Alvin Vincent

Alvin Vincent was a British soldier during the Second World War who's was kept hostage in Poland after 1945.

Biography
Vincent joined the army around 1934 at the age of seventeen, and was stationed abroad. At the start of the war, Vincent was serving in 2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment. In the late Spring of 1941 Vincent fought in the Battle of Crete, where the reginent had orders to defend the airfield near the city of Heraklion. Though the regiment's defense was largely successful, events across the island led to the order for evacuation on 28 May. However, the evacuation was disorganised and Vincent was stranded away from other soldiers. He was discovered by George Vasilakis outside the village of Apesokari, where he was given a hot meal and helped to rejoin other lost soldiers. Ultimately, however, Vincent failed to escape Crete with the rest of the regiment and was captured.

As a Prisoner of War
Vincent spent several years being moved around Italian and German prisoner of war camps, including a German camp in occupied Czechoslovakia. In May 1945, Vincent escaped from a camp in East Bohemia with three other British soldiers in an attempt to reach American troops. He was helped by Czechoslovak resistance member Otakar Toman.

In Poland
Instead, however, Vincent was captured by forces loyal to the Soviet Union, whether Soviet soldiers or partisans, and was taken to Poland where he was kept under arrest by the Ministry of Public Security (known as "MBP"). MBP believed Vincent to be instead a spy or a soldier in the Special Operations Executive, and tortured him for information. After a year of imprisonment the British Embassy was made aware and Vincent was handed over and eventually returned to Normanton.