Christmas at War

Referring to an old notebook, 85 year old Don Croft reflects on life as a POW, Christmas 1941.

Don Croft, a man with two identities, reflects on how he and fellow Prisoners of War spent Christmas incarcerated in German prison camps during World War Two.

Gunner Croft’s introduction to the fury of war came on 16 April 1941 when he and his crew of the 2 pounder anti-tank gun of 33 Battery, 7th Anti Tank Regiment looked over open sights at the advancing German tanks near the Pinios Gorge on the Plain of Thessaly in Greece.

The Germans has circumvented the destroyed tunnel and bridge over the gorge by fording the Pinios river and were now behind the front lines of the New Zealand forces.

In a hectic day, Don Croft and his gun-crew destroyed four tanks before they were forced to withdraw.
A hurried retreat on foot and vehicle followed. On 18 April when travelling towards Larissa in a truck loaded with wounded, they were ambushed by German infantry.

Don Croft was one of the few survivors of the ambush and became a Prisoner of War (POW No.4272). On 25 April 1941 he and many other New Zealand, British and Australian POWs entered the squalor and horror that was Salonika prison camp in Greece. He had been promoted to Bombardier on the day he was captured!
In August 1941 Don along with most of the POWs in Greece were transported by rail (cattle trucks) through the Balkans to the large pow camp at Folksberg, southeastern Austria.

Don was assigned to one of the Arbeitskommandos work parties and moved to Mallnitz, a former resort area in the Austrian Alps. While the scenery was stunning, the work on building roads was harsh, and the conditions severe for the POWs who were surviving on poor rations, and had inadequate clothing for the winter months. Christmas 1941 was one of the two days of rest afforded by their captors. Cigarettes and chocolate from their first Red Cross parcels were traded for fresh vegetables and eggs from the local civilians, and on Christmas day, the camp authorities issued a meagre meat ration to supplement the standard daily fare of thin vegetable gruel, black bread, and something that supposedly was tea! A Christmas church service was held in the main camp.

In mid 1943 Don was back at Spittal main camp (Stalag XVIIIA) in southern Austria, where around 48,000 allied prisoners were incarcerated. They were contained in separate compounds for each nationality, British, French, Polish, Yugoslav, and Russian. All British Commonwealth troops were accommodated in the British compound. It was here that he exchanged identities with Lieutenant Daniel Riddiford (a fellow New Zealander who had been a troop commander of the Anti-Tank Regiment in Greece). As an officer, Riddiford had been warned out that they would be transferred to Germany to more secure facilities.

With a strong desire to escape (again) Riddiford had more chance of success if he was impersonating an Other Rank and remained at Spittal. Riddiford did successfully escape in late October 1943 and made it back to allied lines in December 1943.

Don Croft became involved in the prisons theatrical performances, and one of their shows “George and Margaret” was quite successful. The Germans permitted small groups of prisoners from the other compounds to view the show; although as Don states it was a waste of time for the Yugoslavs and Russians, as they could not follow the english language plot.

Again the festive seasons of 1942 – 1944 were a matter of trying to exist on increasingly poor rations, cold barracks, the companionship of lice and other vermin, and facing the prospect that allied bombing may strike the camp. The remains of Red Cross parcels hidden away for the occasion supplemented the standard German food. The raisins contained in these parcels became the base for an alcoholic wine, which provided some relieve from the boredom. On 11 December 1944 Don was lucky to be unscathed when U.S. bombers trying to demolish an adjacent tank building factory, bombed part of the camp killing 61 POWs.

In early 1945, Don was shipped through Austria – Germany – Czechoslovakia – Germany finally ending up in a temporary POW camp at Brunschweig (Oflag XI (79)). The prison was a converted former Girls School and conditions were again very poor. His luck was in when one day he was taken to the local village for an X-ray of a suspected broken finger. American bombers mistaking the camp for a German military base dropped four bombs on the camp buildings killing several of his fellow prisoners.

The camp was liberated by U.S. troops on 12 April 1945 and soon afterwards Don was flown to the UK.
Overall Don’s impressions of his four Christmases as a prisoner of the Germans are not ones to cherish.

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