Thomas King (Service No. 1874030) died while a prisoner of war on 23 or 24 of March 1945. He was a Corporal in the 1st Field Squadron of the Royal Engineers. He was initially buried at Margraten Cemetery and re-interred on 1 May 1947 in Grave IV. B. 1. at the CWGC Cemetery in Overloon. His grave is inscribed “A helping hand to all sincere in heart and mind a memory sweet he left behind R.I.P.”

Early Military Service

Thomas King was born on 22 September 1917. He enlisted on 26 January 1937 in London. He was assigned to “C” Company of the Training Battalion Royal Engineers where he remained until 7 December 1937. He was then sent to HQ W until 11 February 1938 when he joined “M” Depot Co.  From there he was assigned to the 9th Field Company on 1 July 1938. He returned to “M” Depot Co. on 3 September 1938. Finally, he was assigned to 1st Field Squadron on 10 June 1939.  On 28 December 1939 he suffered a broken arm and was admitted to the General Hospital at Hatfield House. He was discharged back to his unit on 5 January 1940.

Capture in France

The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was sent to France from 3 September 1939 as war was declared. Following what is known as the phoney war the Battle of France began on 10 May 1940. Following a quick advance through Belgium and north west France they had to retreat rapidly following a German breakthrough further south at the Battle of Sedan (12-15 May). Despite a tactical success at the Battle of Arras on 21 May, the BEF forces north of the Somme had to retreat to Dunkirk from where they were evacuated on 26 May to 6 June.

The 1st Field Squadron of the Royal Engineers was deployed to France with the 1st Armoured Division in February 1940. In the lead up to the retreat from Dunkirk, they found themselves south of the Somme and on detachment to the 51stHighland Division who were themselves assigned to the IX Corps of the French Tenth Army. On 20 May, the Germans had captured Abbeville at the mouth of the Somme and cut off the main Allied armies in the north. Attempts were made to re-capture river crossings to regain contact with the troops to the north with some success. However, on 5 June a German offensive pushed the IX Corps back to the Bresle River. On 9 June, German tanks entered Rouen on the Seine, cutting off the IX Corps from the X Corps to the east and from the Seine to the south. The commanders in the pocket decided to make for Le Havre. Two brigades were sent to guard routes back to the port. However, during the night of 9/10 June, the remainder of the Highland Division and French Divisions found that the 7th Panzer Division (led by General Major Erwin Rommel) had advanced from Rouen through Yvetot to Cany and Veulettes-sur-Mer on the Durdent river. With an Allied withdrawal to Le Havre cut off, the Highlanders and the French retreated to St Valery-en-Caux.

Attempts were made to organise an evacuation similar to Dunkirk. It was hoped that this might happen either on the night of 11/12 June or the following night, though it would be a difficult task. Meanwhile the enemy were advancing. The order to evacuate came on the evening of 11 June. An armada of 67 merchant ships and 140 small craft had been assembled but few had wireless communication and thick fog prevented visual signalling. Only at Veules-les-Roses at the east end of the perimeter, were many soldiers rescued, under fire from German artillery, which damaged three destroyers. Near dawn, the troops at the harbour were ordered back into the town. Shortly before 1000hrs on the 12  June, the General in charge took the decision to surrender.
 
2,137 British and 1,184 French soldiers were lifted by the Navy from Veules-les-Roses but the remainder, including over 6,000 men of the 51st (Highland) Division, were taken prisoner on 12 June by the 7th Panzer Division. Only 4 Officers and 65 men on the 1st field Squadron of the Royal Engineers made it back to England.

Travel to Poland

Following on from the success of Dunkirk, the fate of the men captured in this failed evacuation has largely been forgotten, except for the men, families and communities which suffered. Around 10,000 survivors, from The Black Watch and the Queen’s Own Cameron, Seaforth and Gordon Highlanders, were captured during the hostilities and spent the remainder of the conflict as prisoners, often enduring appalling hardship. Many of the men were killed or forced into a gruelling march from St Valery-en-Caux to prisoner of war camps. It is believed that there can hardly have been a town, village or hamlet in the Highlands and beyond which was not directly affected by the loss. It was the worst military disaster affecting Scotland during the war.

the circumstances in which Thomas King was captured on 12 June 1940

Survivors from the 51st Highland Division have recorded details of their experiences in being moved from France to Stalag XX1-B in Schubin in Poland. These would no doubt be similar to Thomas’ experience. They were force marched through France in around 9 days, crossing into Belgium around Lille, and then a further forced march through Belgium. It was hot by day and they had little food or water. French and Belgian women tried to help by putting out buckets of water or boiled potatoes – but the German guards kicked them over. Often men resorted to drinking water from animal troughs or filthy food, resulting in dysentery. They were then put inside filthy coal barges on the Rhine through the Netherlands for 3 days to Wesel in Germany. The only toilet facility were poles allowing men to hang over the side of the barge, being seen by passers by and sometimes shot at by German soldiers. After a short rail journey to Dortmund, they were put in badly ventilated and overcrowded cattle trucks with no food, water or toilets for 3 or 4 days to reach Stalag XX1B at Schubin in Poland. The carriages stank. Men resorted to using their steel helmets as a toilet.
 
It took a while for news to reach Thomas’ family about what had happened to him and with considerable confusion. He was recorded as missing on 20 June 1940. His rank at the time was Lance Corporal. His Next of Kin, who was his father, Mr Thomas King of 11 Peak Street, Stockport, was informed. It was then reported that he had been found and had returned to his unit on 3 August 1940 and his father was again informed. However, this was rescinded on 12 September 1940 and instead he was now understood to be a Prisoner of War in Stalag XX1B at Schubin. (POW number 5366). His father was again informed on 21 October 1940.

Prisoner of War Camps

Stalag XXIB was a German prisoner-of-war camp for officers and enlisted men, located at Szubin a few miles southwest of Bydgoszcz, Poland, which at that time was occupied by Nazi Germany. It was a former Polish boys’ school to which barracks were added. It seems to have been used initially for Polish civilians and soldiers in 1939. On December 1, 1939, the Germans formally established two new permanent POW camps. They were each a Stalag—by definition, for enlisted men, petty officers, and privates: Stalag XXI B1 Schokken (modern-day Antoniewo, approx. 70 km from Szubin) and Stalag XXI B2 Schubin (located in Szubin proper). Between March and May 1940, the Germans relocated the majority of the Polish POWs deep into the Reich. Over the next few weeks, the Wehrmacht interned the first POWs captured during the French campaign here – these men were primarily British soldiers. It was in this period that Thomas King arrived at Szubin.
 
A re-organisation of the camps in this area to accommodate RAF personnel resulted in the existing prisoners relocating to nearby Thure in December 1940 with the camp now known as Stalag XXI B/H Thure.  On 11 December 1940 there was an amended address for Thomas, but with no information as to where. On 11 April 1941 he was moved back to Stalag XX1B (now POW No 5371). These moves may have been associated with the move to Thure.
 
Thomas was then moved to Stalag XX1A on 27 September 1941. His father was informed of this on 16 December. Stalag XXIA was located in Ostrzeszów in Poland, somewhat further south than Thure. Initially, it mainly held Poles, but from 1941 to 1943 Britons formed the majority of the detained POWs.
 
Thomas seems to have been promoted to Corporal in December 1941.
 
In June 1943 he was moved to Stalag XX1D. This was based in Poznań. Some of Poznań’s eighteenth century forts were used as prison camps and, in addition, forced labour camps were established in the surrounding countryside which could be up to 200km distant from Poznan.
 
He was again moved on 6 October 1944 to Stalag 344. This was located near the village of Lamsdorf (now Łambinowice) in Silesia which was then just inside the south eastern extent of Germany.

The Lamsdorf Death March

From here, on 22 January 1945, as the Soviet armies advanced, Lamsdorf was evacuated. Prisoners were marched westward in groups of 200 to 300 in the so-called Lamsdorf Death March, named due to the high number of casualties along the way. January and February 1945 were among the coldest winter months of the 20th century in Europe. Most of the POWs were ill-prepared for the evacuation, having suffered years of poor rations and wearing clothing ill-suited to the appalling winter conditions. The groups would march 20–40 km (12–25 mi) a day, resting in factories, churches, barns and even in the open with little or nothing in the way of food, clothing, shelter or medical care. With so little food they were reduced to scavenging to survive. Some were reduced to eating dogs and cats —anything they could obtain. Already underweight from years of prison rations, some were at half their pre-war body weight by the end.
 
Because of the unsanitary conditions and a near starvation diet, hundreds of POWs died of disease along the way and many more were ill. Dysentery was common. Sufferers had the indignity of soiling themselves whilst having to continue to march and being further weakened by the debilitating effects of illness. Dysentery was easily spread from one group to another when they followed the same route and rested in the same places. Many POWs suffered from frostbite which could lead to gangrene. Typhus, spread by body lice, was a risk for all POWs, but was now increased by using overnight shelter previously occupied by infected groups. Some men simply froze to death in their sleep.
 
A project called Taking the Long Way Home has tracked the routes of 48 survivors from Lamsdorf. While most headed through Czechoslovakia towards Nuremberg, a minority headed round the north of Dresden to between Kassel and Frankfurt.
 
Sadly, Thomas King died from pneumonia and dysentery on 23 or 24 of March in 1945 while still a Prisoner of War. His father was only informed on 16 June 1945.
 
He was initially buried in a cemetery in Immingerode – “in Grave No. 4 – by the fence on the right numbered from the right”. Immingerode is south of Hanover and west of Leipzig and near to Kassel.
 
At a later date his remains were moved to Margraten in the south east of the Netherlands, then, on 1 May 1947, to Overloon.

Family History

Thomas King was born in 1917 in Stockport, Cheshire. He was the son of Thomas King and Mary King (nee Nolan).
 
Thomas King (Snr) was born on 17 November 1874 in Stockport. His parents were Michael King and Ann King (nee Melia). Michael and Ann were both born in Mayo, Ireland. They appear to have had at least five children in Stockport between 1868 and 1878. Michael and his children were involved in the cotton spinning industry. Thomas himself was a Cotton Reeler aged 16 in 1891 and a Cotton Spinner in 1901.
 
Mary Nolan was born on 7 April 1880 in Stockport. Her parents were Joseph Nolan and Mary Ann Nolan (nee Flanagan). Joseph was born in Sligo, Ireland and Mary Ann in Stockport. They had at least four children in Stockport between 1879 and 1884, all girls. Joseph was a Wholesale provision salesman in 1901. The three eldest daughters including Mary were occupied as Warpers in a Cotton Mill. The youngest daughter was a Pupil Teacher aged 17 in a Roman Catholic School.
 
Thomas King and Mary Nolan married in 1906 in Stockport.
 
In 1911 they were living at 11 Peak Street, Stockport. Thomas was working as a Motor Car Driver. They appear to have had three children as follows, all in Stockport: Mary 1912, Ann 1914 and Thomas himself in 1917.
 
Thomas’ mother, Mary King, died in 1920 in Stockport.
 
Thomas (Snr) and his three children were at the same address in 1921. With them were Thomas (Snr)’s mother Ann King and her son John aged 51 who was still single. Thomas King (Snr) was working as an Electric Tram Driver for Stockport Municipal Corporation Tramway Department. His brother John was working as a General Labourer for Stockport Municipal Corporation Water Works Department.
 
It is possible that Thomas’ sister, Ann King, died in the Spring of 1931 in Stockport, aged 17.
 
Thomas King (Snr) married Agnes Grimes on 15 August 1931 in Stockport. Their marriage was recorded alongside Thomas’ birth in the Roman Catholic registers. Agnes had been born on 25 May 1893 in Stockport. She was the daughter of Ada Wood who married John Grimes in 1894 and took his surname.  Her half-brother, Samuel Grimes, witnessed their wedding.
 
As has been seen Thomas King (Jnr) enlisted in the Royal Engineers on 26 January 1937.
 
In September 1939 Thomas and Agnes King were still living at the same address and Thomas was in the same job. There too was Rose Eileen Prest, born 26 March 1934. She was the daughter of family friends George and Rose Prest.
 
Sadly, Thomas King (Jnr) was captured as a Prisoner of War on 12 June 1940 and died in 23 or 24 March 1945 while still a Prisoner of War.

From FindMyPast website: Civil and Parish Birth, Marriage and Death Records; England Census and 1939 Register Records; Electoral Rolls; Military Records

Wikipedia: British Expeditionary Force, Operation Cycle

The Sappers Site

St Valery – Last stand: The plight of the men who did not have a Dunkirk miracle – by Neil Drysdale – June 8 2020 – The Press and Journal

51st Division Website: Stories of 51st Highland Division experiences as POWs – Jack Kidd, Henry Owen, George Drummond, Daniel Stevens

Wikipedia: Stalags XX1A, XX1B, XX1D, 334, The March

Taking the Long Way Home – Lamsdorf Long March

Assistance from Jan Bouckley and Susan Hurst concerning Rose Prest

Photo and information on the Grimes connection from Janet Broucher, great niece of Agnes King (nee Grimes) with help from Theo Vervoort from Venray in initially  finding the photo Janet posted on Facebook.

Research Elaine Gathercole