STALAG III

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The next day we continued our journey finally arriving at Stalag Luft 3 in Sagan, Germany on July 7th, 1944. It had been a full month since I first came down with a sore throat. I was still very sick, so I was immediately taken to the infirmary. I still couldn’t walk without help and, to my great dismay, couldn’t read either because my vision was blurry. I spent about a month in the infirmary. When I finally met Colonel Spivey, the highest ranked allied officer and commander of the prison camp, he informed me that I was in the recovery phase of Diphtheria and that I was going to be fine.

 

When I finally left the infirmary, I was placed in the center compound of the camp. I was amazed at the order that had been established by the prisoners in the camp. There were college courses available (the guards allowed the prison college to happen because it helped keep the POW’s minds occupied). Most of the prisoners were officers who had attended college, so they became teachers. I took courses in Business Management, Math, and Government. Of course I didn’t know it at the time, but some of the principals I learned in the management course would become quite valuable later in my civilian career. We also had a pretty good library too, supplied by the Salvation Army. Now that my vision was back, I was reading a book a day. We also passed the time playing softball and basketball. We even had a hockey team. The teams from the other compounds would compete against each other in a kind of intramural league. Unfortunately, it took a long time to recover from my sickness before I had the strength to go out and play any sports. 

For those prisoners who weren’t into the sports scene, there was an orchestra that utilized instruments provided by the Salvation Army or the YMCA.

 

Twice a day the prisoners would be fed with food ranging from watery soup with gristly meat to unidentifiable slop. Every meal included potatoes and a dark German bread. The German guards got the best of what was available, and we ate what was left. The best policy was to not ask what you were eating. It really didn’t matter anyway. It was interesting how they kept potatoes. The Germans would dig long ditches, fill them with the potatoes, and then cover the potatoes with dirt. Then, throughout the winter, they would work from one end to the other.

 

Every day or so, a wagon filled with German black bread would come into camp. The loaves were about 10 inches long and weighed about 4 pounds each. The loaves would be stacked on the wagon like cordwood, and each one would have a date marked it. You had to let the bread sit for about 4 days before you could eat it, otherwise it would tear your stomach up. I saw a recipe for black bread, and it actually included sawdust. When times are bad, I guess you get your cellulose from wherever you can get it. 

The Red Cross Packages are what saved our lives. Often, with the parcels, we had more to eat than the Germans.

 

The living conditions were so crowded that it was easy to get on people’s nerves. One time there was a big brawl in one of the combines in our barracks that turned out to have started between two good friends. I guess everyone has their breaking point. They just had to blow off some steam. Afterwards, they were best of friends again.

 

Other forms of entertainment included band instruments and records. On Saturdays, they would play popular music over the public address system, and on Sundays, it was classical music. We also put on plays. Tin cans were saved for the craftsmen of the camp, and they made some pretty creative things from the tin. Yet, even with these diversions, the days dragged on endlessly.

 

Some men tried to escape. In our compound, two men went through the fence covered with a white sheet. In the midst of their run, the search light hit them, but the white sheet blended with the snow, and they went undetected. Unfortunately, they were captured later and thrown into the forlager (a small prison) with just bread & water to eat. A more exciting, and Ill-fated, mass escape took place only a few months earlier (March, 1944) in the North Compound. Years later, Hollywood would make a movie about it called “The Great Escape.”

 

The German winter was very cold. Maybe it just seemed that way because we didn’t have warm clothes or boots. Most of the POWs wore old uniforms from the British, US, and Canadian armies. I was issued a Canadian uniform. Each combine was issued two briquettes per day to burn in their stove. The stoves were in the kitchen where the men would play cards and gather for warmth. Despite the cold, we slept with the windows open. It was so crowded that it was healthier to keep the fresh air circulating. Many men were sick, but I was getting healthier every day.

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