Allied soldiers were forced to go on 'death marches' during the Second World War. ALEXIS THOMPSON speaks to a former PoW who survived the ordeal.

BILL Carter can vividly remember his struggles as a prisoner during the Second World War.

At the age of 17, Mr Carter joined the TA and when war broke out in 1939 he was sent to fight with the Royal West Kent Regiment.

In the spring of 1940 he went to Dunkirk to help rescue British and French troops from the advancing Germany army.

He was taken prisoner by the Germans and forced into a three-week march to Metz in north-eastern France with more than 1,000 others captives.

Mr Carter, 88, said: "At Metz we were loaded into cattle trucks. There was 50 to a truck and we were packed in like sardines with no food or water.

"We then began a four-day journey to Poznan in Poland."

In Poznan, he spent 18 months in a crowded underground fort with around 400 British prisoners.

He said: "Before joining the Army I had trained as a mechanic, so with my skills I was put to work dismantling old Polish tanks to be used as scrap."

In the autumn of 1941, he and 23 other PoWs were taken by plane to Cosel in Germany where they worked for three years building a hospital.

Mr Carter added: "Once the hospital was completed, we were moved to a paper factory on the banks of the River Oder in Poland."

Then on Boxing Day in 1944 he heard the sound of approaching gunfire.

Mr Carter said: "The Germans told us it was the Russian army and we were ordered to join what was known as the Death March."

The men were forced to march at least 25km every day without food or water, or the knowledge of where they were going.

Mr Carter said: "We ate whatever scraps we could find and drank water from ditches.

"If any of us showed signs of weakness we were shot dead. This was why it was called the Death March."

Mr Carter found the strength to carry on thanks to the thought of seeing his fiancee Poppy again.

He believes around 400 prisoners were on the march and he knew at least six of them died.

In April 1945 he and 13 other British prisoners managed to escape and fled to Nuremberg in Germany on foot.

They came across an American pilot who agreed to fly them back to England in exchange for weapons they had picked up from dead bodies along the way.

Mr Carter said:"When I arrived I was riddled with lice, had lost four stones in weight and was admitted to hospital because I couldn't keep any food down after damaging the lining of my stomach."

Because of his condition Mr Carter was discharged from the Army in August 1945.

He married Poppy a few months later after making a swift recovery.

He worked as a mechanical engineer before retiring.

They were married for 56 years and had two children and four grandchildren.

Poppy died six years ago and Mr Carter now lives alone at their home in Linden Avenue, Dartford.

He suffers from severe arthritis but he still does all of his own housework and cooking.

He said: "I'm fiercely independent.

"If my ordeal taught me one thing, it was to be a survivor you have to learn how to look after yourself."