Letters from Stalag VIIIB

By Arthur Evans

In March 2011 my father Arthur Charles Evans CBE, author of Sojourn in Silesia, reached the end of his long and successful life just short of his 95th birthday. Here in France I was left with copies of his letters written from Stalag VIIIb during his 5 years as a POW. I wanted to do something constructive with his letters and in July that year, as part of my bereavement journey, I began compiling a blog as if written by Arthur.

The blog took about 2 years to complete and was a really helpful bereavement tool for me. Now it is complete, I've decided to publish the blog, along with some photos of Arthur and some additional writing about my thoughts and feelings during blogging. I hope it will become a companion book to Sojourn in Silesia, the book he wrote about his experience back in the 80's, although it is also a stand alone account of his time behind barbed wire.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jo Harrison - Author Assistant
• Release date: Dec 21, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310957277

Arthur Evans

Arthur Charles Evans 21/03/1916 – 18/03/2011Arthur Charles Evans was born in 1916 in the Wirral, Cheshire. The first years of his employment were at Lever Bros, soapworks at Port Sunlight, and then with the New Zealand Shipping Company. One voyage to Australia and then another to New Zealand convinced him he was not meant to be a sailor. To further his ambition to become a policeman, he enlisted in the Irish Guards in 1936. In May 1940, he was wounded and taken prisoner in Boulogne and spent the remainder of the war in prison camps in Upper Silesia. He returned to England in May 1945 and upon demobilisation, joined the Kent County Constabulary. Whilst still a Police Constable, and from 1956-1967 he was the General Secretary of the Police Federation for England and Wales, and it was in this capacity that he was appointed C.B.E. He was married to his wife Freda for 62 years, and they have 3 daughters. He retired aged 65, and spent much of his time gardening, bowling and cooking in his Kent home, and in later years caring for Freda. In March 2010, both Arthur and Freda moved into a local nursing home and where sadly Arthur passed away 3 days short of his 95th birthday. Freda remains in the good care of the Nursing home.Profit from the sale of this book will be donated to The British Red Cross at the expressed wish of Arthur in the days before he died. He never forgot their role in his survival during his imprisonment.

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Introduction

In May 1940, as Arthur was in a convoy, heading back to camp in Camberley, Surrey to rejoin his regiment after completing some training at Lydd Camp, Kent.

The convoy heading through Kent was stopped by a despatch rider with orders from the platoon commander to head for Dover. From there they headed for France where Arthur after a few days fighting, and injured in hospital, was taken prisoner as France was taken by the Germans.

For the next 4 years, Arthur was a POW and this small book is a compilation of his letters home to his family in the Wirral.

All the on this day quotes have come from On War Chrono. http://www.onwar.com/chrono/

Friday, 17th May 1940

Dear Dad,

As you can see above, I am still leading the life of a gypsy, here today and gone tomorrow, every day a different place.

We arrived here last Wednesday and are due to leave next Monday or Tuesday for Camberley which is about 120 miles away, where we will find the rest of the Brigade. The place we are living in now, is right on the coast near Dover and we are all taking the opportunity to get a little swimming in, the weather we have had lately has been ideal.

You will see from my last letter that my Battalion (Cpl 2nd) had gone to Holland, today an L/Cpl came down here who had been to Holland with the Battalion and gave us a few facts of the fighting.

The 2nd battalion Irish Guards left Dover at 10.00pm last Sunday night for Amsterdam in The Maid of Orleans and arrived there at 2 or 3 in the morning, they were under fire from aircraft from then on until they left there last Tuesday night. Their particular job was to hold the city until the Royal family got away; this they did and went back to Dover on the same destroyer as Queen Wilhelmina.

Altogether 20 men were killed, about 50 or 60 wounded and 10 are missing, they were only in Holland two days, so that will give you some idea of the severity of the fighting. They were ordered out of Holland so quick on Tuesday night, that 18 motor cycles, 9 Bren guns, 3 mortars and about £1000 worth of equipment and clothing had to be left behind. Also when they reached Dover, it was discovered that 10 men were left behind, they haven't been heard of since.

The sky was thick with German planes and scores of women and children were shot down whilst queuing up to board boats in Amsterdam harbour. One plane chased an old man along a street whilst he was pushing his wife in an invalid chair, this L/Cpl saw that with his own eyes, and I can assure you that none of the chaps are in the mood for making up fairy stories.

However, next Tuesday, I will be with the Battalion once more at Camberley, I will be able to see how many of my old friends are left, once again I have missed it.

And now I must close. Tell Mother if she writes to next Monday, I will get her letter when I arrive at the Old Dene Camp, Camberley, next Tuesday. Give my love to Mother and Dorothy, and when you next write to Bill, please tell him I will drop him a line at the first opportunity. Please excuse this scribble.

Your loving son,

Arthur

On this day:

On 10 May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands. Queen Wilhelmina had wanted to stay in the Netherlands: she had planned to go to the southern province of Zeeland with her troops in order to coordinate further resistance from the town of Breskens and remain there until help arrived, much as King Albert I of Belgium had done during World War I. She fled The Hague, and she boarded HMS Hereward, a British destroyer which was to take her south however, after she was aboard, Zeeland came under heavy attack from the Luftwaffe and it was considered too dangerous to return. Wilhelmina was then left with no option but to accept George VI's offer of refuge. She retreated to Britain, planning to return as soon as possible.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmina_of_the_Netherlands

Germans occupy Brussels

On the Western Front... Troops of the German 6th Army (Reichenau) enter Brussels. Antwerp and the islands at the mouth of the Scheldt are also being abandoned but have not yet been taken by the Germans. The British and French forces in Belgium have now fallen back to the Dendre River. General Gort is now worried by the growing threat to his right flank and rear areas and, therefore, forms a scratch force to defend this area. General Mason-Macfarlane is put in command. [He has up till now been Gort's Chief of Intelligence. Gort can be criticized for weakening this important department at such a vital stage.] In the main German attacks Guderian's forces, exploiting the loophole in their orders allowing reconnaissance in force, reach the Oise River south of Guise. On the German left flank, the French 4th Armored Division (Colonel de Gaulle) attacks northward from around Laon. The Luftwaffe attacks them fiercely and prevents any real gains.

In Belgium... The government has moved to Ostend.

In Norway... The British cruiser Effingham goes aground and is lost while carrying men and stores to join the forces south of Narvik.

Tuesday, 21st May 1940

1pm

Dear Mother,

Please excuse this writing, but I am writing this in a lorry on the way to Dover.

We were on our way back from St. Mary's Bay to Camberley when at Dorking, a despatch rider caught up with us with a message for the officer.

This message simply order's us to Dover and that's all I can tell you about that.

Well it means that we are for France or Belgium tonight. As soon as I can I will drop you a line from the other side to put your fears at rest. We are near Guildford at the moment, we have over 100 miles to go, so I will add some more later on, I might have a bit more news then.

8pm

Only a few miles from Dover now, please excuse writing, we're going at 35 mph and the road is bumpy.

Have travelled 180 miles today, through Maidstone and Canterbury, and lots of other places.

Well, I will have to finish now. Give my love to Dad and Dorothy.

Your loving son

Arthur

Arthur thrust this letter into a young woman's hands as they drove through Dover, and asked her to post it for him. She did, as his parents received it.

On this day:

On the Western Front...Rommel's division is sharply attacked around Arras by British tank forces. The attack does very well at first largely because of the comparative invulnerability of the Matilda tanks to the standard German antitank weapons. After some panic on the German side the attack is halted, principally because of the fire of a few 88mm guns. The British force is too small to repeat the advance or to shake free from this setback. Weygand visits the commanders of the northern armies to try to coordinate attacks from north and south of the German corridor to the coast. By a series of accidents he misses seeing Gort, and Bilotte, to whom he has given the fullest explanation of his plans, is killed in a car accident before he can pass them on. The attack will never take place. The small British effort has already been made. The Belgians will try to free some more British units for a later effort but this will not be possible. The French themselves, both north and south, are already too weak.

In Norway... The French, Polish and Norwegian forces moving in on Narvik advance another stage and gain positions on the northern side of Rombaksfiord.

In Berlin... In a conference Admiral Raeder mentions to Hitler for the