234467 William Dodds British Army Pioneer Corps from:Bedlington, Northumberland An uncle of mine, William Dodds, is recorded as having been a POW at Stalag XXA. He had the dubious distinction of being gassed in WWI and then of spending most of WWII as a POW. He was captured at Dunkirk in 1940. He was always regarded as something of a black sheep and his father's only reported comment on hearing of his capture was that 'Hitler would have to watch out.'
Although I remember him, most of what I know about his experiences is second hand. I was told that the POWs had a radio under the floorboards which kept them informed of progress throughout the War. This story may be somewhat exaggerated in the telling, although I see from the information on the Web that the POWs certainly did hear about the end of the War before their German captors. I also heard that he had a Polish girl friend who used to help with supplies of food.
I had heard he was on a march out of Poland at the end of the War, which is presumably the one described by many of the other POWs. He apparently jumped into a ditch in the course of the march, but this only resulted in his being liberated after the other POWs. My father met him at Newcastle Central Station about a week after everyone else had already arrived home. He got frostbite on the march and in later life had to have the affected leg amputated.
It is a long shot, but it would be interesting to know if this stirs any memories with anyone else. William Dodds came from Bedlington, Northumberland, and was with the Pioneer Corps. He would be in his early 40s when he was taken prisoner.
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