The war was over. But for 928 soldiers from Bolton they faced a long march to freedom. When the guns finally fell silent at the end of the First World War they were left stranded in PoW camps near the German city of Munster.
The gates of the camps were unlocked and the guards had gone. So they set off on an 850-mile journey, making their own way home to Lancashire. Now the descendants of the town's "forgotten" prisoners of war who made that epic trek are being sought.
The appeal comes as four Bolton ex-servicemen are to recreate the journey they made through the then war-ravaged Western Europe. The original Tommies travelled by train, ship, farmer's carts, bus and on foot to get home.
