244291 Pte Norman James Woods New Zealand Army 20th Battalion from:Dunedin, New Zealand  Norman Woods was born on the 31st of October 1915
He was apprenticed to an engineering company from July 1930
and enlisted in the NZ Army on the 12th of July 1940
He was assigned to a specialist company of the Signal Platoon, 5th Reinforcement 2nd NZEF and departed from Lyttleton for Egypt on the 6th of April 1941
He celebrated his 26th birthday enroute to Libya from Cairo. Norman fought in the battle of Sidi Resig on the 19th of November 1941
and in the battle for The Blockhouse on the 24th of November 1941.
He was reported wounded and missing in action (presumed dead) by another member of his platoon. He had been captured by Italian and German forces on the 1st of December 1941. The prisoners were packed as deck cargo aboard cargo ship to travel under the cover of darkness from Tripoli and Italy. He was housed in 4 consecutive POW camps until officially reported as a POW on the 22nd of February 1942. He passed from Italian to German hands after Italy capitulated on the 3rd of September 1943. He was transferred from Italy to Austria and then to Germany, where he was held at Gorlitz, in Stalag VIII A (8A) from the 24th of September 1943
Forced to work on German railway system near the River Neisse, Norman participated in an uprising against conditions in Stalag VIIIA during the winter 1943
He was transferred, as a ringleader of the uprising, to Myslowice (Milowitce), Poland to camp E732, and camp E535 (Katowice) until these camps fell into disarray, and on foot aged 31, he was marched through Germany and France together with thousands of others during the spring of 1945.
   |