CAPTIVE GERMANS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21808, 3 September 1945, Page 4

CAPTIVE GERMANS

BIG CAMPS IN ITALY VARIED ACTIVITIES (R.N.Z.A.F. Official War Correspondent.) RAVENNA, Aug. 20. Patiently awaiting either their return to Germany or whatever else the Allies may have in store for them, some 150,000 Germans, remnants of Kesselring’s tenth and fourteenth armies, are now concentrated in prison camps on the Adriatic coast in Terrimini and Forli. These Germans are held in huge cages, each accommodating about 10,000 men. The Germans have with them a large amount of their own transport, ranging' from big trucks to staff cars and horsedrawn carts, to do most of their own carting of supplies It is a common sight to see a German truck, prominently marked with a black cross and with a figure in grey-blue uniform at the wheel, amid military and civilian traffic. Pipe Organ of Tins

Working parties go out every day with an Allied escort to various jobs in the district, but most of the men spend their time in the cage busying themselves with whatever they can find to do. Much ingenuity has been displayed by the Germans in improv ing their quarters. A good deal of building has been done with sun-dried bricks.

Four men have been building a pipe organ of ration boxes and biscuit tins. When finished, the organ, which will have about 300 pipes, will be set up in the area set aside for Roman Catholic Church services. Another similar area is provided for Lutherans, who have made a fine set of Communion vessels, also of biscuit tins. Both Roman Catholic and Protestant services draw large crowds of - worshippers on Sundays. English Classes

English classes are held. At one of ‘hese 20 to 30 men sat, notebooks in hand, listening to their tutor, whose manner was less that of a schoolteacher than a sergeant-major. As we approached he said, ‘ Now all together and the class chanted in unison, Ze drinks are tea, coffee, cocoa, beer and visky.”

The prisoners have also built themselves an elaborate stage for musical performances with a choir of more than 100 performers. I listened to the small orchestra and vocal quartet practising with characteristic German earnestness. Facilities are also provided for sport in the camp. The prisoners also have the opportunity to go daily to the beach for swimming. The quality of the rations is good and the cuiantity, although not lavish, is adequate. “If our wives and families in Germany are receiving as much food as this we will be satisfied,” one said. Drafts of such men as miners,_ agricultural workers, and others in similar categories are leaving fairly regulariy for Germany, but a destination in the opposite direction is in prospect for the more hardened Nazi types, who are likelv to find themselves in prison camps in Africa for an indefinite period.