Pte. Joseph Gribben
British Army Princess Louise Battalion Middlesex Regiment
(d.27th Mar 1942)
My great uncle Joe Gribben served with Princess Louise Battalion, Middlesex Regiment and was captured at St Valery-en-caux on 12 June 1940 and was a prisoner of war at Stalag 20A at Torun. He was later transferred to BAB20 a work camp in Upper Silesia, where sadly he was shot by a German guard on 27 March 1942. He was 21.
My mother wrote to The Legion magazine a number of years ago requesting information. She received a letter from Mr. C. Earl who was a medical orderly at the camp and who, along with another man J. Watson, identified Joe's body when it was brought into the guardroom. He said that Joe was part of a working party formed at Fort 11 near Torun. There were 200 men in the party and their job was to build huts, lay pipes, clear snow etc. Mr Earl describes that the working party then moved to Reigersfield near Old Cossel in Upper Silesia. The working party was known as BAB 20/3COY. Here they worked on a chemical factory building wooden huts, laying pipes and trenches etc. Mr Cossel said, "Your uncle was working there when he was shot by a German guard. I think he had an argument with them about the fag." There are various post cards of a funeral at BAB20 for a man shot for smoking a fag.
In 2005 my mother also contacted Alison Robertson from an advert in the local paper. Alison was researching a number of deaths in prison camps. She gave us a copy of the Translation of the Deposition of W.J. Schmitz (used in the war crimes investigation). This states that Joe refused to push a heavily laden wheelbarrow of earth. "Gerfreitter Sonntag lifted the wheelbarrow himself and pushed it a bit further in order to show the prisoner it was not too heavy. He ordered Gribben now to push the barrow. But Gribben unloaded a portion of the land on the ground." The sentry Sonntag continued to order my great uncle to move the barrow and threatened use of his firearm. Some of the surrounding POWs were said to have shouted at him and Sonntag took his rifle to show he meant his threat. "As Gribben made no attempts of pushing his wheelbarrow and as other POWs took up a threatening attitude, Sonntag fired." A civilian labourer apparently confirmed this version. The military court at the time granted Sonntag an acquittal as he had "acted in accordance with the instructions issued by the Kommander i/c POWs, Major General Von Osterrich. My family were told that Sonntag was not seen in the camp again and they believed he was sent to the Eastern Front.
Today I read the diaries of Private William Law. On the 27th March there is an entry about a shooting of a POW for refusing to push a wheel barrow. The date fits (if this was Pte Law's diary for 1942) and the reason fits the official German version. I now wonder if it was another soldier who was shot in an argument over a cigarette and that Joe's shooting was indeed over refusing to push the wheelbarrow. There are photos of three funerals at BAB20 on the Pegasus website.
I would very much like to get in touch with Paul Law (William's son who submitted the dairies).
