GERMAN POW CAMP BOUGHTON 1945-1946 [Main Title]

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  • Title: GERMAN POW CAMP BOUGHTON 1945-1946 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: MGH 6698
  • Other titles: AMATEUR FILM BY GUY RECKIN [Alternative Title]
  • Summary: Amateur film with intertitles and commentary, shot by Company Quartermaster Sergeant Guy Reckin of German Prisoner of War Camp 633 Prisoner of War Working Company, recording scenes at Boughton Camp, near New Ollerton (Nottinghamshire) among the German prisoners of war prior to their repatriation to Germany.
  • Description: Scene 1 - Begins with a painting by Theo Fries called ‘Spring in Camp 633’ (signed Fries Th. Easter 1946) of the Administration Hut, Tents and Fountain in the Camp (Theo Fries was a highly talented Artist and Musician - this painting and others by Theo Fries are held in IWM Archives). The Camp was situated outside Boughton Near Ollerton, Nottinghamshire CQMS Guy Reckin emerges from his Farmhouse Billet in Kirton to travel to the camp along Tuxford Road. Puts on helmet, starts motorbike, and sets off on the country roads leading to the camp. Large sign at entrance to the camp: 633 GERMAN PRISONER OF WAR WORKING COMPANY. On motorcycle inside camp. Nissen huts. Major Wren, the camp's Commanding Officer walks past the camera. SEGT'S [sic] MESS. CQMS Deacon in Rocking Chair, NCOs playing cards by the fire. POWs serving in the Mess and Sergeants are eating at the table. Captain C G Unwin and a number of the British contingent based in the camp are seen smoking cigarettes outside a hut. Large cake for unidentified occasion on show. Unidentified man and woman walking along path outside the camp wire. Scene 2 - FORMATION OF DAILY WORKING PARTIES. Prisoners congregating in communal areas outside huts. Large groups of prisoners set off to work at the local Royal Army Ordnance Depot. Farm buildings and Haystacks in background. Scene 3 - POW ADMINISTRATION OFFICE. CQMS Reckin sat at desk with German POW assistants. checking records, and counting POW Camp money. Road sign pointing to different locations in the camp such as the Sergeants' Mess and Guard Room,. Major Wren walking through camp with Doctor Bruckner, who had been interned in Belsen concentration camp, and spent the immediate post-war years touring the German Prisoner of War camps, giving lectures about his experiences. Views of camp from the other side of the coiled barbed wire fence. Prisoners outside their accommodation tents, which the prisoners slept in all year round, twelve men to a tent. Prisoners walking on duckboards through camp clutching eating utensils. The commentary notes how the prisoners used to make things to brighten their surroundings. The German CO of the German Prisoners is seen standing by a small pond and fountain. Prisoners queuing for food, which is ladled into bowls from various large pans and even what appears to be a large barrel. Prisoners around camp, smiling at camera. Various views of model village and a Flower Knot constructed by the prisoners. Prisoners sitting at tables outside their tents. One prisoner plays a guitar while others enjoy a game of cards. The prisoners include a dentist and the German Camp Medical Officer (Paul Mazger), who both smile for the camera. In the springtime the prisoners are allowed to go on supervised cross-country runs, and the prisoners are seen in shorts and singlets running through the countryside. The commentary notes how none of the prisoners attempted to escape, presumably because the war was now over and they just wanted to go home. Some of the German POW staff seen walking with two Dachshunds owned by Norma Reckin the wife of CQMS Reckin. Scene 4 – Christmas Exhibition 1945. Small display of Christmas related items including Christmas cards and pieces of fir tree. Paintings and wooden items such as cigarette boxes were all made by the POWS. Large Christmas tree on display in the camp. Hand written notice: THE OC AND OFFICERS WISH ALL RANKS A MERRY XMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR. The prisoners' own jazz band performs in the camp, using instruments they have made themselves . Prisoners marching through the countryside to church on a Sunday morning led by CQMS Reckin The commentary notes that escorting the prisoners to church was quite a relaxed and enjoyable duty, and that there was no question that any of the prisoners would try to abscond. As the prisoners walk up the path to the church, their identifying patches can be clearly seen on the backs of their jackets. The German Camp Medical Officer Paul Mazger is seen sitting on the Church Wall on the left of CQMS Reckin, The POW on the right was the Camp Dentist. SERGEANTS' GUEST NIGHT: POW band entertains (The violinist standing on the left is Theo Fries the artist). Pictures of the full complement of officers and NCOs who ran the camp, plus guests from Boughton and Ollerton villages. Scene of the POW Camp Badge picked out in stones and bordered by flowers. Film ends with CQMS Reckin leaving the camp for the last time on 2 August 1946, on the day that he is demobbed from the British Army. (Summary by Paul Reckin, son of Guy, Feb 2013.)
  • Alternative Title: AMATEUR FILM BY GUY RECKIN [Alternative Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: MGH 6698
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: NON-IWM
  • Featured Period:
  • Production Date: 1945
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Reckin, Guy William (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English
  • Technical Details: Format: 16mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 300ft; Running time: 8 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    MGH 6698

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    MGH 6773 (THE SUN AT WREST IN BEDS [Main Title])
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