The March East 1945

During the final days of the Second World War, for 900 Allied officers, held by the Germans in Oflag IX A/H and Oflag IX A/Z, freedom was still a world away. Marched east by their captors, away from the liberating American forces, March and April 1945 was a time of great trials, at the mercy of vengeful Nazis and Allied air raids. Amongst their number were many men whose names would become well known - Desmond Llewellyn, 'Q' in the Bond films, Frederick Corfield, a cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher and Major Bruce Shand, father of Camilla Parker Bowles. The March East 1945 draws on official and eyewitness accounts from British, Commonwealth, American and German records, as well as over 30 diaries and memoirs. It reveals the human story that unfolded over two weeks in Hese, Thuringia and Saxony, and explains how the prisoners lived and died until their final liberation. Complemented by 100 photographs and illustrations taken and drawn by PoWs, as well as the German instructions for camp evacuation published for the first time in English, this book provides a fascinating insight into the last days of the Second World War.

PETER GREEN's father, Alan Green 1 Border, was imprisoned in Oflag IX A/Z at Rotenburg an der Fulda, after being captured at the end of Operation Market Garden. Cuttings from Illustrated magazine of May 1945 describing the camp's evacuation featured in the family album kept by his mother. They always fascinated Peter as a child. After the death of his father he discovered his father's POW diary and an album of photographs of the march, and he decided to try and learn more about his life at Rotenburg and the camp's walk eastwards away from the Americans. Like his father, Peter was born in Leicestershire, although the family's roots go back to Nidderdale, in Yorkshire. Following a career in government science and technical public relations, he created and now leads an Internet-based research news service for the world's media. Peter is married and lives in Swindon, England.