" The story of my Grandfather's capture, etc., is as follows: He was in the 6TH LONDON DIVISION OF THE KING'S ROYAL RIFLE CORPS & involved in the Battle of CAMBRAI which was the first proper tank battle of WWI. My Grandfather a Rifleman, was fighting in the trenches. They had advanced into "German territory" in the days leading up to Nov. 30th. 1917, & then the German's counter-attacked. All the men in my Grandfather's trench were killed, so he took over the firing of the Lewis machine gun. A German bullet then hit the magazine on the top of the machine gun and sprayed my grandfather with shrapnel. He fell back into the trench, wounded. The trench was then over-run by German soldiers. One of them saw my Grandfather lying wounded in the trench, so he hit granddad over the head with his rifle-but & knocked him out. I suppose he thought that he was just finishing Granddad off. As it happened he wasn't badly wounded - he had shrapnel in his arm and hand but otherwise was O.K. The blood on his chest was just from the arm wound! When he came round, he was in a German field hospital & was operated on for his wounds. With many other soldiers who were fit to travel he was loaded into a cattle truck on Christmas day 1917 and taken on a slow journey to the Island of Rugen in the Baltic. They lived in a POW camp until Armistice day 11 Nov.1918. In the meantime, they worked on the local farms, replacing the German men who had been conscripted into their army. As the year 1918 progressed their food got less & less, & seems to have consisted of potatoes & swedes. They did however receive Red Cross parcels. Granddad said that they wouldn't have survived if they hadn't received those. When he came home he was very thin indeed & never regained his full weight to the end of his days. The one thing that I never asked Granddad was how come the picture was taken & how was it that he had a copy Surely the Germans didn’t take it ? Was it the Red Cross ? Why should Granddad have had a copy ? The group of men seem to be from many different regiments - I hope that they can be identified by their cap badges, uniforms, etc. If contact could be made with any descendants of any of the others in the photo, that would be fantastic. Has anyone else got a copy of this photo ? "