WW2 75 – 14 April 1945 - The PoW killed by ‘friendly fire’: Lieutenant Humphrey Richard Hickson Marriott (1919-45), The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)
Continued from CAPTAIN GERALD ARTHUR RICHARDS (1909-45) 23 January 1945.: 'A Tragic Accident in Burma'
Royal Army Medical Corps
https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2021/05/ww2-75-23-january-1945-tragic-accident.html
Humphrey’s name does not appear on Budleigh Salterton’s War Memorial, and his link to the town, as mentioned in Commonwealth War Grave Commission records, may be tenuous. But his tragic story deserves to be told. Spending most of WW2 as a prisoner and then losing his life a few days before VE Day thanks to ‘friendly fire’ must have been a harsh blow for his family.
His parents were Major Richard George Armine Marriott DSO and Eileen Anita Marriott, née Hickson, who had married in 1912.
.jpg)
Brigadier-General Robert Albert Hickson – as shown on a cigarette card. Image credit: www.britishempire.co.uk
His mother, from a strongly military
family background, was the only child of Irish-born Brigadier General Robert Albert Hickson,
CB.
Before the birth of Humphrey in 1919, the Marriotts had had two daughters, Eileen and Diana Barbara born in 1913 and 1914 respectively, and a son Armine John, born in 1917.
Major Marriott himself came from an affluent background. He was the son of Humphrey R.H. Marriott whose home was the 17th century manor house Abbot’s Hall in the Essex village of Shalford, where the Marriotts were Lords of the Manor.
The Old Schools,
Harrow School. Image credit: Bernard Burns; Wikipedia
Major Marriott had attended Harrow School before following a distinguished military career, serving in the Royal East Kent Regiment, known as The Buffs. Humphrey himself might have followed in his father’s footsteps by attending Harrow School as a pupil, but as yet there is no record of where he was educated.
Seventeen years older than his wife, Major Marriott had fought and been severely wounded in the Boer War in South Africa. When he died in Torquay on 15 December 1924, Eileen remarried. Her second husband, Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Brouncker de Maries Mairis was another much decorated Boer War veteran considerably older than her. He had also fought in WW1, where he was severely wounded, being made not only a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) but also a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.
Bovey Tracey's War Memorial is in the heart of this Dartmoor town. Image credit: www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk
He had retired to South Devon, living in ‘Waye’, a 13-bedroom modern house near Bovey Tracey. This is presumably where Humphrey and his three siblings grew up, and would explain why Humphrey’s name appears on the Bovey Tracey War Memorial.
However his stepfather died on 23 July 1945, and
it is likely that Eileen moved to our area soon after that event and at around
the time of Humphrey’s death. This would explain why the Commonwealth
War Grave Commission records list her as ‘of Budleigh Salterton’. She was actually born in 1884,
at Southsea, Hampshire.
The Buffs cap badge. Image credit: Wikipedia
Humphrey’s stepfather, Colonel Geoffrey Mairis, came from a military background, being the son of General Geoffrey Mairis (1834-1917). He had fought with The Green Howards regiment in WW1, but had first joined The Buffs regiment in 1893, serving as adjutant of the regiment’s 2nd Battalion from 1902 to 1905.
So naturally, it was with The Buffs – his father’s and grandfather’s regiment as well as the one that his stepfather had joined – that Humphrey chose to serve in WW2. His service number, as a member of the 2nd Battalion of the regiment, was 95576.
The Buffs was one of the first infantry regiments in the British Army. With origins dating back to 1572, it took part in many campaigns in the years that followed.
The nickname of The Buffs came about because it
had been issued with buff coats when it first served abroad in the Low
Countries during the 17th century. It was later given buff-coloured
uniform facings - collar, lapels and cuffs - and waistcoats to distinguish
itself from those of other regiments.
While the 1st Battalion of The Buffs was in Egypt on the outbreak of the Second World War, the 2nd Battalion fought in the battle of France and would go on to take part in the invasions of Iran and Iraq, and the Burma campaign.
On 16 September 1939 the battalion sailed from Pembroke Dock in Southampton, landing the following day at Cherbourg in Northern France. From there its 25 officers and 732 men travelled by train to take up defensive positions on the French border at La Creche, two miles south of the town of Bailleul.
The British Army in France and Belgium 1940 British trucks in Herseaux, as the BEF crosses the border into Belgium, 10 May 1940. Image credit: Wikipedia
At around 10.00 am on 10 May they received the order to cross into Belgium. A day’s march, during which they were enthusiastically greeted by Belgians, took them to Cou Cou, west of Menin. A further march the next day took them to Courtrai, where they remained until 14 May. A final push took them to Elsegem, a mile short of the Escaut river. Here three days were spent on paratroop look-out duty including investigating and providing guards to watch over likely landing-grounds.
Not until 16 May were they ordered to start work on Escaut defences, which meant digging in on a wide frontage of 2,000 to 3,000 yards near the Flemish village of Petegem, 30 minutes south-west of Ghent by road. German artillery opened up on the evening of 20 May. Within a few days the British positions had been overrun by the enemy with the loss of 13 officers and 170 men and the order to withdraw was given.
It was in the engagement at Petegem that Humphrey was captured on 21 May.
By 28-29 May the battalion had retreated into France, making its headquarters at Méteren, a few miles west of Bailleul. It seems that the order to withdraw failed to reach headquarters. A large number of men were taken prisoner despite a fierce resistance.
The Withdrawal from Dunkirk by Charles Everest Cundall. © Imperial War Museum
Evacuation of Allied forces from Dunkirk had begun on 26 May 1940, but many of the Buffs were captured before they could reach British lines. Of the 757 officers and men who had crossed into Belgium just two weeks previously nearly 400 had been killed, wounded or were missing.
Oflag
VII-B.
Humphrey
would spend the next five years at Oflag VII-B, a prisoner-of-war camp for
officers located in Eichstätt, Bavaria,
about 100 km (62 mi) north of Munich. The camp had been built in September 1939
to house Polish prisoners from the German invasion of Poland. The first
prisoners arrived there on 18 October 1939. On 22 May 1940 all 1,336 Polish
prisoners were transferred to Oflag VII-A Murnau, and were replaced with
British, French and Belgian officers taken prisoner during the battle of France
and Belgium.
The Canadian Commando Pipe Band at Oflag VII-B PoW Camp. All members of the Band were captured during the Dieppe Raid on 19 August 1942. Image credit: Australian War Museum
Further consignments of Allied officers in 1941 included Australians and New Zealanders taken prisoner in Greece and Crete. The following year saw the arrival of South Africans captured during Rommel's second offensive on Tobruk in June, and Canadian officers taken during the Dieppe Raid in August. In the spring of 1943 American and British personnel captured in the Tunisia Campaign arrived.
For some PoWs at Eichstätt the surroundings of the Bavarian countryside were a delight. Lieutenant Peter Conder, a future director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSBP), wrote that the hills behind Oflag VIIB reminded him of the North Downs of his Surrey childhood. It was, he wrote, a place ‘as near to paradise as possible in a prison camp’.
Christmas card 1943. Image credit: www.hipstamp.com
But five years in captivity is a long time. The above Christmas card for 1943 was produced at Oflag
VII-B. Handicraft activities such as printing
and knitting were certainly on offer to PoWs.
Christmas card 1944. Image credit: www.thebravestcanadian.com
But the frustration of confinement was always there. ‘This year, next year, sometime’ is the knitter’s message in this Christmas card sent out a year later.
A
1944 article in the camp’s own PoW-run magazine Touchstone stressed the
need for activities to relieve boredom. ‘Officially officers, prisoners of war
do not do any work,’ admitted the writer. ‘At first sight that might appear to
be pleasant enough, but after years doing nothing, we are gradually beginning
to realise that prohibition from work is one of the greatest disadvantages
under which we suffer. We fight against it though by finding work for ourselves.
‘Some of us are busy on jobs for the camp community – issuing rations and parcels, acting as adjutants, digging the camp garden, chopping firewood: others pursue definite courses of study connected with their future careers, (many degrees and examination successes have been obtained here); and many read, write, paint, act or play musical instruments for several hours a day. Most of us have some sort of daily task which we regard as our “work” and on which we spend a definite part of our time.’
A view of Oflag VII-B PoW Camp from the Commandant’s building at the west end of the Camp, showing prisoners playing hockey. In the foreground, prisoners cut and cart wood near cattle in a field. Image credit: Australian War Museum
Canadian officer Major Leigh McBride, along with other injured Allied officers was repatriated by the Germans in January 1945. Back home in Canada he told a local newspaper how astonished he was by the multitude of activities on offer for PoWs at Oflag VII-B.
Sports facilities included fields for football, rugby, cricket, softball, basketball and tennis, with equipment such as gloves and bats provided by the YMCA. Canadian officers were among those who built a winter ice rink, drawing up skating and hockey schedules.
‘Dossing Dulcie’ Christmas pantomime 1943 Image credit: www.tiaki.natlib.govtnz
Art exhibitions were held every fortnight and there were regular theatrical productions.
Scene from a stage play presented by PoWs at
Oflag VII-B. Image credit: Australian War Museum
Canadian Commando Pipe Band practising at Oflag VII-B PoW Camp. Image credit: Australian War Museum
There was a thriving musical scene. ‘Musicians had banded together and organized a 30-piece symphony orchestra,’ Major Leigh McBride told the newspaper. ‘The orchestra received a great deal of stimulus when a new prisoner came in from Anzio who had formerly been an arranger for the London Symphony Orchestra. He took over, and hours of practice were put in by the musicians. Concerts were staged Saturdays and Sundays, with about 200 able to attend each performance.’
Image credit: The Britten Pears Archive
A notable musical first for Oflag VII-B was a performance of English composer Benjamin Britten’s short piece for male voices ‘The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard’. The piece was dedicated to ‘Richard Wood and the musicians of Oflag VIIb’, completed on December 13, 1943, and smuggled into the camp on microfilm for the prisoners to sing. Wood, a PoW at the camp and the husband of one of Britten’s singers, organised a music festival for the prisoners between February and March 1944 and Britten’s work – sent out in a Red Cross parcel – was performed at seven of the concerts. The Imperial War Museum has the original score.
‘Education facilities
were available for all and many a willing student spent cold winter mornings “swotting”
in icy study rooms,’ according to Major Leigh McBride. ‘Law and certified
accountancy were among courses taken, and English officers took languages to
prepare themselves for diplomatic work after the war or a company secretary’s
course.’
Major McBride was also impressed by the system of bartering at the camp’s ‘mart’; it seemed that PoWs lacked for nothing. ‘The “mart” was operated on the principle that some people had things they didn’t want and others didn’t have, but did want, and vice versa,’ he explained. ‘An unwanted article could be turned in and given a point valuation. Then the “shopper” looked around for the things he wanted, at the same point value. Tobacco, clothing and food continually changed hands. The “mart” showed which of the amazing selection of tobaccos was most popular.’
Reading such wartime accounts by PoWs, at least from those in Oflag VII-B, one almost has the impression that life in the camp was a happy and fulfilling affair. Perhaps some sections of the Allied media were aware of the importance for organisations like the Red Cross to keep open their lines of communication with the German authorities. A positive portrayal of life in the camps would be flattering for Nazi leaders who could pride themselves on running harmonious and civilized communities. The concentration camps were a different matter of course.
The article in Touchstone had been written by its editor specially for the Kincardinshire group of the Scottish branch of the British Red Cross Society’s News Sheet, as one learns from the December 1944 edition of the newsletter published by the Canadian Prisoners of War Relatives association.
Perhaps Touchstone’s editor made sure that the Camp Commandant saw a draft of such an article praising the importance of work. There is an unsettling echo of the ‘Arbeit macht frei’ slogan at the entrance to Auschwitz and other concentration camps, a slogan which had been used in Germany well before WW2 with the aim of reducing unemployment.
Dr Emile Exchaquet, delegate
of the International Committee of the Red Cross, in discussion with German
officers during a visit to Oflag VII-B on 31 October 1940. Image credit: www.
The Red Cross, with its international headquarters in Geneva, must have valued its positive relationship with the Nazi authorities. The relationship enabled such privileges as the delivery of parcels to PoWs, as pointed out by Major McBride in a newspaper article. 'The Germans,' he said, 'had a good idea of what the Red Cross stood for. Although they looked with suspicion upon anything delivered by anyone else, they had almost blind faith in the Red Cross.'
Reading later accounts of PoW camp life give a different impression. A former resident of Oflag VII-B, John Kenneth Clark, was interviewed in 2005 on behalf of Bedford Museum, the recording being part of the BBC’s People’s War series.
He spoke of the ‘mart’ but also a black market at Oflag VII-B in which some lucky PoWs traded cigarettes with the camp guards for flour, sugar and margarine. ‘The tobacco Barons in 7B dominated camp life - those who had 10 or 20,000 cigarettes lived well, the rest did not.’
He explained that some PoWs had been at the camp since Dunkirk and had been able to accumulate stocks of tobacco. ‘So people had 10 or 20,000 cigarettes and if you were a wealthy cigarette owner you could buy anything. I hadn’t enough cigarettes! I was taken prisoner in 1943 and these men had been there since 1940. The Barons had established the rules, it was a bit like ‘Porridge’, there were grouties.’
The reference is to the popular 1970s TV series about UK prison life written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. It featured the corrupt and ruthless criminal ‘Genial’ Harry Grout, feared by all the prisoners in ‘Porridge’ for the way in which he ran his business empire behind bars.
‘If you hadn’t enough to do it could be very boring,’ John Kenneth Clark told his interviewer. ‘The Activities varied. Some Officers studied, some played cards or chess and some just seemed able to idle the day away.’
One form of entertainment was in imitation of the famous French professional fartist Joseph Pujol, better known by his stage name ‘Le Pétomane’.
‘Lighting farts - that’s one way we used to pass the time sometimes at night!’ explained Mr Clark. ‘We had two leagues — one for length of flame and one for colour! There was the pétomane man - I remember Lou in Hut 13. German potato bread went hard and stale but Lou would always consume anything and this fuelled his masterly performances during the long winter evenings. As the poker, chess and bridge games got under way the crowd would ring down the corridor, Lou is beating his best!’ Half the hut would crowd round into Lou’s room where an accredited timekeeper would be counting out the seconds as Lou maintained an interminable A flat. ‘She’s a beaut, Lou! You’ve beaten Sunday. Good on yah.’ Bets were made as Lou struggled to beat his previous record.’
Many other pastimes, more useful for the Allied war effort and for which certain PoWs had a special talent, were understandably not mentioned in contemporary newspapers. Another resident of Oflag VII-B, also interviewed for the BBC’s People’s War series was Anthony Lister, a Royal Artillery Captain who had been captured in 1940. His skill at building radio receivers meant that information and messages from Britain, especially BBC broadcasts that provided up to date news about the course of the war, could be passed on to all PoWs.
Anthony Lister mentions another PoW, Captain Jack Higgins of the Welsh Guards, who organised a very efficient intelligence service. Information of strategic importance gathered while liaising with Germans was passed by coded messages in letters to Britain. About 30 letter writers at Oflag VII-B, skilled in the art of putting cipher messages into plain language text, were used one at a time to send information.
Cultivating friendly relationships with prison guards was an important part of intelligence gathering and often involved playing off one group of Germans against another: according to Anthony Lister one group was the Wehrmacht – the national defence forces ‘who liked to think they ran the camp’; a second group were the Guards, mainly but not entirely German; a third group from time to time was the SS or Schutzstaffel, the elite executive force which operated without legal restraint, and who were, said Anthony Lister, ‘were extremely unpopular (especially amongst the Germans)’.
The prison guards were the obvious weak point at the camp, he believed, as opposed to the feared Gestapo or Nazi political police. ‘They definitely did have a sense of humour, and were on the side of anyone who gave them a good laugh. They were nothing like the Gestapo, who were generally very unpopular, and nobody liked them at all.’
Oflag VII-B, drawn by the American PoW Sargeant Bob Neary. Image credit: www.profilesinhistory.com
The ultimate useful pastime was planning escapes
from the camp. Above is an escape map showing Oflag VII-B, drawn by the American PoW Sargeant Bob
Neary. The artist identified what he described as ‘thick trees’ lining an area
along the fence, a possible place to hide. Bob Neary also spent time in Stalag
Luft III PoW camp, the setting for the break-out of 76 prisoners on the night
of 24-25 March 1944 which was immortalized in the 1963 film ‘The Great Escape’.
Breaking out of a PoW camp was one step. More important was to survive outside with the help of a fake identity involving forged items. Major Dick Woodley was wounded and captured near Calais in late May 1940. He was marched into captivity and eventually ended up at Oflag VII-B where he became one of the camp’s leading forgers. He made replica German stamps using rubber from the soles of Army boots and managed to carve mirror image German script.
A display of his work in the Imperial War Museum included gold fabric braid inside folded paper envelope, a round button, a pair of metal clips, multi-tool featuring two saws and wire cutters, a mini hacksaw, a small tin containing 23 counterfeit rubber inkstamps, mini saw blade and a large rubber inkstamp inscribed with German text.
Colditz Castle in April 1945, where determined escapers were kept. Photo taken by a US Army soldier. Image credit: Wikipedia
In September 1942, a group of British officers arrived at Oflag VII-B from from Oflag VI-B Dössel, where a mass escape had occurred. Within months two of them, Lieutenant Jock Hamilton-Baillie and Captain Frank Weldon, proposed digging a tunnel north from the latrine in the camp’s Block 2 to a villager's chicken coop about 30 metres (98 feet) away.
Work began in December 1942, but the rocky ground made digging difficult. The Germans found spoil from the tunnel and searched the camp, but failed to find it. The tunnel was completed in May, and on the night of 3/4 June 1943 65 men escaped. Most of them headed south, towards Switzerland, sleeping by day and travelling by night.
Eventually, all 65 were recaptured, but had occupied over 50,000 police, soldiers, home guard and Hitler Youth for a week. After two weeks detention in nearby Willibaldsburg Castle, the escapees were sent to Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle.
Brigadier Hugo Ironside. Image credit: www.funeral-notices.co.uk
Not all the inmates of Oflag
VII-B approved of escape attempts. One of the 65 escapees was Hugo Ironside, a
member of the Royal Tank Regiment who had been captured at Dunkirk in 1940. His
obituary in The Daily Telegraph records that the location of the tunnel
had been given in a message in a Nescafé tin which was thrown over the wire to
the guards. The trap door in the tiled floor, however, was so well-concealed
that the tunnel was not discovered.
Humphrey Marriott did not take part in that escape. He remained at Oflag VII-B rather than being sent to Colditz. Sadly, as yet, we know nothing of his time at Eichstätt. Perhaps thanks to the internet this account of his life will be read by a family member who will be able to tell us more.
What we do know is that on 14 April 1945, as the US Army approached, Humphrey and the other officers were marched out of Oflag VII-B. John Kenneth Clark takes up the story.
‘We had hardly left the Camp when three Thunderbolt fighter bombers attacked the German vehicles on the western bank. We stood, cheered and were then moved on by the German guards. I was in the centre of the column and heard machine gun fire from the front, I saw that the prisoners in front of me were running to the side of the road and throwing themselves down. I found a hollow by the side of the road and watched as the Thunderbolts swept backwards and forwards about 30 feet above me machine gunning the line of prisoners.’
Image credit: www.eichstaett.de
This roadside plaque was set up by the local Bavarian authorities in 2003. It is located close to the village of Landershofen, the first settlement on the road from Eichstätt to Kipfenberg. The text, translated into understandable English reads:
'At this point on 14 April 1945, shortly before the arrival of the Americans, low-flying Allied aircraft attacked a marching column of British officer prisoners of war, who were mistakenly believed to be enemy troops. 14 British officers were killed and 46 were wounded.'
The camp was liberated by the Americans two days later. The PoWs were repatriated to their home countries. For the British this meant a march begging for food from farmers until transport reached them.
Image credit: Imperial War Museum © John Hendry (WMR-22336)
This memorial plaque was set up in St Andrew’s Church, Shalford, by the Marriott family. It reads: ‘In proud and loving memory of Lieut. Humphrey Richard Hickson Marriott The Buffs Only son of Major Richard George Armine Marriott and his wife Eileen Born at Abbots Hall Shalford 15th July 1919 Taken Prisoner of War 21st May 1940 at Petigen near Oudenarde Died of wounds 14th April 1945 at Eichstadt Austria It is more blessed to give than to receive.’
https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2024/01/ww2-75-18-april-1945-death-of-tankie-in.html
Comments
Post a Comment