One night Roy slept in an upright piano in a church hall. On another he and Leslie slept just a few rungs apart on a hayloft ladder, each supported on the shoulders of the person below.
All the marchers had damaged feet. Roy suffered frost bitten fingers and Leslie began to cough.
On 3 February they arrived at Stalag VIIIA Gorlitz, where they found Bill Cooper. But a week later they were moved on as the Germans fled the Russian advance. Within days they were reduced to eating cow cake and pig swill.
Having walked at least 500 miles they arrived at Stalag IXC Mulhausen, where both Leslie and Roy went down with beri-beri and Leslie developed severe bronchitis. The camp was “raused” in the early hours of 2 April, and told to be ready to march out by 6am but Leslie was too ill to be moved. For the first time since El-Gubi the friends were separated. Roy’s diary entry reads “NOT GOOD”.