Italy’s capitulation in September 1943 brought them under German authority, and at one hour’s notice they were herded on to railway cattle trucks and transferred to Stalag VIIIB (later 344) at Lamsdorf close to the Polish border.
To combat the bitter Silesian winter they taught themselves to crochet.
On 22 January 1945 the camp was again given one hour’s notice to move. Roy wrote “such an order would present no problem to active troops, but not so for POWs at a moment’s notice and in the depths of winter. Common sense dictated that priority should be given to blankets and clothing and whatever portable food we had. Our chief problem was our below-par physical condition”.
This time they walked. On barely enough food to keep a mouse alive, 1000 desperately weak POWs were marched westwards, ill-equipped, ill-fed and just plain ill. By day they walked for up to twelve hours through frost-hardened snow. By night they huddled for warmth in whatever shelter they could find.