I was never very happy at Stalag. Many of the soldiers there were regulars and some of these had a very dubious sexual background. I had been approached like many another soldier, it seemed that fair hair or curly hair invited suggestions of debauchery, even though the persons involved did not appear that way.
I had decided that I would keep my hair very short while I was a POW until such times that I was sure of the integrity of the people with whom I was associating. This I am sure saved me from many unsavoury approaches.
When we arrived at Stalag XXA, I was amazed to find how empty it was; many working parties had left and I thought that I had missed out.
I told Swanee and Punch that I was going to apply for farm work, but they weren't interested.
I met some of my old mates from Retford at this time, they were at Stalag when we arrived and they seemed well established and satisfied with the camp.
There was no working party available and the word went round that coalminers were needed for working parties in German occupied Russia. I was not interested I wanted farm work. When I heard that a party was needed for a State farm, I offered to go and the fact that I had already worked on a farm went in my favour and I was one of the 10 men selected. After assembly the next day we were called out by name and army number. Imagine my surprise when the first one called out was a 6 ft 2 ins Scotsman with his Tam 'o' Shanter. He was to be our sergeant (non working) in charge. I was glad that the remainder of the men were all English.
We rode in the guards van on the train and we seemed to be travelling for hours. We took plenty of food with us, as we had each received a Red Cross parcel, before we left Stalag XXA and 50 cigarettes each.
Our first guard was Czechoslovakian and while I was talking to him later, I found that he too was a coal miner. He was disgusted to find that I was a shot firer in the mine at the tender age of twenty-four. We had many talks during the next few months about coal mines. I, in pidgin German. He, in pidgin English.
The billet at the farm where we were to work was quite a small place considering the buildings they had. It was to my thinking just like a stable. Many Poles lived in similar buildings, with no upstairs, just a ground floor room housing a family. The ten of us lived in this cramped condition. The only difference was that we were fenced in by barbed wire and there were iron bars at the windows. At one end of the billet was a small barred window and on the front of the building was a large window which was 8 foot by 4 foot, this was also barred and overlooked the barbed wire compound.
At first the ten of us slept side by side on raised boards and later when it was decided that we were to stay, double bunks were made for us by the wheelwright.
More room was created by this transfer and the billet was made more habitable.
In the compound were tub toilets with 4 seats side by side and just outside the compound was the guardroom. At night the compound was locked and so was the door to our billet. Behind this door was placed a 5 gallon steel drum for our use as a toilet during the night; across the top of this drum was a piece of wood to enable the person to squat down if needs be. This drum was emptied first thing in the morning by the man on stag duty and he always needed help with the slop out. The person on stag duty was allowed an hour to sweep the room and fetch water from the well.
To do this he had a shoulder yoke and 2 churns, these he filled at the well which was about 200 yards from the billet.
It took about 20 minutes to wind up the buckets of water from the well and fill the 2 milk churns and this chore he would repeat in the evening when the men returned. The man on stag would fetch water about four times a day and the water would be used for body washing, cooking, drinking and washing clothes. We each had turns at stag duty. On Saturdays and Sundays 2 men were on duty, as such a lot of water was needed at the week end; men would wash clothes and have a stand up bath.
I was really taken aback at the size of this farm. There were about 7 Polish families working here. Fathers, sons and daughters did various jobs; some would feed the animals; pigs, cows, fowls, geese, turkeys, ducks. Everything that was running around on this farm was being attended to by one family or another, everybody had plenty of work.
The teamsters fed their own horses. The wheelwright and blacksmith asked for assistance as they wanted it. Our sergeant spent a good deal of his time with these 2 men.
There must have been forty people working on this farm, you could walk for a mile and still be on farm land.
About a mile away from the billet there were about 300 sheep and these were dipped and sheared and looked after by another family. There were sheep pens and buildings that were needed for the upkeep of the herd of sheep. In the winter months a lot of work and effort was put into the necessity of keeping these sheep alive, because of the very severe weather. I never explored the whole of the farm. I only went this far afield in the winter when the sheep needed feeding and the herdsmen wanted help. We also helped at shearing time.
The Major, the man at the main farmhouse, kept in touch with everybody by riding the whole area on horse back.
When we started work on the farm most of the crops had been set so hoeing was our first job. The guard always accompanied us at first and we were kept together. The sergeant had the choice of remaining in the yard or joining us.
The first few weeks here were very boring and we were kept away from the other workers.
We were hoeing potatoes and hoeing mangels and singling potatoes and sugar beet.
By July our first crop of hay and clover etc. was being harvested for winter feed.
The management must have realised that by keeping us apart from the Poles they were not getting the best from our labour.
Our first job with the Poles was haymaking. This was gathering the hay with hayforks and hurling it onto the wagons. A man with the experience of stacking the hay would be on top of the hay cart to ensure that the hay was stacked evenly so that it would reach its destination without falling off. Then it would be taken back to the farmyard and stacked over the cow sheds and the horse stalls.
The final step to working with both men and women on the farm came when we had to pick the ridge cucumbers. Everyone helped on this but the teamsters.
At first we began picking the cucumbers the same as the girl workers, but at the opposite end of the field.
Cane baskets 4 feet high were filled and then they were loaded onto the lorries that came to collect them. It wasn't long before the picking was left to the girls and we were just carrying and loading the baskets onto the lorries.
We carried and loaded about 60 of these baskets every day before morning break at 10 am, for weeks. We then went hoeing and hay turning.
By now we were talking to both men and women workers and the guard was not so nervy. I think the German Major must have told them to give us more scope.
By August the corn was ready for cutting, and on the evening preceding the cutting a pinging noise could be heard and looking out along the barn like houses attached to our billet, we could see the Polish men, both young and old sharpening scythes on a piece of steel and tapping the edge of the scythe with a light hammer. This was the pinging noise that we could hear. Tapping the edge of the scythe made a rough sharp edge which was honed just like a razor. The next morning the men were up the field each cutting a yard or more swath with every swing of the scythe, keeping 4 foot apart for safety. To see these men swinging the scythe in rhythmic motion was quite a sight.
As the corn was scythed it was tied into sheaves and staked out to dry, ready to be taken to the barn and stacked for future use.
The wagons that the teamsters had been using were now being converted into hay wagons. The sides and the bottoms were taken off these wagons and the wheels were extended longways and 20 to 25 foot by 4 foot sides, that looked like ladders were placed in a vee shape along the bottom. This made a very long wagon to take the corn and when this was fully loaded it was about 25 foot long and 12 to 15 foot from the top of the converted wagon, it looked like a "house made of straw" on wheels. Only the skilled workers were allowed to load these wagons.
Some of the men had prepared the huge barns back at the farmyard to receive the crop. Everybody at the start would go to the field to load the long hay wagons. Two experienced loaders would climb onto each wagon and we would fork the sheaves of corn up to them and they would stack them in a neat professional way.
Two people with 2 tined pitchforks would toss the sheaves to the loader. This gave the loaders time to stack the wagons safely and the pitchers time to fetch the sheaves from the short distance away from the wagon.
When we had cleared a certain area, we moved the wagon to another position further along the row of sheaves, until we had a load of between twelve to fifteen foot high like the afore said "house of straw".
The big strong heavy horses would then take over the load and make their way to the barns in the farmyard.
Four pitchers would be needed with the first load, this load would be taken to just outside the barn in the farmyard and they would then begin to unload. Two pitchers would stay on top of the load and toss a sheaf of corn to a fellow worker, the workers would each catch a sheaf and pass it to the older men who were one each side of the barn. These older men would skilfully pack the barn so that as we filled it we wouldn't get into each other's way. This was very important for as the barn filled, we, in the barn, were above the loads that came in.
By the time the first wagon was emptied, another one or two wagons would be waiting to be unloaded. The teamsters bringing the loads in would hitch up to the empty wagon which had been pushed aside. He would then return to the field for another load and after a while there was a steady flow and the work proceeded smoothly.
We changed jobs from day to day, because the work at the barns were more demanding than the work in the fields. As the barn filled more labour was needed and it was far more difficult to fill the top half than the bottom. At the halfway mark, long one foot square beam supports had to be contended with and worked around. To fill the barn to its full capacity up to the apex and keep a safe footing was really hard and slow sweaty work.
At the apex only 2 men would be in the barn; the others would already have started on another barn.
At a busy time like this we POWs would all be in one place, either in the field or in the barn, this way, our midday meal, mostly soup could be delivered to one place.
Once all the barns were filled we started on stacks in the field. These were a different proposition. They would be stacked working from both sides. The corn didn't have to come as far, therefore two could be started at the same time, though more care was to be taken making the stacks in the open.
The butt end of the sheaf, (the end that has been cut) had to be facing outward and at an angle pointing slightly downward; so that when it rained the water would run off the side of the stack and onto the ground. Any water running into the stack would cause the grain to start growing and the whole stack would be lost. It also had to be straight sided and safe from wind damage. Stacking was always done by the skilled.
Towards the end of the harvest, the time would come to decide if there was enough corn to make another stack, if it was doubtful, the threshing machine would be hauled onto the field close by and we would be threshing for 2 or 3 days to finish the rest of the corn. After the corn was threshed the grain would be taken down to the granary at the farm.
The straw was then restacked in the field and later used for bedding down the cattle and also for covering the root crops in winter to keep out the very severe frosts.
The word came from Stalag XXA that we were to remain at this State Farm for the rest of the winter. I was glad to hear this.
We were then organised to fetch wood from a part of the farm where we had never been before. We were supplied with crosscut saws and axes before we went and to our surprise when we arrived, there were sawing frames and plenty of wood. I think this was a place where the wheelwright had wood stacked for his future use.
We soon gathered and chopped a load of wood. The sergeant was with us and we made a day of it: a sort of celebration. Even the guard joined in, by now he knew he was on a good thing. He could go into town almost as he wanted. He knew we were under the supervision of the three farm inspectors.
The corn harvest was now finished and the hay wagons were soon converted back to deal with the harvesting of the root crops.
The light horses were used for clearing the stubble from the cornfields. Two light horses would be tackled up to a heavy wooden rake with long spikes attached. This rake looked very heavy and very primitive.
One of the lads with us who had been a farm hand in England said he had never seen anything like it. Though it did what it was intended to do. It ripped the roots (stubble) out of the ground. The field could then be manured, deep ploughed and left for the winter frosts to break it down.
We were now on what was called the potato crop. Looking at the massive expanse of potatoes, I wondered how long it would take to harvest these, bearing in mind there was no machines to help with the work. Every potato had to be pulled up separately, with what was known as a potato grabber. This I described earlier at Frau Leidkers farm. All the potato grabbing was carried out by the girls.
There were loads and loads of baskets, all the same size and the girls filled these baskets as they picked the potatoes. Four of these baskets full of potatoes were equal to one centna (100 lbs). The girls would take these baskets as they filled them, to one of the wagons and each girl would get the overseer to register in her name, the number of baskets she had filled. At the end of the harvest for every centna registered in her name, her family was allowed a percentage of potatoes for their own use.
As the baskets were registered with the overseer we POWs would take them from the girls and tip them into a wagon and place the empty baskets into a selected place for the girls to use again. I was amazed at the speed and progress made. Here again the 2 light horses came into use. The big heavy wagons really did sink into the soil when filled with potatoes and it needed the four horses to get the wagons moved to the place where they were to be clamped for the winter. This would be a good distance away.
At the area where they were to be clamped, workers were unloading the potatoes and putting them in pyramid shaped rows. After the potato harvest a layer of straw was covered over them, held down by the occasional shovel full of earth. This was to protect them from freak frosts that could be expected at this time of the year.
Whilst we were finishing the potato crop, securing them and covering them against frost, the women workers were top and tailing the swedes and mangels. The tops (the leaves) were kept separate. These were stacked and used as a supplement winter feed for the cows. This was called silage and the tops of the sugar beet was also used in this way at a later date.
The mangels and swedes, another type of cattle feed, was not so time consuming as the potatoes and these were also put into clamps like the potatoes. These clamps were also pyramid shape, they were wider and higher than the potatoes. They didn't need much straw and soil and could have frost on them and still be used as cattle feed.
At this time the workers excluding the teamsters were sealing the clamps against the frosts that were now expected.
The last crop, sugar beet, was quite a large crop but it was very easy. We only had to contend with the leaves and these were used for silage. The sugar beet roots were taken straight to the railway station en-route to Germany.
As the nights began to draw in we found it very difficult to light our billet either to read or entertain ourselves. There was no gas, electricity or lamps of any kind and candles were very hard to come by.
We tried melting axle grease until it was liquid. When the wick was lit, it gave a flickering light but this was very smoky and smelly, causing us to open the windows, it was either choke to death or freeze to death.
We must have looked very weird and uncouth sitting around these smoking lights in our long polish overcoats.
We eventually found that carbide could be acquired, the Poles probably used this old type lamp and so we began to experiment with this form of gas.
The empty tins from the Red Cross parcels came into use and we attempted to make crude lamps by putting carbine into a tin: one end of the tin completely cut out. A small amount of carbide was put into a saucer, the open end of the tin was placed over the carbide and a pinhole was made in the top of the tin. We put a drop of water into the saucer which filtered underneath the tin and activated the carbide to form gas. We then put a light to the pinhole on top of the tin and got a brilliant light. At this stage we couldn't control the flame. We tried different ways until one of the lads brought a swede to cook. We cut the top and the bottom off this swede, leaving an inch and a half ring of swede: in the centre of the swede we placed the carbide and then the open end of the tin was pressed over the carbide and about half inch into the swede. We got a good result instantly.
The moisture from the cut swede was sufficient to activate the carbide and so give steady light. Better than candle light. As the swede dried we poured water into the saucer, which filtered through the swede and kept the carbide activated.
We were really chuffed and for a while all of us had a light.
There were quite a few mishaps at first; such as the tin jumping out of the saucer, when too much water was put into it and gradually by trial and error we got a light, to our satisfaction.
All the root crops, potatoes, swedes and mangels, now had to have a foot of soil put on top of the straw to keep out the winter frosts and it took quite a while to do this. It brought us up to November before this work was finished. The final job of work was the sealing of the silage, which always gave off a very sour stench.
All the fields would have been ploughed by now. A few days threshing was needed to fill the granary before most of the girls were laid off until the Spring. From now through till Christmas we were mostly going up to the potato and mangel clamps. With the mangels it was simply filling the wagons with the teamster, who would take them back to the farmyard for cattle feed.
The potato crop was different, we had a 6 foot hand made conveyer with open wooden slats that let the small potatoes drop through onto the floor. These small potatoes were for the pigs the larger ones went to the end of the conveyer and were loaded into a wagon. The conveyer was manually operated by turning a two and a half foot diameter wheel which had a handle attached. Fifteen minutes at turning this wheel was very hard work, especially if the conveyer was full of Potatoes; it took a long while to fill a wagon this way. Most of our time was taken up doing this during the winter.
The small potatoes were taken back to the yard each day. 'I'hey were cooked and fed to the pigs. Through the winter months we were either loading potatoes and grain, and then threshing as the granary emptied.
By now Christmas was approaching. It was freezing cold both day and night: it was minus 20 and even lower at times. It was difficult to keep warm in these temperatures and half starved as we were.
Just before Christmas one of our party was suddenly unwell, he had what we called a "welly". This was a letter from some person back home to tell him that his wife was going about with another man. I had experienced seeing other soldiers downhearted because of this. Some even received a letter to say a member of the family had died; when they had not. It is said that blackmail is murder of the soul; well this was akin to blackmail, because of the length of time it took to find out that it was not true. This would be a very soul destroying time for the soldier involved. These mean minded folks calling themselves well wishers, no doubt would have enjoyed their handiwork if they could have seen gaunt, haggard men just shrivelled up and inconsolable.
Our sergeant and the guard took the soldier to Stalag XXA. When the sergeant returned after a few days, he came back with another guard and another mate. He also returned with a Red Cross parcel for each of us and cigarettes. I was sorry to lose the guard, we had many a chat together about our work in civvy street, which was coal mining. He always argued that I was too young at twenty four to be in charge of detonators and said I should not have been allowed to use explosives down the mine at that age.
The friendly way our sergeant handled the situation with the very upset soldier made me think what a very humane person he was.
Our new guard was not what we would call an A1 soldier, he had a gammy leg and he also brought a guitar along with him. His name was Franz and he didn't seem to care about the war, he would go along with anything the overseer suggested, he was very easy to get along with.