Russian Escaped, Reached N.Z. Lines

Northern Advocate, 14 December 1943, Page 4

Russian Escaped, Reached N.Z. Lines

(Official N.Z.E.F. War Correspondent) EIGHTH ARMY FRONT, Dec. 11. Among the latest group of escaped Allied' prisoners of war to reach the New Zealand lines, was a 23-year-old Russian lank driver captured by the Germans in heavy fighting near Smolensk two years ago. Barefooted, bearded and in tattered civilian clothes, he had walked from Germany across several hundreds of miles of Italian mountains and hills to reach our front line. The New Zealanders gave him boots and the first cigarettes he had smoked since his capture in November, 1941. That was a few hours ago. Since then he has not stopped smoking cigarettes and eating cake after cake of New Zealand chocolate. “Before the war I had only read of the British,” he said. “Now I know they are good people.” He was even more grateful when he found a New Zealand intelligence officer who spoke Russian. When he heard the first few \Vords of his own language he waved his arms and jumped for joy. Then gravely he told the story of his captivity. With about 6000 other Russians taken in German offensive battles around Smolensk, he was sent to Germany. Then he was forced to work on the roads and was given little shelter. Their only food was a mixture of potatoes and dirt. Before his escape last September 4000 of 6000 had died from starvation and exposure. As he spoke, some escaped British prisoners he had seen behind TRe German lines arrived at New Zealand' headquarters. This strange little group —Russian, South African, Scots and Cockneys—all of them looking like the poorest farm labourers, talked over their experiences in broken Italian. The Russian had cut every telegraph line he had found in the German lines. “What do you want to do now?” a New Zealand officer asked him. “Return to Russia, of course, and kill the Germans,” he replied.