Themes

The Navy at Home and Abroad

• Shore Establishments

• Humanitarian Relief

• Flying the Flag

• Letters Home

• Prisoners of War

  • JM D’Arcy-Levy

  • David Bain

  • Rupert Lonsdale

  • HMS Oswald

  • Mervyn Scott-Lindslay

  • Ken McDonald

  • Jim Fallace

  • R H Johnson

Learning

• How to: Understand a Uniform

Ken McDonald

Article Highlights

• Introduction

• Early Career

• Action in Crete

• Imprisonment in Greece

• In the German Reich

• Career after the War

In the German Reich
McDonald spent less than two weeks in Salonika before the Germans transferred him to a camp in Austria. He records:-

‘We left Salonika on the 24th June, and if we thought our previous journey was appalling, this was to be a nightmare! To this day I do not know how I survived that dreadful journey. Apart from a short break every twenty-four hours for the issue of bread and water, we were incarcerated in that filthy hell on wheels for an unbelievable thirteen days!’

In McDonald’s truck alone he records two deaths. Despite protests, the guards did not remove the bodies for several days. On 7 July the prisoners arrived at Wolfsberg in Austria where guards escorted them to the prison camp Stalag XVIIA, southwest of Vienna. Compared with the Greek camps, Stalag XVIIA was a ‘veritable holiday camp’ with bunks, straw filled mattresses and a better standard of food.

Two days later, the German authorities sent McDonald to an 'Arbeit Kommando', or working camp, at Trassicht in the Austrian Alps. The camp was new and held around 60 POWs captured from the Greek campaign. Their captors put their internees to work constructing a road. Again, the conditions were better than the camps in Greece, but McDonald found the food monotonous.

Whilst at the camp McDonald worked long strenuous hours laying the road. His daily routine consisted of –

• 0500 – Breakfast of ersatz coffee and bread. March to work.

• 0700 – Work commenced.

• 1300 - Work camp lorries provided lunch.

• 1800 – Work ceased. March to camp, cold water wash, supper and bed.

On Saturdays the prisoners would work until 1300 and there was no work on Sundays. McDonald took a long time to adjust to the hard labour. The internees were, however, able to perform subversive acts from time to time, hindering their work as best they could. McDonalds recalls -

‘We learned the fine art of minor sabotage on the mechanical equipment; sufficient to put the appliance out of commission for some time, but not frequent enough to arouse suspicion, and one always displayed outstanding interest and helpfulness when it came to repairing the damaged implement!’

McDonald eventually settled in to what he termed ‘an automaton-like existence’. Later, and to his delight, the Germans transferred McDonald back to Stalag XVIIA where many of his former shipmates were held. They then transferred to Marlag Naval Prison Camp in Northern Germany.

‘It was snowing hard as we entered Marlag und Milag Nord, but the warmth of our welcome more than compensated for the freezing weather. It was good to be with our own kind again, and to even come across 'Old Ships' among the inmates. We were also reunited with our two officers, whom we had not seen since Salonika.’

The camp also held prisoners from several other Royal Navy ships and submarines as well as Royal Marines and Merchant Seamen. Whilst at Marlag Und Milag Nord, Ken was able to join and later form camp bands, and use instruments supplied by the Red Cross.

‘… having been divorced from music for so long, I needed considerable individual practice before I could take my place on violin in the orchestra. The standard was quite high, and ambitious orchestral concerts were frequently presented, and a pit orchestra catered for the many excellent variety shows, written and produced in the camp.’

The Hell Cats Marlag Dance Orchestra. (RMM)

The Red Cross also provided the prisoners with many other materials to pass the time in the camp, as McDonald recalls –

‘The wide range of goods and services provided by the International Red Cross organisation was truly incredible. From medical supplies to musical instruments, sporting equipment to garden seeds, you requested it, they provided it, whilst their education department supplied the necessary text books, courses and examination facilities for a wide range of subjects including University degrees! There seemed little the Red Cross and its sister organisation, St John's, could not provide for POWs, subject to the availability of transport.’

The POWs also built their own theatre complete with full stage lighting, an orchestral pit, two boxes and costumes. With these creature comforts, as McDonald remembers, he and his shipmates passed their imprisonment more happily than in the previous prison camps -

‘Thus 'Gloucester' survivors settled into an existence which, compared with the experiences of previous camps, became almost acceptable! Almost!’

Ken remained a POW, being moved to various camps and locations in Germany as the war progressed and the Reich contracted. McDonald was liberated on 3 May 1945 and returned to Britain on VE Day. Looking back on his time as a POW, McDonald remembers –

‘It had been six years and three months since Gloucester had sailed from Plymouth, of what proved to be probably the most momentous years in the lives of those who were fortunate to return. It had been a long commission!’

To read about McDonald’s life after his imprisonment, select Next

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