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SPENT MONTHS AS A PRISONER IN NAZI CAMPDENSEL ROBERTS PRAISES RED CROSS FOR SUPPLIESMain Diet Furnished By Germans Was Black Bread and Thin Soup; Rescued By Russians“Ef it hadn’t been for the food and clothing furnished us .by the Red Cross, X don’t know what we would have done,” said Sgt. Densel Roberts, who spent four months and 17 days in a ■German prison camp .before he was released 'by the Russians on January 31.Sgt. Roberts, who was serving in a medical battalion in the Third army when be was captured by the Germans on September 13, 1944, is now enjoying a 60-day furlough with his wife and 16 months old daughter at the home of his wife’s mother, Mrs. John Heuer of Ha warden.After he and his companions were captured, they were placed in ibox cars and shipped across Germany to a prison camp at Kustrin, east of Berlin.“We nearly starved on that trip,'*said Sgt. Roberts. “The Germans didn’t feed us anything during the nine days • except some black bread once in a while.“At the prison camp, we were placed in barracks, 100 men to each. We had to sleep on the floor all the time, and it was cold. The Germans gave us two blankets each and \vlt;3 got two blankets each from the Red Cross.All that the Germans fed us was ■black bread and thin soup made out of rutabagas or sauer kraut. We got a few potatoes, but very few. I lost between 30 and 40 pounds while at the camp. ,' ‘ “If' it hadn’t been - for the RedCross, it really would have been% •tough, We were supposed to get a Red iCross parcel once a week, but sometimes the Germans held them4 out on us and we just didn’t get any.“There were 2,000 Americans in the c also a lot of Russians, Italians and French. We were not mistreated in any other way except underfeeding. We didn't have anything to do and nothing to read, except during the last month, when wc got some books from the Red Cross. But we were fortunate at that, bccauso sonic of the other camps were Iota rougher, I have been told by men who were in them.“When the Russians released us, they put us Americans on our own. Wo walked a long way into Poland before we got transportation. Then we were sent to Odessa on the Black Sea and from there by ship to Italy.“I consider myself lucky to be here. I was overseas about a year and didn't get a scratch, although I was in the front lines about 60 days.Sgt. Roberts will report back for duty on June 26.
Newspaper Details
Hawarden Independent
Hawarden, Iowa, US
Thu, May 03, 1945
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Sharon R.
IA, USA 08 Jul 2020
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