THE story of a former soldier who spent almost the whole of the the Second World War as a PoW in Germany has been published by his widow.

James Bryan Stilling, whose parents lived at Castle Rise, Kendal, joined the Territorial Army in April 1939, and within weeks he was serving in France with the 4th Battalion of the Border Regiment, which was part of the British Expeditionary Force.

But the BEF was no match for the relentless German advance. Mr Stilling, by then 21, was captured at Incheville and was to spend the next five years as a prisoner of war.

Like many PoWs, he rarely spoke about his experiences but after his death in 2008, his widow, Enid, decided to publish his experiences, many of which he had recorded in a small leather diary during his last 20 months of captivity. He had also hoarded a collection of other fascinating wartime documents.

The book — No Mail, No Parcels, No News — is now being sold for £4 a copy for the Help For Heroes charity, which supports wounded soldiers from today’s conflicts.

It gives a fascinating account of the day-to-day existence of PoWs in Germany. The title refers to the isolation felt by prisoners who received infrequent Red Cross parcels from home and had no idea how the war was progressing.

Mr Stilling wrote: “We surrendered on June 13 after our German enemies told us that Paris had been taken and that the Luftwaffe — the German air force — were going to use us as target practice.”

His group was marched for two weeks though France, Belgium and into Holland where they were put on a barge to Germany and then a cattle wagon to a newly built PoW camp in Poland. There the prisoners worked as labourers for the Luftwaffe.

Between 1940 and 1942, Mr Stilling says the Germans respected the British prisoners as soldiers; but from 1943 until his liberation, the conditions deteriorated. In January 1945, he and other PoWs were forced to march for 10 days from near the Russian front to Munich. Before the journey was completed, he fell at the roadside suffering from pneumonia. He was treated in hospital with a group of wounded German officers before continuing his march, which was ultimately to freedom as he and his fellow prisoners were met in Munich by the Americans and the Red Cross.

After the war, Mr Stilling returned to his pre-war job at K Shoes. He became a senior manager and retired in 1983.

To obtain copies of No Mail, No Parcels, No News, write to Enid Stilling at 11 Carlingdale, Burneside, Kendal, LA9 6PW, or email estilling@hotmail.co.uk