NZ Rugby Team at Stalag XVIII A.

Thousands of young men from the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand survived the ordeal of being a Prisoner of War by a mixture of fortitude, ingenuity and a certain sense of humour.  Part of the German propaganda machine was to allow certain photographs showing life in Prisoner of War camps. 

The following passages were taken from www.stalag18a.org.uk:

Whether a soldier was captured in Greece or Crete, the next few weeks had a grim similarity. On foot, by road, rail or sea, he would eventually be taken to a temporary camp in Salonika. From there, he would be packed into a railway wagon designed for carrying cattle, with fifty other prisoners of war. There followed days of hunger, thirst and lack of sleep as the train made its slow way up through Yugoslavia to southern Austria and the final destination of Stalag 18A at Wolfsberg. (For some, the journey ended at Stalag 18D in Marburg. When this camp closed, most POWs were transferred to Stalag 18A.)

(For a detailed account of the journey from the POW camp at Corinth in Greece to Stalag 18A, click on The Road to Wolfsberg.)

A prisoner did not usually stay long in Stalag 18A, as it was a clearing camp for scores of working camps throughout Austria. Within a few days he would be assigned to a Work Party (Arbeitskommando), normally of 15 to 20 men, and sent on. The 'lucky' ones would be assigned to farm work, where there was a least a chance of adequate food. The less fortunate might be sent to an iron mine, a quarry or a timber mill, where the hours were long and the work hard.