POW: Diary of a Prisoner of War

by David Nell

David Nell was taken prisoner in North Africa on 28 June 1942. Although he was almost illiterate until his teens, he was keen to learn, and read widely to achieve it. Later, as a prisoner of war, he used this diary to continue this process. He kept the diary throughout his prison-camp life, until his eventual release in April 1945, and it is remarkably well written. What emerges from this immensely moving and personal account is far different from the picture suggested by the movies. It tells of poor conditions and deprivation, and the hopes, fears and preoccupations of those many prisoners in Germany and Italy, and something of the lives of those who guarded them. Yet it is also a story of great triumph, and of love – that of a distant fiancée and her young man.

180 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 6, 2012

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Nell's memoirs of his life as a soldier in the 1930s and as a POW in Italy and Germany after his capture are reproduced verbatim, it seems, from his daily diary entries. The story it tells illustrates starkly the deprivation and desolation felt by those whose futures were uncertain whilst the war dragged on. Life is made only tolerable by issues of precious food and the transient comfort of often-censored letters from home. The squalor, exhaustion and unrelenting tedium are ever-present in his diary, as are the frustrations of the final 15 months in captivity as hopes of rescue and liberation are dashed frequently. The final months of the conflict are particularly harrowing.

Neil's diaries were written in his determination to overcome the illiteracy which had plagued his childhood. On that score alone, the book is a triumph. As a historical chronicle and an atmospheric account of those often forgotten when the history of this global conflict is considered, it is doubly successful.