Crocheted blanket : Lance Corporal A V Cooke, Stalag 8B

Narrow woollen blanket or rug, crocheted in scallops of three stitches, in shades of grey, green, khaki, brown and blue. Each end is bordered with a series of ten bands or stripes in the colours, from the outer edge in, blue/fawn; light brown; blue/grey; blue/fawn; khaki; light grey; dark brown; fawn; light grey; fawn. The sides are bordered with a series of eleven bands or stripes in colours, from the outer edge in, dark blue/fawn; khaki/dark brown; khaki; dark blue/fawn; blue/grey; royal blue/fawn; khaki; dark brown; fawn; grey; light brown/fawn. The centre of the blanket is divided into three panels. Each end bears an identical pattern of three chevrons in grey, light green and grey/blue, and a fawn triangle, all on a khaki ground. The centre panel bears four rectangles placed within each other, in the colours, from the outer edge in, red/brown; light grey; dark grey; and olive green. The rectangle is set within a fawn four-pointed star on a square dark grey ground threaded through with fawn and green wool running stitch. Bands on either side of the grey square show a grey and a light grey diamond on a khaki ground, and two dark and one light grey triangles on a fawn ground.

This crocheted blanket was made by NX8410 Corporal Austin Vaughan Cooke while he was a prisoner of war (POW) in Germany during the Second World War. Cooke was born in Scone, NSW, in 1916, and enlisted in the Second AIF on 3 November 1939 and was assigned to 6 Australian Division Intelligence Section. After service in North Africa he was captured on Crete in 1941 and transferred to a holding camp at Salonika in northern Greece. He was assigned the POW number 8016 and moved to Stalag 8B at Teschen where he made this blanket to combat the freezing winter conditions, as the Germans only issued two thin blankets to each prisoner. Cooke obtained the wool from other prisoners who passed worn out knitted garments, such as pullovers and socks which had mostly been supplied by the Red Cross, to him so that he could unravel any useful wool. He fashioned a crochet hook from an old wooden toothbrush handle. The long narrow shape of the blanket reflects the cramped size of the bunk beds supplied for the prisoners. Cooke later moved to Stalag 344 at Lamsdorf and after liberation arrived in England on 8 May 1945, V E Day. He was repatriated to Australia and was discharged on 18 October 1945.