WINNER OF V.C.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25940, 5 September 1945, Page 4

WINNER OF V.C.

LIFE IN PRISON CAMPS CAPTAIN UPHAM’S VIEWS (P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH, Sept. 4. The winner of the most-coveted award for bravery in the British Empire, the Victoria Cross, and the only Christchurch member of the 2nd New' Zealand Expeditionary For e to be so honoured, Captain Charles Hazlitt Upham, has now returned to his home after being for three years a prisoner of war. In an interview to-day Captain Upham gave some of his impressions of prison life and the reaction of the average New Zealand soldier to it. The British prisoners had had little to complain of in their treatment by the Germans, said Captain Upham. They were, however, led on a very meagre diet, and lived under uncomfortable conditions. There was no systematic ill-treatment of the prisoners from Britain and the dominions. The Americans fared similarly, but other prisoners were not treated well by the Germans. Free to Join German Army

“The prisoners were given an opportunity to join the German Army,” said Captain Upham, “ and Germany had about 45 front-line divisions comprising Poles, Hungarians, Rumanians, Bulgarians. Croats, Czechs, Dutch, Norwegians. Belgians, French, Russians, and others from Allied countries. Only a minority of the foreign prisoners joined these forces.” Large numbers of civilian internees worked for the Germans fairly well. Most of these prisoners were treated as third-rate German citizens. Other foreign workers did very little, and then only under force. These people were very harshly treated and those who would noi work at all were exterminated.”

“On the other hand, the Russians had many German divisions figthing for them,” he continued.

“ No attempt was made to make the British and American prisoners fight against their own people. A lot of propaganda was put out by the Germans towards the end of the war in an attempt to form a ‘ British free corps ’ to fight Russia, and I never heard of anyone joining the corps,” added Captain Upham, _ “ and no reprisals were taken against men who would not join.” The Germans learnt to waste little effort on propaganda directed to the British prisoners, as the latter always treated it with ribaldry, Captain Upham said. Wherever New Zealanders were imprisoned in Germany or Italy they invariably “ got the Germans down ” by a mixture of ridicule and defiance. Asked for a comparison of the Italian and German treatment of war prisoners, he said that the German treatment of wounded prisoners was better than that of the Italians, who treated even their own men badly. While the Germans had many good doctors, the Italians had none. The Italians had treated the officer prisoners much better than other ranks, but the latter soon managed to “get the Italians down,” and made their own rules.

New Zealanders “Wouldn’t Play” Captain Upham spoke of his experiences at the Weinsburg officers’ camp. Previously it had been a camp for French prisoners, and the discipline had been very strict, but the Germans soon found their match in the New Zealanders, who, to use Captain Upham’s words, “wouldn’t play.” “If you stood up to them you could get the Germans down,” he said. “In that camp we got them down. The prisoners made their own rules, and as the war situation for them deteriorated the Germans’ morale became progressively lower. “ It was hard to get out of, but apart from that it was very little different from other prison camps,” said Captain Upham, speaking of the fortress Colditz in Saxony. Here, too, the prisoners got the Germans down. While a prisoner in Coiditz Captain Upham met Lord Lascelles (nephew of the King), Mr Churchill’s nephew and Mr John Winant’s son, who were held as hostages by the Germans against the capture of some of their own political leaders. In other camps were held Generalissimo Stalin’s son and also M. Leon Blum and other prominent persons who were also to be used as hostages. “Fortunately the Germans were not able to put their plan into operation,” said Captain Upham. Food Scarce and Poor Describing prison conditions, Captain Upham said the men were always very crowded, and the sleeping quarters usually had four tiers of bunks. Food was scarce and poor, being comprised mainly of potatoes, soup and bread. Where the supplementary stocks of Red Cross food parcels came through regularly the prisoners were all right. Where the Red Cross supplies failed to be at hand, the times were rather grim. The Red Cross also provided good libraries, and the prisoners could study In Italy graft had ruled supreme, said Captain Upham. In Germany there was also a lot of graft, but the people were also very loyal to the Nazi regime, and there was comparatively little evidence of corruption and thieving. Captain Upham was very reticent about his own exploits. When he was asked to relate some of his attempts to escape from German prison camps, his reply was that “there was nothing to them.”