Stalag VIIA

Medical Report on the Hospital and Camp Stalag VIIA Moosburg Germany,

from March 7th, 1945 to April 26th 1945.

I have the honour to submit the following report on the medical conditions in Stalag VIIA Moosburg, Germany during the time I was Senior Anglo American Medical Officer there from March 7th 1945 until April 25th 1945 when Lt.Col. D.M. Crawford R.A.M.C. arrived in the camp and became Senior Medical Officer. The Stalag was liberated by the American 7th Army on April 29th 1945.

This report has been made from memory as most of my records were left behind when I was repatriated from Moosburg.

Reception at Stalag VII.

I arrived at the Stalag on March 6th 1945 with a Hospital train of some 400 sick and wounded British who were evacuated from Stalag 344, and subsequently took over from Captain Macauley R.A.M.C. as Senior Medical Officer.

On arrival the Stalag was already full and overcrowded but room had been made in the hospital for the reception of patients and these were distributed between the hospital, revier and camp in a reasonable fashion. All orderlies from the train went to the camp while the four medical officers were accommodated in the hospital.

The first major difficulty encountered was with the Red Cross Medical supplies we had brought with us. There were two wagons loads of these together with some German Medical equipment. These were placed under cover in a shed overnight and next day moved on orders from the Chefarzt to a German Reserve Lazarett in the town. I was unable to see the Chefarzt or any reasonable German doctor who would adjust this matter which was clearly wrong, so went to the Commandant of the camp Oberst Burger. He agreed these were British Supplies and should be under our control and gave orders to that effect. Meanwhile all the stores had in fact been removed and were locked in an empty gymnasium in the German Lazarett. It took some ten days owing to various delays and arguments until they were returned to us. I visited the German Hospital and on the way back persuaded the guard to take me to the Chefarzt's office so that I could adjust the matter with him direct. This was in the German barracks about half a kilometer outside the stalag. The Chefarzt, however, refused to see me.

I met the Chefarzt for the first time some two or three days later when he came to the hospital, and discussed the question of these supplies with him. He told me there was no room in the stalag for them, they were to be sent to the German Lazarett for sorting and then distributed to various British centres at the discretion of the Kurarzt (D.M.S. VII area). I explained to him they were British supplies for which I was responsible, should be under British control and distribution was a matter for the British to decide and not the Germans.

During the next ten days all supplies were opened, searched and sorted into British and German, and then returned to the hospital, the British to me and the German to the dispensary. We obtained a room to make a Red Cross Medical Store which was to prove invaluable in servicing the hospital, camp and columns on the road, while the main bulk stores were housed in the mental barrack being used to form partitions there, this being the only place we could find.

No British supplies were taken by the Germans and I think now they had no intention of so doing, but the whole matter was extremely annoying and wasted a lot of time which could have been better employed.

During this time a surprising thing happened. One morning the feldwebel of the hospital came to my room and asked to see me privately. He said the Chefarzt wished to apologize for not seeing me when I went to his office and the difficulties which had arisen with the Red Cross supplies. He said it was a misunderstanding. Before this dissertation was finished the Chefarzt arrived in person and proffered his apologies. I can only conclude this was the result of interference from the Commandant as I discovered there was perpetual warfare between the two but the Commandant always won even in medical matters.

A second difficulty which arose immediately after our arrival was the list for the mixed medical commission. This was due in April and the lists had to be completed by March 13th. The Chefarzt and the other German doctors held a board for these cases which was frankly ridiculous and cases were marked Yes or No in a haphazard manner. The Chefarzt then asked us only to present cases marked Yes, but all medical officers refused to alter their lists in any way. With constant arrivals and departures this list made a lot of work and it was almost impossible to keep check on people in the stalag as they were so frequently moved about. With the war situation as it was it seemed stupid to worry about commissions but they might have been of importance and the lists were kept up to date with constant new arrivals up to the time of release.

Three days after my arrival I was told that of the four doctors who had arrived Major Macleod R.A.M.C. and Captain Mulligan R.A.M.C. were to stay and work in the hospital, while Major Sykes and I were to go to the Officers Compound in the stalag as we were not required. I protested very strongly about this was I was the only British surgeon and Major Sykes the only anaesthetist and in addition there was the Red Cross Store question to settle and many commission cases to be written up. My arguments were of no avail. I went at once to see the Commandant but he was out. On my return I was told Major Sykes and I could stay in the hospital as supernumeries and we could do such work as the German doctors concerned agreed to. How this decision came to be changed so readily I never found out but we soon had permission to do whatever we wished in the way of treatment for British and American patients.

Another incident occurred soon after arrival when Major Macleod was suddenly removed to the Officer Compound. I was out at the time but Capt. Keppel saw the Chefarzt and persuaded him to have Major Macleod released. Apparently Macleod had fallen foul of one of the German doctors I believe the Chefarzt himself and was being punished, but the reason given was that they thought the Officers should have the advantage of Major Macleods highly skilled service. Major Macleod was the only medical specialist we had and it was essential he should be free to work.

The Hospital and Reviers.

The hospital consisted of eight main barracks of the stalag with several subsidiary huts, the whole being wired off to form a separate enclosure. There was a moderate amount of ground and in one place a pleasantly planned garden.

The Reviers (or sick bay of the camp) were in an adjoining enclosure. The two main ones were brick buildings and divided into small rooms being reasonably good. These were the British and French reviers. The Russian and Serbian reviers were in huts in the hospital grounds and were less good.

The total beds in the hospital and reviers was approximately 2,000 and the patients were of all nationalities including, American, British, French, Greek, Italian, Polish, Serbian, Rumanian and Russian. These were in principle segregated to some extent and looked after by their own national medical officers and to a lesser extent orderlies, but the mixture of nationalities both patients and staff made for many practical difficulties.

There were about 40 doctors of all nationalities and a staff of 200 though a high proportion of the staff appeared to be doing administration and comparatively few any actual nursing of patients. The doctors slept in groups in small rooms scattered about the hospital and reviers; the staff had one very crowded barrack and the remainder slept in small rooms, bathrooms and kitchens about the hospital. Accommodation for the staff was bad and had obviously arisen in a haphazard manner. This made for great difficulties not only in locating people but also in their using rooms which should have been exclusively for the patients.

The original medical staff were

Capt. Macauley R.A.M.C.

Capt. Gordon R.A.M.C.

Capt. Keppel U.S.A.M.C.

Capt. Cogbill U.S.A.M.C.

and about twenty orderlies mostly American. S.Sgt. Graig U.S.A.M.C. was the senior N.C.O. and Man of Confidence.

This staff was much augmented in the ensuing weeks.

The first barrack contained the operating theatre, X-ray plant, laboratory and post operation wards with good single beds in small rooms. This barrack was very good and the operating first class and worthy of any good general hospital. Equipment and instruments were also reasonably good.

The remaining barracks which were wards only were divided into five large rooms with a central annexe containing a bathroom, lavatory with three water closets not divided off, a washroom often with only one effective tap, and a small room for the barrack chef. All in a bad state of repair and painting. There was only one door and all traffic had to pass through all the rooms so that the only reasonably quiet room was at the end and in the other rooms there was no possibility of the patients getting any peace or quiet. Beds were mostly double decker with straw paliasses though there were some single beds, and the overcrowding was gross. Sheets and blankets were provided. Ventilation was bad through the smallness of the windows.

Most barracks had about 180 patients and they were divided into surgical, medical and open and closed tuberculosis. No effort appeared to be made to prevent the tuberculous patients from wandering anywhere or other patients going to the tuberculous wards. In addition spitting was common throughout the hospital and grounds by most nationals and certainly by most of the tuberculous patients.

The infectious barrack was in a hut, grossly overcrowded, and all infectious cases were nursed together, except when we had typhus fever when a room had to be cleared at the expense of the other patients.

Two other huts were reserved for open pulmonary tuberculosis in Russians there being some 300 cases. These were enclosed and supposedly out of bounds.

One can only say conditions in the barracks were deplorable. Grossly overcrowded and dirty in the extreme. This was made worse by cooking all of which had to be done on 'blowers' by individual patients or groups of patients. This was done as far as possible outside, but a certain amount had to be done in the wards with the resultant mess and the presence of numerous tins, boxes etc. completed the picture.

There had been no coal in the stalag or hospital since the end of February such as there was being reserved for the German kitchen and this continued until the end. There was thus no heating and all fuel for cooking was scrounged, and in this respect the daily working party on demolitions in Munich was very helpful to the patients.

There had previously been no mental block and mental cases had been locked in a cell until better or removed to a German asylum.

When we arrived with some 50 mental patients a half barrack in the hospital grounds was given for them. It was empty and had one tap and buckets in an alcove for sanitary purposes. Fresh cases of all nationalities soon arrived to make the number over 70 and the staff also had to sleep in the barrack. Beds arrived in due course and the barrack was divided into rooms for neurotics, psychotics, staff and kitchen, this being done with any makeshift material found by our orderlies. Very soon the mental barrack became the tidiest and best run barrack in the hospital. The Germans were most impressed with the way this barrack had been organised. The hospital garden was cleared twice a day and reserved for the mental patients to exercise under supervision. Captain Mulligan R.A.M.C. deserves great praise for the way he and his staff ran this department and dealt with many difficult patients some suicidal under these conditions.

The hospital grounds also contained the hospital kitchen which was staffed by French. After release this was taken over by a combatant officer who formed the opinion that the kitchen had been well run, the staff worked well and there were no rackets, and from the short experience I had there I felt this was so.

The German rations were of the usual type and totally inadequate, but seemed reasonably well cooked and they did not vary much until the end. In going through the diet returns later I noted that tuberculous cases received one and a half or double rations and extra milk, and many of the Russians were on extra rations so that some attempt was being made by the hospital authorities to remedy the inadequate diet especially for the sick. Fortunately the main Red Cross store was established by the Swiss in the town and except for a short period supplies were adequate for most nationals except of course the Russians.

The hospital was divided into divisions each under a German doctor there being four doctors in the hospital and two for the camp and reviers. Their main function seemed to be filling in forms and admitting and discharging patients. They did little if any medical work and appeared little concerned about the dirty overcrowded state of the hospital. The surgeon was an exception and had done much surgery himself, and I think was conscientious but a muddler and had in addition work to do outside. German orderlies were also attached but their attitude was largely one of indifference and laisser faire, though one or two were very helpful. The Hautpfeldwebel Ranzinger was on the contrary extremely co-operative and his record had always been a good one at the hospital. He was an efficient person always correct and did his best to help in the various problems.

The hospital was completely under the control of the Germans in all respects - admissions and discharges, permission to operate and even alteration of diagnosis and treatment when they so thought. This was obviously a bad state of affairs and passively acquiesced in by many of the medical officers. There had never been many British or Americans there who could have stood up to the Germans with the support of the protecting power - the other nationals had no such support - and mixed nationals made the problem very difficult as there was no senior medical officer recognised among the prisoners who could deal with problems of the hospital as a whole, and each nationality dealt with the Germans separately.

This picture of the hospital is a very gloomy one but it is only fair to say that I was told these conditions had arisen mainly in the last few months when the number of beds in the hospital had almost doubled and the stalag much more crowded. A year before conditions were much more reasonable with mostly single beds, fuel for cooking and baths etc. and the standard of work fairly good.

Conditions became much worse in the ensuing weeks and accommodation became such a problem that tents and marquees were put up in the hospital grounds for staff and their quarters taken over for patients. Rarely a night passed without some patients sleeping on the floor or tables, and one night in desperation more than a hundred sick had to sleep in the corridors of the reviers. To make matters worse one patient who had been brought in from the march and was in the main British American barrack was found to have typhus fever. We could no longer admit or discharge to this barrack and a room had to be cleared for his isolation.

With the increasing numbers of British and Americans coming into stalag the number of our patients increased and we had usually from 600 to 800. The Russians were about the same number with many pulmonary tuberculosis cases and a number of severe war wounded; other nationals made up the rest.

The Stalag

The stalag in the beginning of March contained about 17,000 and was already overcrowded with many sleeping on the floor and marquees up in one section containing 3,000 French. Several barracks were occupied by Air Force Officers who had been evacuated from Sagan and these were in two separate compounds and strongly guarded. There were about 6,000 Officers mostly American. Other compounds in the stalag were locked for no obvious reasons, and contained for example the Indians and Americans and in others British and Russians. Most nationalities were represented in the stalag. Conditions were bad from overcrowding and inadequate water supply and sanitation, and in some parts of the camp as in South Lager the only water supply was by a motor water tank and there was no lighting.

There was also a part of the camp known as North Lager normally used for transit parties and consisting of empty huts with no beds and one tap for the whole camp which subsequently held 2,000. The camp was carefully guarded and none of the British or American staff were allowed in. The result was when a party of British who had been on the road for three months arrived no medical officer could get in to see the sick. After this episode I obtained a pass from the Commandant to visit this camp which had never before been allowed, and later this lager became merged into the main camp.

M.I. room had been established about the camp which were visited daily by the medical officer and were staffed by orderlies. No access was allowed to the Officers Compounds and each had one or more medical officers who lived thee and were not allowed out in spite of repeated requests and they thus had no contact with the hospital or other medical officers.

There was no convalescent barrack and cases for convalescence and repatriation were in general scattered throughout the stalag with constant difficulty in keeping them under observation.

Conditions became rapidly worse with the constant arrival of new prisoners until finally when released there were some 30,000 people in the stalag.

Attitude of German Medical Personnel

The Chefarzt was Oberfeldarzt Dr Klunker a man of 65 who looked older. He also had other work and his office was outside the camp so he could only be seen on his occasional visits to hospital. There was no senior doctor in the hospital who could solve any problem. When I pointed out the impossibility of this situation he appointed Dr. Junger as his representative in the hospital.

The Chefarzt was stupid and completely useless from the point of view of getting anything done, but I think not vicious and obstructive more from stupidity than a wish to be so. He informed Lt.Col. Crawford when handing over the hospital that he was old and beyond his job and requested he should not be saddled with responsibilities. There was also a feud between the Chefarzt and the Commandant of the camp and this was reflected in increased difficulty for the medical services.

The other doctors were

Stabsarzt Dr Junger

Stabsarzt Dr Zeitler

Stabsarzt Dr Keist

Stabsarzt Dr Fritz

Oberarzt Dr ?

Underarzt Dr ?

They were in the main incompetent and obstructive on all sorts of silly matters. Junger was certainly a party man and had undue power at the Kommandantur. He was typical of the arrogant German type, ill mannered and hard. I had no specific charges to bring against him except obstruction etc. but he was the subject of specific charges from incidents occurring earlier and reported to the War Crime Commission.

During the ensuing weeks there was a marked change in the attitude of the German Medical Officers and they became much more co-operative though it was difficult at this stage to produce any improvement.

Although the Germans were entirely responsible for the bad conditions in the hospital, one could not help feeling some of the medical personnel of the various nationals had not done all they could in keeping the hospital in as good order as possible.

Attitude of the Commandant.

Full reports were put in to the Chefarzt and the Commandant about the conditions in the stalag and various stupid difficulties which had arisen. The Chefarzt agreed that this was so, and his attitude was what could he do about it. The Commandant was not much more helpful, and it was certainly difficult to find any solution to the main problem of overcrowding if higher authority continued sending in more people to the stalag.

I was able to see the Commandant when I wished, and he was correct in behaviour and discussed problems at some length, though with the chaotic conditions then existing, I only made demands which could obviously be carried out. Among other things I obtained from him recognition of the post of Senior Medical Officer with a pass to all parts of the camp, passes for all Medical Officers locked up in the Officers compounds, removal of stupid restrictions about supplementary food parcels, and a promise to do all he could to alleviate conditions in the camp, though little result was seen in this respect.

However the Commandant must be held responsible for many things which could easily be rectified in the camp earlier, for example water supply, lavatories, provision of shower baths, etc. and the unnecessary locking of compounds.

Berlin Medical Conference

About the middle of March Capt. Macauley and Capt. Gordon were suddenly ordered overnight to Berlin the reason being unknown. They returned about ten days later when the two American Medical Officers Capt. Keppel and Capt. Cogbill were also sent to Berlin.

The reason proved to be a conference called by the German Medical authorities which included representatives of the German Medical Corps German Red Cross, the Protecting Power, the Swiss International Red Cross and British Medical Officers from most Stalags. The purpose was to discuss and how best to ensure co-operation. The meeting of the American Medical Officers was of the same nature and was to be followed by meetings of the French and other nationals in due course.

My first reaction was that it was a matter of pure propaganda, but further consideration and investigation led to the opinion that -

1. Some high German officials had at last realised that treatment of our medical personnel and medical matters in general had been to say the least poor, and a belated effort was being made to rectify this.

2. They were genuinely afraid of the outbreak of epidemic disease on a large scale.

3. They did wish to co-operate medical services as much as possible with a view to diminishing epidemic disease.

As a result representatives were appointed of one German medical officer and one British or American Medical officer with a roving commission and power to contact all vital officials and visit all stalags hospitals etc. where there were prisoners.

Captain Keppel was appointed the American representative and subsequently visited use with a Captain Bauer the German representative on two or three occasions. In actual fact they did little to help as matters were already too far advanced, but proved useful in bringing information about outlying parties and giving information of surrounding movements. If they had been in operation earlier, I am convinced they would have been of great value to the prisoners.

Stalag VIIA was much criticised at the conference and I was told by Captain Bauer that a very strong letter had been written to the Commandant about giving us all help on the medical side and was probably responsible for the much reduced obstruction we met later on. This was not an order as they had no powers to give orders, but the letter was couched in such terms as almost certainly to prove effective. I felt that Captain Bauer was straight and really concerned about the medical state. I took him to see parts of the hospital and camp, and he said he had no conception things were so bad. In addition he saw the Senior British Officer and took his requests to higher authority. He asked what I suggested should be done and if he should advise changes in the German Medical staff, but I told him that at this time, then the middle of April, I did not think any good would come of changes as it was too late and might make even worse confusion. In actual fact a new stalag medical officer a Major was appointed just before the end.

Captain Robertson R.C.A.M.C. had in error been included in the Berlin conference for the Americans, and while there was given a strictly confidential message by the Swiss for the Senior Officer of the Camp. This message was given only to Colonel Smith, the Senior American Officer and myself.

The message was to this effect.

1. In a paroxysm of rage after the bombing of Dresden and Nuremburg where apparently a large number of civilians had been killed, Hitler ordered all British and American prisoners to be shot. He also ordered the Protecting Power and the International Red Cross to leave the country.

2. The execution of this order was stopped by Himmler who went to the Swiss and told them to stay, and in addition said while he was in power no such order would be carried out.

It was now about a month after the above order had apparently been given. It was of interest, however, in that it was clearly part of the plan to collect a large number of British and American prisoners particularly officers at Moosburg. There was an uneasy feeling in parts of the camp of the possibility of prisoners being held as hostages or for reprisals, and it was known later that plans had been made to evacuate at least the officers further south in the event of the Americans approaching, but fortunately this was never carried out.

Events of the Ensuing Weeks.

During the following weeks a large number of British and American prisoners were evacuated from other areas to Moosburg, some by train and some by foot. In order to make room other nationals were evacuated from the camp by foot, and then British other ranks. These went to other places such as Augsburg and often I believe were just put marching on the road without any particular destination. Later marquees and tents were put up all over the stalag; then the Indians were put completely outside the stalag in tents by the river, and another camp was established in an old quarry nearby to which was sent mostly repatriation cases and medical personnel.

Among officers moved in were those from Oflag VA, VIIA, and Nuremburg. Constant changes took place in the stalag to accommodate these parties, and finally a large part of the stalag was rewired off to form one large officers compound, but while this was being done the officers were crowded together in the most appalling fashion. In the lavatories for example there was a constant queue day and night.

Parties of other ranks were also arriving some from other camps and others who had been on the march from Poland and Eastern Germany since January. For these also the overcrowding became worse and worse, and in one compound 200 had to sleep out it being impossible to find room under cover. It became practically impossible to get more people in the stalag and parties were kept waiting in villages just outside the camp until room could be found.

At the time of liberation there were some 30,000 prisoners in the camp about 24,000 being British and American. Several thousand more were expected and plans were in progress for a subsidiary camp at Landshute about eight miles away.

Medical Problems in the Stalag

These events both by constant changes in the stalag itself and new arrivals caused great difficulty on the medical side. M.I. rooms had to be shut or moved and a new place found. Lager medical officers had many more people to deal with and new arrangements to make, and also to hold sick parades in camps outside the stalag.

Accommodation was so short in hospital that most light sick had to be looked after in barracks or in temporary sick bays established where possible in the camp.

Then some parties arriving at stalag without a medical officer had to be vetted. For example on April 8th three Kommando parties who had been on the road since January and marched from Teschen arrived in North lager. They had left their medical officer behind with sick many weeks before and received scant medical services except from the medical orderlies. They were put in North Lager at that time completely isolated, and later some half dozen emaciated sick were sent into hospital by the German medical officer but it was certain there were more sick. I tried to get into the camp but failed as I could get no authority from any official present it being Bank holiday. The next day I obtained a permit from the Commandant to visit the camp only to find they were to be deloused and moved to Landshute the next day. There were many obviously sick and finally it was arranged that medical officers should examine all men in the delouser. Every one of the 1,200 men was examined finishing at three o'clock in the morning and about 200 were taken off as being absolutely unfit to march. About thirty were taken in hospital and the others temporarily accommodated in the punishment barrack for a few days after which they were moved by German orders to Landshute to join the main party but this time by train.

This party was in by far the worst condition of any coming in from the march, and it was noticeable that those with a medical officer were in a much better condition.

Many of the parties arriving had been strafed from the air and some of the casualties came into us.

In addition many sick and unfit were constantly arriving day and night brought in by Red Cross lorries which were servicing the columns on the road with food.

We had sufficient medical staff but with no reserves, but just before the end large numbers of medical officers arrived and we then had an excess.

General Medical Situation

It was obvious that with such a state of affairs attention could only be devoted to main problems. Thus to look after serious sick and wounded - less sick just had to be treated where they were however bad the conditions. Other main worries were -

1. Epidemic disease.

This was a source of real anxiety particularly in the existing conditions lasted any length of time. We had two cases of typhus fever in the hospital who had come in from the march, and there were lice in the hospital and most parts of the stalag. This was dealt with as far as possible but the delouser was probably inefficient and in any case could not cope with 30,000 people. No further cases, however occurred.

Typhoid fever was in my opinion a real danger though probably most people had been inoculated at some time. T.A.B. for the whole stalag was ordered from the Red Cross as we could get no German supplies.

2. Water supply.

Another anxiety was in the event of the water supply being interfered with in the course of the war. The water plant was in the stalag itself and I had assurance from the Germans that this would be kept in order and there was an emergency engine if the electricity failed. Water purifying tablets were also ordered from the Red Cross but had not time to arrive before the end.

3. The remaining problem was the possibility of a large number of casualties in the event of any war action in or near the stalag. This fortunately did not occur though there were a few casualties from action just prior to release.

General Health of the Camp

This it must be confessed was on the whole amazingly good. There was a lot of diarrhoea but not of serious nature and no epidemic disease, except for sporadic cases of diphtheria though some of these were fatal.

Food and Medical Supplies

The German rations were on the whole little changed in spite of the increased numbers and the main Red Cross Supply Store for Southern Germany was established in the town, and there were ample supplies for all prisoners in the area. All nationals received some Red Cross supplies and just before the end on the authority of Group Captain Willets the Russians were also in receipt of Red Cross food.

Medical supplies were ample as although the German supply was short we had an abundance of Red Cross supplies. Plaster of Paris was the only serious shortage and this we could not obtain from any source, but it was ordered from Geneva.

Swiss Repatriation

About the middle of April a confidential message was received from the Swiss via the S.B.O. that 1500 sick and wounded might suddenly be sent to Switzerland. This had already been agreed by the German authorities and local ordered were awaited. This would have been of tremendous help to the hospital. Tremendous work was involved in preparing these lists as the exact type of case to be taken was not clear and all nationals were involved, but the movement did not take place.

Relations with other medical officers

In the middle of March the war situation had changed so rapidly that it looked possible there might be a sudden collapse or a movement of stalag leaving the sick behind as already had happened at 344. In order to prepare for such eventuality I had a preliminary meeting with the senior medical officers of the other nationals to discuss problems and make provisional arrangements. There were certain potential difficulties for example with the Russians of which there were a large number and it was thought some of these were liable to get out of hand as soon as the German authority went.

All senior medical officers were able to vouch for the conduct of their nationals and were prepared to work under the direction of the senior medical officer at that time myself, but with the Russians difficulties were experienced. The first was there was no recognised senior Russian medical officer to work with. They did not recognise a senior officer among themselves for their own reasons, and in addition were frightened of so doing for fear of the Germans learning of it and taking reprisals. The problem was even more difficult as I regretted to find there was among the Russians people in direct contact with the Germans. Conditions were such that there was a general air of mistrust and it was not possible to place the untrustworthy people with any degree of accuracy. Provisional discussions were commenced and a Senior Russian Medical Officer was agreed and appointed when there was no longer fear of German reprisals.

However, I was satisfied that if the Germans had evacuated and left the hospital we should have had no difficulty in carrying on until relieved.

Handing over of the Stalag

About ten days before liberation we were informed from a German source who kept us supplied with news of intending movements that the hospital and stalag was to be evacuated by the Germans leaving only a skeleton staff. We were informed of those detailed to stay, and I think it was April 21st I was told the Germans were standing by to leave and were expected to leave that night. In fact they did not do so and were standing by for two or three days but the order did not arrive.

There had of course always been the possibility of a move of the stalag though this was clearly absurd, but I was never able to get definite information about this. The facts which did emerge were.

1. There were no orders in for movement of the stalag.

2. If movement took place it was likely to be for Officers only and a destination was already planned for them further south.

3. It was extremely unlikely the sick would move.

This possibility was always an anxiety in the camp but finally settled by the announcement by the Swiss that the Stalag was to be left and handed over to the prisoners by agreement with the Germans, and the stalag area would not be defended.

Towards the end of April Lt.Col D.M. Crawford arrived in the camp and at once came into the hospital to take over as Senior Medical officer. This was I think on April 25th. After this there were few changes of note until the stalag was liberated by the American 7th Army on April 29th.

(Sgd.) L.W. Lauste.

Major R.A.M.C.