5043255 Lt. Ernest Francis Kinsey British Army Army Education Corps My father Ernest Francis Kinsey was captured in Crete on the 1st of June 1941 and after spells in Oflag XC and Oflag VIB was transferred to Oflag VIIB in Eichstaett on 8th September 1942 and spent the rest of the war there. (The dates are all from his German 'Personalkarte I' which I still have). His POW no. was 3443.
At the start of the war my father was a regular soldier stationed in Egypt.
From there he went to Greece and then Crete. At the time of his capture he
was a Lieutenant (I think) in the Army Education Corps (A.E.C) probably
seconded to the Intelligence Corps. He was a ciphers officer (probably the
chief ciphers officer) on Crete.
My father was on the march from Oflag VIIB to Moosburg which was strafed by
American fighters. He never talked much about this and I only found out the
full horrific details a few years ago from internet searches. His only story about the strafing, recounted many times, was how his friend
Brian Porter had apologised profusely for having broken their biscuits after they dived into a ditch to take cover.
Oflag VIIB was close to the town of Eichstaett, site of the Benedictine Abbey
of St. Walburga. The tomb of St. Walburga is in the abbey and at regular
intervals oil produced by liquefaction used to flow from the tomb. Towards the end of the war my father was allowed to accompany the camp's
Catholic army chaplain Padre Tony Antrobus on a visit to the abbey. They
also met the abbess who presented my father with a vial of oil from the
tomb. The vial was kept in a finely embroidered container which my father
afterwards kept pinned to his vest. He had it on the march. After the camp
was liberated my father was flown back to England from Landshut. The plane
in front of the plane carrying my father crashed on take off from Landshut
killing all on board. You may or may not believe in miracles. I think my
father probably did. My sister is named Walburga.
The second story relates to the camp commandant, an old Prussian officer
name Blatter (I think) nicknamed 'Heldentodt'. Sometime during the war
period a German guard on night duty at the camp panicked when hearing
suspicious noises in the latrines and threw a grenade into the latrine
building. The details are not clear but someone was killed and after the war the commandant was accused of war crimes as a result of this incident. Padre Tony Antrobus gave evidence in his favour and 'Heldentodt' was cleared. As a sign of gratitude the ex-commandant presented Tony Antrobus with a large pen drawing of Eichstaett market square. Tony gave it to my father and we still have it today. The inscription on the back of the drawing confirms the story.
Father Anthony Antrobus was the Catholic Army chaplain at Oflag VIIB
and after the war returned to his native Liverpool and life as a parish
priest. He was great friends with my father.
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