Lawrence, W

Sergeant William [Bill] Lawrence

Family/Last name:
Lawrence
Forename(s) and initial(s):
William [Bill]
Nationality:
British
Rank when captured:
Sergeant
Camp
Stalag VIIIB Lamsdorf / Stalag 344
Data sources
Other Sources (Relative's Report)
View a commemorative certificate for this prisoner

Sergeant (later Warrant Officer) Bill Lawrence constructed a camera from a Red Cross food parcel box and two lenses which were smuggled into the main camp from an outside working party. It had a hole cut in one end which he covered with his hand and uncovering it each time he took a picture. After each ‘exposure’ he had to move the frame on manually.

Later a working party outside the camp stole a real camera for him and he kept this in the shoe box.

He kept the camera in a shoe box which he carried under his arm as he walked around taking illicit photos.

He had three friends who were medical orderlies who worked in the camp hospital. They had access to X-ray chemicals and film and were able to take some to him.

He turned his bed into a ‘dark room’ developing film under the blanket whilst a fellow prisoner kept a look-out for approaching camp guards.

 

 

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