This account of my time spent as a P.O.W. is to my best knowledge accurate in every way. It was written just after I returned home during the summer of 1945.

My Experiences as a Prisoner of War 1944-1945

++THE MARCH++

December 16th the Germans started their last big drive of the war. We were located on the Siegfried Line in former German positions. We had one pillbox, one dug out called the Red Ball Hotel, two outposts and a pillbox located between ourselves and the German lines. This pillbox, “No. 7", could be reached only at night and then under constant danger from rifle fire. We changed squads every other night because of this danger. The morning of December 16th, Pat Shelton had a finger blown off by shrapnel and later that day the Squad leader and Assistant of the 2nd Squad were both injured. Shelling continued all day and night. We were given orders to move out, which were later cancelled. On the 17th we did move out with only a small amount of equipment. We moved back to the Battalion Headquarters, waiting there several hours before leaving. Our Company acted as rear guard for the Battalion and Regiment.

We moved cross country all afternoon and evening, finally getting to our Regiment Headquarters which had left 100%. There we set up a perimeter defense against the Germans who were moving up on three sides of us.

All orders from higher up were confused and no one took authority to clear up our situation. About 2:00 a.m. the Germans were only about one mile from us so we pulled back with all equipment and motor trucks, jeeps, etc. After a short time, all mechanical equipment was driven off the road and left. This undoubtedly prolonged the total war for several weeks. None of the equipment was dismantled or damaged in any way, but was left intact for the Germans. About 4:30 a.m. we took up positions on a hill within a pine forest. The Jerries were behind and on both sides of us but we were informed the road to the front was still open. At eight the next morning we were to follow the road with our supplies to be dropped by airplane. We dug in for the night and about 7:00 a.m. the Jerries opened up from our front with a heavy barrage of shell fire. During the night they had closed in on all sides of us. Company C, which was ahead of us pulled back through our lines but we held for a while. The boy in the foxhole directly back of ours was killed by shell fragments. Lt. Garwood and myself dug our hole deeper with one shovel and our bare hands. Each shell that would come over made us dig in deeper. One burst killed a boy who was lying on top of the two of us. Finally we were told that we would pull out and were given a compass reading to a town, supposedly held by the Americans. Many of our officers had been killed and Lt. Garwood led us out. I had the radio and compass and stayed directly back of him up to the time we were captured. We started out, keeping to the woods and avoiding the roads. Most of us got safely through the Jerry lines and after about five hours came in sight of the town we were to go to. The town lay in a small valley with a road between the hill we were on and it. The hill was covered with pine trees, about 6 to 12 feet high, making visibility very poor. We descended the hill. Lt. Garwood motioned everyone to wait while we went out and looked over the “situation and terrain.” We stepped out on the supposedly clear road only to find a tank parked about fifty yards to the right. The tank commander had his guns trained on us at the time. He shouted for us to halt but we tried to get back to cover in the woods and he opened fire immediately. With a machine gun they raked the side of the hill for at least thirty minutes. Shortly afterwards a gun, probably a “55" opened fire from the town itself and a great many “Jerries” started firing their “burp guns” and rifles into the woods where we were lying. We tried to crawl back up to the crest of the hill but very few, if any, made it. I felt something burn my hip and knew I had been hit. A minute later, what felt like a bee sting hit me in the small of my back on the left side. Finally the firing stopped and they called for us to surrender. A great many of the fellows were killed and many more, like myself were wounded. Finally Captain Moore walked out of the woods to our left and surrendered for the entire Company, or what was left of it. The boy next to me had been hit near the eyes and was screaming horribly. Another had his leg blown off below the knee. On the road they made us line up with our hands above our heads while they searched us. Nearly all of our cigarettes and candy were taken along with a lot of rings, watches, pens and pencils and other personal belongings. Being wounded I got off fairly easy. Tom Owens, a friend of mine, helped me to the road and also helped me march back to the other side of town where they held us the rest of the day. For about three quarters of an hour after being hit in the back I spit and coughed up blood. I was afraid I was bleeding internally, but after taking Sulfa powder it finally stopped. Later examination showed my hip to have been only creased and that the bullet entered my back but never came out. That evening myself and others of the more seriously wounded were placed on a truck to be taken back of their lines for first aid by our doctors. Our doctors proved to be a few Medics with little or no supplies. Our “hospital” was a small barn without a door and a dirt floor. The temperature was below freezing and we got very little sleep except from exhaustion. The next day it was discovered two of the twenty-eight in the barn had died during the night. Our meals consisted of two crackers and water for that day. Finally we were taken to a German “First Aid Stations” in a nearby town by truck. There we were given sandwiches, coffee and eight cigarettes a day. They also dressed our wounds. From here they tried to get us to a hospital. It seemed everywhere we went the town was bombed. Finally, on Christmas Day, ten of us were loaded on a truck to be taken to the Hospital at Gerelstine. On the way they put in a young fellow who had just had his leg amputated and was not yet out of ether. We arrived at Gerelstine only to find the hospital bombed. The Germans put us off the trucks, saying they needed it for themselves. We were put in a large building by the R. R. station. There were around 1700 jammed in already who had nothing to eat for two days. About an hour later the town was bombed by airplanes again. Several hit very close to the building and an incendiary bomb came through about 15 feet from myself and the other wounded. After the bombing we were all driven out of the building. The boy under ether was left there and I could never find out what happened to him. Between fifty and seventy of us were held back to put out fires and clean up the buildings. Many of the fellows were beaten by the civilians and Jerries at this time. Later we were taken to a building on a hill near town where we were bombed once again. I was standing at the top of an outside cellar way and was blown down it by the concussion. Finally about nine o’clock we were lined up in groups of 500 and given our days rations (a fifth of a can of cheese and a bag of hard crackers). We were to get more the next day, so we ate them while we marched. However, this first night’s rations proved to be all we received for the next four days. We, the wounded, had to walk along with everyone else or be left behind. That same night we were strafed by our own planes and could hear bombing all around us. This march continued until the third of January, covering about one hundred and thirty miles and all. We would leave in the morning, march all day, and wait around at night till they found places for us to sleep. The temperature was usually between zero and twenty degrees. I had on nothing but my short field jacket with no gloves and was dressed like the average fellow. Our rations consisted of one bowl of soup, the cheese and crackers mentioned before and about a fifth of a loaf of bread for the entire time we were on the march–10 days. At the end of that time we were taken to a large barn, open at the top with most of the windows broken out. It had been used to dry out pottery and tile products. We were told we would probably be there for one night but we spent three days and four nights before leaving. There was not heat at all. We had a little straw to sleep on but nothing to cover us up at nights to keep warm. The temperature was near zero most of the time and many of the fellows feet and hands were frozen as a result. My feet were badly frostbitten as well as three of my fingers, while there. We did get a small amount of bread every other day, with a little cheese, as well as a small amount of water and some weak coffee. We also got one Red Cross box for ten men the last day. Then we were loaded on box cars (60 men to a car) no straw or heat in them and at night we didn’t have room to lie down, but were forced to stand or sit. There were no latrines, the only means of relieving ourselves were by cans or boxes or in the car itself. Many of the fellows had bad cases of dysentery and conditions were terrible. We spent a total of four days in the box car. One day we had a small amount of soup. The rest of the time we did without water or food. They kept the door locked at all times to prevent escape. Finally we were left out and marched about three miles to a small woods through snow that was quite deep. The temperature at this time was below zero and we were forced to stand in this grove or woods for nearly four hours. Finally we were taken in smaller groups into the camp itself. We learned later we were at Camp IV-B, near Leipzig or Muhlburg. This ended the first phase of our being Prisoners of War. Up to this time we were “Missing in Action” only, and were not technically prisoners.

The worst parts of our “March” were the lack of food and the cold. Not having enough to eat made us feel cold all of the time and the near zero temperature made it that much worse. In the evenings we would have to wait till they found places for us to stay for the night. It often took from one to four hours to do this. This waiting in the cold without energy to move to keep warm was terrible. Then, too, we had no prospects of getting food and only one night did we have any heat where we stayed. Many of the people of the towns we passed through would laugh and spit at us. A few would try to give us small amounts of food such as apples, a slice of bread, or a few potatoes. Whenever such things occurred there was usually a fight to get a part of it. Even a very small bite of anything tasted good and often an apple would be passed around between five or six fellows. A cigarette was worth almost anything and the least bit of tobacco was hoarded like gold. While on the march, I saw fellows trade watches, pens and anything of value for something to eat. I saw one fellow trade his shoes for a slice of bread, another a watch, worth at least seventy-five dollars, for a half loaf of bread and many other instances of trades as bad or worse. However, we all thought when we finally got to a camp things would be much better, so we were glad to arrive at IV-B

++CAMP IV-B++

January 7th, the day we arrived at the camp, we were registered and became officially P.O.W. When we first went into IV-B, we were placed into a large brick building and a few at a time were taken over to be deloused and then to be assigned to a barracks. When our time came, we had our delousing which consisted of a hot shower only. It was really wonderful, since it was the first time in over a month we had been able to wash except with snow. Too, it was the first chance we had to see what condition our bodies were in since being taken prisoners. All of us were extremely thin. Many of the fellows feet and hands were either frozen or badly frostbitten and some of them were already a blue black as high as their ankles. Also any sores that had developed on our bodies had festered and all in all we were a sad looking bunch of soldiers. Sixteen fellows had died the last day before getting to IV-B and many were in such bad shape they died the first few days in camp. After our shower we were taken to be registered, then to be searched. During the searching of our clothing many things were taken that were personal belongings of the fellows. If anyone tried to hide their money, it was taken away from them. However, I turned in around thirty dollars and received a receipt for twenty-eight of it. We were then taken to our barracks.

These proved to be low huts, with one stove in each, that were built to accommodate around 120 persons. Most of the time we were in them we had about 220. The lowest number was 160 and the highest 287. There were no lights and we slept on the floor with heavy burlap for a mattress. There were no blankets but we were given a Jerrie shelter half for a cover. The sick, by sick I mean the ones who couldn’t get up at all, were placed on one side of our barracks. There were around seventy-five when we first arrived but the number increased daily.

The one bright thing about the camp was that we did get more to eat. Our daily schedule ran something like this: At five a.m. we were gotten awake and had to go out for roll call, which usually lasted til around seven. Then one of the guards sent fellows to get coffee–our breakfast. Between ten and eleven we had to go out again while the hut was cleaned. Around one o’clock came our big meal of the day–coffee, a milk can partially full of soup and six or seven potatoes, plus a portion of bread. The rest of the day we spent in trying to keep warm, playing cards, sleeping, or just talking. The biggest thing we talked about was food. That was always the uppermost thought in our minds with our families next. Anytime during the day or even all night long you could hear fellows talking about something to eat. There were two schools of thought about this–one group thought it made you more hungry to talk about food, while the others decided it made you feel better. Another big question was whether it was better to eat our bread as we got it or try saving a piece till morning. Few of us had the will power to save any and ate it as fast as we could. The bread was a sour tasting bread of a very dark color, which all of us swore had a lot of sawdust in. You could hardly eat it the way it came but toasted it wasn’t too bad. The bad part of toasting it was that the moisture all left and the bread shriveled up a lot. Since you only got such a little bit, you hated to make it smaller but it did taste a lot better. So what usually happened was–you ate it plain till you couldn’t stand it, then you toasted it for a while and so on. The Jerries were always telling us that Red Cross boxes were on the way, but it wasn’t till the last two days I was there that we even saw a Red Cross box. Then there were seven of us on the boxes we did receive. We were thankful for even that much though.

Cigarettes were the money of the camp. By that I mean you could buy nearly anything with cigarettes. There was an exchange or trading post in the camp where you could buy food from Red Cross boxes–bread, flour, and potatoes. You could also buy a few other things such as towels, knives, etc. However, you couldn’t buy a towel for twenty dollars, but you could get one for thirty cigarettes. That doesn’t seem bad except when you know that you could get a hundred dollars easier than thirty cigarettes. Bread was worth from forty-five to sixty cigarettes, a 5 ounce chocolate bar was worth about forty cigarettes, a cup full of flour around twenty, a small can of jam or meat around twenty-five and so on down the list. Many of the fellows traded off clothing too. The price for an overcoat was around one hundred cigarettes. For a watch you could get from two hundred to three hundred cigarettes but you couldn’t sell a one hundred dollar watch for five dollars. If a fellow could have gotten 6 cartons of cigarettes he could have lived like a king. We were told we could receive one 10 lb. box from home every sixty days as well as six cartons of cigarettes a month. As far as I know no one ever received either from the time of our capture till the time we got back home again.

One day we were told we could write a short card home. It was a wonderful feeling to write, even though you didn’t think they would be mailed. We wrote a total of five cards and two letters while at IV-B of which two got home.

In our barracks we were divided into sections and each section into groups of six fellows. I was leader of my group. When our food came for the day we were called up in sections and given a certain amount of food for each group. The group leaders would divide the food for their six men into equal portions and give it out. It wasn’t too bad except when it came to the bread. Trying to cut a loaf of bread that was higher on one end than on the other was really a job. Each fellow wanted the biggest piece and many fights and arguments developed from giving out the food. Finally in my group we decided to draw cards each night. The highest card got his pick and so on down to the lowest card. As soon as the food was given out you could find fellows trading. They would trade bread for soup, soup for bread, butter for a piece of bread or anything they thought they would like better than what they had. Stealing started a few days after we arrived in camp. The penalty for this was a week on bread and water in a small cell without any light. Even this had little effect. You couldn’t leave any food around and expect it to be there when you got back. Most of the fellows carried all their food with them if they had any extra. Usually each person ate it as soon as he got it.

We were there just a short time when they started calling out names to go on working parties, called commandos. These fellows would be sent to some other part of Germany to do all kinds of work. No one wanted to work for the Jerries, but we were promised double rations as well as the two red cross boxes a week. If we would have gotten what they promised we would have been able to live very well. Finally my name came up to move out on Commando, along with 296 other fellows from my camp. We were to leave the 29th of January, early in the morning. Around midnight of the 28th we were taken up for another hot shower and also to have all of our clothing deloused in a gas chamber. We had to wait for two hours outside in a heavy snow storm before our turn came. The temperature was around zero and the cold and wind was very bad. After our shower we went back to an empty barracks and got a few hours sleep. That same night three fellows suffocated from the gas used to delouse our clothing and many more became seriously ill. Around seven o’clock in the morning we were marched down to be searched once more and given our rations for the trip to our next camp, which were 1/3 loaf of bread, a can of meat for three persons, and a small portion of margarine. The trip was made in boxcars and lasted from the 29th of January to the 2nd of February. This time we had small stoves in the boxcars and there were only about fifty of us to a car. The trip passed without any trouble. We passed through many towns that had been badly bombed by the Allies and were in a number of air raids, but luckily we were not bombed or strafed during the trip. We arrived on the afternoon of February 2nd in Zittau, the closest town to our new camp.

++COMMANDO AT ZITTAU++

Arriving at Zittau we were taken from the boxcars and arranged in groups of fifty. It was at this time that the Germans discovered three of their prisoners were missing. These three had broken open a window of one of the cars and somewhere along the line had escaped. They tried to check on them but none of us could or would not give any information. Finally we started marching to our camp which was about four miles from the town itself. It was quite late, nearly dark, when we arrived at our new “home”. It was a new camp which had housed a small number of Russian P.O.W.’s before us. There were two hundred ninety-six of us when we arrived and a few days later we were joined by nine fellows from a camp in Italy, making a total of three hundred and five. We were placed in three barracks in this camp. Besides ourselves, there were a few French forced laborers and a few Czechs. We, the Americans, were inside a separate enclosure with a double fence of barbed wire entirely surrounding our small area. Armed guards patrolled the fence at all times making escape from the camp itself impossible. We had double bunks with straw and excelsior to put over our board “springs”. Each of us were given two thin blankets, which while very light and certainly not warm, did help a lot to keep us warmer. We organized ourselves into groups and sections similar to the way camp IV-B was run. Also we elected three barracks leaders, a barber, tailor and a medic. This medic didn’t know anything about medicine but did know a little more than the rest of us. It developed later that actually no one was needed for this job since we received little or no medical treatment from the Jerries. The two smaller barracks had two stoves each and the one I was in, the largest of the three, contained three stoves. These were simply very small heaters which burned a lot of coal and gave very little heat. Outside of our barracks area were two larger buildings, one which contained the guards quarters as well as the few French, and the other was the storeroom and kitchen.

The real leaders of the camp were the Americans who were interpreters. We had one for each barracks and one fellow who was over the others. This chief interpreter was pro-German and did very little for us in the way of help. A few weeks after we arrived we also elected a confidence man who was supposed to be our go-between with the Jerries and ourselves. Not being able to speak German we had to depend entirely on our interpreter who often asked the Germans for the opposite of what we wanted or needed. So much for the organization of the camp.

The second day we were split up into working parties for four different jobs near Zittau. My first job was with a dozen other fellows unloading rock, taking up and laying narrow gauge railway track about two miles from camp. This lasted about two weeks and then most of us were put on the Hirschfeldt job. This was in two parts. One group worked on a job excavating ground for a new factory. The other group was on the railroad, working on the other side of town. I was in the latter group and became quite proficient in the art of using a pick and shovel. Our job was to clear a large section of land, level it the same as the railroad and lay narrow gauge track parallel to the regular railroad. To get to Hirschfeldt we walked from our camp to Zittau, about four miles, then took a bus to Hirschfeldt and our job. In the evening we would reverse the procedure. This went on every day, rain or snow regardless. Sundays we worked only till around three o’clock and one Sunday we had off entirely. Each day was much like the last. We would get up at five in the morning, eat our breakfast, leave for work at six, work all day with sometimes a half to one hour for noon and arrive back around six in the evening. Then came our supper–coffee and after a short time we would “hit the excelsior” for some sleep. Each morning we would line up outside our enclosure and be counted. The Germans are very methodical in everything they do and feel they must be exact in each and every detail. Naturally, the longer it took for them to count us made that much less time for us to work. We would line up in columns of five deep. One of the guards would go down the line counting the front person, then would multiply by five for a total number. Always in the morning they would have too many fellows. During the winter it was usually dark when we lined up, so as soon as the first few rows were counted a few of us would sneak over to the end of the line. In this way they always had too many. Then, too, we would often put four instead of five fellows in line which still gave them too many. We often kept this up for from one half to three quarters of an hour. When the guards would get mad and threaten to start shooting we would straighten out and they would get the correct count. Another way was for one of the guards to start down the line–“ein, swei, dre, fuer, etc.” All at once a commotion would break out and we would all rush to one spot. Then they would have to start all over again. Finally they would start one guard counting then another till four or five different guards were counting us at the same time. This usually worked but often they would have four or five different answers when they were finished.

For our heating the barracks, we were allowed so much coal for each stove. What the Germans gave us was very, very little but the fact that we worked on the railroad gave us a chance to steal, or rather help ourselves to more coal. Each of us would load our pockets on the way home. With this and what little the Jerries gave us we managed to keep warm enough. Then, too, when anyone was sent to the hospital we would hide all the bed slats before the guards got them. When we ran out of coal we would get out these slats and start them burning. All of us had two or three slats out of our own bunks, as well, by the time the war ended.

The thing we were all most interested in, however, was food. We didn’t care too much about the quality, but were after quantity. At first we got a few fairly decent meals, but after the first week we settled down to our regular diet, such as it was. In the morning we had flour and water–no salt or seasoning of any kind–but just plain flour and water. That sounds bad and tasted worse. They would heat the water and put a small amount of flour in it and then we would line up for our breakfast. After working all day we would have a small piece of bread, either a fifth or seventh of a two kilo loaf, a small square of margarine and about once a week marmalade or a little meat. This meat was usually about one level tablespoon full. We also had a soup in the evening. The soup was water with a little potato in it. We had about two or three potatoes–very small size–per person. These were ground up and made into the above soup. This very rarely had salt either. Once in a great while we would have turnip or rutabaga soup instead of potato, but all of them were ninety-five percent water. A few times we had a special treat, when they left the cooks use the bones from a cow or hogs head to give the soup a little meat flavor. After our soup we had coffee. This was warm water with a coffee made from barley. It resembled our coffee only in that it was warm and a dark brown. From there on the resemblance stopped. It did heat our bodies up for a short time though and we were glad to get it. It was the same thing in the morning with our flour and water. That was terrible, but we took as much as we could get, usually about one liter, to keep us warm. At noon we would sometimes have a few puffs on a cigarette, if we were lucky. If we couldn’t get, we had nothing. The food we got was of a very poor quality and there was very little of it. To work on a railroad all day and march four miles each way to and from our job, we needed more to eat if we wanted to stay alive.

We found that a weed, called turnip greens by us, made a soup that helped fill us somewhat. Then too, we would use dandelion and sometimes just plain grass as a soup. Whenever we got a chance we would “help ourselves” to anything we could find along the way to work. Two of the worst examples I can think of were when one fellow found a dead owl and ate it nearly raw, and another when one of the fellows brought in a lot of common snails and roasted them to eat. Potato peelings, as well as turnip skins and grass were always to be found on a stove being heated up by someone to eat.

The Red Cross boxes, of which we were to get two per man each week, never reached us until Easter Sunday. We had one for two men then and the same the following week. The next week we received a full box per man and the following week a box between three men. That was the extent of our boxes. Instead of the two a week which would have made thirty boxes we only received a total of two and one third boxes for the total time.

These boxes were really wonderful. They contained a pound can of butter, twelve ounces of marmalade or jam, one can each of sardines, salmon, corned beef and spam. They also had a bar of soap, one half pound of sugar, a quarter pound of cheese, a box of raisins or prunes, a can of powdered milk, a five ounce chocolate bar, and a small bag of either tea or coffee plus a box of crackers. We usually ate everything except the coffee or tea which we would try to trade to civilians on the “job” for bread. A bag of coffee was worth from two to four kilos of bread and tea was worth from one to two kilos. The chocolate bar was worth about the same as coffee but I never traded mine, always eating mine the first thing.

These boxes always came on a weekend and the night fellows would stay up till all hours cooking something from their box. Puddings were something all of us made and they were really something. We would take crackers, crumble them and boil them in coffee or water til they made a paste. Then we would add raisins, prunes, sugar and chocolate. After it cooled we would make an icing out of powdered milk, jam and sugar for the top. These were sweet and boy did they taste good. A few of the other things I made from my boxes were a raisin pie (very small size), fried sardines in cracker crumbs, salmon loaf and a regular meat loaf. We always made bread puddings and became quite good cooks.

By the end of March we were all in terrible condition but did pick up a little after we started to get the boxes in April.

Out of the three hundred and five fellows who started working when we arrived at the camp, we were down to one hundred and eleven by Easter. One hundred and twenty had gone to the hospital, eleven had died in camp, three had been shot and sixty were too weak to work and were in a separate barracks called the sick barracks. I mentioned before that we had little need of a medic and it was true. The only thing we had in the way of medicine was a small bottle of liquid-like mercurochrome. If a person had a sore on his leg it was painted with this. If you had a sore throat it was used as a mouth wash. For a tooth ache we painted our gums. If anyone had athletes’ foot, which we all did, we used it for our toes, for a sore eye a few drops were put in the eye and so on for all hurts or illnesses. This was certainly to be a cure all, but in reality wasn’t any good for anything.

There were none of the fellows who had their teeth treated while at camp and only once were any of them taken into town to a doctor. These fellows who were taken to town all had something wrong with their toes. Often it was ingrown toe nails or possibly just a blister of some sort. There were probably fifteen who had trouble of this sort, so they decided to take them into Zittau to have them treated. I said they only took one group to a doctor and the reason was–everyone was afraid to go after that first time. The treatment for the sore toes consisted of pulling out the entire toe nail, regardless of what the trouble was. The toes nearly all became infected after this but nothing more was done to help them. From this you can see why no one else wanted to go to a doctor.

Body lice were another big source of trouble to everyone. We all had them and they were really bad. We could clean ourselves very well and think we were rid of them only to find in a day or two that we had a few hundred more of the darn things. During the day I believe most of them slept, but at night when we wanted to sleep they wanted to run around. Sometimes it would feel as if there was a football game going on with about a thousand spectators all running around at once. We were deloused in March with a hot shower but they soon returned to each of us with all their relatives. Fortunately, we didn’t have them on our heads but only on our bodies which was certainly bad enough.

To go to a hospital you had to be nearly dead, and I am sure a great many of the one-hundred and twenty fellows who were sent there died later. We only heard about four fellows who were sent to the hospital after they left camp. Of these four, three died before they got there. All or at least ninety-five percent of the deaths and sicknesses were caused either directly or indirectly by malnutrition and starvation. The three who were shot were killed trying to escape. Two of them were brought back and laid on the ground outside of our latrine for two days in the pouring rain. They removed their shoes but otherwise they were dressed as always and were uncovered, so that we had to pass by them at least four times a day. While this was horrible and something none of us will ever forget, it did keep others from trying to escape and probably meeting the same fate. At this time the war was nearly over. We had no maps or any way of finding our way to the Allied lines if we could have gotten out, and besides none of us were in any condition to travel any distance.

For our information we had to depend on everyone. The guards would give us some. Once in a while our German officers would tell us something and we got a little from civilians while working. However, we had no way of checking up on anything we heard, but by putting all the information together we could get some idea of how things stood. We did have one fellow in camp, a former S.S. Trooper, whom we called Gestapo Joe. He always wore a very splendid uniform with an arm band which had a swastika on it. When the Russians would get close he would take off the uniform and put on a civilian suit. If they were pushed back again, back on would go the uniform and so forth–so from that we could tell a little about our allies.

The closest anyone came to our camp was in late March, when the Russians were advancing towards Dresden. Easter Sunday they pushed within twelve kilometers–about seven miles of our camp. We found out later that orders had been issued to machine gun all of us in our beds that night if the advance continued. Some of our guards refused and since the Russians were pushed back, the order was never carried out.

It was shortly after this that the Germans wanted us to join them in the fight against the Russians. One evening when we got back to camp, they, the Jerries, passed out a few papers printed in English. The German Sergeant read one to us and made a plea that we should consider it very carefully. The paper was an appeal to all Allied P.O.W.’s, especially Americans, to join the Germans and fight against Russian Bolshevism. They promised us the same food their soldiers received as well as the same pay. Too, they told us we would be given our freedom as soon as the war was finished. Needless to say, we were still American enough to laugh about it and turn it down. There were a few French from our camp who did take advantage of it, however, and left for the Russian front.

I was fortunate enough to get one of these papers and bring it home with me, (see pages 19 and 20).

For our social side of camp life we had nothing. We did hold Church services every Sunday evening in the large barracks. One of our fellows who fancied himself to be a preacher, would give a short talk and we would sing four or five songs. A prayer concluded the service. These services were attended by only a few fellows, usually not more than twenty or twenty-five. We did have a prayer every night from Easter till we left–just after the Jerries made their final count of the day. This was around eight in the evening. Some of the fellows, myself included, had our own individual prayer at night and I know it helped us a lot.

While in camp it seemed that if you could keep up your spirit you got along o.k.. I never doubted that I would get home sometime, but many of the fellows felt we would never get out and actually these were the ones who became the sickest and often died. I did spend some time in the sick barracks, suffering from “Dickey Bine” or “Sticky Legs” as the Germans called it. This was caused by malnutrition and makes your legs and joints swell very badly. In the army I wore a six and one half shoe. When I finally stopped working for a short time I couldn’t wear a nine and a half triple E shoe. Later this became better and from late March I again worked every day.

Cigarettes were almost non-existent in camp and for that matter in the town as well. Some of the fellows smoked tea grounds and a form of wood that was supposed to come from the tobacco stalk. Our Red Cross boxes, which were Canadian, should have had seventy cigarettes for each box. When we got the boxes they came through a British P.O.W. camp near there. The first box contained twenty cigarettes. The second–ten, and one other box had four making a total of thirty-four. Where the rest went we do not know, but feel the British or possibly the Jerries took them.

The guards in our camp were both good and bad to us. We had about six S.S. Troopers who would gladly have killed us all. There was also a group of Poles and Czechs who had been forced into the German Army and were acting as guards. There were about six of this group, so actually while they tried to help us and S.S. Troopers tried to harm us, neither group could do either. One of the friendly guards would give us some of his home cured tobacco, another would always give us an hour off at noon. One fellow would always insist on a fire while we were working. We had no shelter on the job, and rain or shine we had to keep on working. Very often the temperature was around zero and very few fellows had gloves. This guard, against the objections of our Jerrie’s boss would build a very large fire and warm himself. We were not allowed to go near it, however. Our job was in two sections at our end of the track. As soon as the boss would go to the other end of the track, the guard would call us all over and leave us get warm. He would keep a lookout for the return of the boss and warn us when he was coming so we could go back to work. These things, while they seem small, certainly meant an awful lot to us at the time. Of course we had names for all of our guards–such as–Horse face, Yipty Yip, Loud Mouth, Sad Sack, Walrus, and anything we could think of that suited their looks or actions. The one we called Sad Sack was a perfect picture of the Army Comic and thought we were doing him a favor by calling him that. Of course he couldn’t speak English and didn’t know who the Sad Sack was in our Army.

Stealing, which was bad in 4B, became much worse as our supply of food went down. At first we put them through a belt line and took a week’s rations from them. This didn’t help, however, and finally when anyone was caught, his head was shaved, he was beaten up by a number of fellows, and then given a bath in our latrine, where he had to get in up to his chin. Then he had to actually take a bath in cold water and sleep out-doors for the night. Even these drastic measures didn’t stop a lot of fellows. None of us had enough food and for anyone to steal from someone else was terrible. To steal from Jerries was perfectly alright, however, and nearly all of us did when we had the chance.

One time about ten of us were working on a coal car. We discovered a garden which contained the most delicious onions I ever ate. The guard with us would spend quite a bit of his time behind a small shed to keep out of the wind. The preacher was with us and we would all start singing. One of us would sneak away, break into the fence and grab as many onions as we could get. If the guard would start coming back, “Chappy” the preacher, would burst out with “Here Comes the Bride”. That would warn the fellow in the garden to get out in a hurry. In this way, we cleaned out nearly the entire garden. It has been said the Army always gets along in any emergency and we were no exception.

Finally, on May 5th, we marched back into camp. We were very tired. It had rained all day and the guards had been especially mean to us. When we lined up, the German Sgt. in charge of our camp told us all to go to the big barracks. Inside he told us that fighting had stopped between the Germans and Americans and English. And best of all that we were now free men once more. He also told us, and I actually think he believed it–that the Americans were going to give lend-lease aid to the Germans as well as fighting with them against the Russians. Because the Russians were advancing toward our camp and the Germans didn’t want them to get us, I can’t say why, we were going to march down into Sudaten land in Northern Czechoslovakia. We were to leave Monday morning, May 7th, with eight German guards and march till we came to the American lines.

This was what we all wanted and had been waiting to hear for a long time. You can’t believe the shouting that went up at this news and how happy we all were. Sunday was spent in getting ready for our march and making any arrangements we could to stay with our friends. Finally, about seven o’clock on Monday morning, May 7th, we started out to hunt the G.I. lines.

++THE WAY BACK++

Early on Monday morning we were awakened by the guards and told we would move out at about seven o’clock. Most of us had been too excited to do much sleeping the night before and needless to say that morning we were all ready to go. For our last meal in camp, breakfast, we had our regular flour and water but it had been sweetened with sugar and to us tasted delicious.

As soon as we had eaten we got our things ready to travel. Any extra clothes were tied in bundles so they could be carried and we were ready to go. The day before, nineteen fellows that had been to a hospital near there returned to camp to leave with us. Two of them had been friends of mine and had a suitcase full of food from their stay in the hospital. They stayed with a friend of mine and myself. They were very weak so it was arranged that we would carry the suitcase in return for a part of the food. This worked out fine for all of us.

Finally we lined up for our final count. This was one time that we lined up in a hurry and their count came out right the first time. We left camp at seven thirty as planned and I am sure all of us were glad to leave. Our route took us to the top of a mountain about six or seven miles from camp. About this time we heard planes and discovered later that the town we had just left as well as where we worked had been bombed for over four hours. Luckily we were gone and none of us were hurt in the bombing.

Later that same morning we met a group of British who were being evacuated the same as we were. It was decided that we would stick together since we were still in some danger. The first evening we stayed in a barn which had plenty of straw. Here we also had our first meal since leaving camp. This was ten men to a loaf of bread plus four potatoes. This was also to be our last day in which we didn’t get enough to eat as events proved. Even though our food for that meal was short, the four of us had plenty to eat from the suitcase.

Next morning we started out early and about ten o’clock all of our German guards were called to a meeting in a town we were passing through. They told us then that peace had been declared and the war was to be over officially at noon of that day, May 8th. We had waited a long time for that but in a way it was an anti-climax to the news they had given us May 5th of our own personal release. Our guards were still over us, however, and we were still under German control.

Every hour we would stop for about a half hour’s rest. Even walking, the pace was very slow since none of us were in condition to go very fast. At each of these stops we would get out the suitcase and have something to eat. This day passed without incident. The guards informed us we were being taken to the American lines and were to be released as soon as we contacted them. I really believe this was their idea and they would have done so if they had had the chance.

The next day we started out once more. We all felt that now with the war over we were out of danger and would reach our lines sometime that day. Soon after we started, however, we heard bombing quite near to us. We saw the planes and decided they were Russian. Soon we came to a small town and R.R. center that had just been bombed. Later that same morning we were strafed twice by airplanes although none of us were hit. We were in the northern part of Czechoslovakia and there were quite a few “pockets” of S.S. Troopers who were still fighting even after the war was over. Evidently, they took us for Germans when they saw us. Later we came over a crest of a hill and were fired on by a German machine gun nest. These S.S. Troopers thought we were Russian and were ready to fight it out with us. Finally they discovered who we were and allowed us to pass. At this time the roads were full of civilians, troops, all types of vehicles and equipment moving both ways on the roads. About six o’clock a number of German trucks came along and told us they were going to take us to the American lines, turning themselves and the trucks over to the Americans. Everyone climbed on the nearest truck they could find. We all became scattered and the four of us were split up. I had been carrying the suitcase which still had a lot of food in it and my friend and myself ate part of it then.

The Russians were within six miles of a certain road over which we had to pass. They had agreed to leave the road open until nine o’clock that evening so that we could go through without any trouble. Because of the traffic, I mentioned before, it was shortly after midnight when we got to the road. The Russians, probably thinking we had gone through long ago, saw the German trucks and promptly started firing on us. They machine gunned us and also shelled us. All of us got out and found what shelter we could as quickly as possible. This split us up still more. One group of us, about thirty, hid in a deep woods that night, and other groups found homes or anyplace that was available to them for shelter.

Next morning some of the groups got together once more and we discovered at that time that a number of fellows from our camp had been killed or injured. We decided to walk to the lines which were now held by the Russians and turn ourselves over to them. It was at this time, too, that our guards left us. Whether they were killed or captured by the Russians the night before, or whether they escaped, we were unable to find out. At any rate we were now on our own. At noon we came to the town of Litermetz, where we crossed the Elbe river. There were quite a few S.S. Troopers located in this town but we crossed the bridge without any trouble. Just across the bridge was a large Czechoslovakian Red Cross Station where we rested and obtained food. We were there only a short while, probably fifteen minutes, when we heard airplanes overhead. They flew over our heads and blew up the bridge and a large section of Litermetz. A number of our fellows were behind us and stopped in the town instead of crossing with us. Of these, quite a few more were killed and wounded in the bombing.

We left the Red Cross Station soon after this incident and marched a short distance when a truck picked up some of our fellows who were sick and unable to march any further. They were going to a village near there and we were to follow on foot. At last we came to a small town and were taken by truck to the village of Bechilyn.

There were twenty-two of us by this time and we received our first taste of Czech hospitality. They couldn’t do enough for us and treated us very, very well. We were the first ex-P.O.W.’s they had seen. They had a school building which they fixed up for us to stay in. I happened to be the first one off the truck and into the building and imagine my surprise when everyone saluted me. We went into the building and within a half hour they had two barbers to cut our hair and shave us. Then we were told that water was out back for us to wash and we could change our clothes if we wished. I will have to mention here that we had one boy with us by the name of Willie. Willie was about twenty-five, very, very jolly and about the blackest Negro I have ever seen. He was also the first Negro these Czechs had come in contact with.

When we started to change, people would come in and out of the door whenever they felt like it. Finally we had to post one of us at the door and hold it shut. These Czechs really like us, but boy did they love Willie. People would rush out to tell, and if possible to bring, their friends to see him. At first they were a little timid, but soon became very friendly. You would often see someone bring in a large group of children and even small babies to see Willie and feel his hair. It was like someone from the country over here taking small children to see the President so they could tell their children about it. At last Willie decided to wash. He took all of his clothes off down to the waist and went out in the yard at the rear of the school. While he washed he must have a ring of sixty or seventy people watching him, all talking and laughing about his dark skin. Quite a few would go up to him wet their fingers and try to rub the black from his skin. They seemed to think it must be dirt and couldn’t realize it was the natural color. We all had a lot of fun with Willie and I believe he enjoyed it too.

The people in this small town were wonderful. The fact that they themselves had been ruled by the Germans for such a long time made them appreciate what we had gone through. They made every effort to make us comfortable and while they had very little themselves, we were welcome to anything. The first evening we were there, a group of us went for a short walk. Everyone tried to feed us something. We had coffee, cake, bread, jam and also refused many more offers from the people. We were in our new place only a short time before they brought two barbers in to shave us and give us haircuts. In a day or two some French and Dutch, both girls and fellows were brought in. They had been taken from their homes and sent to Germany to work during the war.

Each morning we would go out for breakfast. By going out, I mean to the yard in the back of the school. The Czechs had set up tables and chairs outdoors for all of our meals. While we were there the weather was wonderful. Every day was warm and sunny. Our meals were more like big picnics than anything else. For breakfast we had bread, some type of soup and coffee. At noon we would have mashed potatoes, meat and gravy and often a thin soup. In the evening we would have sandwiches, meat, potatoes, and more coffee. Bread could be had at any time during the day. If we ever got hungry between meals, which we always did, we could go to the kitchen and find something. They also had two nurses on duty all the time to take care of us. One of the nurses had been to three universities in Europe. She was around twenty-three and was one of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen.

Everyone in the town was very friendly and tried to talk to you. I made a number of friends in the town. One fellow about my age ran a store. He could speak no English and I couldn’t speak Czech. We each knew a little German though, so we taught each other a few words in our respective languages. When I left he said goodbye, good luck and God o.k. you. He was a little mixed up but we did have a lot of fun.

One afternoon I took a walk and saw fourteen women, with all of their children, sitting in front of one of their homes. They were talking and sewing, so they got a chair for me and made me sit down. I was there for about two hours and had a wonderful time. While we couldn’t understand each other by talking, you would be surprised what you can do with the sign language and a good smile. Before I left they brought coffee and a large plate with four different kinds of cake cut in quarters like a pie. The pieces were enormous but I took one and passed the plate to someone else. They all started laughing and talking at once and finally they made me understand that all the cake was for me. Not wanting to cause any complications between the Czech people and the U.S. I ate all four pieces. (Of course I was hungry anyway).

The day before we left we walked to Rodinance, a large town seven kilos from where we were staying. Eleven persons from that country had been killed the day before the war ended and they were going to hold a memorial for them. They had caught nine S.S. Troopers in the mean time and hung them in the Public square the day of the celebration. That day we had met our first Russians. Three of us spent nearly an entire day with about twenty of them seeing the town and having a fine time. They were all young fellows but had been fighting from two to five years. They treated us fine and I really enjoyed it. They think America must be a wonderful place and had nothing but a feeling of friendship for anyone from this country.

Finally we got transportation to our next stop, Prague, or Praha as the Germans named it. When we left, the entire town turned out to bid us goodbye. They gave us flowers and the train was decorated with paper, flowers and flags. After spending the winter in Germany, we hated to leave such a grand and friendly town and such fine people. I am sure the rest, as well as myself, have a very deep respect and love for the beautiful country town of Bechlyn.

We got on the train, twenty-two of us, and made our way to Prague. On the train was an assortment of nearly every nationality in Europe, all trying to get back to their homes. We had a very pleasant ride and got into Prague early in the afternoon. The station we came into was badly wrecked and no one knew where anyone was to go. We found that the Russians had just finished fighting for and capturing Prague the day before. There was still some isolated fighting at times after we got there.

Finally we were taken to the Red Cross for lodging and food. At the Red Cross we were given a ticket authorizing meals for twenty-two men, three times a day. Because we were Americans we were also taken to a hotel in the city for rooms. This hotel compared very favorably with ours in this country. I had a private room with very comfortable furniture. The next morning we decided to split up and try to get back to Pilsen, where the American troops were, the best way we could. Three of us decided to stick together. We spent three and a half days in Prague and ate like kings every day.

To get any food, you had to have a ticket from the Red Cross. When we split up the three of us had the ticket for the twenty-two men. We tried to eat our own, plus as much of the other nineteen fellows’ food, as we could. We did a very good job too.

Prague is a very old city and also very interesting and beautiful. Most of it lies on a level valley by a river. Across the river the rest of the city is built on a hill. It is in this part that all the government buildings and the castle, where the president lives, are located. Most of the fighting had taken place in and near the large public square in the lower part of the city. The buildings here were wrecked very badly in front. A very famous and old clock was here which showed the time of day, month, and year, the different phases of the moon, and seasons and also had statues of the twelve Apostles, one for each month. It was destroyed in the fighting along with many other famous land marks of Prague. One bridge was undamaged that was built in 1320 and has carved statues by famous sculptors from all over Europe. Another university, which we were told was the oldest in Europe was reopened the day we left. It has been in operation since 1349 except for the seven years in which the Germans occupied their country.

We also saw the street called the Venice of Prague. It is a beautiful canal running between homes and used as a street. The castle and government buildings were also very interesting. A very long, wide pair of steps leads from the lower city to the top of the hill. On the lower steps and the bottom where it is quite level, we were shown where the Germans took tanks and used them to run back and forth over people. These people, men, women, and children, were killed for real or fancied insults and resistance to the Germans. The Czechs also told us how they would bayonette children and women because their husbands or fathers were fighting the Germans.

The Czechs people are very well educated and I believe fully four or five out of ten persons in Prague could speak at least some English. Their dress and mannerisms are very much like ours. Also, in the city the people had the same appearance as we do. The girls are mostly fair skinned and very pretty. The boys are also much like us. In a group of Czechs and Americans, I don’t believe you could tell the difference except by their language. The English they use is very precise and they pronounce each syllable separately. Because of this they sound very different from us. Also, many of the common words we use are unknown to them. One young fellow I met walked with me to where we ate. Finally I told him I would have to leave since “I must eat now.” He couldn’t understand what I meant until finally I said “dine”–which he understood.

This fellow was a student in a music school and was very interesting to talk to. He was telling us about himself and all at once burst out with “do you like Boogie Woogie?” Over there the Czechs used almost no slang and it sounded very funny to hear him. He went on to tell us that his biggest ambition is to come to our country and lead a dance band. He thinks Harry James is wonderful and couldn’t stop talking about his Boogie Woogie.

One evening we walked down town and saw a building all lit up. Since this was very unusual we decided to find out what it was. On the second floor we found there was a night club having their reopening after seven years of German rule. The man collecting tickets waited till no one was around and motioned for us to go in. We had no money at all for the three of us, but decided we would have a good time anyway. Finally the manager of the place came over to our table and moved us near the front. He explained that we were the first Americans to visit the club and we were to have anything we wanted without charge. They had an all girl orchestra which was very good and we had a swell evening. On leaving, he told us to come any time as his guests.

The day we left was the day President Benes returned to Prague. They had an enormous parade and celebration for him. Everyone was dressed in Peasant and Community costume. They were very colorful and it was something I am glad we didn’t miss.

A large school on top of the hill was used as a collection point for all ex-P.O.W.’s. There were very few U.S. troops, most of them being British. We had registered there on our arrival and reported every day. They were to arrange transportation to Pilsen for all of us. Finally a Czech girl, married to an American Major, somehow got access to two trucks which she used twice a day to transport troops from Prague to Pilsen. She couldn’t get a pass to get through the Russian line but bribed them with cigarettes. The first day she made a trip we were not on the list of men to go. The second day we were again not on the list, and went in to find out why. A British Sgt. in charge told us that they started a new list and would have to register again, putting us at the bottom of the list. Naturally, we didn’t like that and tried to have him put us on the list for that day. He refused and we had quite an argument. Finally, when the truck came in the afternoon, seven of us got on and defied anyone to try to put us off. We were the only G.I.’s on the truck and were the first to leave. The British making up the list were sending only British troops till we took matters in our own hands. We made the trip that afternoon getting to Pilsen early in the evening. That was our first glimpse of our own troops and boy did they look good. We came across a part of the 2nd Division and I don’t believe anyone was ever more glad to see the Army than we were.

From Pilsen we were transported to Rhegensburg and then by plane to Rheems, France. At Rheems we received and entire supply of new army clothes–the first change we had had since being taken prisoner. After a few days at Rheems we were transported by hospital plane to Camp Lucky Strike near Le Havre, France. It took about 3 weeks for transportation home. That ended my prisoner of war experiences–I’m glad to say.

Bob Hartt

Norman Francis Myers