P01981.013 Accession Number: P01981.013

Description

Informal group portrait of Prisoners of War (POW) outside the barracks at Stuttgart POW Camp Germany. Identified fourth from right is 2728 Private (Pte) George Gribbon, 55th Battalion, from Woonana, NSW. Pte Gribbon enlisted on 13 April 1915 and embarked for overseas on 9 August 1915 aboard HMAT Runic. He was in the machine gun section and had volunteered to throw bombs when at 1am on the morning of 20 July 1916, he stood up and was shot through the left lung and, as he swung around, shot again under the shoulder. His comrades were forced to retire and Pte Gribbons was left in No Man's Land, believed dead. He survived, was captured and held as a POW. In a letter written by Pte Gribbon from POW Camp Stuttgart 2, Germany in July 1918 he described the working condition in the camp as follows: "It is terrible, we have to work from 5.30 to 7 and 8 o'clock at night. In the dept we have to work from 7 to 6 and attend a parade at 9 o'clock at night. This is no pleasure - it is forbidden for a group to assemble together for a talk and the last few months I have not been in the best of health. My lungs are very sore and my feet so bad I can scarcely walk." He was repatriated to England in December 1918. . One of a series of over 400 photographs sent by Australian POWs in German camps to Miss M. E. Chomley, Secretary, Prisoners Department, Australian-British Red Cross Society, London. Original album housed in AWM Research Centre at RC00864, Album image number 47.

Details

Conflicts

• First World War, 1914-1918

Places

• London
• Germany

Tags

• Barracks
• Group portraits
• Prisoners of war camps