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These gripping reminiscences are penned by a victim, now in his late nineties, who witnessed the worst atrocities of the Nazis at first hand. While on active service with the Royal Artillery during the Second World War, he was taken prisoner following the Battle of Crete in 1941 and was then held prisoner of war for three years, initially in Austria, then Hungary, and eventually at the infamous Zemun concentration camp near Belgrade. He was to escape from there in 1944. He was later awarded the military medal for his heroic service during wartime. The author spent his formative years in rural Carmarthenshire during the 1930s, a period of poverty and depression. Having enlisted in 1940, he describes his military training as 'Davies 720' at Kinmel Park camp near Rhyl in north-east Wales. His first destination was Egypt, based at Port Said, where his driving abilities proved useful to the regiment, but where he was to witness no active military conflict. In November 1940 he was despatched to Crete, where he and his colleagues were the target of Nazi bombers. Davies was captured and became a German prisoner of war, imprisoned at Maleme in the north of the island. Following an escape attempt, Salonica on the Greek mainland was his next destination, the home of thousands of allied prisoners of war, where conditions were harsh and the unappetising rations in woefully short supply, especially for young men who were required to undertake hard physical labour every day. Outbreaks of malaria were especially common there, among other diseases. Davies's eventual destination was the notorious concentration camp Stalag 18A where he was to become 'prisoner 5382'. The Russian prisoners of war there, loathed by the Nazis, were subject to even greater atrocities than the British. The author's thoughts inevitably turned to the hope of escape and, together with two companions, he made a break for it in December 1943, travelling through Hungary and heading south towards the border with Yugoslavia where they faced a spate of harrowing yet exciting experiences outlined with gusto in this volume. To their horror, they were captured and again imprisoned by the Hungarian military authorities at Komarom. Their next move was to Szigetvar in the south of Hungary where they were to labour on an estate in return for bed and board in quite comfortable conditions. But the German invasion of Hungary soon followed, and the author and his associates were again imprisoned at a place called Siklos near Szigetvar before being transferred to a concentration camp at Zemun in Yugoslavia, truly 'hell on earth', according to Davies. Here he was to witness 'scenes of unfathomable cruelty' by the guards. The place was the target of American bomber attacks in April 1944, when at least 200 people lost their lives there. But the chaos which ensued gave Davies and his associate Norman McLean the opportunity to make a further escape attempt. A hard road lay ahead as they fled across Europe in the company of the Partisans. Eventually, following some harrowing experiences recounted vividly here, they were able to fly from Yugoslavia to Bari in southern Italy 'the sweetest experience imaginable' for him by this stage in the war. Together with his five travelling companions, he was transferred the 165 miles across the country to Naples and eventually arrived back in the United Kingdom in September 1944. The final part of the reminiscences describes his sterling efforts to settle back into the routine of civilian life at home, where he eventually became an electrician and set up his own business, which he was to run for forty years. He also gave valuable service as a local councillor. To conclude, there is an account of the fate of fellow prisoners of war with whom he remained in contact, and of his return visits to Crete to attend the annual reunions of the Battle of Crete in May 1941, a poignant experience for Davies and his wife. The reunion of May 2016, the seventy-fifth anniversary, was especially momentous for the author, who believes that the significance of the battle has been largely forgotten because Britain lost. His clear insights, written sixty years later, are a very useful window into the experiences of British troops in the southern Mediterranean, but this account is no war-film screenplay. There is no caricaturing or glamorising, merely the faithful recording of events which still disturb over 70 years on, and which testify to the heroic resilience of the human spirit even in its very darkest hours. J. Graham Jones It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council. Gellir defnyddio'r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru. -- Welsh Books Council
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