BACK FROM GERMANY

Evening Star, Issue 25472, 1 May 1945, Page 2

BACK FROM GERMANY

NEW ZEALANDERS IN ENGLAND SAWYERS BAY SOLDIER'S ADVENTURES " Here we are on the south coast of England in a superb seaside resort, and prisoner-of-war life is beginning to be a thing of tho past—we hope so anyhow," writes Private H. N. Reeves in a letter to his mother at Sawyers Bay after being repatriated from Germany, where he had been a prisoner for three years. , . . Private Reeves writes a graphic account of long marches from prisoner-of-war camps in the. east as the Russians advanced, of the escape of himself ami a mate, and of their rescue by the Americans, whose treatment he describes in glowing terms. He also speaks highly of the treatment accorded them on their arrival in .England—a subject which will be ot deep interest to the relatives of prisoners who have reached safety in the Old Country. . ~ " I hope that yon have received my cables telling you that I have been m England since April 6," writes Private Reeves. "At present I am in hospital, getting the old digestive system into Al order in preparation for 28 days' leave. Don't start worrying or thinking I am ill; 75 per cent, of us are bad with dysentery as a result of the rich food we ate immediately we were free. Once we get over that we'll he fine, . . "Now, to start at the beginning, our camp was evacuated on January 22, as the Hun didn't want, us to be recaptured bv the Russians (we had been hearing their gunfire for two or three days previously). ' Consequently we were inarched out of 344 at 7 p.m., the temperature below zero, and with a " foot of snow on the ground, to put 40 miles in the first 24 hours between us and ' Joe.' Our daily marching, how- • ever, after that was about 15-20 miles. We arrived at VIII.- A on Fehruary 4, having covered! 276 kilometres in 12 days. Our resting places of a night would he in barns, etc., so that we literally hit the day in the true sense of the words. " As we marched out of 344 we were issued with a Christmas (food parcel hut no smokes, and were hoping that when we struck. VIII. A there would be plenty of Red Cross parcels. Unluckily there were not, so things 'were only middling. As that camp was my first on arrival iu Germany I knew quite a lot of the boys, so that when the order came for 344 personnel only to march on again I decided to stop behind, with .' Cracker' Nelson, ot" Carey's Bav. We had ; hopes that ' Joe ' (the Russians) might still get ns out, but at tho last minute 'ta were discovered, and we both marched on the second leg of the journey. However, the weather was much improved, no snow or rain, and as we were supposed to be a sick column with an S.A. major with, us, we did only 1015 miles daily, with a rest every third day. Naturally, the Hun . rations were insufficient, but I'll skip the ' horror ' side of things, as yon will be reading . plenty of reports about that in the papers, •'' The intention of the Hun was to march us to a cflmp in Central Germany, but as we arrived at camps the cry" was, 'Go west, young man, we're'full.' So: westward we riving-at. a village, named Tf ta. Next day we were Ordered to march again,! as' the Tanks were -'about 40, miles ] .away. Tin's was only a rumour, and! "unless you've been a prisoner of war you cannot realise how many fantastic tales are put over as genuine news > I " ' Cracker ' and I had long ago I decided that if we changed our line of | march'we would ' make a break,' co ' we hid in the hay when the :>96 ] marched off, having with us enough : food at a pinch, for, four days (125; grammes of biscuits and cheese). I That wae on March 31, and j we intended marching again i next night, but the Yank tanks i were passing at 5 o'clock, and what a dash we made! ' May we have I a,' smoke and a feed ?' were the first j words I said, and we received them , with over-wrought feelings. Those ! Yanks were kindness personified, and -so was everyone else with whom' we came in contact—-they couldn't do enough for us. We wore evacuated by j ambulance back across the Rhine, and : then flown to England. j

" As soon as we are fit we, are to get 26 days' leave," concludes Private Reeves's letter.. " and then ' home. sweet home.' I understand there are mails and parcels, awaiting some of the lade, and hope we are among the l;ioky ones, Hoping you are all fit and well and ready for a ' do ' when 1 arrive."