BROTHERS FREED

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 22612, 17 May 1945, Page 2

BROTHERS FREED

PRISONERS IN AUSTRIA LABOUR FOR FARMERS STORY OF FORCED MARCH (N.Z.E.F. nmctai War Correspondent * KLAGENFURT, May 14 Four and a half years of war and imprisonment in Germany failed to separate two brothers who are now at last flying over the Alps together on the first stage of their homeward journey. They are Private Eric P. E. Williams and Private Victor Williams of Rawene. The brothers joined the New Zealand Army the same day and were posted to the 24th Battalion. Together they fought through the campaign in Greece, but there Vic failed to make good his escape. Eric carried on with the battalion, but the luck of the campaigns was against him and during the confused fighting around Sidi Rezegh at the end of 1941 he too was taken prisoner. “Claimed” Brother Meanwhile Vic had been taken into Austria and set to work in one of the labour camps. By some means he learned of his brother’s capture and at last managed to locate him in one of the least favoured camps of all. By procedure oddly similar to that in use in the New Zealand Army he managed to “claim” his brother. The two then found themselves in the most favoured situation of any Allied prisoner'; of war in Germany. In the daytime they were hired out as labourers to neighbouring farmers and at night were returned to a fortified laager. The food provided by the farmers was plentiful and the combination of good plain food and hard work soon brought them up to the pink of condition. Austrians Friendly Austrian peasants were friendly and at times went out of their way to see that the prisoners were weil cared for, but at last the Russians approached the territory in which they were working and the Germans were forced to retreat. Many prisoners took to the hills and waited to be overrun, and among these was Eric. Vic was not so lucky. He found a German with a bayonetted rifle right behind him; thus he became one of the first 30 Allied prisoners of war to take part in the infamous march from Glaisdorf to Markt Foungau. This march, which was over 350 kilometres, took three weeks. During that time the prisoners received only two issues of food. The first consisted of a Red Cross parcel among six men and a kilogramme of tinned meat among 12, and each man received a kilogramme of potatoes, two handsful of beans, two handsful of peas and a packet of soup powder. This was supposed to last nine days. Later they received a two-kilo-gramme loaf of black bread among four men. Shooting Of Prisoners The food at Markt Foungau was correspondingly bad. By the time the marchers reached the camp their numbers had grown to 2000. While there Vic heard that several Allied prisoners of war had been shot in the Geisdorf region. Worried on account of his brother, he lost no time when peace was declared in starting on the return journey. Along roads blocked by fleeing German transport he made his way slowly back, not troubling to take concealment. At times he even hitchhiked on German vehicles, for the Germans were bewildered and, wishing only to surrender to the Allies, were no longer dangerous. At Leitwn he found American troops. The Americans were very sympathetic, and better still, they provided him with a truck and a driver. That took him as far as Graz, where the truck broke down. Vic walked the last 21 kilometres to find his brother not only safe but doing very well on the hospitality of the Russians. Yesterday they passed back through the Russian lines to Klagenfurt and this morning they left by transport plane for Naples. They are both big fellows and they looked a picture of health despite their unpleasant experiences.