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Private J. D. Caves: The Long Journey Home

POW in Libya

page 65

POW in Libya

“I wonder where you are my dear?”

page 66

Timeline of Events

22 July 1942

Denis captured at Ruweisat Ridge and transported to the British cage at Daba, Egypt. Five day journey by truck and trailer to Benghazi in Libya via Mersa Matruh, Tobruk, Derna and Barce.

30 July 1942

Denis arrived at Benghazi. He described his time there as very rough in a disease-ridden, fenced-in paddock.

September 1942

Denis transported by boat to the port of Taranto in Italy, from where he moved to Campo PG51 (transit camp) at Altamura in Southern Italy.

29 September 1942

Jean and Denis' family informed that Vatican City radio broadcast named Denis as POW in Benghazi. This is their first notification of Denis' whereabouts since July.

POWs after three months in the main transit camp at Benghazi, 1942.

POWs after three months in the main transit camp at Benghazi, 1942.

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19 July 1942 Opotiki, NZ

My Own Dear Denis,

I wonder where you are my dear. I still think you have not been in this fight. I always look through the list of names in the paper to see if any of the boys' names you mention are there. I do not know what I would do if you were one of them.

26 July 1942 Opotiki, NZ

My Dear Denis,

Well there has been no news of you lately but they say 'no news is good news' and I am hoping this is true. I wonder where you are my dear. It is hard to guess at a time like this, but I am listening to the news at present. I am not worrying very much as I know somehow you will be alright but I can't say the same for your mother.

I asked Dad about me enlisting in the army and he said I could go if I liked - that he wasn't going to stop anyone from going again. He had a lot of trouble with Jim. Dad wanted him to wait till he was 21. I have not decided what I will do - I will leave it for a while to see how things go.

End note: I had your cable this morning and so I know now that you are still 'in the land of the living' as the saying goes. I rang your mother straight away and she was very relieved.

Jean's letter returned. Denis' whereabouts unknown.

Jean's letter returned. Denis' whereabouts unknown.

Excerpt from Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War

This passage describes how the POWs taken at the Second Battle of Ruweisat Ridge, including Denis, travelled to Benghazi and ultimately to Italy.

Those taken at El Mreir on the morning of 22 July had an exhausting march back to a plateau, where they were left in the blazing sun without food or water. A soldier's diary runs:

"A scorching sun beat down on the shimmering rock. To lie was unbearable. To stand and feel the barely discernible breeze from the sea was impossible for more than a few seconds. Our legs were too weak to bear the weight of our bodies…. Chaps were offering watches for a cup of water."

Eventually transport came and took them to the prisoner-of-war cage at Daba. Many felt that the wearying marches back without food or water were intended to make sure that no one was in a fit state to regain his freedom by walking away.

The first stop for transport bringing back prisoners was the British cage at Daba, now in German hands-a piece of the desert enclosed by barbed wire. To men parched and some almost insensible from the exhaustion of their twenty-mile trek across the desert, the cool evening sea breeze restored some life. Officers and men were separated, there was usually another search, and an issue of half a mug of water and a few ounces of biscuit. Most men had no hunger, some had not even the necessary saliva to masticate food; for the most part they lay on the soft sand of the pen and tried to sleep. Many knew that this would be their best chance of escape-barely thirty miles from their own lines-but few had the physical resources to attempt it.

From Daba back to Benghazi prisoners were taken in large Italian trucks, sometimes in trailers, and often packed so tightly that it was only possible to stand. The journey by the coastal road took some four or five days, with stops at night wherever there was a barbed-wire pen to hold the prisoners. There was some kicking and the use of rifle butts by Italian guards, and the ration of biscuit and bully page 68

Letter sent to Denis' parents from Mrs Ada Gush in Taranaki

"Dear Sir, in case you didn't hear or receive word of a broadcast tonight from Italy (Vatican), I am writing to let you know that the name of Pte. J. Caves came over as a P.O.W. I am sorry there were no messages or camp number. If you haven't yet received letters I do hope it won't be long now. Hoping for an early peace and victory."

beef was all too little; but after the tortures of thirst during the first two days of captivity, men felt that so long as there was a reasonable amount of water they had something to be thankful for. The more fortunate were allowed to swim at Sollum or to wallow at a water point en route.

The compound at Mersa Matruh in Italian hands was the first place where thirsts were really slaked, and men were then able to take more interest in the dry rations that were issued. Some were interrogated here and, as at almost every staging point, there was a search; not many valuables remained in the possession of prisoners by the end of the journey. As at other staging camps, most men had only shirt and shorts to sleep in.

Tobruk's large prisoner-of-war compound was on the escarpment at the edge of the aerodrome. A prisoner gives his first impression on debussing:

"Seen through clouds of racing dust it seemed a hopeless confusion, shanties, blanket-huts, tin shelters and tents all higgelty-piggelty and strung together with string and rope. There was a babel of tongues and a confusion of outlandish figures and dresses-South African Blacks, Indians, Gurkas, Siamese, Springboks, Tommies and Kiwis were living together, cheek-by-jowl. All conventional values were gone. The private no longer deferred to his officer nor black man to white."

There were further staging camps at Derna and Barce, with groundsheet tents at the former and huts at the latter. At Derna an Italian commandant with 'reprisal mania' kept the prisoners short of water, allowed guards to loot and bully, and generally kept conditions as uncivilised as possible. At Barce a well-disposed commandant did all he could to provide them with necessities and to see the sick properly cared for. From Derna most of the officers were flown to Lecce, in Italy.

The end of their journey brought most of the other ranks to a camp a few kilometres south-east of Benghazi in a small stony wadi with steep sides, about 50 yards wide and 350 yards long. An oasis thickly planted with tall, shady date palms, it became known to the prisoners as the 'Palm Tree camp'. There were two main compounds, one for Free French and coloured troops and the other for British, the latter an area of about two and a half acres, which soon held over a thousand prisoners and a little later 2600. Within the wire there were buildings for a cookhouse, storehouse and orderly room; there were also bivouac groundsheets for page 69about 500 men, numbers of which were grouped together to form makeshift shelters somewhat after the fashion of sprawling bedouin tents.

Barbed-wire fences lined the tops of the gully sides, and the guards 'looked down on [the prisoners] as though it was a bear pit'. There was no sand and men slept on stones or hard rock with a top layer of dirt, many without coat or groundsheet; during the camp's most crowded period 'you could hardly step between the bodies' at night. Fleas and mosquitoes helped to make rest difficult. Latrines were dug on the slopes, but space was limited and there were always too few; in time the sewage seeped down into the central sleeping and eating area and a constant stench hung about the windless wadi. The place was partly redeemed by a plentiful supply of water from a spring, and there were even cold showers of a kind.

The food compared favourably with that of other transit camps: in the morning sweetened black substitute coffee, a quarter pound of tinned meat and more than half a pound of bread of inferior quality, and at night a cup of rice stew and half a lemon. Men brought some variety into their daily meals by cooking up the various elements of the ration, until the commandant placed a ban on fires to prevent the camp buildings disappearing as fuel. The one cookhouse which served the whole camp was difficult to control; unguarded rations quickly disappeared and others were sold at exorbitant prices, for under such circumstances money and treasure lose their value by comparison with food. Most men derived too little nourishment from the diet and became weak and listless. A great number soon had dysentery, spread by the swarms of flies, and there were never-ending queues for the latrines day and night. It was fortunate that there were British doctors at the camp to do what they could with the limited medical supplies for the hundreds of cases of digestive disorders and desert sores which daily lined up for treatment.

There were a number of books which circulated by a system of barter, and a few men had packs of cards or made them from cigarette cartons. Some made draughtboards, and chessmen from green dates or the rubber fittings of a steel helmet. Men talked over their capture and experiences in this campaign or in others. Some were bitter about their capture: 'It's hardly worth fighting for people who use you as an anti-tank weapon.' Others were more philosophical: 'Not having a clear perspective of the whole show, I shall not attempt to judge'. Apart from those on the war, there were endless discussions on food and the possibilities of escape. Rumours swept the camp periodically about a British breakthrough or the interception by the Royal Navy of ships taking prisoners across to Italy. At night some men found it possible, while gazing at the brilliant stars and moon through waving palm-fronds, to forget the filth and misery of the camp and substitute a romantic picture of happier circumstances.

In August and September the POWs were transferred from Benghazi to Italy, some via Tripoli to Naples but mostly from Benghazi to Bari. This journey was both unpleasant, as POWs were shipped in the holds of merchant ships, and fraught with danger as the POW transport ships became targets for the RAF and Royal Navy. The Nino Bixio, carrying thousands of POWs, was torpedoed and, while it didn't sink, many POWs were killed.

Denis nearly travelled on the Nino Bixio.

Denis' Remarks on Imprisonment at Benghazi

Related by Jean Caves and Michael Caves, Christmas 2003.

When they were captured, the older, more experienced soldiers including Denis did not rid themselves of all their gear. They only dropped what would be considered a threat to the Germans and kept blankets, food and letters. Blankets and food came in handy in the Benghazi camp where there was no shelter and little food. It was the younger POWs (under 25) and older POWs (over 40) who typically died in the camp. The younger ones needed more sleep and food and water; they hadn't hardened up.

page 70
Post Card for War Prisoners issued to Denis at Benghazi on arrival 30 July 1942.

Post Card for War Prisoners issued to Denis at Benghazi on arrival 30 July 1942.

page 71
The route Denis travelled from capture at Ruweisat Ridge in Egypt to Benghazi.He was then shipped via Greece to Taranto in Italy.

The route Denis travelled from capture at Ruweisat Ridge in Egypt to Benghazi.He was then shipped via Greece to Taranto in Italy.

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