Bill Sykes' - In Retrospect
XVIII.
(May 2009)
Bill
Sykes looks back in retrospect at material which has
been published in previous editions of "View from
America", in an attempt to determine whether the
subject matter written then is still applicable in
today’s world.
Article #18B (May 2009)
On the road again.
After suffering the ignominy of being captured by German forces in
Normandy my colleagues and I spent a harrowing three months or so journeying
in cattle cars from Paris, across France and Germany, to a prisoner of war
labor camp in the small town of Zschornewitz, (which is located south of
Berlin), and we worked on an open cast coal mine. After nearly a year as a prisoner
of war I finally reached an American military hospital in Nuremberg,
which I will describe in the paragraph below.
As the war was nearing its final stages, the German guards at
the prison camp where we were located received orders to march the
prisoners south from the camp at Zschornewitz to an area
near Wermsdorf.
The situation was such that we were forced marched south between two
rivers, the Mulde and the Elbe. The American forces were located to the west
of the river Mulde and the Russian forces were located to the east of the
river Elbe and we unfortunates were sandwiched in between the two rivers.
After a harrowing four/five day march with no food, water, or medical care, several
hundred prisoners of many different nationalities were eventually located in
a large wooded area which was surrounded by fully armed German guards who were
located at fifty meter intervals around the perimeter with orders to shoot any
prisoner who approached the perimeter.
As I was in pretty bad shape physically, suffering from
malnutrition and dysentery, and having got to the don't
give a damn stage, I finally walked up to one of the
guards who asked me in German where I thought that I
was going, and I said that I was going back to England
and nobody, but nobody, was going to stop me.
Much to my surprise he took one look at this rather emaciated person
and said in German "good journey" and then
to my great surprise he turned his back and let me pass
through the cordon.
I must admit I had many anxious moments at that time
- But I never looked back.
I spent a number of very miserable days and nights without food or any other
sustenance, and it constantly bucketed down day and night with bitter cold drenching
rain and this rather miserable specimen of the human race found it very
difficult to find shelter with the exception of an occasional hay stack
which became my home from home for a few miserable
hours.
Disclaimer:
Some of the information gathered for this news letter
has been gleaned from American and International
media sources, (Including the Internet), and as such
is quoted as accurately as possible. I try to obtain
confirmation on each subject from several outlets,
so the text is a mixture of composite news items
and my personal comments and therefore the reader
must make his/her own judgment as to the reliability
and degree of accuracy of the subjects discussed.
Eric (Bill) Sykes, (Southern California).
May 2009.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents
of these articles. Please send all correspondence
to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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