My father in law John Frank Miles whom i sadly never knew was in The Buffs East Kent and captured in 1940. I recall seeing a diary or note book really of notes he made concerning time as a POW. He hid this note book on his person and made brief entries, in pencil if i recall correctly, specifically about Long marches. He was in Stalag VIII B at some stage. Its just brief notes but i will see if i can get hold of it from my brother in law and scan it in. Made interesting reading from what i recall. John.
I can tell you it doesn't look like he was in the 5th Battalion: http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/unit-documents/27713-5th-battalion-buffs-nominal-roll-april-1940-a.html That leaves either the 2nd or 4th Battalion if the nominal roll is accurate and he didn't join them after April. His service records will confirm who he was with and when. You can apply for them in the link below: service records sar form requests
John I have list of the men who served in the 5th Battalion with the BEF and John Frank Miles is not on the nominal roll. To find a nominal roll is rare. He must therefore have been in the 2nd Battalion or 4th as Andy has stated. No nominal roll. If you want a copy of the 2nd Battalion war diary for May 1940, I can let you have a copy. Regards - Rob
Well my Mum in law is a bit bonkers bless she is knocking on 85 Spoke to my Brother in law and he has all sorts of useful info He has photos, maps. Soldiers release book, Photos of POW camps. The diary. A bit jumbled but here goes. John Frank MILES Army No 6287290 Joined the 5th Btn The Buffs East Kent 17/11/38 as a Territorial i guess. Trade on enlistement listed as farmer At the time of capture He was attached to 597 Coy of the RASC as a driver and appears to have been captured in Oostend in 1940. Looke like he was marched all over the place. He was a class A release 30/04/46 Looks like he was a reservist Army Book X801 is in Brother in laws possesion not sure if that is the release book. Got all this over the phone i hope to have a look through it all, and piece it together and will post updates as soon as. John
Unfortunately there is no war diary for 597 Coy RASC for France during 1940. I can't say I've come across any BEF units being at Ostende, naturally all the ports being used were in France with Belgium being nuetral until the 10th May. Rich - what say you? You live near there
Sorry that could be he was marched to Ostend As it appeared he marched too Munich via Brugge Antwerp Dusseldorf Frankfurt. Once i get a look at what my Brother in law has hopefully it will come together.
Oostende was used for evacuation early on and Ellis states that the German perception was that it was the major BEF evacuation port and was bombed more heavily than Dunkirk up until the point of the Belgian surrender. It was not used for evacuation after 26th May and was surrendered by the Belgians rather than defended by the British so unless he was very unlucky, he probably wasn't captured there but it's possible that he somehow ended up in the port.
Been sent some documents and photos of John and others in POW camp, unfortunately in pdf format i havent got a clue what to do with them
Got the note pad of my Bro in law today. Its 3 sides written in pencil regarding marches vquite faded,and a few sides of names and addresses some in pencil quite faded some in pen. But the first entry for the marches reads as best as i can make out- Mon 22nd Jan- 5pm left Heydebrech Going to go through it properly write it up and scan it in
Hi John, Is he at BAB 20 ? Does he end being liberated by the Americans at Winklarn in Bavaria on 23rd April 1945 ?
