The road signs were pointing the way to Teterow and for the next 17 days I logged nothing down on paper. 25.2.45 to 14.3.45.
I remember visiting quite a few American POW camps and spending the night with them and talking far into the night of how we had fared on the way from Danzig. They were amazed at the round about way that we had been taken. All of these working parties had been told to stay put and wait to be liberated, seemingly to be well aware of the situation, they told us that they expected to be liberated by the Americans.
These billets were far superior to the ones that we had lived in Poland, these had electricity and other mod cons. It was alright for them to stay put, so, "why not us to?". We were keeping dry and we wished to stay put.
The guards thought differently, so, after an overnight stay and a very good meal and some cigs they pushed us on the road again.
We didn't bother as we were told that there was another working party some miles ahead.
On March 14th we were picked up by the German Police and put into the local lock up, where we were given a couple of rounds of bread and butter and a cup of ersatz coffee. Later on the village Bergamaster came and took us back to his home, he gave us a good meal and we slept at his home that night. The next day after a good breakfast he directed us into the main stream of refugees.
During our 2 weeks away from the main drag we had seen many planes all Allied, and fighter planes, they seemed to be scanning the scene below and nobody seemed to be bothered about them.
The roads were choc a bloc with refugees, soldiers and Russians, the Russians were segregated from the rest of us. We were marching in columns of 200 and approximately 100 yards apart.
As we passed through the villages the people asked the same question "How far are the Ruskies away?". They weren't bothered about the Allied planes dominating the skies, "Ruskies?:" they enquired "How far away?".
I was more bothered at what we were walking into, the artillery and tanks that had passed us from time to time, meant that there was a right old ding dong somewhere ahead and we were walking into it. We saw one or two buildings and wagons that had been caught and roughed up in a skirmish and this could only mean by planes.
Charlie and I had been on the road now for about 6 weeks and we were starved, froze, lousy and getting very edgy, we had covered another 22 kilos and arrived at Schemendorf.
We had just past the signpost to Rostock, though it was pointing in the opposite direction to where we were going, it seemed we were going inland.
Once again we were stuck in a barn and we were put into one that had not been used and we considered ourselves to be lucky, as we could rest without the fear of dropping into mess.
We received a small bread allowance, how my stomach stood up to this treatment I shall never know. I did have to make myself sick a number of times, but I was making out alright. I must have been worried so much about the situation that we were in that it took my mind off my stomach.
The next day we pressed on to Groswochern, twenty kilos further on, we stayed here the next day and for once we had one or two large buildings. One of them being a huge Breneri and we were able to wash socks and a shirt, we also got a bread allowance.
It was here at this Breneri that I met an American parachutist. His name was Chris and I was told he was a Golden Glove Champion in America.
He remarked on the polo neck pullover, that Alf had given to me and he showed an interest in the album. He browsed through the album, it had snapshots of American soldiers and snaps of Stalag activities, boxing and plays etc. He was very interested in the pullover and we did a swap.
I liked the rainproof jacket, which he offered me for the exchange, this blouson jacket had a motif of a parachutist across the back and as we had been having drizzles of rain it would keep out the wet and the cold. I traded the pullover for the blouson and I was very satisfied with the deal.
The Polish army long coat that I had used for two or three winters, I threw that away on the night that we all slept in a ploughed field. It was in such a bad state, I couldn't use it any more. I decided to use my boots for a while longer. One of them was very weather worn and was hurting my foot, but I had no idea as to how much longer we had to keep walking.
When we started off again after a days rest I expected to go quite a long way, which we mostly did after a long rest. I felt that the rest days always came when we were catching up with the columns in the front of us. When this happened it was utter chaos with hundreds and hundreds of Russian POWs the English and others from different countries, plus the German refugees. No village or town could cope with this amount of people and at times we would finish on the side of the road where we would sleep for the night, or in an open field, whichever.
At such times as these we slept alongside the Russians. There was not enough room to segregate us and being in the last column in such circumstances, we slept any where we could get.
March 18th 1945 we were on out way again and we had no idea just what we were walking into, we knew we were walking away from Rostock, which was close to the coast, so we knew, we were going inland. When we first started out on this march, it was the Russian army that we were walking away from. Its days and days since we saw a Russian plane.
It is our planes that we are seeing now and we are seeing more as we go further inland.
Another 20 kilos and we were at Awfenhagen and the roads were still full of refugees fleeing just like lemmings. I wondered if we were coming to the end of this damned silly haphazard race towards nowhere.
We were still being pressed into barns and fields with the Russians and these stopping places were getting so bad that they were becoming a hazard as well. Many of the Russians were ill with dysentery and we noticed that there were more deaths at the barns when we were mixed with them. On one stop, the guards, who mostly sleep on the floor of the entrance to the barn, had been shouting Schwine Hund and fired their rifles through the straw above them. (This could account for some of the bodies found in the straw at the barns). It seemed that the straw over the area where the guards were sleeping would no longer hold the excrements from the thousands of POWs who had been using it as a toilet and it had dripped onto them as they slept.
It would be no job for the squeamish or faint hearted, when these places were cleaned out, not to mention the decomposed bodies that could be within. I had seen no covered bodies at this stop though I suspected that they were in the straw, it smelt that way.
The next day we walked only 10 kilos to Altzammit and I felt sure we were coming to a bottle neck or the end of the journey, this was the second day in four that we had rested and this had not happened before. Resting again at Altzammit more or less convinced us that we were at the end of this long trek.
Now the roads were really full and getting food for such a great number of people was impossible. The guards were complaining and they seemed close to revolt.
To make things worse youths of 16 and 17 were taking over from the guards, they were the Hitler Youth and most of them as thick as planks. It was inevitable that there would soon be trouble between them.
We walked for another three days 90 kilos into Germany passing through Menzendorf; we were told we were making for the River Elbe which we had to cross over.
We had also heard that a number of POWs had been killed by our own aircraft. I had hoped that this was just a rumour, although our planes seemed to be the only ones in the sky.
It was now March 23rd 1945 and another rest day. There was a lot of raised voices at this stop, for the word had gone round that POWs had been strafed whilst crossing the Elbe. We didn't know if this was German propaganda, or if it had actually happened and had been seen by our own POWs. The highest ranking officer NCO is sergeant and none of them wanted the responsibility of taking any action. I didn't envy the position that they were in, the guards were getting very lax as we got further into Germany. To relieve them of their rifles would be quite easy, because there was so many of us and the rifles were always slung over their shoulders. From what we knew there was no love lost between the Germans and the Russians, goodness knows what would happen if the Russians did take control and so they could, because they outnumbered us by 10 to 1 or even more; thousands of them were being brought into the area. If trouble did start it would be very bloody and I wanted no part in it and neither did most of the others. One or two might take the chance and I hoped they would take into consideration the number of mechanised German troops that were passing us from time to time.
March 25th 1945 we were on our way again and most of us with the feeling of apprehension and worried over the discussions that we'd had the day previous.
We were split up before we had gone very far, some going towards Hanover and us going towards Domitz. We did 25 kilos and finished at Horkalten and we were worried about the planes above us after hearing of the strafing of the columns as they went over the River Elbe.
March 26th Most of the Russian POWs seemed to have been sent to Hanover, we weren't so packed together when we stopped because of this, though we were still marching in columns of 200.
We were offered bread from time to time as we went through the villages. We still had the daft silly, stupid Hitler Youth Movement around us.
On our way to Domitz the sky seemed to be full of bombers and they seemed to be in layers and at different heights. One of these silly Youths looked up and said "It's only propaganda" and by the look upon his face the silly sod believed it.
We were seeing more and more of these low flying planes and none of them gave us any aggro. About 3 kilos from Domitz we stopped and were fed and given a hot drink.
I had to dump my shoes, they were hurting my feet and I had to revert to my leather zipped bedroom bootees, I was hoping that they wouldn't let me down.
One or two POWs had to drop out for some reason or other. Our feet were taking a hammering and so was our health. I didn't know how long most of us had been on the road, but I had been on the road for over two months and my feet were sore and bleeding, from having to wear wet socks day in and day out and I couldn't see the soles of these bedroom bootees lasting much longer. I would feel reluctant to give in because of the state of my footwear. I had seen other soldiers feet that were much worse than mine carrying on, though I wouldn't be able to continue if the soles of these boots broke.
We passed through Domitz and over the Elbe noticing that even this far inland the white sheets on poles were hanging from the windows.
We were all asking one another "Why are we still walking?" and "Where are we making for?". We passed Pudripp, Ratslinger and Sprachenseul, walking another 80 kilos and we had another rest day.
The barns here were much cleaner than the other barns where we had slept and this we think could be a different route to which POWs who had gone in front of us had taken.
We had been so poorly fed as POWs and most of the food we had whilst on the road we had to beg and bargain for. We bartered with whatever we had left from the Red Cross Parcels and we were getting very weary and frustrated, because we could see no end to this march at all.
We knew that the guards were getting food, there were hundreds of us and we were very lucky if we were in a place where food was being distributed.
April 1st 1945 Fools Day, I was stocktaking I still had 250 cigs, a bar of soap and a couple of pairs of socks and the album that Alf gave me, all the rest had gone. I pondered whether to put a fresh pair of socks on, or to save them to do a deal with.
I had some very bad blisters on my feet and if they burst on their own they would be sore for days, so I used a needle to drain them and washed my feet in cold water, after this they felt much easier. I then washed my socks so that I could wear them again and kept the new ones to exchange for food.
Starting out the next day I was like a cat on hot bricks for a while. As we marched along we were offered cigs and bread by the crowds of Germans that lined the roads. It seemed that they were glad to see us and not the Russians. The roads were lined with people as we passed through the villages and towns. We stopped at Scharnhurst over night and then we were on our way to Celle thirty kilos away.
On the outskirts of Celle three German soldiers approached the column and solicited for volunteers for a work party, the uniform of these soldiers was different from any other that I had seen and for some reason I suspected they were not real soldiers, but members of a political camp, of sorts.
I pointed to my face, which was covered in little lumps from a skin complaint and said "eine sticken" (this I had been told meant contagious in German). I surmised that close by was a Political camp. We had heard of such places, while we were on the march. We had another days rest close by at Celle and once again we had reasonable barns and a small amount of food was found for us, though it was always the same trouble; we must have been one thousand strong and insufficient food to go around and we were always the losers.
I had hinted to Charlie that I was dropping out at the first chance, with all these soldiers around it was a chore even to get a drink of water.
It was my birthday today April 4th. Well at least we were getting a rest day.
I definitely decided that I was going to drop out of this column, even if I had to go it alone. I couldn't see any village, town or even city that could cope with so many extras. We didn't even know how many or how far the columns in front of us were, we were reduced to cadging as we went along the road.
We marched another twenty kilos and stopped at Fahrburg, which, according to my daily logging was approximately twenty six kilos from Hanover.
Another forty kilos to Schweihae and we rested there overnight. The next day we did twenty-five kilos to Dahendorf and I decided that no matter what I would drop out on the next march.
It was quite easy to do with so many dropping out through sheer exhaustion, these, were picked up by lorry; though they had no treatment when they reached the rest place. After resting they would be on the road and marching again.
April 11th and another rest day.
We received a hot drink and some queued for hot water if they could find a container. It was chaos because everybody wanted as much as they could get.
I settled for a hot drink and a small bread ration and then I rested. My feet had settled down after I had drained the blisters.
April 12th When we started off after the break, I told Charlie that I was leaving the column at the back end of this march. I didn't know if he would come, or whether he had decided not to, I know that I had to go as I couldn't see any end to this march.
Sooner or later our luck was going to run out, I didn't like the feeling I had as this armour passed us, with so many planes around it had got to happen and we wouldn't always be lucky.
We had been on the road for quite a while and many planes had passed us. The Yanks said they were Flying Fortress'. I am amazed that they were able to identify them, for they were so high up in the sky. The pace seemed faster, or was it that we were worn out.
Charlie had not hinted that he was going. Then out of the blue a tiny spot appeared in the form of a German fighter plane, we heard short bursts of cannon fire and the wing of the Fortress broke off. We followed the trail of the plane all the way down and were longing to see parachutes coming from it. There were none.
This was the first German plane I had seen to recognise since I left Norway almost five years ago.
The Americans with us were full of rage, they said our SOBs had been buzzing us for days and the first time they were really wanted they were not there. They were livid.
We were moving faster than ever and more and more were dropping out for the agony wagon.
It was getting late in the evening and no signs of a stop, the guards apparently had a certain place in mind that we had to reach. We were so spread out it was possible to drop out for toilet reasons and join a column behind. We were just putting one foot in front of the other automatically and were nearly asleep.
We had been on the road for fourteen hours and as I worked my way to the very last column I found that Charlie was with me we dropped out at the first hole in the hedgerow. We just walked through a hole in the hedge and kept going until we reached the other end of the field. We had a choice of places to sleep either haystack or outhouse and we chose the outhouse; this was dry and we didn't need any rocking.