Henry (Harry) Masterman fought in WWII and was captured by the Germans. A comrade of his, Arthur Brown, wrote the following letter about their experiences to Harry's son, Paul:
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I first met Harry Masterman in October 1944, when I arrived at a special, strongly guarded POW camp at a place called Pankendorf in East Prussia (now in Poland). It was a camp for escapers. We worked in the nearby forest as lumberjacks and every night our trousers and boots were collected and held in the guard room. The camp held about 60 or so men and morale was high. The Russians had massive forces north and south of Warsaw and opened up their offensive on 12th January 1945. The Germans had no intention of leaving us to be liberated by the Red Army and told us to pack what we could carry and be ready to march out, heading westwards into Germany. We marched out on 21st January. I, together with Harry Masterman and two other chaps, George Wright and Jim Gallimore, had made up our minds to escape at the first opportunity and to hide up to await the advancing Russians. This we did on 24th January and were extremely lucky to find shelter with a Polish family in the small town of Skorez. We were very concerned when German field police started searching all the houses looking mainly for deserters. We were in a small flat, ony three rooms, and there seemed to be no place to hide. But there was a massive wardrobe against a wall and there was also a recess covered by a curtain. With permission, we moved the wardrobe to cover the recess and hinged a door in the back so that when and if necessary we could get through it. On 11th February 1945, three German soldiers were billeted in the flat and we disappeared behind the wardrobe. They were artillery men manning a gun nearby and fortunately they left the flat sometimes and we were able to come out until they returned. Thankfully, the Germans left after six days and the town came under heavy shell fire. The civilians fled to the nearby farms and hamlets and we went down to a cellar beneath the flats. The Russians arrived on 4th March and we set out the next day on the long journey home. In those days back in 1945 we had a great adventure and Harry Masterman was a truly wonderful comrade. Arthur Brown 20 December 2002 |
Uncle Harry Masterman used to tell stories of his escape; of how German soldiers would play cards in the room in which they were hiding and how he and his comrades would have to keep perfectly still and silent for hours at a time.
Harry Masterman, Arthur Brown and Jim Gallimore returned to Skorez in May 1978 to visit the Polish family who hid them in January 1945.
