HAPPY PRISONERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25203, 16 May 1945, Page 8

HAPPY PRISONERS

RELEASE IN AUSTRIA QUICK TRANSFER TO ITALY (N.Z.E.F. Official War Correspondent) t VOLKENDORF (AUSTRIA), May 18 . Machinery .for the repatriation off Allied prisoners of war in this area; hap gone to work with amazing speed and > efficiency. In this camp, where two 5 days ago there were hundreds of British 5 and Dominions troops, only transit personnel now remain. Within 48 hours ■ COO men passed through the camp-of i Weidtiiannsdorf, near Klagenfurt, nti| t so on board transport planes for the ' trip over the Alps, ■ ! TJiesp men were nearly all prisoners of ; long standing. In, almost every case , they were taken in Greece, Crete or ' during the desert campaign of late in ' 1941. _ ■ > : _ •_ 1 Set in beautiful surroundings, this i camp is an eyesore of temporary, uni' painted buildings huddled haphazard ! among fresh, high-gabled Austrian houses. In this province Allied prisoners of war were held in three main areas — ' Spittal, Villaei) and Klagenfurt. Work as Farm Labourers t Camps such as these provided night quarters for the. prisoners, who were hired out by the day as farm labourers. So life in this province was supportable , from the prisoners' point of view, espe- | ciai'ly as many of them soon discovered that a large percentage of the people were by no means wholehearted Nazis. One "of the oldest inhabitants of the camp was Sergeant F. J. Bowman, of Folkestone, who had been in German ' hands for four and a-half years. Directly ! he was sure peace had been declared he proceeded-to take over the camp. In ; this he was assisted 'by New Zealand, Australian and British prisoners, who efficiently set about the business of dis- ; arming the guards. Sergeant Bowman took over the civilian organisation of the camp practically complete, explain- ! ing that it was now the job of those Germans concerned to see their onetime prisoners well on the way home. Within a few hours the first batch of men, under the command of an Australian non-commissioned officer, was on the way to Klagenfurt. Others followed until the camp was empty. Pouring Into Italy But that was not the end of Sergeant Bowman's worries. From everywhere others came streaming in—French, Yugoslavs. Dutch, Russians and a dozen other nationalities. At this moment his little office is a bable of strident tongues as newly-arrived Belgians and Italians argue their right to food and transport over the frontier. Sergeant Bowman handles them all with efficiency and despatch. Apart from British and Dominions troops sent out, thousands of other Allied nationalities have passed through. Villach is almost right in the mouth of a pass through the Alps to Taryisio and Udine. There is a constant stream' of people pouring down the pass into Italy—French by hundreds in captured German lorries, Italians on wheels, with mule trains and plodding wearily under their packs, ex-prisoners in remnants of uniforms of every Allied army and in the striped pvjamab of the cong centration camps. They are happy amd singing,, and from the trucks float improvised flags, under vhich they are moving for the first time in many years. Among those who have left by air for Italy are Private A. S. Duncan (Auckland), Gunner C. T. V. Puttick (Auckland), Gunner J. McEvoy (Auckland) and-Gunner G. Banfield (Te Kuiti). j