This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.
If you enjoy this siteplease consider making a donation.
Site Home
WW2 Home
Add Stories
WW2 Search
Library
Help & FAQs
WW2 Features
Airfields
Allied Army
Allied Air Forces
Allied Navy
Axis Forces
Home Front
Battles
Prisoners of War
Allied Ships
Women at War
Those Who Served
Day-by-Day
Library
The Great War
Submissions
Add Stories
Time Capsule
TWMP on Facebook
Childrens Bookshop
FAQ's
Help & FAQs
Glossary
Volunteering
Contact us
News
Bookshop
About
234446Tpr. Henry Lee Spencer
British Army 2nd Btn. Royal Tank Corps
from:West Ham
My father was a prisoner in Stalag XXA (54) in Thorn. He was Henry Lee Spencer, born March 27, 1912, Plaistow, West Ham; died June 28, 2000 Duncan, British Columbia, Canada. Trooper 7881077, 2nd Battalion, Royal Tank Corps, 1929 - 1935. Trooper, R.T.R., Calais HQ 1st Armoured Division, captured May 25, 1940 during defense of Calais. Survived "death march" to Poland. Prisoner number 7358, Stalag XXA(54). "Escaped" to the East on Wednesday 14th of February 1945 working his way down to Odessa where embarked on SS "Moreton Bay", 7th of March 1945.A couple of Dad's chums were Frank Bylett, Norwood, London SE25; and Bill Barlow, Salford, Lancs.
Like most men, Dad said little about his P.O.W. experiences. I remember him talking about:
- how utterly unprepared the Brits were to defend Calais
- he saw one of his best friends killed by a Vichy/Nazi French sniper in one of the dock cranes at Calais (This would explain my Dad's lifelong antipathy for the French. I remember when I was a young man I asked Dad if he had ever shot a man. With a twinkle in his eye, he said "No - but I think I winged a Frenchman.")
- he was in a bunker when a German officer opened the hatch, pointed a Tommy gun at them, and said in good English, "It's all over for you chaps."
- he saw men, too exhausted to walk, murdered in cold blood in the May 1940 march to prison camp
- how life as a prisoner was very unpleasant, and how men became very petty
- how the Brits never doubted for a moment that they would win the war
- how they starved in the last winter (1944 - 1945)
- how the guards in the last winter (1944 - 1945) were mostly old men and youths
- Dad slapped around a young fellow who was ready to give up and die after years as a P.O.W. - a not uncommon problem
- prisoners "borrowed" a piano and installed it in a hut
- they listened to the BBC and the guards would ask them for the latest news
- he put sand in the tanks of German lorries headed for the Russian front, when he was assigned to petrol them up
- he respected the men of the regular German army
- Brits utterly despised the Nazis - as did most men of the regular German army
- how the Polish resistance begged for help in January / February 1945, but British prisoners were warned not to help them
- how hazardous was his escape through the Baltics to Odessa
Related Content:
Can you help us to add to our records?
The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them
Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area?
If so please let us know.
Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.
Celebrate your own Family History
Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.
Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.
The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items.
The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.
If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.
Hosted by:
Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
- All Rights Reserved
We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.