| Surname: | Dexter |
| Initials: | W |
| Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Army Number: | 2657115 |
| Notes: | CMP. POW. Enlisted in the Coldstream Guards, 2/9/39 transferred to CMP. 28/4/41 missing, captured Greece, Crete. 28/4/1941 Casualty Lists 532, Greece, Missing. Casualty List 632, Greece, now POW previously reported Missing on List 532. POW. Casualty List 973, corrections, List 575, Greece, POW previously reported missing on list 532, 23/4/41, rank A/L/Cpl. Stalag XVIIIA, Wolfsberg, Austria. Casualty List 1845 previously reported POW not now POW, previous list 632. 30/7/47 Discharged. General Questionnaire for British ex-POW. MI9/Gen/MIS-X. 124837. 2657115, L/Cpl, Dexter, William, 1 Cavalry Div Pro Coy, CMP, born 7/1/13, enlisted 30/7/35, occupation Male Nurse, address: 54 Villa Terrace, Snydale, Pontefract, Yorkshire, captured 26/4/41 in Greece. Were you wounded when captured ? No. Main POW camps in which you were imprisoned? Stalag XVIII, 304, Margurg, Austria from 7/41 to `1942, Stalag VVIII, Wolfsburg, from 1942 to 1945, Stalag XVIIIC, 317, MT Pongau, from 1945. Were you in a working camp ? Yes, Marburg from 7/41 to 8/41, road making, Graz, from 8/41 to 5/43, farming, Salzal, from 7/43 to 2/44, railway maintenance, Gratz from 3/44 to 4/45, nail making, farm and quarry work. Did you suffer from any serious illnesses while a PW ? No. Did you receive adequate medical treatment ? Yes. Collaboration with the enemy ? L/Cpl Howe, 1 Cavalry Div Pro Coy, CMP and Calander, New Zealand Regiment joined British (German) Forces and tried to persuade others to do he same. Note in margin: MI5, High Commission, NZ House. William Dexter. Extract from Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 2/10/45. BRITON ACCUSED OF HELPING GERMANS. Prisoner's Alleged Activities with Free Corps. A pamphlet handed to prisoners of war set out the aims of the organisation known as the British Free Corps as being the development of friendly relations between Britain and Germany and to fight Soviet Russia said Lance Corporal W Dexter of the Corps of Military Police at the Court Martial yesterday at Westgate on Sea of Lance Corporal Roy Nicholas Couriander accused of joining the German Army and of helping the Germans. Other former associates of Couriander - a Londoner, who joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, told of his alleged Free Corps activities. Pte Thomas Freeman said that Couriander had from time to time posed as a White Russian and in a statement had declared that his step father was born in White Russia. He became a prisoner in April, 1941 and in October of that year was apparently a member of a working party, acting as interpreter. "He produced a series of propaganda talks purporting to show how the British had failed to keep their pledges after the last war". Colonel Hilliyard said. Talks to Prisoners. "They set out the conquests Germany was making and contained a great deal of material about alleged Jewish influences in this country. In addition he was delivering talks to fellow prisoners, the purpose of these talks that Britain was already defeated. "In his statement he set out an interview he had with John Amery. One of Corianders objectives was to oust Amery from any part in the unit and take over the British Free Corps. In fact after that the organisation was mainly in the hands of Couriander. He says that in August 1944 he joined the SS as a propagandist and war reporter. In that uniform he was sent from Berlin to the Western Front and according to his own account was sent to Brussels to make front line broadcast talks. He arrived there on September 3rd and the next day was found by the British. Coriander who wore three service ribbons, pleaded not guilty. He is defended by Captain C P Hutchinson of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. The court adjourned until today. |
Decoration Record: | |
| Decoration: | General Service Medal 1918 (London Gazette: WO 100/502 Page: 18 July 20, 1940) |
| Citation: | Clasp "Palestine". Awarded as Guardsman, Coldstream Guards. |
Prisoner of War Record: | |
| Imprisonment: | Stalag 18A AUSTRIA 🇦🇹 |