Title	Thus Passed Christmas
Description	This page has a playing card, a Jack of Spades, pasted on it. Next to the card, Mitchener has written, "#11" and "Thus passed Christmas -- As typical as barbed wire -- The cutting of cards designates selection of Kriege present."
Historical note	Mitchener was shot down and captured after a bombing mission in Germany and sent to Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Germany, now a part of Poland. Christmas Day in 1944 at Stalag Luft III was cold but clear. The men were given Red Cross parcels with canned turkey, cookies, and plum pudding. The Germans gave them party hats and noisemakers, but the atmosphere was still grim. The Allied troops were stalled along the Siegfried Line, and the men feared that they would be prisoners indefinitely.
Date	1944-1945
Place	Zagan (Poland)
Creator	Mitchener, Hardy A., 1919-1957
Collection name	Hardy A. Mitchener, Jr. Journal, 1944-1945
Education Tags	US.61 American Soldiers World War II
Subjects - LCSH	World War, 1939-1945 -- Europe, Prisoners of war; Diaries
Subjects - TGM	Playing cards
Accession #	THS 760
Owning Institution	Tennessee Historical Society
ID #	33607
Digital type	IMAGE
Digital format	TIFF
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