Recollections of Stalag VIIIB

These photographs were taken by WOP/AG Sgt Bill Lawrence in Stalag VIIIB. He constructed the camera in a Red Cross Food Parcel Box with the aid of two lenses which were smuggled into the main camp from an outside working party. After each shot he had to move the frame on manually under the blanket of his bed whilst an accomplice watched out for the guards. He carried the box under his arm and had a hole cut in one end which he covered with his hand. He must have obtained the film by bribing a German guard.

Packing case furniture, made from Red Cross Parcel Boxes bulk plywood cases

View of my hut 16B, showing interior. Bill Laurence was an inmate of this hut

Hut 16B, Xmas 1943, POWs from Italy occupying floor spaces

View of the '40 holer'

Three types using the '40 holer'. Mike Cassidy RCAF in centre

Dai Richards, 7 Squadron Stirling Pilot, on the '40holer'

Horses and cart removing effluent from the sump of '40 holer'. The effluent was dubbed 'Twilight Sleep'

Les Keatley, Del Mooney, Unknown

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