Frederick Buske
"Prisoner of War"
The men of the 168th were placed in wired compounds and guarded by German machine gunners at all four corners in observation towers.
The nights grow cold in the desert of Tunisia and without shelter the men were forced to burrow down into the sand to keep warm.
Their next move was to Sousse, Tunisia by boxcar. The boxcars were designed for eight horses, but in which the Germans crowded from 40 to 60 prisoners. From Sousse they were again moved by rail in the same manner to Tunis. While in Tunis the men were interrogated by a German officer known as "Charlie". This German who had resided for some time in the United States, inflicted indescribable physical abuse on the men in order to extract information from them. However, no information was obtained.
Fred spent a month and a half at the prison camp in Tunis before being taken to Sicily and then from there to Capua, Italy. Some were taken by sea and some by air. Most reports that I have read from prisoners indicate that they were transported by German JU-52 planes.
Once in Capua they were placed in P.G.66, an Italian controlled prison camp. After Italy capitulated, Fred and the other prisoners were freed. However, nine days later they were again captured by German paratroopers.
From Italy, Fred was transported by
boxcar to Germany. The trip took several days.
Fred rarely if ever talked about his captivity. However, he did
say that during this trip by rail,
the train did not stop for toilet breaks and the prisoners were
forced to go in their pants.
He said, that the only time the train did stop, the German
soldiers removed some young girls that were also held as
prisoners. They were taken off the train, raped and then shot in
the head.
Fred was finally placed in Stalag IIB at Hammerstein, Germany.
Fred remained at this camp until the Russians started their invasion and in January of 1945 he and the other prisoners made a forced 600 mile march across Germany. On April 13, Fred escaped the "Death March" and met up with the American 9th Armored Division. He wrote in a letter home that he got to ride on top of one of the tanks. They finally took him off because he was so weak they thought he would fall. In 30 hours he was in an American rest camp in London. He spent some time in this rest camp, until he sailed home for the United States aboard the "USAT George Washington".
Fred arrived home on June 26 for a 60 day furlough. On October 20, 1945 he was discharged from the army at Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis, Missouri.
Freds medals.
Dogtag worn by prisoners held at Stalag IIB.
This photo is courtesy of Steve Cole. His uncle, Pvt.
Jimmy Hill was also held prisoner at Stalag
IIB.