'Copper Wire' Extract 3: the Stalag IVB time

The entrance to Stalag IVB near Mühlberg, east of the River Elbe in Germany, where Warrant Officer Pilot Robert Harding was a prisoner from late in 1943 until the end of World War II in Europe, about 18 months later.

He was in the hut for senior administrators and so had an excellent overview of life in the camp and the principal events there at the end of the war.

'Copper Wire' by Robert Harding is a true story of survival against the odds. The author was a World War II RAF pilot who survived a desert crash-landing and endured atrocious conditions in a series of POW camps in three countries.

His book includes a detailed account of life in Stalag IVB, which is considerably extended from the private first edition and with many more illustrations.

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Prisoner of War camps were about people! The main duty of anyone captured was to survive. The second was to help those less fortunate than themselves to overcome their shattering experiences.

The sick, wounded, dispirited and unhappy needed to be assisted through the terrible times.

It must have been particularly hard for the married men, many with young families. With no Red Cross cover in Libya, where we were not even registered as prisoners, there was never any question of sending or receiving mail. The men felt abandoned.

Then, later, in Italy, when a few letters did filter through, it was not always good news that arrived. Some men heard of unfaithful wives, deaths of dear ones or, even, homes destroyed by enemy bombing.

Such news was almost impossible to bear. Those affected could do nothing and there were no quiet corners in which one could grieve. Men so affected often retired to bed for days on end.

But, if we suffered physical and mental agonies, it must have been a thousand times worse for those prisoners from countries which had been over-run by the Germans.

Robert Harding at Stalag IVB towards the end of the war. His promotion from Flight Sergeant to Warrant Officer Pilot came through while he was still a prisoner.

In the US Air Force all pilots had commissioned officer rank, but not so in the RAF.

Previous accounts of POW life have tended to focus on commissioned officers and escapes rather than the reality for the majority of prisoners.

Light relief... an invitation to a South African party in the camp

Many of these men had no idea what had happened to their families, or if they were even still alive.

Far too few accounts written by the British give enough cover to these other nationals, and I wish to redress this factor. It is not easy, at this late stage, to gather information to supplement my own meagre notes.

However, I have been fortunate to obtain help in some quarters, especially from the Dutch and Poles. The embassies in London have passed me on to other sources with varying success, as you will read.

I do hope that the following will, in some small way, do justice to those unfortunate people and, at the same time, prove that Stalag IVB was not just a Camp for the British but was an international one.

The Poles

No other nation experienced such terrible suffering as did the Poles during World War Two. With Germany in the west and Russia in the east, they were caught between two ruthless countries which inflicted unbelievable hardships upon them...