Guardsman William Dexter

	This page: Army service.
	POW life and the forced march.

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In 1935 I lived in Glasshoughton, Castleford and worked at a coal mine there. In those days the pits stopped working for the summer and you went on the dole. It was in June of that year (I was 17½ years old) when the pits were out, that I decided to get away from it all. I went to the Army Barracks at Pontefract and joined the Coldstream Guards (I told them that I was 18 years old). A week later I was on the train to the Guards Training Depot at Caterham.

When I got to Caterham the first person I met at the Depot gates was Sergeant Major Britton (Tibby Britton we used to call him - a well known character at that time). I spent six months at Caterham and owing to the amount of duties there I managed to get out only once; for a brief visit to Croydon.

After the Passing out Parade in January 1936, I was sent to the 1^st Battalion of the Coldstream Guards at Windsor. A few weeks after arriving, King George the Fifth died and I was on duty at the Ceremonial Service for him in London, and at the funeral at Windsor Castle.

In September of that year, trouble flared up in Palestine and the 3^rd Battalion of the Coldstream Guards was ordered there. They asked for volunteers from my Battalion to make the 3^rd up to full strength and I volunteered. We landed at Haifa in October and went by train to Jerusalem. The trouble quietened down in March 1937 and we then returned to England. I did duties at Buckingham Palace, also at St James' Palace and the Bank of England. I was on duty at the Coronation of George the Sixth; it rained most of the day.

'Some of my squad' - Coldstream Guards, Bill Dexter front row, right

In the Autumn of that year the 3^rd Battalion was going to Egypt for a two year tour of duty so I again volunteered to go with them. I returned home in February 1939, my time with the colours was coming to an end. In May, I was transferred to the reserve and went to work at Rampton State Mental Institution as a male nurse. On the 1^st September 1939 I was called back to the colours and I became a member of the Military Police. In January 1940 I left for Palestine with the 1^st Cavalry Division and was billeted in a house on Mount Carmel, overlooking the harbour. The Australians and other troops had started to arrive and we had to police the Port. I saw a ship which had brought Jewish refugees to Palestine, but it had not been allowed to land. I heard a bomb blast and saw the ship begin to roll on its side and sink in the harbour. Lots of refugees climbed on the upper side, but many were drowned.

When France collapsed, some of us were sent into Syria via Galilee to escort convoys of Polish and a few Free French troops out. I also escorted a convoy of Spanish troops who had fled Spain when General Franco took over.

In December of that year I was sent to Greece, together with about twenty other Military Police, as Italy had invaded from Albania. We were sent to police the Port of Piraeus and Athens to control the few troops and air force personnel there. There I became friendly with Lady Palliser, wife of Sir Michael Palliser, British Ambassador to Greece. She and her daughter helped at the YMCA. One day when I visited, Lady Palliser's daughter pointed out to me a young lady helping and said she was Princess Alexandra of Greece. In March 1941 Lady Palliser arranged for me to meet Anthony Eden and General Dill. Then in late March and early April British, Australian and New Zealand troops began arriving.

'Arab Rebels' 1938

One night during this period two large cargo ships arrived at the Port of Piraeus. One was the SS Clan Cummings and the other SS Clan Fraser. Both were loaded with arms and explosives. The Clan Fraser unloaded its cargo of arms and moved to the outer part of the harbour to unload its explosives. While the Clan Cummings unloaded its supply of arms some of the crew went to Athens and got drunk. I had to arrest two of them and take them back to their ship. The Captain took me to his cabin and we had a drink of whisky together. I stayed for about half an hour, then I returned to Athens. About two hours later German bombers came over and bombed the harbour. The Clan Fraser was struck and damaged, but did not blow up. The Clan Cummings however, was hit and blew up, wrecking the harbour installations and part of the Port.

Later I was attached to the 2^nd Armoured Brigade, which I convoyed to the front. Sometime around the 19^th April 1941 the British forces started to evacuate Greece. I was placed on a road junction at Elevsis, directing troops coming from the north via Larisa. I sent the troops to Corinth. They came through at night to avoid air attacks. On the night of the 25^th April a Tank Corps Major came to me and told me that his convoy was the last to come through, with the exception of the 4^th Brigade New Zealanders, who were blowing up the road and would not be long before they came. I was to follow on behind them.

I waited until about 5pm on the 26^th April. During this time all roads around me were bombed and strafed and but they left me alone at the junction, unharmed. Of course, unknown to me, German Paratroops had dropped at Corinth, Athens and to the north of me. They had me completely cut off. Later I learned that the New Zealanders had cut across the east coast because the junction had been cut off. At 5pm I saw a small convoy of British trucks coming towards me and as it got nearer I went to meet it. When I was only a few yards away I noticed the leading truck carried German Parachute troops and a tommy gun was pointing at me. I had only a .38 revolver, so I didn't see any point in arguing with the sergeant when he said "The war is over for you". After being disarmed, I jumped into the truck. One of the Germans took my motor cycle and we left towards Corinth. On our way we collected a few British stragglers. The Germans began to starve us to weaken us. We had only one small meal of lentils a day, and some days not even that.

On the 20^th May, still at Corinth, I saw hundreds of German planes pulling gliders passing over towards Crete. The invasion of Crete had begun.

At Corinth I was kept prisoner in an old Greek Barracks and a few days later we were joined by other prisoners of war captured at Kalamata. We stayed for about six weeks and then we had to march from Corinth to Larisa, which is about 120 miles as the crow flies, and mountainous. It was hard for the German soldiers escorting us and they had not been starved like us. It was on this march that I met Bert Williams, an Australian and I am sorry to say that an event took place that has stuck in my mind ever since. We had not been given food for this march; we were weak and hungry and many collapsed, including some of the German guards. The Greek folks were handing us crusts of bread as we passed their dwellings. I received a crust of bread and ate it myself. Later Bert Williams received a piece of bread and straight away he split it in half and gave me one half; I had let down my Coldstream Guards training and Christian upbringing, and at that moment of receiving the bread I felt ashamed of myself.

When we arrived at Larisa we were taken to some railway sidings, where we got a shower under the overhead railway water pump used for filling the railway engines. We were then given some raw salted fish, raw molasses and a few Greek Army biscuits. Most of us gave our raw salted fish to some Greek Cypriots who were with us, as there was no chance of cooking it and they seemed to like eating it raw. After about two hours we were placed in railway trucks - 65 to a truck - and the doors closed and locked. We then set off for Salonica. On arrival we were taken to a large barbed-wire camp where we stayed for about six weeks. It was there that I had my first contact with lice. I saw other prisoners searching through their clothes and thought I was clear, until I took a look through mine and found scores.

Mariberg, Yugoslavia 1941, official German photo

From there we were transferred to a town in the north of Yugoslavia. On our way we saw convoys of German tanks and troops making their way north, I suppose to the Russian front. Part way into Yugoslavia we had to get out of the railway trucks and wade across a shallow river as the railway bridge had been blown. I filled my water bottle from the river as someone had drunk the water from mine while I had been nodding off. At Mariberg we were placed in a camp which was later called Stalag 18B. We stayed there for about a week during which time we were deloused. Our clothes were put in a delousing machine and we had cold communal showers, then we stood outside to get dry as our towels were in the delouser. We were also officially registered as prisoners of war and given a number. Mine was 5466. Then we were photographed. I later managed to get a copy print by giving a German soldier who worked in the office, 20 cigarettes, which I got from my first Red Cross food parcel. We were given one meal a day, mostly potatoes made into thick soup.

A number of us were then marched off to a small village named Maria Rasp, about six miles from Mariberg, and we were billeted in a camp. There we were engaged in making a new road. It was there that I met Tom and Walter Williams, Reg Banks, Reg Davies, Jack Davis (New Zealander), Jack George (Australian) and Bill Goddard. This group, together with Bert Williams and myself, stuck together for most of our prisoner of war life. We were given two meals a day as workers. We did not do a good job of the road; most of it got washed away during a thunderstorm.

	This page: Army service.
	POW life and the forced march.