Gunner Rupert Victor Wilson
Unit : 2/3 Field Regiment, 6th Division, Australian Imperial Force.
Served : Greece (captured).
Army No. : NX3251
POW No. : 92351
Camps : Stalag VIIA, VIIIB, XXA, XIB.
Our clothes were deloused in the gas chamber and all our hair was cut off. The place was guarded by Alsatian dogs. To get to the toilets after dark was a real problem as the guards and their dogs were all in the camp area. Ken Wilson was attacked and lost part of his trousers. I made it with some others and then a dog appeared. We got on to the rafters and when he moved away we were able to make it back to the barracks.
One of our lot was caught pinching. He was given the treatment and we were able to survive until the Red Cross parcels appeared and our poverty days were over. Ours was a great trading stalag. We even had a trading centre. A lot of the French here were old stars in show business in Paris and the entertainment was good. There were a lot of queens everywhere. I learnt what 69's meant (queers!).
The Germans called for workers as wharfies. I thought that this was it as I was of the opinion that wharfies were lurk men. 24 of us went to work on the railways goods yard. It was a beauty! We left the forty thieves for dead! We nicked chocolate, cheese and drank champagne etc. The trucks would be sent to various places and the thefts were not discovered until the goods arrived at their destination.
We had some characters here: Pud Butterfield from Shepparton, Victoria, Darky Knowles from W.A. Things got crook and the Germans decided to search us when we finished arbiting (work), so we arranged to put our stolen goods in the soup bucket which we left out after drinking the soup for delivery to the canteen on our way home. It worked. Also, we wore old 1915 trousers which had plenty of room through the ankles. We hid chocolates, cheese and cigarettes. The guards was O.K. We gave him a packet of cigarettes each day. There was no problem in nicking these. However a chap named Parker from W.A. was a problem. He used to like the champagne. He used to get real tiddly some times and we'd then load him up. The German would look at him and we said he had Grippie, a disease and they would not go near him. We had to wheel him back to camp on a barrow one day.
We played football in the park on the weekends which was a real lurk place. We soon put on weight. At Christmas time Pud used to do a deal with the guards so we made merry. I was on the boxing team here as well as in plenty of other sports.
I was going well until one day McCausland from Tasmania got involved in a fight with two Germans. I came into the shed and found them giving him the treatment I threw a punch or two and got him out. I called the gang and it developed into an all in brawl. The guard took off as he didn't want to see anything. They had to take three Germans to hospital. When it started everyone downed tools and we were a very tough mob. Suddenly guards arrived and McCausland and I were taken to the camp jail. The next day we were taken to the big German jail. Clang Clang gates open and shut then into the interrogating room. It was a bit rough for a while. They asked the guard what we were in for. He didn't know. We refused to admit to anything. Very dumb.
Next day we were sent to Gestapo Headquarters and we had several charges to our credit. McCausland's face was chopped about and I claimed I didn't hit anybody and denied all charges. We went back to jail and had two interviews. At this place the officer in charge was an Austrian Prince and we never had a hand laid on us at the Gestapo Headquarters.
The first floor in the jail was used for some time to look over the brick fence top to a block of apartments. A girl used to pop out now and then and sing "I will hang my washing on the Siegfried Line" etc. She put on a show. It used to make our day. Our cell used to be used for French P.O.Ws. We didn't like our cells. We went out to the toilets only once a day. The food was scarce. Once when I pressed the bell to go out to the toilet the guard gave me the works and I never rang it again. A Frenchman was put in our cell and I asked him to send word to the camp and see if we could be sent to the jail in the P.O.W. camp. Some weeks later we were sent back to 7A and spent 7 months in barrack 40 where we were held pending charges.
From here I managed to be sent to hospital but it only lasted one night. The New Zealand doctor came and said I had a bad record and had to be discharged from the hospital. I was then taken back to barrack 40 which was the holding jail pending trial. This barrack was full of French, Yugoslavs, Russians and a few English. I made friends with a Frenchman, Joubert, and I was able to have food smuggled in for me. I fed two Russians who were starving and had an arrangement to get food to any Australian POW in the back part who were mostly confined to bread and water. This ration was given only once every three days.
Flush pipes allowed us to move tinned goods down the pipe line.
Eventually I was released back into the French Stalag camp. No trial. I found it pretty queer putting up with all the queens. I made friends with a Polish man who looked after the showers so I managed a shower every day. The Russians were a terrible sight, like skeletons and I got used to them dying under the showers.
I managed to get sent out to a work party again and I swept the streets of Munich for a while. I was not popular as I told them I was going to try and escape to Switzerland. I spent a lot of time with my French friend and I had a good plan. One day I was told to get moving, apparently somebody spread the word on my intentions. Next day I took off with Baxter who said he would like to give it a go. Off we went on the way to this trucking area where I intended to get into a coal truck. We were going well when suddenly a German Policeman pulled up on a bike and questioned us. Then I woke up! Baxter was smoking a cigarette. One would never do this as cigarettes were like gold and the Germans used to have quick puffs and put them out for later. I thought I had him beat and I told him we were Frenchies returning to our barracks. I asked him if he spoke French and he decided to put us in jail. I then admitted we were English and trying to escape. I finished up in the same jail again and the same cells. I was interviewed again in the Gestapo Headquarters and the Prince said to me, "You look familiar. Have you been in trouble before". I told him no, that I had never been in trouble.
They called us "Englander Swines" (Pigs).. not the Prince.
After a few days we were back in 7A confinements area at the back. 28 days on bread and water with soup every 3 days. It was a tough place when I got in. I found my 2 Russian friends and my French friend. They were starving. I stacked myself up with chocolate and other food for my escape, so I had a bit of food. I told Baxter that I share everything with my friends. I then got down to the drainage and sang out if any Australians were there. I was lucky. I finished up getting some food each day.
After this I was sent back into the British Barracks with an order not to be released due to my bad record. This was an easy camp and there were no problems. One day my two Russian friends, one a Mongolian, found me. They climbed over a barb wire fence which was very risky. I loaded them up with food and never saw them again. My French friend used to come back into the camp once a week and he always brought me some goodies. I never met better people than these three men. (Jean Philbert, 1 Square de Verdun, Paris).
In jail we were with about 20. One group were White Russians (Aristocrats) and I asked them if I could give them some cheese as everybody was starving. They would not take anything from any body. The next day a Russian was caught pinching some bread. We were all sleeping on the floor, jammed in like sausages. The White Ruskies almost killed him and there was a big blue on the two Russians with me. They put me in a corner and I was protected. There was no where to go as we were all locked in but they made sure I was safe. I was used to these problems but Baxter used to get upset and worried.
When we were released back into camp we were next to a group of Russians who were locked into this barrack as they refused to man guns in Munich area for the Germans. Alsatian dogs were sent into their barracks and we did not know what was going on. They killed the dogs and the next thing a lot of armed Germans appeared and forcefully moved them out of camp. It was terrible to see the bashing that went on.
A few weeks later a group of us were put on rail trucks and moved to another camp, 8B in Silesia area. We were placed in a barrack and all our tinned goods had to be pierced as they considered that in the event of an attempt to escape we could not use the food. We put on a stink about this (English Camp) and we were placed in an area at the top of the camp and not allowed to move outside this area. A lot of Indians in this area. This lasted a couple of weeks as this area was the football field. We were not popular as we refused to accept the lurks that were happening in this camp.
Football and other sports were a big thing here. During the second week we were told that a 7 a side Australian team were to be selected to play rugby in a competition against Scotland, England, Wales Ns the Maoris. We had top players in our group and we challenged the Aussie side. Four of us were from our regiment. They accepted and we thrashed them. When the competition started four of us played and we did well. As far as I remember we were unbeaten. Most of the players from New Zealand England etc. were first class players for their countries before becoming POWs. The best football I have ever seen played.
I learnt how to wrestle in this camp. I used to have somebody to look after me and make sure I was fit to play. I also played softball.
We were interrogated by the Germans. I found out that if you were not an NCO one could finish up in the coal mines. My friend Norm Nisbet was a sargeant so I decided to be one. With a bit of know how I proved I was one.
It was from this camp that the first POWs were sent home. Roy Furey managed to get out. Roy was pretty smart, a Sargeant Major. Good Luck to him.
I was moved to another barracks with the Canadians and joined the chain gang. 500 of us had to be chained up each day. This was a bit of a joke. We had no trouble unlocking the manacles. We walked around with them, our hands in our pockets and the chains across our waists. Except one day one of the English was walking past a big Nazi officer who was visiting the camp and he saluted him. The officer immediately questioned what was going on and from that day we returned them to the store.
The next problem was the razor gang (English) who came into our room. Five of us had a table to eat on and one day Norm and I went out on a working party to acquire some wood for our tin fire. When we came back Punchy Purcell told us that the gang had taken over our table. I then got my gang together. It was a tough mob of six of them so I decided to match them. I then went to the table with my mob in the right positions. I asked them if we could have our table back. A big no hoper got up and abused me as well as menacing me. Another one pulled out his razor to Fred Catley so I grabbed this bloke with both hands and said "Get off our table or we will do you over. I suggest you look around and you will see we mean business." They slunk away to their cots. I also told them that if any Australian was touched by any of them we would put them under the sod. They used to glare at us but never came near any of our mob. Going to the cot at night I used to hold an iron bar and said that if anyone came near my cot I would give it to him straight between the eyes. No further trouble!
A little later they had a go at the Canadians in another barracks and the English Sargeant Major in charge of the camp moved them all out of the camp. Later when in another camp in Poland word came through that one of them was knocked off. When a water pool dried off in the summer a body appeared. A rough mob.
I was later moved from this camp to the middle of Poland, Thorn Camp. It was an NCOs camp listed as a reprisal camp. Any German or anyone who was a POW in English territory who was having problems that they heard about, they would take action against us. Once a month about 500 SS Storm Troopers would come in and go through all our belongings. We used to get a message they were coming. As it was a sandy area on the hill most of us used to bury certain goods. Being artillery, Norm and I would take stock and direction etc., and after the SS left we would go up onto the hill and collect our belongings. It was a riot as most of them didn't have a clue where to look and spent weeks on the hill trying to find their goods.
We had running events and gambling here so we trained to have a bet and make a few bob (food mostly).. I was set up to win one day and of course I won and I was not popular with our lost friend, Fred Bond. The football was not good here as it was too sandy. I think we only lost one man here, shot in cold blood as it was reported that an attempt to escape was on.
It got very cold. We moved by open rail trucks to Falling Bostel near Hamburg. We went through the Berlin area and we were lucky as were never bombed or strafed. This particular camp was half air force and half army. It was the worst camp in Germany in my opinion. It was a real reprisal camp. In the middle of winter in 1944 they took all our bedding from us and heaped it outside the camp and never returned it. We lived in cow barns and the condensation was bad. Each night we put something over the top of the bed and the drips from the roof would drop onto the floor. It was so cold one used to wrap everything around oneself to keep warm at night. It was difficult to get wood to light our small fire. Three of us decided to remove one of the posts on the barb wire fence which was about 8 ft. high. Each day for a week we would give it a nudge when the outside German guards were not around and we thought we had moved all the studs off the post. Then we moved it quickly from its hole. But one wire was caught and it caused a real twanging noise. We quickly moved it through our window, their being no glass of course, and under our beds. We didn't tell anybody what we were doing. Suddenly there was hell to play. The Germans thought somebody was escaping and started firing and then they came into our area shouting and shooting. We just sat on our beds and asked them what was the problem. It was a good deal of wood and lasted for the whole winter.
Our barracks had about fifty men including two New Zealanders, three Australians and the rest Canadians. Lordie Craig, ex 2/1 Batt. and I started a swap shop. So many cigarettes for bread, tinned meats, or any other goods. I didn't smoke of course. We did well for a while until I found Lordie had another lurk going. So we went our own ways.
Norman and I were very frugal and things were getting worse so we used to hoard our tinned goods for the bad times. By Christmas 1944 it was really bad, like the old Salonica days. Norm and I managed but everybody was getting in a bad way. Food was very scarce. There were no sports, of course as everybody just sat around. The Canadians used to get huge parcels of cigarettes and they used to trade with the Germans. We didn't go for them as we would be starving and they would be eating well. They never shared a thing with us. Later they ran out of goods and they couldn't take it. They used to squabble and fight over crusts of bread etc. Norm used to goad them on... "can't you so and so take it!!"
T.B. became rife in the camp. The Guards would come in now and then and we spent hours on parade. It was very cold in the middle of winter when they did this as a reprisal against something which had happened to a German POW. I used to go for a walk around the camp every day to try and keep fit. We showered under an open tap once a day. I washed my clothes regularly. We did not have many clothes anyway and everybody thought I had gone around the bend. We used to watch the Russians in the other camps at Moosburg. They would rush in the nude from their barracks to the snow and roll over and over and snow bathe. I found that by having a wash over and a quick towelling I remained reasonably well. It paid to keep clean. Quite a few Australian air force were in this camp. Some of them were characters. One of them got a job in the cook house and he managed to live a bit better. He had a dog. How he got it nobody knew. It lasted a day or two and naturally it was taken care of and at least somebody got a feed. He was very upset but that was life in these places.
Summer came and suddenly 500 of us, mainly Australians and Canadians were taken out of the camp and marched on the road in the direction of Berlin. We moved down the Elbe River. This saved our lives as we were put up at night in farm house sheds throughout this trip. We used to milk the cows and dig up the spuds. We became expert at knocking off chickens and killed a sheep and a suckling pig. I pinched a barrow so Norm and I could put everything we owned on it and then wheeled our way down the Elbe.
When we nicked the barrow we were going happily along the road when the farmer who owned it was spotted. We put it over the side of the road out of sight and eventually he shot off. A few days later we marched all night. The Germans had a horse cart and all their gear was on this cart. There was just one driver. He couldn't see the back of the cart so Norm and I, who were not feeling the best decided to go for a ride with our barrow hitched on the back of the cart. He took off ahead of the mob and after a bit we became a bit worried. It was a moonlit night. We were miles ahead of the mob. We decided to unhitch and sat way back off the road. Suddenly the road was filled with German cyclists with machine guns. Luckily they didn't see us. An hour or two later we heard the marchers coming and went back into the mob. Nobody knew what we had done.
We used to do deals with the farmers. It was obvious that the Germans were aware that the war was almost over. One day we arrived at a place and were issued with a food parcel ex U.S.A. and we couldn't believe it. On the same day we just stopped on a straight road lined with trees when several American fighter planes arrived and thinking we were German troops gave us a real blasting. It was really bad. Several men were shot and killed. I got quite a shock. I moved to an open paddock which most of us did. We copped a real burst of gun fire. Suddenly they took off and I went back to our trolley thinking Norm was a goner. Suddenly he appeared and we found that all our gear and food was shot up. But we managed to patch up the barrow although we lost most of our food and gear. We marched on. What happened to all those shot or wounded I don't know. One of the air force blokes was Percy Sara (English wife) who on returning to Australia was the father of the first quads born here. His friend was killed along the side of us.
We proceeded on to another town. It was here that we ended the war.
There was a lot of looting going on and the civilian Germans were terrified. A young lady appeared. She had two young daughters and she was terrified. Norm and I took them back to their house for protection. Her husband was a doctor and was away at the front line somewhere. There were others in the house. Norm and I were fed and we had a nice bed to sleep in. We had not slept on a good bed for years. About 11 Norm and I found we couldn't sleep on such a bed. We told the lady we were going back to our straw bed in the farm stables. The next day, with another friend, Sid Pearce, we acquired a van full of petrol and took off to where we thought was towards Paris. We crossed the Elbe at night over the pontoons like crossing the Harbour Bridge. Suddenly an English soldier bailed us up and told us to go the other way as the Russians were not far away. We took his advice and finished up in some barracks. We handed over our trick. Here we were fitted out with new clothes and later driven some miles to an air strip. We boarded a Lancaster bomber and arrived in England on V.E. Day. Our gear consisted of a tooth brush and paste and the gear we got at our last camp. Norm and I refused to loot the houses. Some of the P.O.W.s nicked a lot of valuable goods but we considered this pretty poor doings.
When we got off the aircraft and onto the tarmac two girls in uniform grabbed me and said you don't look good and helped me and Norm to a truck. It took a day or two to recover and then we were sent to an area where all P.O.W.s were billeted. I weighed just over 9 stone. We were issued with new uniforms and then started to eat good tucker. I could not believe it when I was given some white bread. Before leaving Germany we existed on the old black bread. I thought I was being issued with some sort of cake. After two weeks working with Wally Walsh in the stores. Norm and I had to change our clothes as we put on quite a bit of weight.
We went on leave to London, Norm and I and two of our South African friends. We were invited to a Royal Empire Society Dinner. This is where I met Mum and also met a few of her friends. They were not dressed in uniform and I thought she was a civilian. I met her again two days later and found out she was in air ministry unit in London. We got on very well and she spoilt me.
I missed going to the Derby with my old friend and later Pud Butterfield, our old lurk man, told me he and the rest of them made a packet. As ex P.O.W.s they couldn't miss out.