John Munro’s War: Part 6 – 1945

Agricultural difficulties intensified at home and regular crop rotations were stopped mainly because of government demands on farmers to overwork the land so it had no time to revive fertility because the soil’s minerals were so depleted from constant cropping. The work on the family farm was shared between John’s father and seven full-time men and three women: the grieve (gaffer), foreman ploughman, second ploughman, shepherd, cattleman, second cattleman, tractor driver*, dairymaid, poultry woman* and part-time clerkess*. Those marked * lived in the farmhouse with the family and other labourers were accommodated in farm cottages, receiving the usual perks in addition to wages of 4 pints of milk daily, a half-ton of potatoes, 6 bolls of meal and 3 ton of coal plus firewood every six months. Women always received less pay than the men except when John’s sisters were employed during busy times such as tattie planting when they were paid at the same rate as their brother, Roy (before Roy’s earnings rose to 71 shilling per week). POW labour on the family farm cost £12. 14s. in February and again in March but there is no record how many were employed or how much each man earned. The POWs employed on John’s family’s farm probably were living a mile or two away at Brahan. Local children used to play with wooden toys made by POWs such as dancing figures made out of wood and string.

Throughout the war the retention of skilled farm labour continued to cause major problems. Farming can’t be done by just anyone but requires high levels of familiarity with land or animals, changing seasons and crop developments and that is why agricultural labourers were the last to be called up. In 1945 only four horses were part of the farm’s workforce.

By the end of 1945 one million former old grassy areas of Scotland had been ploughed for additional cultivation. Between 1941 and 1944 the production of top-quality beef improved. So, too, did yields of barley, wheat and potatoes and milk.

The winter of 1944/45 was severe across mainland Europe. Conditions within the camps was deteriorating for POWs and German camp guards. Hunger and starvation affected almost everyone and Red Cross parcels became an even greater target for the malnourished and sick trying to survive freezing conditions in the long winter.

Between the 13th and 15th February 1945 Dresden was one of several large German cities targeted by allied bombers. It’s relative proximity to John’s camp probably meant he saw some of the results of it being blitzed with incendiary devices that lit up the sky and were visible for almost 100 miles around. It must have appeared to many allied prisoners that the tide was turning for the German government. And indeed it was. A second wave of bombing followed about three hours after the first to confuse and hinder rescue personnel on the ground trying to put out fires. A group of 254 Lancaster bombers with 500 tons of high explosives and 375 tons of fire bombs devastated the city, blowing off roofs and blowing out doors and windows exposing building interiors to the flow of air that drove fires across the city. Ruptured water mains meant there was nothing available to fight the flames of the thousands of fires that blazed for hours. In the resultant firestorm much of the city was destroyed and the dead which numbered between 25,000 and 30,000, including POWs and fleeing refugees.

Allied POWs, including those from nearby camps, were put to work clearing up and retrieving bodies from the ruins for mass burial. The American writer, Kurt Vonnegut, a POW there are the time, recalled that there were

“too many corpses to bury. So instead the Nazis sent in troops with flamethrowers. All these civilians’ remains were burned to ashes.”

“We saw terrible things: cremated adults shrunk to the size of small children, pieces of arms and legs, dead people, whole families burnt to death, burning people ran to and fro, burnt coaches filled with civilian refugees, dead rescuers and soldiers, many were calling and looking for their children and families, and fire everywhere, everywhere fire, and all the time the hot wind of the firestorm threw people back into the burning houses they were trying to escape from.”

“I cannot forget these terrible details. I can never forget them.”

(Lothar Metzger, survivor)

While industrial targets were said to be the targets, the intention behind the bombing of Dresden was to create confusion for the German government by forcing tens of thousands of people to try to escape from the region so choking up the east’s communication and travel infrastructure. Other raid followed in March and April – action that suited the ally from the east, the Soviet Union, whose troops were advancing towards Berlin and welcomed disruption in eastern Germany that wrecked any plans the German government might have had of concentrating its authority in this part of the country.

The destruction of Dresden in February destroyed so many of the region’s transport links that any supplies including food became extremely scarce. Stalag POWs were drafted into the city to help clear it of bodies, many victims were elderly or mothers and their children along with POWs and refugees who were unlucky enough to be caught up in the bombing.

With the breakdown in infrastructure towards the end of the war there were greater food shortages than ever with an increase in food parcel thefts but on 12 April 1945 John wrote –

“Dear Mam, Hope you are all well at home. I am all right at present as a supply of Red Cross parcels came through although the cigarettes were short owning to looting. I had a letter from you dated 12th Nov now this week and I am looking forward to more letters and cig or personal parcels if I am lucky enough. I am your loving son, John.”

Two days later, on 14 April, POWs, often weak from hunger and sick, were marched in cold and wet weather south towards the Sudetenland to avoid falling into hands of the Red Army but they came under constant attack from the Soviet air forces on their enforced march. The German armed forces in the west surrendered unconditionally on 7^th May. On 8 May German guards abandoned their posts leaving POWs to walk away, heading towards American lines.

Back home John’s father unaware of his son’s liberation was concerned with that season’s crop of Golden Wonder potatoes and oats. An experienced farm valuator he travelled to Leckmelm on the 7^th to carry out a valuation there. It was rogation day and a bank holiday in Scotland. An additional horse had been purchased for the farm bringing the number back up to five and perhaps this was a consequence of continuing labour shortages and recently introduced shorter hours for farm labourers that made organising the work more tricky although POW labour was still available. The weather that summer was good and as a result the oat crop was heavy but barley less good. Potatoes, too, were disappointing because of late ground frosts that stalled growth. The cattle herd was doing fairly well but lacking in protein because of ongoing scarcity of animal feed. Sheep faired better with good lambing numbers.

Tags: Chemnitz, Dresden, Honstein Castle, POWs, Seaforth Highlanders, Stalag IV A, Vonnegut, WW2