AS I was not born until 1947 most of my knowledge of enemy PoWs around Andover in the Second World War is what older people have told me.

At the top of Old Winton Road on the right-hand side was the disused Victorian municipal dump. The dump was then located during wartime where today the graveyard is, near the concrete works at Shepherds Spring Lane.

Just past the site of the Victorian dump was the second farmhouse of Berehill Farm which four Germans occupied for a time to work there.

My brother, Colin, and a few boys would go into the house, sit on the table and talk to them. One of them, Bernard, was a skilled watch and clock maker and when a broken clock was found on the dump he made a part and repaired it, which was of use to them.

One of the jobs my father Stan (Nats) Weeks (Nats being his nickname in backslang) had during the war was to build the miles of concrete roads in Longparish Woods to serve an ammunition dump well disguised from the air by the covering branches. He worked there with Germans who he got on well with and said they were good workers.

A big favour they did him was to dig out rabbits with their spades to give him to feed his family. They were rewarded one day when a scarce tin of Red White and Blue brand coffee intended for his family were given to them.

A little-known fact was that at the end of the war, under the surrender agreement, some Germans were forced to stay here and work, the last one leaving in 1948. They could go home on leave with a promise to return. After the war 25,000 chose to stay in the UK. I do know of a few who stayed locally.

Much of France was taken over after Dunkirk (June 1940) and shortly after Italy joined forces with Germany.

A camp was set up sometime in Andover just past the Enham Arch on the left-hand side and was fenced off and surrounded by barbed wire, housing about 50 Italian men.

The prisoners were put to work locally doing manual work. One of the jobs they did was to lay down the concrete roads for the Old Down Road council estate. At the junction of Nestor Close and Dell Road, inscribed in the concrete, was PoW 1943 (or whatever year it was).

My oldest brother Brian was visiting his uncle, Bob Eyles, who was a farm manager at Redenhan where some of these PoWs were working in a field. Some American soldiers came marching down the road on exercise and some of them, being of Italian descent, were pleased to meet the workers and talk to them; all of them being far away from their country of origin. The Americans gave them a tin of fruit.

This same brother was working on a building site close to the prisoner compound when he needed a kettle of water which they gave him to make some tea. When Brian asked one of them what his trade was he said he was a tiler and when asked what sort of tiles it became clear that what he meant to say was tailor.

Some were employed at Coombes timber yard in Mill Road, which was close to where Asda is now.

Some were brought in sometimes on the back of a lorry from a similar camp in Romsey to work for Farmer Dance at the back of the single row of houses on the right-hand side going down New Street.

They all wore large, round, bright red or yellow patches on their backs so they were easy to see if they escaped.

Film footage shows armed guards watching over them working, but I don’t know if this was always the case.

What freedom of movement they had in Andover I do not know.

In October 1943, however, following the fall of Mussolini, Italy changed sides to the Allies, so the first job they had was to fight the Germans to remove them from Rome.

Therefore, the Italian servicemen in Andover were no longer PoWs.

I do know that they frequented cafes with American servicemen but don’t know about cinemas and pubs.

I don’t know of any Italians who stayed locally.

Derek Weeks, Martin Way, Andover.