Pte. Frederick Peters
British Army 2nd Btn. Royal East Kent Regiment
from:Chatham, Kent
My granddad Fred Peters was nearly 36 years old and in the Army Reserves when he got his call-up papers. He joined the BEF and is listed as arriving in France on 11th Sept 1939. From my research, the 2nd Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) joined the 131st Infantry Brigade in early May and took part in The Battle of France from 10th May 1940. He is listed as a Prisoner of War on 11th July 1940. Like so many other POWs, he didn't talk much about his wartime experiences. However this is a summary of what we do know:
He and another soldier were captured trying to escape on a German motorbike they "borrowed". He was transferred to Stalag XXB, Marienburg on 1st November 1940. We do not know much about his time there apart from the fact he was sometimes sent to work at a local farm, where the farmer treated him decently.
Early in 1945 he and the other POWs were forced to march for hundreds of miles. Again, he didn't go into great detail but he did say they were so desperate for food that they dug up root vegetables from the frozen ground to survive. He had a scar on his back after a German soldier hit him with his rifle because he stopped to go to the toilet. He also told how he collapsed towards the end of the march and was put in a wheelbarrow and pushed for miles by his mates to save him from falling behind, a deed which he said saved his life. He was liberated by American soldiers in mid-April 1945 and landing back in England on 28th April 1945. After being demobilised, he returned to his job in Chatham Dockyard.
