had three meat pies a week.

We had two roll calls. One at 10 AM and one at 9 PM. During the day we had lots of time at our disposal. About half the camp consisted of about 150 British officers, the rest were French and Italian. While at Karlsruhe I met a French officer who was kind enough to give me lessons in his language. Each day we put in an hour together. I was getting on quite well when the time came for me to be moving to another camp.

On many occasions while I was there, Karlsruhe was visited by our machines. Long before they reached us the sirens gave the warning of the air raid. You could hear the people in the streets running for a shelter and shouting “flieger kommen!”, “flieger kommen!” (“Airplane coming! Airplane coming!”). Then for about an hour all would be quiet, streetcars and all traffic was stopped. One afternoon we counted nine machines right over our head at a height of about 12,000 feet. We also saw German machines going up after them, but they always managed to stay a safe distance from them. During raids the German officers always made us go inside, it was not for our safety but for fear of our cheering which we did at every opportunity.

I remained at Karlsruhe from Aug 16th until Sept 17th when thirty Flying officers, including myself, were marched to the station under an armed escort taking the train for Landshut, in Bavaria. During this trip I was fortunate enough to travel in a second-class carriage, the first time since my capture. We had an uneventful trip, but the morning of the 18th while still en route, we were at one point able to see quite clearly the peaks of the Alps in Switzerland. The distance we did not know, but we all felt that the least chance for escape and we would do our best to get to Switzerland and freedom. About 3 PM we pulled into Munich, the capital of Bavaria. There we left the train and had some refreshment consisting of the usual thin soup although it really was a little better than we usually got. We left Munich about 5 PM arriving at Landshut at nine o’clock. Here we were formed in fours, counted at least ten times and marched off to the camp.

During our journey we were led to believe that we were going to a permanent camp. Imagine our disappointment when we arrived there to find nothing but a collection of small huts surrounded by barbed wire with sentries on every side with fixed bayonets and loaded rifles. We were all huddled into one of these huts like so many sheep and every one of us tired out. We had to sleep all night on straw ticks but we were even glad of these. In the morning we were searched, in turn all our clothes, uniform, underwear, in fact every stitch of our own was taken away from us. In return we were given underwear nearly in rags made of cotton, also a blue suit with stripes up the back like a convicts. We were a sorry looking crowd. When we were all equipped, we were taken to another hut with thirty beds in it. We were here allotted each a bed.

After leaving Karlsruhe we felt this change very much. The food was bad and very little of it. Meat once a week if we were lucky. We were in this part of the camp for a week and during this time we were inoculated five times and vaccinated once. One thing I will admit, the German doctor was very good, but the rest of the German officials were very mean. The Commandant was a Prussian and of the caste-in-the-dye breed (since the Armistice I have heard he was put under arrest).”

That is where his journal ends. However, due to the extensive research done by my father and his friend, Dean who is fluent in German, more information to finish the tale will be given tomorrow.

See you then!

And truly, thank you all for your very kind comments, it is wonderful that my grandfather have this moment in the sun!