Austin, D J

, ,

Private David John Austin

Family/Last name:
Austin
Forename(s) and initial(s):
David John
Place of birth:
Greenwich, London SE10
Date of birth:
15/2/1917
Nationality:
British
Service number:
6347994
Military Unit:
British Army, The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, 7th Battalion (QORWK)
Rank when captured:
Private
Place of capture:
Albert, France
Date of capture:
20/5/1940
POW number:
2707
Camp
Stalag VIIIB Lamsdorf / Stalag 344
Data sources
Other Sources (Relative's report)
View a commemorative certificate for this prisoner

From Michael Austin. 03/06/2024

Data source: War Diary 1940-45: written in pencil in an exercise book, transcribed by relatives and friends over many years, collated and edited by myself. The original still exists, but is quite fragile. Still work in progress, but now available as a Word document.

Photos, letters, programmes for plays performed, etc.
Conversations with my father from my childhood to his death in 2015.
Video tape of an interview with my father recorded by my cousin, now converted to digital format on CD.

Extra details: My father’s diary is now in digital form, although still WIP. My intention has been to collate the various earlier transcriptions into a common format (now completed), and to supplement it with my own memories and recollections of past conversations, plus any similar information from relatives and friends. I also added some explanatory notes to help understand the terms and details used in the narrative.

The diary detail became more sparse in the winter of ’44-45. There are some details of the march from Adelsdorf towards Germany in the spring of ’45, and I have tried to trace his route from E250 to being picked up by Czech partisans, involved briefly in the Prague Uprising, and then driving through the Russian lines to meet the US army on the road from Pilsen to Prague.

The video had deteriorated, but was rescued, enhanced and digitised by a colleague, and is now on CD.

I have quite a lot of physical items which need to be digitised and catalogued, which I hope to do in due course.
I am happy to share any of my information if you would find it useful.

David was at Working Party: E250 Adelsdorf mostly, also several others for short periods

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