Lecture | Behind The Wire: Black Watch Prisoners Of War 1940-1945

Home Intelligence and the Monitoring of Morale on the British Home Front during WW2

In June 1940 the bulk of the 51^st Highland Division was forced to surrender at St Valery-en-Caux.   For large numbers of Black Watch officers and men, this marked the start of five years of captivity in the hands of the Germans.  As the war progressed they were joined by other Red Hackles captured in Greece, North Africa and Italy. This illustrated talk will not be a detailed history of the British prisoner of war experience but will aim instead to give an insight into life behind the wire, for both officers and other ranks: a story of hardship, comradeship and danger, laced with humour and entertainment.   It will be based on the personal testimony mainly of Black Watch men but also of others with whom they shared the long incarceration that ended in May 1945.  The initial inspiration for this talk was from various documents and artefacts belonging to the late Brigadier Angus Irwin CBE DSO MC who spent five years in various German prison camps: and it is timed towards the end of a significant year in which the Regiment has commemorated the 85^th anniversary of St Valery and the 80^th of VE Day, and during which The Black Watch Museum has staged a special exhibition about Black Watch PoWs.

Alistair Irwin was commissioned into The Black Watch in 1970 and was appointed Colonel of the Regiment just over 30 years later. He had a varied military career culminating in the post of Adjutant General, the Army Board member responsible for all personnel matters.  He has contributed several articles and chapters to military journals and books and is the author of A Very brief War, the story of his great uncle Lewis Cumming who was killed serving in the 1^st Battalion at battle of the Aisne in September 1914.  He has recently been appointed Honorary President of the Black Watch Regimental Trust.

6.30pm Drinks Reception (Drink included in ticket price), 7.00pm Lecture Commences

£11 non members | £9 Friends