Sir: Nigel Nicolson regrets that he was not asked certain
questions as a witness in the Aldington/Tolstoy libel trial. Because of special interest I attended that trial, and I remember looking at Lord Aldington and feeling deep sympathy for this distinguished officer for the unjustified persecution he has suffered from Tolstoy.
Little regard has been paid, by Tolstoy, to the terms of the Yalta Agreement cover- ing the repatriation of prisoners.
I was one of thousands of RAF and other prisoners held at Luchenwald, about 12 miles south-east of Berlin. We had been marched there by the Germans from Silesia because of the advance of the Red Army. When the Soviets arrived at our camp we were ordered, through the BBC, to stay in camp for our own safety. There was consid- erable mayhem round about. Weeks after the Allies and Soviets met at the Elbe, a column of United States trucks arrived at 'Waiter – someone's poured hot soup over this defenceless fly.' the camp to repatriate us: the Russians ordered their immediate return — empty. We were then held for many weeks until the terms of the Yalta Agreement had been met.
The Cossacks had been captured by the Allies, in German uniform, fighting Rus- sians. They were repatriated, and so were we. If 'crime' there was, I do not know which would have been the greater: to have left us to rot or carry out the Yalta Agree- ment. Thankfully the latter was the case.
Leonard Peannan 1 Windmill Lane,
Friston, East Sussex
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