The following photographs all courtesy D Hobbs. The above photograph left, shows David sitting on the left wearing his Naval hat.  He is standing extreme left, third row in the photograph on the right. David took part in several shows at BAB21, many men performing speciality acts they had perfected prior to military service or had learned in camp.   Professional and amateur musicians  held music lessons in camp with many men keen to learn.  Lots of prisoners stated that it was the camp activities that helped them through the years of captivity.  Prior to call up David worked at a bank,  during captivity and through a correspondence course David passed his banking qualifications.  He kept a diary whilst in captivity, detailing parcels from home he recieved and lots of other information including the camps he had been in and details of the beginning of the long march prior to setting off on the 21st January 1945. ...

David Hobbs, along with the rest of the crew and the Highland Division prisoners, were force marched from the St Valery-en-Caux area all the way to Bremen. Below, pages from Davids diary showing the route of the march. Many men tell similar  stories of being marched through towns into captivity.  Some were paraded through a small town twice, German soldiers keen to show victory over the British Army.  Some townsfolk, mostly women, would offer food to the prisoners.  The German guards would show no mercy to anyone offering the prisoners food or water, buckets of water put out for the prisoners would be immediately kicked over by the guards,  many women were struck with rifle butts for offering food. Below.  More pages from Davids diary showing the camps he was held in before being admitted to BAB21 Blechhammer. The following are among the first entries in Davids diary after capture.

David J B Hobbs.  PJX 165299  Royal Navy  POW 7735. Captured 12th June 1940. St Valery-en-Caux --- Veules-les-Roses  BAB21 1942-1945 The two photographs below were taken at BAB21.  The photo on the left is David.   The right hand photograph shows three men.    David  is on the right. Standing in the middle is Jack Denyer 6091596 Queens Rifles  POW 3480   The above photograph is the Dutch Schuyt  [Skoot]  Hebe 11.   During 27th and 28th May 1940 she took part in Operation Dynamo at Dunkirk  rescuing 337 men from the beaches.  She was then laid up in Poole Harbour to resupply and re crewed including David Hobbs for Operation Cycle, the attempt to rescue  40,000 plus troops At St Valery-en-Caux, the French 9th Corps and the British 51st Highland Division had become cut off.   The Highland Division numbering around 10,000 men formed in a hollow square around ...

Sam Stalker. 4459424  Black Watch.  POW 3392. Photos courtesy. D Hobbs. In the above picture left, Sam is standing back row on the left wearing a tie and holding a Guitar. In the picture on the right he is middle row, again wearing a tie and holding a guitar. On January 22nd 1945 Sam decided to hide in BAB21 along with others,  they decided to take their chances with the Russians.   They left the camp before it was swept by the SS and managed to join up with other prisoners.   Travelling overland they eventually reached Odessa and were in Allied hands on the 10th March 1945. For illustration purposes,  the map below belongs to. N Lewis. 2078551 RE.  POW 14479.    It shows the route that prisoners who decided to hide in camps took to reach Odessa and the subsequent route by ship back home to England. Norman's Map Another group photo of a band.

 Along with the theatre productions sport also played a big part in maintaining morale.  Fitness played a big part in both civilian life and militarily.   At least two professional footballers were at BAB21 along with amateur sportsmen from all disciplines of athletics. The first two photographs were taken at the bottom of the camp next to the Adolph Hitler Kanal.  Crew can be seen on board a barge moored alongside the Kanal.  The boxing ring can also be seen in the background.  See Sydney Barthorpe sketch, Page 2 for location.    The white building in the background sited the other side of the Kanal and a small river is a Brothel for exclusive German military personnel use.   The nineteen camps sited around the refinery held upward of 35,000 prisoners so needed a large contingent of military units numbering thousands. Photos courtesy D Hobbs.  S Barthorpe.                 ...

Many copies of each photograph are in existence.  If 16 men were in a group then 16 photos would be ordered, each man could then order extra copies, either to send home or give to friends in camp. On one theatre production photograph 29 extra copies were requested.                                                              Theatre Photographs The above theatre photographs courtesy D. Hobbs. The group photos below courtesy D.Hobbs.  J.Crouch. S.Barthorpe. Above photo Jack Denyer POW 3480 1st on left back row. Photo left. Taken 1943 Man wearing wooden clogs.