Twenty five pencil drawings recording the evacuation of Philip Dark and his fellow POWs from Marlag O to Lubeck between 10th April and 7th May 1945.

Transcription of note inscribed and dated ‘(Memory?) 20.VI.02 ’

‘APRIL-MAY: we were marched out of Marlag destination Lubeck. The first night we were ‘lodged’ in a pit, used blankets for a tent; next in open fields not far from a main road, flares dropped by allies; then got shot up by our own planes, the night after this were put in a wood and had flares dropped over us: terrified bombs would be dropped on us and just wanted to up and go but any movement would have precipitated them – like rabbits in a cars headlights. Later went through Hamburg in a cattle truck and horrified at such devastation; just shells of buildings, sometimes with radiators sticking out on either side of the remains of a wall, then ended up in a barracks in Lubeck, where did drawings of horses and carts, people cooking outside, people sleeping, last one is of Geoff (?Whitehall, indistinct) with whom I shared on the March. A detailed account of all this is in my mss’.

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a. Camping on the March. Pencil. 11.25x8 inches.
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b. Camping on the March. Pencil. 11.25x8 inches.
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c. ‘…lodged in a pit, used blankets for a tent…’. Pencil. 11.25x8 inches.
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d. Camping ‘in open fields…had flares dropped over us…’. Pencil. 8x11.25 inches.
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e. On the March. Pencil. 8x11.25 inches.
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f. Straffed by British Tempests on the March. Pencil. 8x11.25 inches.
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g. Studies of the Tempests that straffed the POWs on the March. Pencil. 11.25x8 inches.
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h. ‘…were put up in a Wood and had flares dropped on us…’. Pencil. 11.25x8 inches.
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i. ‘…went through Hamburg in a cattle truck, and horrified by the destruction…’. Pencil. 8x11.25 inches.
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j. ‘…Hamburg …just shells of buildings with radiators sticking out on either side of the remains of a wall…’. Pencil. 8x11.25 inches.
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k. Ruins of Hamburg, and ‘Lubeck…where did drawings of horses and carts…’. Pencil. 11.25 x8 inches.
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l. Ruins of Hamburg, and ‘Lubeck …where did drawings of horses and carts…’. Pencil. 11.25x8 inches.
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m. ‘Lubeck …where did drawings of horses and carts…’. Pencil. 11.25x8 inches.
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n. ‘…ended up in a barracks in Lubeck…’. Pencil. 11.25x8 inches.
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o. ‘…ended up in a barracks in Lubeck…’. Pencil. 11.25x8 inches.
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p. ‘.. ended up in a barracks in Lubeck…’. Pencil. 11.25x8 inches.
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q. ‘…barracks in Lubeck, people cooking outside…’. Pencil. 11.25x8 inches.
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r. ‘POW’ warning to allied planes not to straff them on the March, or where to drop supplies. Pencil. 8x11.25 inches.
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s. ‘…barracks in Lubeck, people cooking outside…’. Pencil. 8x11.25 inches.
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t. ‘…barracks in Lubeck, people cooking outside…’. Pencil. 11.25x8 inches.
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u. ‘…barracks in Lubeck, people cooking outside…’. Pencil. 11.25x8 inches.
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v. Lubeck, POW sleeping at the end of the March. Pencil. 11.25x8 inches.
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w. Lubeck, POW sleeping at the end of the March. Pencil. 11.25x8 inches.
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x. POW asleep on the March. Pencil. Dated ‘26th Apr’. 8x11.25 inches. 91599.24
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y. Lubeck ‘…Geoff (?Whitehall) with whom I shared on the March…’. Pencil. 11.25x8 inches.