207565 Gdsm. Harold Henry Hamer British Army 2nd Battalion Welsh Guards from:Blackwood, Gwent Harry Hamer joined the 2nd Battalion Welsh Guards just before the war. He had despised working in the mines and wanted to join the police force but had not managed it. He was told that if he went into the army, he stood a better chance of getting into the police force afterwards. Little did he know what was to happen.
In May 1940 his Battalion had held Boulogne whist non combatants were taken to safety. They were under heavy bombardment from sea, air and land until they had to surrender to save civilian lives. As POWs they were marched over 200 miles to the German border to a town called Trier. They were then transported by train, each wagon holding 70 men and for the next 2 days they received no food, water or means to relieve themselves. Harry spent the next five years in a POW camp in Poland, Stalag 20B Marienburg (Prisoner of War No: 9651.) Then in 1945 the Russians were advancing and they were told to parade outside and to carry enough warm clothes (it was 36 degrees below zero). For the next 3 months they were forced to march over 600 miles, sleeping in barns, sheds and stables. If they collapsed or gave up they were shot. Many had frostbite. They finally arrived at Stendahl which is on the western side of the River Elbe. The Americans bombed this town and they were forced to march back the way they came. The sick and injured were left behind.
On this march Harry and his friend Robbo escaped from the column. They made their way back to Stendahl which took 2 weeks as the bridges had been blown. They found a greenhouse to take cover in and lived on lettuce for the next three or four days. They were then recaptured by a German patrol and put into a Gestapo prison cell for the next five days. From there they were marched to another POW camp which was full of Irish soldiers and were for the next five days were spoilt with good food. In the middle of the night they were told to get out quick and go to the cellars in town and at 2am the Russians arrived. The Town Mayor came out to declare the village open and was immediately shot dead. His daughter was part of the group with Harry and she knew that her father had died. They were all dragged out of the cellar and made to line up and it took some persuading that Harry and Robbo were British soldiers. Then they made their way back through the Russian lines. One day looking into the corner of the next field he saw a German Tiger tank which starting to fire at them. The Russians responded to this and knocked out the tank. It was whilst they were being fired upon that Harry received severe injuries which shattered his right leg. He managed to drag himself into a shed and an Irish soldier applied a tourniquet to stop the flow of blood. He lay there with no field dressings or any pain killers and was awake until the following evening. Along came a Polish family who had pinched a tractor and trailer and laid Harry on the back of a house door and put him onto the trailer. They took him on a very bumpy and painful ride to a front line Russian dressing station in Germany. There were 100s of Russian soldiers waiting to be seen and Harry had to wait his turn and in all that time the two Irish soldiers waited with him. The doctor eventually had a look and said that he had to have his leg off below the knee. The two Irish lads saw that Harry was okay and then left. They even wrote to Harry's parents when they got to Blighty and explained what had happened to their son.
His operations didn't end there as when he was taken to another field hospital further back behind the Russian lines and due to gangrene the doctor said that he had to amputate above his knee or he would be dead by the morning. Harry was then taken to Buch Hospital in Berlin and one of the things that he remembers about it was there was a lot of commotion and he later found out that Hitler's body had been brought in. Also at the Hospital, there were many dying Russian soldiers. From Buch Hospital he was airlifted to a Hospital in Poland which was Russian, in a town called Landsberg, where he received very good treatment for the next 5 months. He found it very difficult to get back home but eventually after a lot of discussions they put Harry onto a train which came down from Warsaw to Berlin. The train stopped at Landsberg and with a Russian Nurse to accompany him they travelled to Berlin. Outside the station they flagged down a British vehicle but were ignored probably due to the fact that he was wearing a Russian uniform. Along came a second vehicle and due to Harry shouting to him in typical Army language he stopped. He explained the situation and the driver took him to an ex-POW reception centre. He was treated like royalty and they gave him a tin of Gold Flake and chocolate, He was made very welcome even though at this stage they had not confirmed his identity. He was later interrogated by intelligence not only to identify Harry but for his knowledge on the Russians. He was then flown to Brussels and then Northolt in London. Whilst in the Shendley Military Hospital in Hertfordshire his two brothers, after first waving him off to war six years earlier, came to visit him. He eventually was admitted to Rookwood Hospital in Cardiff and the reason why his wound wouldn't heal was that they found a piece of khaki uniform in his stump. After this was removed his wound closed and healed. On the ward was a lovely little nurse whom he fell madly in love with and they were still together 60 years later. How romantic. And what a lovely ending to a very traumatic and disturbing experience. This Story was published in the BLESMA magazine. Sadly Harold passed away in 2006.
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