Durrans, J

,

Driver Joseph Durrans

Family/Last name:
Durrans
Forename(s) and initial(s):
Joseph
Nationality:
British
Service number:
T247360
Military Unit:
British Army, Royal Army Service Corps
Rank when captured:
Driver
Place of capture:
Tobruk
Date of capture:
1942
POW number:
27973
Camp
Stalag VIIIB Lamsdorf / Stalag 344
Data sources
Other Sources (Relative's report)
View a commemorative certificate for this prisoner

Submitter: Graham Durrans
Submitted date: 6/8/2019

Name: Joseph DURRANS
Nationality: British
Rank: Driver
Service Number: T247360
Regiment: Royal Army Service Corps
POW Number: 27973
Captured: Tobruk
Date of Capture: 1942
Camp Type: Stalag
Camp Number: VIIIB
Working Party: Lazarett
Camp Location: Lambinowice, Poland
Notes: • Appears on WO 392/1, WO 417/38, WO 417/41, WO 417/96

Details from submitter:

In 1941, as a driver in the RASC, Uncle Joe went to war. In a convoy from England, he was part of the desert army sent around the Cape and so on to Tobruk. In the coming battles he was part of the defensive lines as the British army fell back.

Taken prisoner in desert in 1942, he escaped the Italians, only to be recaptured by the Germans. From then on as a POW he was marched to a German desert port and shipped to Italy to once again march until he and his fellow prisoners finished up in Stalag VIIIB Lamsdorf, Poland.

In 1945 the U.S. army released the prisoners and after feeding, cleaning and providing fresh uniforms they were told to await transport. Joe was keen to be home and with a group of other soldiers, including the much taller Jock Christie, he set off to get home by any means!! Jock was injured and it fell to the 5-foot 8 Joe to help him walk as they made their way home (Jock came to thank Joe in Sheffield some 30 years later).

 

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