In 1943, Walter Laine was 25 years old and employed as a kitchen worker by the Germans in Guernsey.
Walter was arrested in early 1943 for ‘failing to deliver a wireless set’ instructed by the occupying forces. At his trial on 12 July 1943 he was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment. It is likely that Walter was sent firstly to France spending one night in St Malo Prison and a few days in St Lŏ Prison before being transferred to Fort d’Hautville Prison in Dijon.
On 19 December 1943 he was transferred to Saarbrucken Prison and then to Frankfurt am Main Preungesheim Prison. Walter was one of seven Channel Islanders transferred to this prison on 7 January 1944 and was the only one of these seven to return to the Channel Islands alive.
Walter completed his sentence on 25 October 1944, but rather than being released he was transferred to Frankfurt am Main Klapperfeld Police Prison.
Allied advances into Germany led to Walter being force marched to the last of his prisons at Staublin. From there he was force marched towards Dachau Concentration Camp.
Walter together with two other Guernseymen managed to escape on this forced march near Freising which was still behind enemy lines. Whilst hiding in a farmer’s hayloft American soldiers walked in thus ending their living nightmare.
Of the forced march Walter wrote:
‘On our forced march across Germany many of those on it died through starvation, malnutrition or utter exhaustion and if they fell by the wayside they were just left there to die. Fortunately I survived, though I was in very bad shape.
We slept out in fields in the pouring rain……..food was one meal per day, dry bread with a well watered down apology for jam. Villagers put out baths of fresh water for us to drink, some even gave us food, but to be caught by the guards meant that anything could happen to one. If caught, the result was to be knocked senseless or killed with a rifle butt. We were told that stragglers would be shot; quite a number were.’
Letter from Guernsey to Mr Walter Laine at Frankfurt am Main Preungesheim Prison.
The following information regarding this cover has been obtained from Michael Wieneke. Mail (except between the prisoner and his lawyer) was opened, censored and resealed with the small tape reading ‘Gefangenbrief – Verschluss’ (Prisoners mail sealing tape) before being handed to the prisoner. The manuscript marking in the left hand corner was added by a prison guard and shows the letter arrived at the prison on 21 June 1944. The fact that a letter had already been censored in the normal way before reaching the prison was without interest to the prison administration who then carried out their examination of the contents.
The list of prisons where Walter Laine was held were St Malo, St Lo, Dijon, Fort d’Hautville, Saarbrucken, Frankfurt am Main-Preungesheim and Frankfurt am Main-Klapperfield Police Prison. See illustration on next page of the envelope back and the small sealing label.
