Memories of a Prisoner of War

Basil E. G. Bryant was my step-grandfather who was made a Prisoner of War following the surrender of the French Division under General Charles De Gaulle, of which the 51st and units of the 23rd Regiment Royal Artillery (RA) were part. He was a prisoner for five years. He was one of many British soldiers who were on the forced 1000-mile marches to move prisoners away from the advancing Russians. In a perverse way, we were truly grateful for this after the Russians used thousands of British Commonwealth and American prisoners as bargaining chips after WWII and sent them to Siberian Gulags as workers.

Upon discharge and returning to the UK, he and his wife fostered a German boy named Werner, who had lost his parents. Basil never complained, except to say De Gaulle was an "arrogant bastard" for sacrificing the 51st and 23rd Regt RA to escape to England and become the person he did. He died in 1976 following stomach cancer, which was linked to his incarceration.

He was, above all, the grandad who smoked Mercator cigars (I had a rather large collection of the wrappers) and who used to take us out for trips to pub gardens to have a packet of Salt and Shake crisps and bottles of proper ginger beer in stone bottles.