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Saturday,
21 April 1945.
A dull rainy day and everyone felt a great air of expectancy.
The first news was that no Germans had appeared in the kitchen
and that a number of Germans were seen with full equipment. Lunch came and went with no further developments except for what was to be our last Red Cross parcel issue of 1/4 per man; this was issued in unbroken cases with the tins unpunctured and this had never happened previously. But then it came - suddenly and with no excitement - all men with defence duties were ordered to their posts and on looking outside the wire it was seen that all guards were withdrawn and there were no Germans in the compound. The time was about 12.45 and I hurried out of the wire with my previously issued pass and reported for duty at the former German canteen which was being used as Police HQ. The first squad was quickly formed and ordered to their posts through a still quiet camp with everyone a little dazed at the situation. I donned my white arm band with a green cross and reached the inner gate which I was to guard. Outside in the Vorlager the last two platoons of German guards were paraded for departure with rifles and equipment accompanied by their officers. Rain was falling heavily and with water streaming from their shoulders I have never seen such a dejected body of men. For a few minutes it was a tense situation as a little incident might have caused them to panic and fire but they departed without any trouble. As soon as the Germans left the Allied defence scheme took full control of the camp but I should explain the working of the plan. It included all nationalities except the Russians, who could only participate to a small extent; these nationalities were British, American, Norwegian, French, Serbian, Polish and a few Italians. The Russians could not join fully as the scheme was passive and emphatically non-violent whereas Moscow apparently expected her prisoners to finish the war by killing as many Germans as possible. The object of the Allied scheme was to secure order and smooth administration within the camp and this entailed departments for Police, Security, Works Supply, Communications and Food. Also as far as possible it aimed at protecting the camp from external menace and for this purpose Intelligence and Reconnaisance units were formed. The chief of the scheme was the Senior Officer in the camp who was General Ruge - a Norwegian. From my position at the inner gate I was able to watch developments and almost immediately search parties discovered scattered groups of Germans who elected to stay behind; these were temporarily lodged in the cooler before being ejected or handed over in due course to the Russians. A squad of men quickly got to work on the telephone system which was one of the first things wrecked by the Germans before leaving and this section did a fine job. In addition to repairing the existing internal system they laid new wires to various points within our barracks so that the SBO's room was linked up during this afternoon. They also rounded up all the radio sets in the German compound and had most barracks equipped with radio by the following day. A considerable amount of guns and ammunition was found and stored away in safe keeping by a group of Irish Guards who were captured at Dunkirk. The only incident of note during my first two hour spell of duty was the arrival of an excited Russian who made desperate efforts to get out; a Polish Officer who was acting as Russian interpreter found that this man was a German collaborator and he was alarmed at his prospects if he stayed in camp. Fortunately, about this time, some senior men among the Russian prisoners arrived to help with the running of the camp and they were able to cooperate more than we had expected. At three o'clock I went off duty and had four hours rest during which time I could observe the almost incredulous attitude of the camp at the sudden disappearance of the Germans. Everyone was quiet and no one felt very elated because some of the Americans had a similar experience in Poland only for the Germans to return the following day and march them West. By 7pm when I went back to my post the noise of battle became very loud and we could see that fighting was going on almost all around the camp with only an escape route to the NW left to the Germans. Both side however respected the camp and no shells or fighting took place in the close proximity. By this time I was at the main gate which was an interesting spot commanding a big stretch of open country to the N and W. We had orders to refuse admittance to any civilians of whatever nationality and also to confiscate all food brought in by prisoners from working parties seeking shelter within the camp. A few women had to be turned away in a somewhat hysterical state but our main trouble was in escorting some French and Italian POW to the food store carrying quantities of food (even live rabbits) which they had looted in the town. Naturally they objected strongly to giving it up but all food entering the camp was deemed to be communal. |
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