Hello Would like to learn more of the experiences of Australian POWs in Stalag XIIIC near Hammelburg between 1941 and 1945. My father Lawrence ('Darby') Murray of the 2/1st Fld Company RAE was captured on Crete in June 1941 and spent the rest of the war in Stalag XIIIC with British, NZ, Canadian, American and other allied servicemen. Attached is a photograph of his camp Record Card. Also attached is a photograph of a cigarette case that a fellow POW carved out of rifle butt. The lid of the case depicts the barbed wire of Stalag XIIIC with his initials 'LM', the third pattern (1904) Rising Sun badge. Also depicted is the Stalag XIIIC watchtower & fir trees surrounding the camp. The back of the case depicts his barracks, his POW dog tag, clogs that many men made for themselves, their diet of turnips & a nearby bridge. The origin of the rifle butt is unknown. The carver was a fellow prisoner - from Yugoslavia we think. There's an inscription inside the case. I'll try to get a better pic and post it. My father spoke very little of his experiences in Stalag XIIIC apart from the awful cold in winter, labouring in the nearby fields and a number of thwarted escape attempts. Forty years later in 1985 while visiting a family member in Den Haag in The Netherlands he arranged to revisit the site of the camp with his wife Lorna - but on the day just couldn't go through with it. I look forward to learning more about life in Stalag XIIIC from other researchers. With thanks Stephen C Murray
This link from further research into Australians in Stalag XIIIC from The National Library of Australia. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/result?q=Stalag XIIIC
