Worcestershire Regiment Prisoners of War in World War Two

Approximately 800 members of the Regiment, including nearly 50 officers, became Prisoners of War during the Second World War. Most of them came from three battalions.

FRANCE 1940

The 7th and 8th Battalions – Territorial soldiers – which were sent to France in January 1940, had about 300 officers and men captured in May 1940 during the retreat to and evacuation from Dunkirk. Most were marched with German escorts through France and Belgium into Holland covering 220 miles in daily marches of 16-20 miles carrying the clothing and equipment with which they were captured. Cobbled roads and the German practice of marching for 3 hours without a halt added to the strain. Food was short with a morning cup of black acorn coffee with British ration biscuits and an evening meal of watery soup sometimes supplemented by items bought by individuals or generously donated by civilians on route. At night they slept in their clothes, sometimes huddled together in pouring rain in open fields, at other times in barns, schools or churches. In Holland the prisoners were crowded on Rhine barges for the 130 miles into Germany where most went on by train to prison camps deep in Germany.

A few died, escaped or were repatriated as a result of serious wounds but the majority had to endure 5 long years of captivity. Most were moved to several camps during the period.

NORTH AFRICA 1942

Some 500 members of the 1st Battalion – a regular battalion – were captured when Tobruk in North Africa fell to Rommel’s advancing troops in June 1942. They were moved to prison camps in Italy during 1942, and then on to Germany in 1943 after the Italian surrender.

The move to Italy and Camps there

The officers of the 1st Battalion were separated from the men after capture at Tobruk and were flown to Bari within a few weeks, from where they were moved to a camp at CHIETI. Some were subsequently dispersed to other camps. The soldiers were moved westwards along the North African coast by road or in railway cattle tracks and were held by the Italians in makeshift camps with inadequate facilities before being moved to Italy by sea. 20 men of the Regiment were among 783 prisoners drowned when a Royal Navy submarine sank their ship on its way to Italy. Many men arrived in Italy in November still wearing what was left of the tropical khaki uniform they were wearing when captured. On arrival in Italy they were registered as Prisoners of War (POW) with the Red Cross and subsequently the first personal clothing and Red Cross food parcels started to arrive.

Escapes

There were some escape attempts made during the first year but the Allied landings in Southern Italy in September 1943 followed rapidly by the capitulation of the Italian forces provided a strong incentive to many to attempt to gain their freedom. At some camps when the Italian guards fled mass escapes took place, but at others the Italians conducted an orderly handover to the Germans.

On the run

For some months there were thousands of Allied prisoners at large in Italy, living off the land or being helped by Italian peasants. Some headed south to try to join up with the advancing Allied forces, others escaped into Switzerland where they were supposed to remain until hostilities ceased and at least one escaped through Yugoslavia. But the majority were rounded up by the Germans as they were betrayed by Italian Fascists, as hunger and cold forced them out of the mountains, or as they moved through the German defensive lines while attempting to reach the advancing Allies. But the presence of large numbers of Allied prisoners on the run in Italy for many months diverted thousands of German troops from front-line duty. Nine Regimental escapees subsequently received recognition in the form of awards for gallantry – a testimony both to their courage and the value to the Allied cause of their activities. Of those who made good their escape the majority returned to military duty in the United Kingdom, but two officers returned to further active service – one with the reconstituted 1st Battalion in North West Europe and the other to the 2nd Battalion in Burma.

As the Allies gained ground in Southern Italy so the Germans started to evacuate their prisoners, mostly by rail, to Germany; many daring and determined escape attempts were made on these journeys.

GERMANY

In the German camps the POWs were often hungry and bored by their crowded and tedious existence but by 1943 when those from Italy arrived the Red Cross had established a fairly regular supply of food and clothing parcels as well as supplying books, study facilities and equipment for sports and recreation.

LIBERATION

The winter of 1944-45 was an anxious time for all POWs. It was a bitterly cold winter, food was short, and the flow of Red Cross parcels was disrupted by the Allied bombing of Germany. In January as the Russian forces closed in from the East some prisoners were marched westwards. By April when British and American forces were closing in on the German heartland the sounds of battle could be heard by prisoners in many of the camps, and they were understandably impatient for release. Also during April the Germans moved more prisoners from their camps – which resulted in some casualties from Allied air raids – but in the closing weeks of the war the Allies ordered the Germans to stop moving prisoners around. Release when it came was for all a great relief and for many, who had endured up to five years of privation and captivity, a shock too.

Some however did not return home. In addition to the 20 mentioned above who were drowned approximately another 20 died in captivity, while on the run, or during the forced marches in Germany in the winter of 1944-45.