April 2, 1943 (Captured yesterday) – (…) Left Sfax in two boxcars with 53 others for Tunis. Cars were small – hot as the devil. (…). One corner of the boxcar was used for a latrine. (...)
April 19, 1943 – (…) I’m hungry as hell and really tried to catch a dog that is running about the camp. Oakes and I are ready to eat the dog raw. Luckily we received and individual Red Cross parcel (…).
May 6, 1943 – (...) Another funny thing which happened and it illustrates the German mentality: We were counted each hour on the train trip through the Brenner. (…) The Germans were very efficient! A good example of their stupidity would be: On one of the hourly inspections we were so tangled up in the compartment that they were able to count only 6 men. They awakened Oakes and asked him where the seventh man was. Oakes pointed to the floor where a helmet was sitting and said, “Oh, he is under the helmet.” Believe it or not, the officer actually picked up the helmet to see if the American could be hiding there!
May 10, 1943 – Rained and was disagreeable almost all of the day. Had an invitation out to eat. No food, but plenty of conversation. Heard the canary sing very sweetly. (This camp has a radio hidden from the Germans, and are able to get the BBC news each night. After it has been received it is then distributed through several “editors” to the various buildings by word of mouth.) (...)
June 6, 1943 – (…) We finally get to Altburgund (Schubin, Poland), where we started a new camp – 21B. There was a group of Russian G.I.’s as POWs here. Tonight they sang, and their singing was very good. We are quartered in a large building that must have been a school at one time, as there are barracks rooms on the ends and administrative cubicles between the large rooms.
June 27, 1943 – Went to church (Catholic) in our small prison church with Dicks and Smith. By the way, this church is inside the compound, separated from the rest of the camp with a barbed wire fence, and we have made it off limits for any escape plans.
July 22, 1943 – No lists yet, but names selected by lot. Am not included and am disappointed. So was Smitty; however, Dicks was on the list. Work started amidst much noise and traffic. It is too well advertised! (These last two items refer to our initial tunnel which was started and the security committee selected those who would be the ones to go through the tunnel. However, there was entirely too much noise and loose talk about this matter. I am afraid that it will not come to a full conclusion of getting anyone out).
August 2, 1943 – (…) In the afternoon the Hitler Jügend and Mädchen marched by. (…) The German issue of cheese definitely has worms in it.
Oflag 64 group photo taken during a parole walk.
August 5, 1943 –We went on a parole walk and saw the outline of some military trenches. I
understand that this area contained some of the very last Polish resistance. Saw a windmill and the military road. (It could be that this refers to the outline of an old barbed wire compound. The wire was rusty, and it probably was a prisoner compound at one time.)
August 13, 1943 – 1995 parcels arrived from Geneva. Five British Red Cross and one tobacco parcel lost The Germans state they will shoot the culprits when found. One of the German guards at the railroad station gave me a bottle of beer. The local Church has a sign on it forbidding Poles to enter. This sign is also on certain other businesses in the community.
September 16, 1943 – (…) Had a chance to be in Willie Krick’s home. It was very nice. When he is not soldiering, he is the local printer. Certain houses in this village are designated as being suitable only for Poles.
September 20, 1943 – (…) There are five Italian officers here in Schubin. The Germans say they are to be turned in to this lager. One is reported to be a general. The Swiss legation was here. Received a box from home, with the candy removed. (…)
Captain Lumpkin ID photo pose.
September 30, 1943 – (…) Was surprised to hear one of the Polish workers speak English today. (…) These men are brought into the camp for specialized work such as repairing the ovens, electrical fixtures, etc. The German guards in the parcel hut say that times are bad in Germany. They know that they are retreating on both fronts.
October 5, 1943 – There was a hurried-up try today by four officers to escape and it failed.
October 6, 1943 – Van Vliet, Chappel, Aten, and Higgins attempt to cut through the wire and are caught red-handed, with maps, tools, food, etc. The Germans immediately had an appeal. They had a very difficult time attempting to count everyone after they arrived at the figure we later found that Schultz was asleep upstairs and had not been counted. Could it be that the Germans themselves do not know how many prisoners are in the camp?
October 10, 1943 – The Gestapo arrived as scheduled and searched the rooms of all the four who had escaped. There was quite a bit of excitement, and a mad rush to get everything hidden. Oberst Schneider came out and gave us a talk (sounding like a bull) which was translated by Minner (sounding like a mouse). The gist of it was, “Do not try to escape or you will be shot”.
December 10, 1943 – (…) One of the POWs has made a Christmas tree and decorated it with tin cans.
December 25, 1943 – Jake gave me a drink that they had distilled. Had many Christmas greetings. Thought of home and the kids.
December 31, 1943 – There is a big party tonight, with much gambling, games of chance, using lagermarks. It is amazing what people can do with improvisations. Received a tobacco parcel from Betty.
January 13, 1944 – Dr. Jacobs (Paul G.) filled a tooth for me and did a very good job. His drill was made from a small nail which he had fashioned into a bit and had hardened. With one of the cameras which had been sneaked into camp, was able to get pictures of the Missouri group and the occupants of #21.
February 24, 1944 – Lt. Curtis Jones injured by a loaf of bread falling from his locker on his foot. We are all certain that this bread is made from wood.
February 27, 1944 – Read and then took a walk around the compound in the fresh air. Noticed that most of the Germans off today were drunk as coots this afternoon but do not know why.
March 8, 1944 – E.S.U. (German Red Cross) and the Swiss are here. The Germans want to take some pictures showing the tables with tablecloths on and what looks like big steaming meals. Col. Drake refused to cooperate. He sure knows how to handle these Germans. He stated no pictures were to be taken unless they show the actual conditions.
Tony Lumpkin’s POW ID.
April 10, 1944 – As another hobby, I have undertaken the grafting of a few buds in some fir trees. Got in a hot argument (using my poor German) with two brown shirters outside the fence. They had just gotten down from a wagon to beat up a Pole for not returning the Nazi salute. They are the worst bullies I have ever seen.
April 23, 1944 – No mail. The boys are getting along O.K. but their signs are faint at times. (I believe this refers to the tunnel. There were several times we were almost caught. One time the ceiling of one of the rooms fell in from the weight of the dirt we had stored above. Believe it or not, we actually sewed the plaster back to the ceiling. Another incident this tunnel started out through an old
stove, and we barely got the stove back in place before the Germans arrived for an unexpected search of the building.)
(We kept the Germans busy looking in the obvious places for tunnels, two of which are worthy of reporting on these pages. It was the time of year to dig up for our garden, so I told Knorr that I was going to let him in on something – that I had been kept out of the escape group and the others were building a tunnel but would not let me participate. When he asked where the tunnel was I insinuated
that it was in the garden area. The next day a group of 150 Germans came in with spades and dug up the entire area and broke the ground up nicely for us to do our planting!)
(Another one was a trick employed by Dr. Jacobs and myself. Capt. Jacobs and I let it be known that we were feuding and on the verge of a fight for two or three days. One day, as Knorr was walking past one of the buildings, I rushed out with a box of sand to throw at Jacobs. Jake saw it coming, dodged and the box fell at Knorr’s feet. The box contained this very yellow sand which is about 25’
below the surface in the Schubin area. The following day the Germans came in and dug up the basement.)
May 2, 1944 – (…) Three more security parcels in. I have often wondered what will happen
when one of these parcels has its label torn off and is inadvertently opened by the wrong person.
May 6, 1944 – I am reading a number of detective novels. Larry Allen received some wine from Spain. After much fussing with the Germans, we said it was for religious purposes and were able to get through a bottle at a time. We have held all bottles until the total package could be passed through. Tonight we had a good drunk.
May 16, 1944 – The drunkards got out last night for a short time. Three were caught and two are still out. Van Vliet was unable to get out of the “bunker” as he could not work the lock. Two were caught about twilight. (…)
May 17, 1944 – We are expecting a Gestapo search. Just to play it safe I have hidden this diary.
May 18, 1944 – Higgins and Aten are caught and returned by the Germans, but they would not let Col. Drake talk to them. He immediately fired off a blistering letter to the Swiss. That guy certainly has the measure of the Germans.
May 25, 1944 – Two wagon loads of Polish peasants drove by today and returned our greetings by waving to us. They were immediately picked up by the Germans and sent to a concentration camp.
June 17, 1944 – The garden space has been broken up and assigned by messes. My mess is to take care of the beets. By dropping a hint that there is a tunnel in that area we got a platoon in here digging it up!*
* This was one of Captain Lumpkin’s favorite stories. When the camp started work in a garden, they found the ground extremely hard to work with the garden tools they had. They simply started a rumor that there was a tunnel in the area, and the Germans brought in a platoon to dig up the soil looking for a tunnel and, therefore, loosen the dirt for their garden.
July 4, 1944 – The SS band played. We even had the Star Spangled Banner, but they didn’t furnish us a flag. There were many carnival activities, horse races, athletic events, etc.
From left to right: 1st Lt. LeRoy Ihrie, Captain Tony Lumpkin, 1stLt. Henry Haynes, and 1st Lt. Amon Carter Jr. in the “Parcel Hut” at Oflag 64.
October 10, 1944 – 2280 private parcels arrive and are held up by Zimmerman and LeViseur at Dietfurt. We immediately protest. Also, 25 sacks of mail have come in by Reichspost and are held at the Kommandanture. The Germans repeat that they have an order saying that we may have only one
week’s supply on hand, and later say that we can have only one day’s supply of food or cigarettes. We protest.
November 17, 1944 – The Germans are digging many holes around the camp. Are they getting ready to blast, or is this for a seismograph device to learn if we are digging tunnels.
November 23, 1944 to December 19, 1944 – Much has happened, and this had to be hidden for many days. We have been without parcels for some six weeks, and then three cars came in. They are storing some of the parcels at Dietfurt. I insisted on going over to Dietfurt to see where they were stored. It turned out they had confiscated a Polish Catholic Church, moved out the pews, and that was our warehouse. I unloaded some of the parcels and had a chance to talk to some of the Poles.
December 27, 1944 – The Germans announce a special order sentencing Lt. Col. Schaefer and Lt. Smith to be shot for obstructing a German guard in the performance of his duty. If this book ever gets back to Washington, the only obstruction they gave was to protest the posting of an order on a bulletin board.
January 3, 1945 – We have several Polish officers here as POWs. Every effort is being made to protect their full identity, as some of these men actually came from this same general area of Poland.
January 20, 1945 – We have no inspection, but do get an alert order to move. The road in front of the camp is filled with refugees, all of them heading east. It looks just like what one sees of war pictures on the newsreels.
January 27, 1945 – About one-third of the buildings in Schubin had been burned down. Strangely enough, it appears that the Bahnhofmeister (station agent) at Schubin was actually a leader in the Polish underground, as he was now apparently a Bürgermeister for the village of Schubin. Willie Krick’s printing shop was burned down and there was no sign of Willie or his family.
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