As Anzac Day approaches, Listener writers reflect on the enduring influence of war on New Zealand. Here, the family of POW Jack Grainger share a surprise discovery which reveals more about individual soldiers’ experiences of war.
Jack Grainger (top left) was an Auckland printer who rose from industry apprentice to owning his own business, Grainger Graphics. So it was quite a surprise for his daughter, Diane Thornton, to find a booklet bearing the label Elementary Reinforced Concrete amid his possessions after he died.
Flipping through the pages, she did wonder why her father had said, “Don’t throw away the Reinforced Concrete book,” not long before he died at the age of 88. He’d never mentioned it previously. Thornton found the front section – presumably about the properties of concrete – had been torn out. Ruled pages in the rest of the book were covered in pencilled script immediately recognisable as the handwriting of her father.
The pages were a diary of the last days of World War II, when Sydney-born John Elliot “Jack” Grainger, prisoner 7541, was marched across southern Germany with the other men from Stalag 383 in Hohenfels, Bavaria. Initially a troop camp for the Germany army, in 1939 it became a prisoner-of-war camp for Allied non-commissioned officers at first, later expanding to take in all ranks.
The Grainger kids – Diane, Peter and David – knew their father had been a POW. Jack, who spent his youth between Australia and New Zealand, ultimately settling in Auckland, was a member of the 2nd NZ Expeditionary Force’s 24th infantry battalion when he was captured on the beach at Kalamata, Greece, on April 28, 1941. He remained in German custody until the end of the war. But he never mentioned keeping a diary at the time, or of keeping the book itself.
“There was a [Stalag] 383 reunion [in Auckland] every year, so we grew up going to that and getting to know other kids whose dads had been prisoners,” says Thornton, who lives in Christchurch.
Mementoes
The children were familiar with Jack’s other mementoes of war, which he kept in a Queen Anne chocolate box. It held his medals, dog tags, photos from the camp and programmes of various camp entertainments such as Gilbert & Sullivan operettas.
“With 7000 men held for four years, they had to come up with things to amuse themselves with,” says Thornton. (The Australian War Memorial website notes that Stalag 383’s “one redeeming feature was that the German commander was a Freemason who exercised his harsh duty with compassion and whatever sympathy he dared”.)
“Dad told us stories about the shows and the food and the Red Cross parcels and how they would burn every second slat off their wooden bunks just to keep warm in the winters.”
But the Elementary Reinforced Concrete notebook was never mentioned: it was too big to fit in the chocolate box but still Jack held on to it, across house moves and then into aged-care facilities. The family assumes the book would have been distributed to POWs via the Red Cross, which provided writing paper, books and study materials for lectures the prisoners organised. It is now a family taonga and kept preserved in an acid-free envelope.
After the war, Jack returned to New Zealand and resumed his trade. He married music teacher and talented pianist Freda Crook, whom he mentions in the diary. He and Freda lived in Onehunga then Mangere Bridge in Auckland, where he was active in the community, serving on the board of governors of Onehunga High School and as a Manukau City councillor. In later life, the Graingers moved to Gore and Dunedin, to be closer to Thornton and her family. Freda died in Dunedin in March 2003, Jack, just a month later. They had been married for 57 years.
The Last Days of WWII
With an Allied rescue imminent, Jack Grainger and fellow prisoners were marched south.
Wednesday, April 11 (1945)
Today, we saw the greatest aerial activity I have ever seen since my gefangener [prisoner] days began. Starting about midday, wave after wave of heavy Liberators (US aircraft) accompanied by fighters swooped over the camp. Nuremberg, Regensburg and Munich were the targets according to the BBC tonight; 1300 heavier 800 fighters took part. I can well believe it. To think that in Greece I saw 150 Jerries in the air at once and thought it was a colossal armada. Received four letters today, two from Mum, one each from Freda and Peg.
Thursday, April 12
Last night, we were kept awake for hours by convoy after convoy of Jerry army trucks passing the camp. They seemed to come from the north east. The ring is steadily drawing in around Nuremberg. Hope our white trucks get through to us tomorrow.
Friday, April 13
President Roosevelt died last night from a cerebral haemorrhage. Vice President Truman was sworn in as president. The San Francisco Peace Conference will go on as scheduled. Four white angels (Red Cross trucks) arrived today from Meusburg (Moosburg]. Ten were scheduled. It’s rumoured that the remaining six will arrive tomorrow. There is also a truck at the station which has been there awaiting transport to the camp for a couple of days. It contains Canadian parcels, three cases of which have been pinched by some enterprising Jerry. That’s the trouble with the stuff having a rest on a siding. It’s too damn convenient for the hungry populace. Not that I blame them for trying it. I’d do the same myself in their position but I do blame the authorities for letting them get away with it. The commandant called the Coy Commanders (prisoner leaders) together today and the gist of his sprechen (speech) is this. He received orders to evacuate the camp to area 7. Area 7 which is controlled by Meusburg refused to accept us as they had enough kriegies (POWs) pouring in from eastern stalags without complicating matters with 7000-odd from here. After that, he said we were placed under Area 13 which operates from Nuremberg. Since then, the officers of Area 13 have evacuated Nuremberg to Bayreuth. Since then, he has heard no word from them at all & expects none. He gave the boys more or less a summary of the military position and that there was an American column heading this way. He said that he himself had no desire to become a prisoner and that when the Americans get near enough he & his staff would leave us. He stated, however, that he would hang on to the last possible minute, because if he went too soon, the guerrilla fanatics in the area would probably cause us a lot of trouble. He further stated that in the event of heavy fighting in the area, which would endanger us from artillery or bombing, he would issue orders to open the gates and allow us to disperse in the hills.
He hopes to have the camp in good health and order when the Yanks arrive …
He is one German for whom I have a lot of respect. Ever since we have been here he has always behaved as a gentleman. He allowed us many concessions & did all in his power to lessen the burden of kriegie life. Later … the four trucks contained international parcels. They are not sufficient for a half issue to the camp as they are in bad condition. They are to be broken up and issued as bulk. Tomorrow, a party of 200 men is to go down to Parsberg with handcarts to bring the Canadian parcels out of the truck there. This will mean a march of over 20 miles for them. The issue next week will then consist of half an English or Canadian parcel plus the bulk from the French parcels. Latest details of conditions at Meusburg are of acute shortage of petrol so we will be lucky if we see the other six trucks. Latest news of the battle front is that Bamberg and Bayreuth have fallen. Montgomery is reported to have said that “it’s only a matter of days” in words to that effect.
Saturday, April 14
The 200-odd volunteers left the camp at 7am and arrived back at 4pm. A pretty good performance, I think. They pulled six cases of parcels on each handcart. Shortly after they left Parsberg station on the return trip, the Yankee airmen came over and strafed the station. They took to the woods for safety but were not attacked. The armies around the Elbe way seem to be doing pretty much as they please but they don’t seem to be going fast through this area to please us, although George wound up the bee class this morning saying that he thought next week would see us out of here & he had a few things he would do. Bloody optimist! Had a stroll with Joe Reeman tonight. He urges me to make a stay at his place when I’m in London – he’s one of the best – I guess I will.
Sunday, 12 noon
News Flash: the Commandant, Neil, Mackenzie and the French camp leader have been observed in solemn conclave –signs of excitement.
1.30pm: the truth is out. At a meeting of Coy Commanders, the following information was given. The Commandant has received orders to evacuate this camp. One-third of camp to be on the march tonight. Neil and Mac have protested on the grounds that 75% of camp personnel are unfit to stand the march and that any such march would have a high percentage of casualties. Result – at the moment we refuse to co-operate in move, therefore if they want to move us they must use armed force. We are now awaiting the results of a fourth meeting to be held at three. Anyway, I’m all packed and ready for any eventuality.
Report of the 3 o’clock meeting is that the commandant is stalling for time by sending an officer to HQ to acquaint them of our refusal to move and get further orders. In the meantime, it looks as though we won’t have to move tonight anyway. We are getting ½ parcel per man lobbed out tonight and the bulk will be issued as soon as sorted. The Yanks are reported to be about 30 miles away.
Tuesday, May 2
Here we are, one week out on the great trek. We left Hohenfels at 6pm after spending the day parked in a field by the bunker. We were well loaded up with Red X grub and with our packs looked like mules. We had made a hand cart the previous day and we started out with our clothing and blankets, etc, on our backs, and grub and utensils in the cart.
We marched that night a distance of about 12 kilos (kilometres) to the American digs which the Yanks had evacuated an hour or so before. On the way, we saw the effects of the Yanks ground-strafing in the shape of burnt out trucks and dead horses. We brewed up during the night by an old water-driven timber mill and our camp fires must have been visible for miles.
Wednesday afternoon
We started again and marched about 15 kilos to wind up in a field outside a monastery by the banks of a tributary of the Danube. There was a church across the road with twin spires. During Thursday morning, the Yankee fighters came over and waggled their wings at us. We abandoned the cart here as its wooden axle was almost through.
At 11am Thursday, they put us on the march again and this day’s march was a killer. We were on the move for 12 hours with about two hours’ rest during that period. There was a great deal of air activity. The Yanks were bombing and strafing in great style. They left us well alone, however, occasionally looking us over and waggling their wings. The city of Regensburg straddles the Danube and we had to get across that night so hence the forced march. It took us hours to march through from one side to the other, crossing the Danube in our stride. The civilian population was friendly enough and some of the boys dropped off and were hidden in the houses by the civvies. We eventually stopped for the remainder of the night on the grounds of an old farm house. Next morning, we were busily brewing up when there was a loud explosion and three kriegies fell to the ground severely injured. One of them was Jack Davidson. They had built their fire on an unnoticed antipersonnel bomb. We were told later by the Jerries that there were hundreds of them lying about after each air raid. One of the earlier 383 parties passing through the same area had a man killed by the same manner. We breakfasted there, marched a short distance then stopped for about two hours and dined.
After about 10 kilos, we reached our present position. We are parked on a farm in a small village. We have a number of barns to sleep in and also have a number of whares which we built of straw. The first night here the weather broke and “viel regen bekomt [a downpour]”.
Jeffrey Matelot and I slept in the field with our blankets covered with straw. It was all right until the rain really began to do its best and by morning I was soaked. The white ladies (Red Cross) arrived and we were issued during the day with 1¼ parcels per man. Made up of English, Canadian and American. Today there is another issue of Red X grub and the trucks are due again tomorrow. In fact, we are actually getting too much food as we expect to pull out of here tonight and will have to carry the lot. We are eating as much as we can but as we have been issued by the Jerries with plenty of spuds, bread and meal and have also bought eggs and bread from the civvies we just can’t keep up with the food. Lots of the boys, including Ernie and Len, are suffering from diarrhoea due to the sudden change from semi-starvation rations to our present lavish ones. The Red X are certainly doing a good job for prisoners on the march. We have set up a radio receiver here and get all the latest guff. The Yanks reached Regensburg only a couple of days after us. Last night, there was a heavy artillery duel going on in that direction – have seen a couple of American bombers shot down by flak. The crews of each of them bailed out.
I have enjoyed the whole business. So far, it’s been one huge picnic. The sun is shining now and I think most of the rain is gone. Pussy has done a marvellous job as cook and we are living like lords. Since we have been here, we’ve had porridge, bacon & eggs for breakfast each morning, huge dinners and teas comprising meats, vegetables, spuds, puddings and several incidental snacks of cocoa, tea, coffee, etc and biscuits. We are nine of us in the combine, eight of us from out of the old hut plus Whig Cunningham. The eight consist of Pussy, Matelot, Len, Artie, Ernie, Jeffery, Charlie and myself. We have adopted one of the guards, an old bloke who in return for an occasional cup of tea or coffee does our trading for us. He is very honest and independent and doesn’t like taking the least thing from us without giving something in return. He won’t take a damned thing for the deal he put over for us with Artie’s shoes.
Though we are due to move out of this village tonight, the BBC gave out this morning that the German High Command had assured the Allies that they would not move prisoners on the roads to screen the retreating army. I don’t know if that affects us or not but the front line is only about 20 kilos away and if a break across the Danube occurs near Regensburg there is quite a chance of them coming this way.
They met the Americans. The war ended and Jack was flown to England in a Lancaster bomber. On May 22, 1945, his parents received a telegram to say he was safe in the UK. He returned to New Zealand by ship in September. Jack and Freda married on 27 October, 1945.
