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MANNERS (Gordon R.)
The Art of Our Necessity: The Diary of a Prisoner of War 1940-1945.
1st Ed., orig. wraps., [ii]+167pp., dup. ts. (rectos only), foolscap format. Compiled by the author, not published.
1947
#64365
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![[HLMainPic]](booksThumbs/64365.jpg "Click on the left or right of the image for more images")
Unpublished memoirs: The author records several weeks in France during the 1940 campaign when he was wounded by a mortar round & hospitalised at Calais. The hospital was soon occupied by the Germans & Manners records good treatment from them. In due course he was moved around northern France - with various privations - until moved to a PoW camp near Pozen, in Poland. Life in various camps follows with much interesting details of the conditions under which the British & other PoWs lived & worked (in Manners' case on a farm). He was at Stalag 20A at Thorn Podgorz in Germany when released by American troops in April 1945. This is a very detailed account of PoW life, the food generally appalling, the guards generally "decent fellows" although the pettiness of officer-guards was a nuisance. Orig. printed wraps. with cloth backstrip, VG & contained in a modern pale green drop-side box with gilt title to sp., with some research notes alongside, including correspondence from the archivist at Uppingham School (where Manners was educated) including a copy photo. of him in a 1919 house photograph. When captured he was serving as a Driver with the Royal Signals, presumably as a member of the pre-war TA. Peter Metcalfe notes that the original ms. is in the archives at the IWM. VG. See illustrations on our website.
£350
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