The Prisoners’ Progress

Created behind barbed wire while its author remained a prisoner of war, Leslie C. Hunt’s The Prisoners’ Progress br...

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Created behind barbed wire while its author remained a prisoner of war, Leslie C. Hunt’s The Prisoners’ Progress brings to life an extraordinary episode from the fall of France. While the main British Expeditionary Force escaped through Dunkirk, the 51st Highland Division and other British formations remained farther south, fighting alongside the French. As German armour closed in, they held the line while comrades were evacuated from western Channel ports; cut off around Saint-Valéry-en-Caux, they were overwhelmed and captured. Hunt’s maps follow the prisoners’ forced journey eastwards into captivity: 275 miles marched on foot through France and Belgium, 130 miles crammed aboard vessels through the Netherlands, and 500 miles by train into Germany. At Oflag VII-C, Laufen, Hunt reconstructed the ordeal from memory in seven vividly illustrated maps and “The Whole Weary Trail” key sheet. The maps then made their own astonishing journey. Stamped “Oflag VII C Geprüft”, they were approved by the German camp authorities and sent to Britain, where British censors passed them for publication on 7 July 1941. Issued by Hutchinson in only 1,000 copies, they record hunger, exhaustion and captivity, but also the generosity they encountered from French, Belgian and Dutch civilians living under German occupation.

Created behind barbed wire while its author remained a prisoner of war, Leslie C. Hunt’s The Prisoners’ Progress brings to life an extraordinary episode from the fall of France. While the main British Expeditionary Force escaped through Dunkirk, the 51st Highland Division and other British formations remained farther south, fighting alongside the French. As German armour closed in, they held the line while comrades were evacuated from western Channel ports; cut off around Saint-Valéry-en-Caux, they were overwhelmed and captured. Hunt’s maps follow the prisoners’ forced journey eastwards into captivity: 275 miles marched on foot through France and Belgium, 130 miles crammed aboard vessels through the Netherlands, and 500 miles by train into Germany. At Oflag VII-C, Laufen, Hunt reconstructed the ordeal from memory in seven vividly illustrated maps and “The Whole Weary Trail” key sheet. The maps then made their own astonishing journey. Stamped “Oflag VII C Geprüft”, they were approved by the German camp authorities and sent to Britain, where British censors passed them for publication on 7 July 1941. Issued by Hutchinson in only 1,000 copies, they record hunger, exhaustion and captivity, but also the generosity they encountered from French, Belgian and Dutch civilians living under German occupation.

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