Hitler's British Slaves (50 page)

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Authors: Sean Longden

Tags: #History, #Europe, #Military, #World War II

BOOK: Hitler's British Slaves
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6. A group of prisoners posing for a photograph at the entrance to a salt mine. By the later stages of the war many POWs at salt mines were left with skin as white as the salt they mined, a legacy of the long hours they spent underground. They often worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. (Red Cross)

7. Prisoners loading wagons with earth. ‘You worked for 8 hours a day without stopping. It was good for the muscles, but not good for the soul. You just stared at a gravel wall for most of the day. It was boring.’ Ken Willats, POW (Imperial War Museum HU 9210)

8. Prisoners in front of a vast wall of rock at a German quarry. (Red Cross)

9. A boxing match for prisoners at Stalag XXa at Thorn. In the background is the entrance to the underground dwellings of the Napoleonic forts in which the prisoners lived. (Red Cross)

10. A group of British prisoners of war. Their tattooed arms present an image of POWs far removed from the middle class officers so often portrayed in post-war books and films. (Red Cross)

11. A group of British prisoners on ‘pick and shovel duties’ at a ‘Bau und Abeitsbataillion’. Their motley clothing shows the wide mix of captured uniforms issued to prisoners in the early years of the war. (Red Cross)

12. Prisoners collecting Red Cross parcels at Stalag XXb in the winter of 1940. ‘The greatest event in the life of POW was the distribution of Red Cross parcels. Without them many of us would not be alive to tell the tale.’ (Imperial War Museum HU5710)

13. Red Cross parcels in storage at a warehouse in Portugal, ready to be delivered to POWs within occupied Europe. (Imperial War Museum AP14800B)

14. Prisoners clearing a 20 foot snowdrift at Krima in March 1944. (Imperial War Museum)

15. Prisoners working to unload railway wagons in a German goods yard. (Red Cross)

16. POWs cooking their midday meal at a working party. (Red Cross)

17. Many prisoners were employed to level ground for German building or transport projects. These men are loading earth and rocks into wagons. (Red Cross)

18. Lack of mechanised transport meant prisoners were forced to carry out many tasks by hand. These men are pushing heavily laden wagons at a German building site. (Red Cross)

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