Letter from Gerhard Stamer to Lord Mountbatten, February 24th, 1947.
| New Camp: No. 184 PoW Camp Llanmartin nr. Newport (Mon) Your Excellency. reading your appointment as Viceroy of India I take the liberty to congratulate you and the Indian People which I know only from 2 short visits in 1933 - Madras and Colombo. I thank you so much for your good wishes for the New Year and regret that I could not thank you at an earlier date due to the rationing of letters for PoWs, the weekly letter is normally reserved for home. Once more we are changing the camp, a process that is always a little bit troublesome. My news from home are not so good. The hard weather increases the other hardships but I am proud how they bear it with full confidence in God that greater than the Helper the distress can never be! I should like so much to help them but so far no "thawing breeze" has blown. I hope that in the new camp the possibilities for farming will be better. With my best wishes for your new position I remain your Exellency’s obedient No. 1 PoW Gerhard Stamer |
| My dear Colin, Here is a letter from H.E. which he has asked should be forwarded to Korvettenkapitan Stamer, unless Naval Secretary sees any objection. In case you do not know the history of this case, this officer was the first U-Boat Captain to be captured with his entire crew, and this was accomplished by the Kashmir and the Kimberley when H.E. was Captain (D) 5. Yours ever Ronnie Brockman This is a fascinating job, even though I am fighting a losing battle to get enough sleep! But the weather, after England, is grand: day temperatures about 90 at present. RVB. |
Courtesy of the Mountbatten Archives, Hartley Library, University of Southampton. [39]