207858 Walter Albert Read British Army from:London My Father Wally Read, was captured in the African desert by the Italians in the early part of the war, after his regiment was told to abandon their positions. He later escaped from an Italian POW camp lived in the Italian hills for some time with other escapees until they were betrayed by locals to the Germans. He was then taken to Germany as a POW. He was not a model prisoner and his actions caused him to be sent to Stalag IV-B.
When the Germans were retreating he was marched out of the Stalag to go to another POW camp. En route he and others managed to fall from the line and escape and then lived in the (Polish?) countryside. I know one of the other men was an Australian who had worked on sheep farm pre war.
They acquired a Troika with the intention of finding the allies (hopefully the Americans) but it was the Russians they met and my Father just stopped himself in time from greeting them in German. The Troika was commandeered and they found themselves in a holding camp to await repatriation. He came home before the war ended sailing out of Odessa.
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