MILITARY enthusiasts gain-ed an insight into life behind the barbed wire of the German and Italian prison camps of the Second World War.

The director of the Second World War Experience Centre, Dr Peter Liddle, travelled to the regimental museum of the Green Howards, in Richmond, to give their latest adult education talk.

His father was a prisoner-of-war in the First World War, and he used letters, diaries and interviews to show what life was like for Second World War prisoners.

He spoke of how large and similar the German camps were - often holding as many as 25,000 men - and the dangers and hardships the inmates faced.

He also pointed out that only a small percentage of prisoners were involved in escape attempts, and the majority found ways of passing the time, with up to 32 different activities, such as bands, painting, and learning languages, all organised themselves.

Several former PoWs were in the audience. They were among those who helped set up an exhibition in the museum.

Called Behind Barbed Wire, it uses photographs, papers and objects from POW camps to tell the story of the Green Howards who were imprisoned in Germany and Italy.

The Second World War Experience Centre, in Horsforth, Leeds, also helped with the exhibition, which runs until November 30.

The next lecture at the Green Howards Museum will be on Saturday, July 5, when the deputy director of the National Army Museum, David Smurthwaite, will speak about the Burma campaign of 1942-45.

The lecture, which starts at 2pm, is open to the public. Tickets are £2.50.