South Yorkshire Times, December 4th 1943
Wombwell Man’s Story of Recapture
Walter Hobson (25), son of Mr. and Mrs. M. Hobson, Long Fold, West Melton, has been recaptured by the Germans after a month of freedom in Italy. This news was received on Friday by his wife, who, with their four-year-old daughter, lives with her father, Mr. R. Bickerdyke, at 124, Everill Gate Lane, Wombwell.
Hobson tells the story in a letter written from Stalag VIIb. Part of the letter is blacked out. He says, “You will be surprised to know that I am now a prisoner of war in Germany, after just a month’s freedom. I was trying to get through to Switzerland when 1 was caught on the frontier by German sentries. I thought I was going to be home for Christmas, but owing to the Italian Government I am now a P.O. again. I have been worrying about not being able to receive letters from you. I was in bed ill for a fortnight and a young Italian woman, whose brother was also a prisoner, promised to write and let you know I was allright. I hope she has done so. ” Mrs. Hobson says she has not received any letter and has been anxiously waiting for news for many months.
Hobson is an old boy of Brampton Ellis School and before enlisting in October 1939 was employed as a bricklayer at Messrs. Saville and Co. of Wombwell. He was drafted to North Africa with the First Army in October of last year and a month later was captured after a parachute drop behind the enemy positions in Tunisia. One of the party who managed to get back to the British lines has been to see Mrs. Hobson recently and he told her that after the drop the party got split up. Hobson enlisted in the West Yorkshires, but transferred to the paratroops two years before he went abroad.