264505 Pte. Henry John Patching British Army 4th Btn. Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry from:South Stoke, Oxon My father, Henry Patching took part in the Battle for Cassel in May 1940, in which he was wounded in the leg by a grenade. He was taken prisoner and witnessed the massacre of his comrades in the barn at Wormhoudt. He was saved by a young German soldier who rolled him into a ditch out of site. He was later found and hospitalised by German troops and his leg was 'saved' by a German doctor who he met again at a tribunal in the mid-1950's.
After his hospitalisation, recovery and foiled escape attempt, he eventually found himself in Stalag 9c Mulhausen where there was much privation.
He remained at Stalag 9c as PoW 30898 for the rest of the war until liberated in 1945.
He was much distressed by his experiences and the fate of his comrades at Wormhoudt for the rest of his life. This was only partially relieved when I visited Cassel and Wormhoudt in the 1990's and took some photographs of the cemetery.
|