After the loss of the Courageous, the news dried up. Papers had been censored and the reporting of losses was banned. The war memorial in King Square tells the story of the many lives lost in that period of conflict. At home it was German and Italian POW’s who began to appear in the town. Germans were kept at a camp in Colley Lane, with Italians at Goathurst where they lived in new huts and were reasonably well looked after with about 500 men in each camp. In return for their good care, they were employed, mostly in agricultural work and could be seen walking freely around the town with their yellow patches on their backs. Fraternisation with the local community certainly took place and there are many Bridgwater folk alive today who prefer not to talk about the socialisation of certain local girls with those captured members of the enemy forces.
Text Copyright © 2008 Roger Evans