George Thickbroom
4500 Private George Thickbroom
1/6th Battalion, The South Staffordshire Regiment
George was captured by the Germans on the 1st July at Fouquevilliers, on the Somme. He was wounded during this diversionary attack, receiving a broken thigh.
George was repatriated via Holland on the 28th December 1917.
Family history
To be researched
Prisoner of War
After his repatriation he was interviewed on 12th January 1918, a record of this is held in the National Archives, reference WO/161/99/234.
An extract from the War History of the 6th Battalion South Staffordshire
Regiment (T.F) for the first day on the Somme is shown below (War
History available on CD, see links page).
At 7.25 a.m. the leading waves moved to the advanced trench, under cover of the smoke screen which was put up at that time, and shortly before 7.30 the attack was launched. The movement was carried out as it had been in practice, but the enemy’s fire was intense, and from the very start casualties were heavy. The smoke screen, after settling down, drifted parallel with the front instead of towards the enemy, with the result that when halfway across No Man’s Land the assaulting waves came within full view of the enemy. On reaching the wire men looked in vain for the openings they had expected. It had been cut by our artillery, but no guns could remove it, and it remained in such masses as effectually to prevent a passage. The only place where progress was possible was at the re-entrant on the left, where a gap had been made,* and here some of ” D ” Company managed to gain a footing in the enemy’s front line, but were soon outnumbered and fell. The bombers, under Lieut. Flaxman, had by previous arrangement made for this same gap, and were able to get within touch of the enemy. The wire, however, prevented them from getting to grips, and they were shot down in the open. On the right flank, ” C ” Company had got in touch with detached parties of the enemy in the neighbourhood of the ” Sucherie,” a ruined sugar factory between the opposing lines; but they could make no headway and suffered heavily.
For the rest, those men who passed through the barrages and escaped the machine-gun fire could make no progress past the enemy’s wire, and on the fronts of ” A ” and ” B ” Companies no gaps existed. This was ascertained by Captain Mander, who inspected the front allotted to both Companies and. satisfied himself before returning to report. How he himself came through unscathed, with his usual good fortune, is a thing to marvel at, considering the time which he spent in full view and under the direct fire of the enemy.
It need hardly be said that the casualties were severe. The total of 239, most of which occurred within the space of a few minutes, represented a large proportion of the fighting strength actually engaged in the attack.
A transcription from the interview of George on the 12th
January 1918 is shown below.
| Name, Rank, No. and Regiment | Thickbroom, George, Private, No. 4500, 6th South Staffords |
| Home address | 75, Duke Street, Wolverhampton. |
| Place and date of capture | Fouquevilliers, 1st July 1916 |
| Nature of Wound, if any | Broken thigh. |
|
I am 22 years of age; before the war I was a labourer. Previously to my capture I never witnessed any breach by the enemy of any of the laws and usages of war. |
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| On my capture I was taken first to a field dressing station, where I was properly looked after; there was no cruelty shown to me or to any of my comrades. | |
| St. Quentin Hospital, July 4-22, 1916 | I was then taken to hospital at St. Quentin, where I was kept from the 4th till the 22nd July. I was allowed to weite, and did write, about six postcards to my people at home. None of these were received. All were addressed to my brother, James Thickbroom, at 75, Duke Street, Wolverhampton. |
| Journey, July 22-24, 1916 | On the 22nd July 1916 I was taken from St. Quentin and sent to Ohrdruf, where I arrived on the 24th after two days’ journey. I was badly treated on the way as regards food, but not otherwise, having only coffee and one slice of bread during the two days. I asked a German doctor on the train for some white bread, but he said he had not seen any in Germany for two years - I noticed this particularly, because the war had not been going on for as long as two years. Neither the military guard nor any one else interfered with me in any way. There was one Red Cross man to each carriage; the one in my carriage behaved quiet well; about the others I can say nothing; I do not know. |
| Ohrdruf Hospital, July 24, 1916 - Jan. 29, 1917 | On arriving at Ohrdruf we were taken 4 or 5 miles to the hospital in open carts. It was pouring with rain. I do not know the number of the hospital, but my ward was "Lazarette C L 2". There were ten other wards besides mine - mine contained about 70 beds, all occupied by Englishmen while I was there; we were replaced by Russians and French, also some Roumanians. In the hospital (I was never in Ohrdruf Camp) the plaster-of-paris which has been put on my leg at St. Quentin was taken off by the French doctors, who continued to look after me till November 1916, when they were replaced by a Russian doctor. I do not know the names. The German doctor in control of the hospital was Dr. Stearn; he used to come and see me about twice a week. He treated me well because his brother-in-law is a prisoner in England (or so I heard), and I have no complaint to make of him. But I do not think he was skillful, and I believe he made a muddle of several amputations. I do not believe they had a proper supply of medicines at Ohrdruf; anyhow, they never gave me any. For diarrhoea they used to give the fellows cold tea. The nursing was done by French orderlies, who did not treat me well; they kept food from me and the other patients. Their sergeant, whose name is, I think, Crapaud, was disliked by everyone. The food is in a terrible condition. In the morning I had a slice of bread to last me all day; at 12.30 we had dinner, consisting of barley water, vegetables (never meat), and no other meal during the day. We were only kept alive by parcels from England. The sanitary arrangements were all right. No instance of different treatment between nationalities came under my notice. I had no operation beyond having four tubes put into my leg, which saved it from having to be cut off. I had no anaesthetic when the tubes were put in nor when they were taken out. Both operations were very painful. By the time I was able to get up my English uniform had been sent me. The Germans gave me no clothing of any description, and I never asked them for any. For bedclothes we had a pillow and two blankets each; they were never changed the whole time I was there. |
| Journey, Jan. 29 1917 | On the 29th January 1917 I was taken from Ohrdruf to Langensalza. We went to the station in a cart roofed in with a blanket, which collapsed and let the snow in, one of the chaps in the cart died eight days later. |
| Langensalza, Jan. 29 - Feb. 2 1917 | On arriving at Langensalza, our party (nine in number) stayed there for two days (Hospital Barrack 7), where the treatment and accommodation was much the same as at Ohrdruf. |
| Journey, Feb. 2-4, 1917 | On the 2nd February 1917 we were searched and all souvenirs taken from us, and we were taken by train to Aachen, where we arrived two days later. On the journey we had only two lots of soup, nothing else, and the man above referred to as having died did so, as I believe, partly from the effects of this starvation. |
| Aachen, Feb. 4-April 16, 1917 | At Aachen we were first, for about eight days, at the Exchange depot, and then we were taken to a Machine Technical School used as a convalescent hospital. At this place I was bandaged every two days, which was enough for me; but other cases which required more frequent treatment were not given it. There was plenty of medicine here, there being Germans in another ward. The nurses were kind to the English prisoners; the beds were as good as in England, also the bed clothing. The food was a great improvement on the other places. The sanitary arrangements were very good; the English and German wounded had the same food. The doctors were German. I do not know the names of any; they were humane. I was X-rayed there; no other operation. |
| Langensalza, April 16-December 28, 1917 | On the 16th April 1917 I was taken back to Langensalza. I have no complaint about the journey this time. When I got there I was again placed in Hospital Barrack 7, and there I remained till the 18th August. My treatment there was as follows: A young German doctor (name unknown to me) visited each patient every morning; the dressings were done by French and Russian orderlies. The supply of medicines was short. Sanitary arrangements and other matters were very similar to Ohrdruf. There were no nurses. On the 18th August 1917 I was transferred to the camp at Langensalza. I do not remember the Commandant’s name, but he used to be a lace manufacturer at Nottingham. Nor do I know the name of second in command. These men only turned up about once a month to inspect kit and the like. I was in a barrack with beds on a long shelf and not heated in any way. There was a wash-house where we could go, and plenty of water. There were no closets, only two long troughs kept clean by Russian fatigue men. Being a cripple I was not employed in any way. The others were employed in cleaning the camp, &c., and those who got outside work were paid 3d. or 4d. a day. So far as I know, no one was ever asked to make munitions. The food was similar to what I got at Ohrdruf. The canteen was good for cleaning tackle - cups, brushes &c., at the dry canteen; beer, wine, lemonade, cigars and cigarettes at the wet. I only drank the lemonade, which cost 2d. a bottle, and was "just water"; the cigars were 3d. each; the cigarettes at 8d. a packet were unsmokeable. A chap was glad to exchange a whole packet for on English cigarette. The food from England arrived in good condition. Nothing in the way of clothing was asked for or supplied. Being a cripple I took no exercise; the others were able to play with footballs supplied from England. Indoors we had cards, draughts, &c., all supplied from England. About a fortnight before I left all smoking indoors was suddenly forbidden, for fear, I suppose, of fire. The only epidemic was dysentery - a good many of the chaps got it. The Englishmen had a service every Sunday evening, singing hymns. We had to pay for the gas used at these services, or at any concert we got up. As to postal arrangements, my letters and parcels were regularly received, except between 5th February 1917 and the end of June, during which period I only got five parcels. My parcels were all opened, but never in my presence. Except the five parcels above mentioned (from which contents were lost - some of them I mean) I never missed anything. Writing papers, newspapers, &c., were forbidden. I was allowed to write two letters and four postcards every month. As to my treatment generally, I think I was properly treated except as regards food. I should have died except for the parcels from England. The only case of cruelty of which I know is the case of a French Senegalese, who was sick and refused to go out and work in the camp, whereupon a German sentry bayoneted him in the back. I do not know the names of either. The Senegalese was in hospital when I last heard of him. This was at Langensalza, in May 1917. After this instant the guard was removed from the camp, and I never saw him again. As to discipline, the rules were posted up in each barrack in the camp. I do not remember what they were. One man in the Staffords (name not known to me) got 14 days’ imprisonment for having too much money. I cannot recall any other instances. I saw the American Embassy people only once, viz. at Ohrdruf in September 1916. They were only allowed to speak to the prisoners in the presence of a German captain. The place was thoroughly cleaned up in expectation of their arrival. No improvements of any kind followed this visit. I know nothing at all about the Irish Brigade. As to insanity, I know that some prisoners went mad, but the only one I know is Fox, of the Scots Guards, who is now in an asylum at Cassel. It was never suggested to me that I should assume German nationality. I noticed no improvement in the conditions during my captivity. I have never heard of a camp where no letters are allowed. In November 1917, 7,000 Italians came to our camp at Langensalza, and a few days later 2,000 were taken away (as they supposed and as I believe) to work behind the lines on the Russian front. I say that Ohrdruf was a branch camp of Langensalza. Parcels were during the whole of my time censured at Ohrdruf. Mostly all the tins were taken away. I have seen Englishmen come to the camp from working behind the lines, where I am told they are allowed to write letters, but the letters never arrive and they get no letters and no parcels. Instances are Privates King and Baird, of the 1st South Staffs. Sometimes men are kept behind the lines for two or three months before being sent to a camp. I know of no English prisoner becoming a German or having German sympathies. I had no parcels while waiting at Aachen to be repatriated. I cannot give any comparative statement of rations, my experience being that the rations were much the same throughout. Throughout my time none but quite old men and boys were employed on guard at the camps. I know nothing about food disturbances, preventive arrest, &c., but I have heard German soldiers singing "The Kaiser’s Kaput, the Kaiser’s Kaput" in chorus. I know nothing about the old men being called up or trained. Of course I have heard tell of riots in Berlin, but I cannot say for sure, and I do not know anything about it. While travelling by train (and by motor ambulance through Aachen), I noticed that no shops were open, and that the streets seem deserted. This applied to Aachen, Langensalza, and Ohrdruf |
| Opinion of examiner | This man seemed to me to be an intelligent and reliable witness. |
| 12th January 1918 H.B. VAISEY, 3, New Square, Lincoln’s Inn, London, W.C.2 |