My Father: Stanley William DOWLING

Hello All!
Like no doubt many others I have been encouraged by lockdowns and bad weather to tidy up our loft!
Once again I found a box full of letters,photos, papers and items that were in my mother and fathers’ loft.

Quite a lot relates to Dad’s WW2 history and I got quite absorbed in piecing what I can together:-

My dad was a private infantryman in 2/5 (TA) Essex Battalion. He joined up around Nov 1939 and initially had training at Warley Barracks near Brentwood. His army number was 6018306.

He sailed to Egypt via Freetown and Durban and I believe arrived in North Africa in late July 1941. He was in MEF 27th General Hospital in Aug ‘41 with rheumatic fever.

10 months later I think he was in the Battle of Deir-El-Shein near El Alamein where he was taken prisoner. Initially he was kept in a camp in Benghazi where he contracted amoebic dysentery and malaria; next I have a record that he spent 7 months in Caserta Military Hospital, Naples before being transferred to POW Camp Sforzacosta near Maserati, Italy.

Between Nov 1943 and January 1945 he was held at Stalag V111-B (later renamed Stalag 344 at Lamsdorf (now Lambinowice) Poland. There he was made to work underground in a coal mine.

From 19 January until 29 April 1945 he was force marched westward through Poland, Czechoslovakia and into Germany in extreme winter conditions. I have a notebook that he made from a Red Cross box and used as a diary to record the places he passed through from Piaski to Ergolding and ending with the note ‘Yanks came!’

I am totally amazed that he survived his ordeal. Regrettably his health suffered for the rest of his years. Like many he seemed to have mainly awful memories of his war experiences, he rarely discussed them (and as a youngster I was usually not listening!) However he subsequently had a full, happy and successful life before passing away in 2001 aged 82.

I have put together an account using the info and photos I have found in his belongings along with published internet records. I have shared this around my children and grandchildren so that they will hopefully always remember the part that he played and the sacrifices that he made for them.

Now I would like to compare notes and learn more from anyone on this site who can relate to my Dad’s WW2 history.
Regards
Stephen Dowling

 

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.

Your reference to the POW Camp at Maserati is likely PG53 at Macerata. My father was there at the time of the Italian Armistice in September 1943 and was speedily transported to Germany - Stalag 7B - and like your father he was moved on in November 1943 but in his case to Austria.

Your father is shown on the British list of POW in German hands (National Archive ref 392/01) as being held at Stalag 8B with the POW number 35007. As you say he was working in a mine he was likely in one of the several hundred work camps attached to the main camp at Lamsdorf.

Once the U.K. National Archives reopen your ought to look for his Liberated POW Questionnaire - not all men completed one - as that will give you more detail.

You also ought to submit the online application form to the Red Cross in Switzerland 17th May 2021 for copies of their records - via this link

Requests for information about people held during Spanish Civil War or Second World War: Quarterly limit reached

You need to be quick off the mark and check the site at the given opening time and every 5 minutes until the application form is visible and then speedily complete and submit it as the application window is usually only open for a maximum of 3 hours. It is a free service. In pre Covid times you would expect to get a reply through the post not less than 4 months later. It will not identify any work camps but will give you a schedule of his full POW movement history. You may receive a copy of the first POW postcard sent to his next of kin when he arrived at Stalag 8B.

I’m sure members will be interested to have sight of any pictures and documents - including any other POW names - that you might wish to share.

Good Luck

Steve

EDIT TO ADD

Forum member vitellino (Janet) may be able to assist further regarding his time as POW in Italy.

You don’t mention that you have his service papers from U.K. MOD. If not you ought to apply via this link -

Request records of deceased service personnel

It is currently taking over a year to get a reply due to Covid. A tip is don't date your cheque as the enquiry will take longer than 6 months and MOD would have to contact you to request another cheque.

He has a German POW Index Card at the National Archives that you may wish to obtain for completeness but having obtained my father’s some years ago you may find that it adds nothing to the the information from the Liberation Questionnaire and the Red Cross.

Name: Stanley Dowling . Date of Birth: 7/2/1919 . Place of Birth: Chelmsford . ... | The National Archives

 

Many thanks Steve
That’s very helpful
Kind regards
Stephen

 

From the casualty returns:
List No 900 Dated 12 Aug 1942 - 'Missing Western Dessert' 1.7.42
List No 968 Dated 30 Oct 1+42 - 'Previously reported missing now POW'
List No 1823 Dated 1 Aug 1945 - 'Previously reported POW now not POW'

From WO 392/11
POW Camp 8B (Teschen)
POW No - 35007

 

Thanks Tony
I think Deir-El-Shein would have been the first time my Dad faced armed combat. And I recall him saying that he had a rifle but no ammunition for it so couldn’t do a lot when the German tanks came!

Do you know what ‘Teschen’ means? I wonder if it was the name of a place in Poland. The records I have seen indicate that Stalag 8B was near what was then named Lamsdorf
but the first place recorded in Dad’s notebook on The March was Piaski, some 300miles away to the east. He obviously couldn’t have got there in a day and wouldn’t have been force marched in that direction as I understand that the Germans were trying to escape the Russians. I wonder if the coal mine he had to work in would have been that far from the main camp? All a bit of a mystery that I’m hoping someone can help with.

 

I don't know how much you have put together so far, but it's likely that I can help you with more specifics of your father's service prior to his capture.

My grandfather was with 1/4th Essex, who sailed to Sierra Leone a few months ahead of 2/5th Essex and the rest of 161 Infantry Brigade. For that reason, I have followed the 'paper-chain' for both battalions, in 2/5th Essex's case, until their gallant sacrifice at Deir-El-Shein.

If you could send me your email address via private message ('start a conversation'), I'll do my best to assist.

I should not be writing this with the amount of paperwork that I'm failing to finish (so forgive any delay), but another Essex soldier is an important matter.

 

Teschen is the location of 8B:

 

Stephen,

Unfortunately when I looked into the battle at Deir-el-Shein, I found nothing in the 2/5 Essex war diary for July 1942. My notes say that:

WO169/5013 – 2/5th (East) Bn The Essex Regiment
On cover:- Jan – May 42 WD
May – “Final – Reduced to cadre and finally dispersed in Jan 1943”
2/5 (East) Bn, The Essex Regiment, 18 Indian Infantry Brigade, 8 Indian Division

In Jan 1942 they were in Mosul. There was no narrative for Feb 42, and by March 1942 they had moved to Erbil, moving to Baquba on 18th March. They moved back to Erbil on 22 April 1942 and were still there on 31 May 1942 which seems to be the last entry in the diary.

Regards

Tom

 

The paperwork was destroyed prior to capture, but the details are fairly well known from the survivors. I have previously posted some other snippets here:

The Essex Regiment 1929-1950 History

And here:

The Essex Regiment 1929-1950 History

 

CHAPTER 15 — Eighth Army Holds the Line | NZETC

Two of the three battalions, 2/5 Essex and the 2/3 Gurkhas, had never been in action. During the previous three days, the men had averaged eighteen to twenty hours a day digging and mining on a scanty water ration.


222 - 'Deir-el-Shein was a small depression of solid rock covered by 1...
'Deir-el-Shein was a small depression of solid rock covered by 18 inches of sand and 2/5th Essex were dumped there with only their rifle companies - no anti-tank guns, no carriers and certainly no armour … with no explosives to shift rock, slit trenches could only be scraped into 18 inches of sand and afforded no cover from view or protection from shot or shell … At 7 a.m. on 1 July 1942 the German 15th Panzer Division arrived and started to shell the Battalion and launch an all out attack Despite being totally outnumbered this was repulsed with fighting continuing until early afternoon when a sandstorm blew up. Under cover of this 15th Panzer threw all their tanks against the Battalion's pitiful anti-tank defences and, of course, broke through. Fighting still continued area to area until early evening when resistance inevitably ceased with 2/5th Essex completely annihilated - all dead, wounded or captured.'


TD

 

Teschen is now in Czech Republic. A lot of pre war locations were given German names - Piaski may have also been renamed - likely a work camp location.

Český Těšín - Wikipedia

Steve

 

Thanks TD
It must’ve been unbelievably scary for all involved. My Dad was just 23yrs when he had to face all this (by comparison at that age I was still having the time of my life safely partying at Uni!!) - previously he was a Dr Barbados orphan and then a warehouse worker at a Boots the Chemist, Brentwood.
I bought Col T A Martin’s book to help understand the soldiers’ preparations and the day of the battle.
Regards
Stephen

 

Thanks Charley
One of the documents I’ve found completed by Dad after the war says he was in 1/4 AND 2/5 Essex. I don’t know how that worked but maybe his Army record will explain.
I’ll try and privately get you my email address in the next few days. I’m struggling a bit to work things on this site but I will work it out!!

 

Found it! Thanks. And I think there were several places called Piaski in that part of Europe at the time.
So many towns on Dad’s march seem to have been renamed.

 

Then I'm doubly interested. Transfers between battalions were fairly common early on.

I've got a number of lists of names. When time permits, I'll see if I can find your father's.

If you know the date he arrived in Sierra Leone, that will tell you who he was with at that point. If autumn 1940, it's 1/4th; if it's very early 1941, it was 2/5th.

 

I’m afraid I don’t have any dates for Sierra Leonne in Dad’s papers. I used those quoted in Col Martin’s book and rather assumed he was in 2/5 for now.
He did say several times that he had been Army high jump champion in Freetown but that probably won’t help anyone much!

I

 

If you haven’t researched Piaski any further since this afternoon I’d say it is likely the work camp where he started his Long March in January 1945. It is a mining district of Czeladz slightly north east of the current Katowice, Poland.

Czeladź - Wikipedia

Stalag VIII-B - Wikipedia

Work Camp -

• E587 Czeladz (Piaski - district) coal mine "CZELADŹ" kopalnia - Czeladź Piaski,(Stalag VIII-B Teschen)

 

Many thanks. That’s really helpful.
If my limited IT skills have been successful you’ll see attached the first page of Dad’s notebook including the places he was ‘marched’ by in January 1945. Piaski is mentioned for the first day 19th but there’s another entry above it for that date which I can’t read.. ‘left ????’
Maybe ‘Istiowitz’ but I haven’t been able to locate anywhere with that name or similar

 

Hi Steve,

Sorry I can’t make out the word above Piaski. It isn’t in capitals so it may not be a place name?



Steve