THE exploration of the site of the World War One German prisoner of war camp at Raikeswood in Skipton has gathered pace over the last 12 months - both on the ground and in academia. Reporter, CLIVE WHITE looks at the impressive progress made.

ONE hundred years this month, 50 German prisoners-of-war, all officers, shuffled exhausted through the gates of Raikeswood Camp, the first "Bosch" soldiers to be locked-up since the wooden barracks were discarded as a training centre for British troops.

They were joined two days later by another 50 and on January 21 by yet another batch of the same number. At its peak there were 550 officers and 120 other ranks, who as orderlies did the menial tasks. By the time the camp was decommissioned the following year, about 900 man had been passed through its gates - 47 dying not in combat but victims of the Europe-wide influenza epidemic.

The prisoners reached Skipton following a two hour march from Colsterdale, a camp with 900 inmates, to Masham and then a train journey through Ripon and Harrogate and Leeds where they boarded another train along the "charming " Aire valley followed by a march through town to Raikeswood.

We know all this because a "diary" was kept which revealed how they spent their time and their attitude towards their Tommy prison guards.

The book called "Kriegsgefangen" was compiled by senior prisoners and eventually sneaked out of the camp in 1919 and later published in Germany.

A copy which came to light some years ago in Skipton Library - it had languished in a box - is being translated by academics at the University of Leeds, including teaching fellow Anne Buckley, of Skipton and her colleagues assisted by students at South Craven School, historian Alan Roberts and Ada Whitaker of Keighley and Alison Abbey of Cross Hills.

The soldiers were not cheered by their arrival, cold and wet on that January afternoon. Later one of the authors of the journal penned: "We were herded together into barracks of twenty-four men. The wind whistled through the cracks in the raised wooden floorboards and through the unsound timber walls. We were gripped by a profound feeling of spiritual and physical discomfort and a longing for home."

But it wasn't all doom and gloom for the prisoners who were allowed out, under escort, to walk the fells, writing in the diary how impressed they were with Craven and the Dales. For a short time the privileges were removed when the Brits heard how Tommy prisoners of war were being treated in German camps.

It meant the suspension of the choir singing saucy songs on the square in front of the bath house and the doomed orchestra played its last tunes "boldly and cheerfully" until the reprisals were lifted in July 1918.

But as soon as life seemed to be taking a turn upwards, the influenza epidemic struck when in one week in March 1919, ten men were buried on the Monday, seven on the Tuesday, five on Wednesday, five on Thursday and six on Friday.

The legacy of these German soldiers is still literally being unearthed following archaeological digs in the only part of the camp still remaining undeveloped at the top of Salisbury Street in Skipton. The digs were led by Upper Wharfedale Deputy head teacher John Mitton and carried out by local school children and volunteers.

And more is to come courtesy of a project aimed at exploring the impact of World War One on Craven people which won £96,700 from the national lottery thanks to the work of Rob Freeman, Craven's First World War project officer.

One of the ambitions is to produce a website allowing people to get a 3D virtual experience of life at the prisoner of war camp in Skipton. The cash will also help fund more archaeological digs.

The effect of the four year long war on the people and places of Craven will be explored and focus on the centenary of the arrival of German prisoners.

Last year also saw Anne making a trip to Freiberg in Germany to examine their archive and discover more about the Raikeswood camp and to examine camp newspapers and other documents.

She, Rob Freeman and John Mitton also held an open meeting at Skipton Town Hall where people were invited to see what progress had been made in translating the book and to examine some of the archaeological finds.

To see the diary contact arts.leeds.ac.uk/kriegsgefangen.

EXTRACTS FROM THE DIARIES:

What follows is a section of the journal relating the entry into Raikeswood of the first German prisoners at the end of their journey - by foot and train - from the Colsterdale camp near Masham. It was translated by Leeds University's Caroline Summers.

"In an orderly manner, we strode through the streets of Skipton. The whole town was on its feet. Dark, animated crowds of locals lined the pavements. They were dignified in their manner towards the ‘Huns’. Astonishment and curiosity adorned their honest faces; here and there a finger was raised to point out a ‘remarkable’ individual amongst us, here and there a witticism was uttered.

Proud joy was plain on all their faces: Huns, captured Huns in English hands! And we German officers were walking through the midst of them! We were filled with mixed feelings.

Our diaries bear witness to this: ‘Under those thousands of British eyes I was filled by a feeling of defencelessness. Under their gaze, everything in me that had been strong and manly now seemed torn to pieces and defiled.’

‘I was moved to lower my eyes out of shame. A feeling of regret washed over me, that I had not thought to avoid such an eventuality by instead letting my life be ripped to shreds.’

‘I was ashamed for my Fatherland. And I knew that my presence gave these strangers their scornful feeling of superiority at having overcome German strength. That was unbearable.’

Many feel defiant. ‘I was gripped by a wild feeling of resistance. I had always done my duty, and it was simply the luck of battle that had delivered me into the hands of the enemy. I felt myself and my nation to be undefeated, and this enabled me to maintain my pride in the face of these masses.

‘I walked tall: I knew that this bitter walk was a service to my Fatherland.’

Even now, we did not lose our feeling that we had loyally done our duty in battle and were members of a great, proud and undefeated nation."