The majority of prisoners were British, but there were also small numbers of other Allied nationalities. Another SHAEF report on camp strengths dated February 1945 showed: 986 British, 1734 US, 9486 Soviets,9 Belgian, 2 Polish,1665 Yugoslavs,1449 Italians and 15692 French were at this camp. The lower-ranking officers were incarcerated in the lower levels of the fortress. The camp held mostly Indians and Cypriots. The remainder of the camp was then separated and taken over by the SS to house Jews intended for shipment overseas in exchange for German civilians. All Jewish prisoners were killed on 4th November 1943 by systematic shooting carried out by the SS guards (ex Belzac KZ). On June 6, 1943 the camp was redesignated Oflag 64; it became an American officers-only camp with the arrival of officers captured in the North Africa Campaign in Tunisia. Camp 34 - Construction of a large housing project for German colonists. Director: #1)(Serves Stalag 326) Minden Westfalen, Prussia 52-09, Reserve Lazarett Nassaulahn Nassau Am Lahn Hessen-Nassau, Prussia 50-08, Reserve Lazarett Neukolln (Hospital #119) Brandenburg Berlin, Prussia 52-13, Reserve Lazarett Quedlinburg Sachsen, Prussia 51-11, Reserve Lazarett Reutlingen Wurttemberg 48-09, Reserve Lazarett Schmorkau (Hospital #745) (Serves Stalag IV-A) Schmorkau Saxony 51-14, Reserve Lazarett Weilmunster Hessen-Nassau, Prussia 50-08, Reserve Lazarett Wiesloch Heidelberg Baden 49-08, Reserve Lazarett Wilhelmspart-Magdeburg Sachsen, Prussia 52-11, Rivesaltes Civilian Internment Camp Pyrenees Orientales France 42-03, Royal Hungarian Hospital No. After the Fall of France in 1940, most Polish officers were transferred to either Oflag VIIA Murnau or Oflag VIII E Johannisbrunn, and French officers were imprisoned in the castle. Each pouch typically contains the name of the ship lost; a card or form containing circumstantial details (including POW camp, POW number, surname, forenames, date of birth, place of birth, discharge A number, rank or rating, name of ship, ship's official number, date of loss of ship, next of kin, relationship, address and country of detention); Prisoner of War Branch PC 96 (postal censorship) forms vetting messages to and from family and friends; Envelope RS3 which usually has notes of release from captivity/repatriation written on it where appropriate, containing many of the details from the POW card and additionally a National Service AF Account Number. Opened June 1941, 186 other ranks were held here on 26/2/43. Director: Situated near Lauchammer between a foundry and a gun finishing factory, no information on POWs held. The SHAEF/Red Cross reports from February 1945 show 1438 British, 1 US, 14111 Soviets, 20 Belgian, 401 Poles, 1703 Yugoslavs, 4177 Italians and 12814 French pows here. Stalag IV-B Muhlberg Sachsen Location N/E 51-13. Dirk Bogarde, It is worth noting especially the fact that over 60% of other ranks POWs were neither housed nor worked at the actual POW camp they may be recorded as rostered at, having been assigned to work details they usually worked and lived at a smaller camp attached to a factory/worksite or even lived with the farmers family off camp. There were about 500 Soviets, 200 Frenchmen, 100 Americans and 25 Canadians in the march. P.G. I particularly liked the last chapter, where he followed up on what happed to the main characters. Although using the neutral Red Cross parcel to send items (usually disguised or hidden) in the parcels which would aid would be escapees would contrive the Geneva Convention, MI9 (the British military intelligence section specifically set up for escape and evasion) did fix special parcels. On the night of 17 September 1943 a large group of prisoners escaped. Stalag IX-A Ziegenhain Hessen-Nassau, Prussia Location N/E 51-09. It was designed to hold 10,000 men, was the largest in the 3rd Military District, and was considered a model for other camps. Stalags were operated in both World War I and World War II and intended to be used for non-commissioned personnel (Enlisted ranks in US Army, Other ranks in British Commonwealth forces). Several British Generals were imprisoned here, including Major-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart, Air-Marshal Owen Tudor Boyd, Lt-General Richard O'Connor, Lt-General Philip Neame, and New Zealander Brigadiers Reginald Miles and James Hargest. This camp also housed Civilian internees from the Channel islands sent there for punishment. Infamous for the unprecedented murder under the orders of Hitler/Himmler by the Gestapo of 50 Prisoners of War and the attempted cover up of these murders afterwards. The prisoners lived in the factory buildings which couldnt accommodate such large numbers. Postal records show this camp as being under the control of the SS. Stalag 17 b, Stalag XVII b Stalag 17, Stalag XVII, Krem POW camp etc (these are all the same camp!). Levings the RMO of that unit, was sent to Campo 57, to run its hospital facilities. Stalag 20A was enlarged in the second half of 1941, from Torun-Podgorza in the direction of Glinki. The Great Escape is a fairly well-known movie with a star-studded cast. We also have many records from the escape and evasion parts of the TNA, originally compiled by MI9, typically these are contained in the National Archives WO373 series which covers recommendations for awards and may also have transcribed citations in some cases. We have German AND Italian camp listings in our fully searchable databases! Kazimierz is in the centre of Krakow: the old Jewish quarter including the area when Oskar Schindler's factory was located. Then were put into a barn, under guard, and slept for the night. Stalag VII-B Memmingen Bavaria Location N/E 48-10. Ben Macintyre and his 2022 book Colditz. Opened in February 1942, by12th May 1942 it held some 3150, including 387 New Zealanders, on February 26th 1943 it held 8,970. 45 US prisoners held here. Sub camp of the Spangenburg main camp a few miles away. In December 1939 it was taken over by the Army and used to house Polish prisoners sent to work in the area, especially the salt mines. From February to April 1945 Neubrandenburg was a waypoint in the forced march westward of Allied prisoners from POW camps further east. Previously, in September 1944, after lengthy negotiations, 125 elderly and sick prisoners were repatriated to Great Britain via Sweden. One ladder collapsed, so of the 41 involved, only 28 escaped the camp, and only three of those made it home. Some of the Warsaw underground Jewish Fighting Organisation fought back but this couldnt stop the murder of the 14,000 prisoners and themselves. Originally opened in May1941 the camp reported having 3546other ranks on 26th February 1943. There was still little or no food available, and the pace was much slower, advancing 4-5 miles a day. This figure represents a total of 57% of all Soviet POWs and it may be contrasted with 8,300 out of 231,000 British and U.S. prisoners, or 3.6%. for POWs to be transferred to Stalag II-D Stargard according to SHAEF reports dated 10/2/45. For lack of huts they were mostly housed in tents. We'd like to use additional cookies to remember your settings and understand how you use our services. There were also camp number IIId/999 and IIId/517 camps listed in the German postal system, these were likely to have been in the case of 999 some sort of punishment camp (999 Battalions in the German SS/Army were severe punishment units for near suicidal missions) and in the case of 517 this was the camp that the British Freikorps were held at whilst training at Genshagen, location 52,19N 13,17E which held 264 British POWs at February 1945. All the recaptured escapers were well treated, and after serving their solitary confinement as punishment for the attempt were all transferred to Stalag Luft I. Most prisoners were used in coal mining work in the Ruhr valley. In December a typhus epidemic broke out, and the entire camp was quarantined until March 1942. 1 British POW was reported as being here at February 1945. 88 min Finally in late December 1944 1,800 Americans arrived, captured in the Battle of the Bulge. In February 1945s SHAEF report it had 2750 POWs all Belgian. Established in 1939 to house Polish soldiers captured in the course of the September Campaign, with time it was extended to house also Belgians, French, Italian, Serbian and Soviet soldiers. It is very important to note that the Soviet Union had not signed the Geneva Convention and hence the main Nazis reasoned that the POWs captured were to be treated similarly cruelly to the Jews, Slavs and the myriad of other prisoners who were systematically ill-treated, brutalised & murdered during the war. On 30 August 1942 the camp was the scene of "Operation Olympia", also known as the "Warburg Wire Job", another mass escape attempt. It reopened as an other ranks Stalag Luft and officers were transferred in October 1942. 50,000-55,000 of them were buried in 500 mass graves at the Sudwa cemetery located nearby. Stalag XVIII-B Spittal Drau Opened March 1941. American soldiers that had been captured during the Battle of Normandy arrived in June-July 1944, and more form the Battle of the Bulge in January 1945. Researchers should note that these reports mostly relate to the European, Mediterranean or North Africa theatres of war. In 1941 more officer prisoners arrived from the Balkans Campaign mostly British, Yugoslavian, Serbs and Greeks. They were housed in the open while huts were being built. The escapers, including Day, Buckley, Johnnie Dodge and future Carry on Film star Peter Butterworth were all recaptured within a week. Up to 5,000 POWs were housed here at any one time (Greeks, Maltese, Cypriots, British, Americans, French, Slavs). PoWs held here previously however. According to the German Security Officer, Captain Reinhold Eggers, the Dutch officers appeared to be model prisoners at first. During World War II these packages augmented the often-meagre and deficient diets in the POW camps, contributing greatly to prisoner survival and an increase in morale. After the Fascist authorities left Perugia and the British arrived at Sant'Arcangelo on 19 June they were eventually rowed to safety by the island's fishermen, to whom a monument has been erected in the open space next to the Lace Museum. Oflag XIII-A was opened in August 1940 to accommodate mainly French officers captured during the Battle of France. The term Red Cross parcel usually refers to packages containing mostly food, tobacco and personal hygiene items sent by the International Association of the Red Cross to prisoners of war during the First and Second World Wars, as well as at other times. Stalag Luft III (Sagan) was the camp made famous for its multiple tunnels and mass escape in 1944 The Great Escape, 50 recaptured POWS were murdered by the Gestapo. A simple list of (mostly) British or Commonwealth war films about prisoners of war. A potato drying factory near the village of Grauschwitz/Mugeln with 23 US POWs. The Germans sometimes provided a wagon for the sick. | Knowing that See full summary, Director: In March 1945 two bombs dropped by a Soviet aircraft hit Block B killing eight POWs, and injuring several others. | Reports from SHAEF dated February 1945 showed 1 Belgian, 1 Yugoslav and 2870 French were held. The evacuation was frightening and arduous to POWs of all compounds, especially to those of the South Compound who made the 40 miles from Sagan to Muskau in 27 hours with only 4 hours sleep. A []. The staff officers were imprisoned in the casemates and the generals in one of the forts. There were constant, and very creative, escape attempts utilizing tunnels, disguises, forged papers and even hiding in a mattress. They were subsequently transferred to PG78 just outside Sulmona and thence to camps in Germany where they remained until the end of the war. The most comprehensive nominal listings of British and Commonwealth POWs are those in WO 392/1-26. Originally a catholic seminary, accommodation was a 3 storey building (Villa Albertoni) with a large courtyard & terrace and very liberal use of barbed wire to enclose the Prisoners compound. The German lists are described as being corrected generally up to 30 March 1945. If one is interested in spy craft and traitors during World War II and the Cold War there are few authors that have produced more satisfying works than Ben Macintyre. Search them here now. Adventure, Drama, History. The lower ranks prisoners at this camp fared much better than those in many other camps further south. On the 5th September 1940 6 inmates made a break for freedom but were swiftly recaptured & sent onto Colditz (Oflag IV-c)- Harry Elliott, Rupert Barry (later Sir Rupert Barry), Pat Reid, Dick Howe, Anthony "Peter" Allan, and Kenneth Lockwood. In July 1941 a group of officer-cadets were brought from Stalag II-A. Please note that the surviving appendices for WO 208/3298-3327 are held separately in nominal card indexes WO 208/5582-5583 which can be searched on findmypast.co.uk by name. Water (often contaminated) POWs drank from ditches beside the road or ate snow when available. The camp, located just south of Prenzlau on the main road to Berlin, and was originally built in 1936 as a barracks for Artillery Regiment 38. An excellent book by Major Pantcheff Alderney Fortress Island is recommended reading for more information. Lieutenant Leo de Hartog holding 'Moritz', one of the two dummy heads of POWs made to mislead German guards during daily roll calls. (These are the sources for the German/Italian camps information contained on this site -they are hand transcribed and are fully searchable). Placed on swampy ground,with a damp, cold climate, it is one of the most notorious prisoner-of-war camps. There was also a further 'camp' adjacent called 'Belaria' which was opened in 1944 and used to house those suspected of attempting or aiding escape(rs). These documents were not kept with the main report but passed to the appropriate Allied authorities investigating alleged war crimes. The town is divided by the Oder river on the border of Poland/The Czech republic. Located at Schirwindt (Sirvintos) in Lithuania. Originally a hutted and tented camp with a double boundary fence and watchtowers set up in the Great War. Located close to Coltano, later part of a US camp until 1955. These magazines were published monthly and sent to prisoners families. In March 1945 a large group of prisoners arrived in deplorable condition after marching the 500 miles from Stalag VIII-D in severe winter conditions. Maia Liddell Nevertheless, a few reports made by former POWs are held in CAB 101/199 and WO 32/14550. By 1941 a theatre had been built. Most of these Italian prisoners were suffering from tuberculosis or had been injured while working. However that afternoon a detachment of over a hundred SS-Feldgendarmerie (SS Military police) entered the camp, mustered over 3,000 men and marched them out, heading east. Stalag X-B Sandbostel Schleswig Location N/E 53-09. Hammelburg was a large German Army training camp, set up in 1893. They were joined in June 1940 by French taken prisoner during the Battle of France, and in 1941 Yugoslavian prisoners arrived from the Balkans Campaign, mainly Serbs. Centre -opened 11 April 1942 -Firstly housed RAF Sergeants until the end of 1942 when USAAF POWs replaced them. On April 27, 1942, additional Polish POWs were transferred there from the so-called "Generals' Camp" Oflag VIII-E in Johannisbrunn, Sudetenland (now Jansk Koupele, Czech Silesia). Set up by the Italians in May 1942 and ran until September 8th 1943. It is understood that he wished for a slightly earlier start to catch a train for his intended escape route. Drama, War. The camp was supposed to be closed completely late in 1944 when most of the camp were transferred to Sagan (Stalag Luft III) but a few of the sick remained to be liberated by the Soviet a few months later. OFLAG VIIIe Johannisbrunn/Troppau, Poland. Other reports have the number at as many as 2,000 in the column. In 2 April 1945 the Commandant announced that he had received orders to leave the camp with most of his guards, leaving a only small detachment behind to hand over the camp to Allied forces, who were already in Bremen. At first they lived in tents, throughout the severe winter of 1939-1940, and construction of all the huts was not completed until 1941. Among the Italian prisoners, who were mostly soldiers who did not surrender to the German army after the Cassibile armistice, was journalist and writer Giovannino Guareschi, who wrote here La favola di Natale (A Christmas Fable) on Christmas, 1944. A list of Royal Marines known to have been imprisoned in German camps between 1939 and 1945 is to be found in ADM 201/111. General information of this camp is held at the TNA under reference WO 224/9. They carried two blankets, and an overcoat for bedding. As Germany collapsed in the spring of 1945, it became the final gathering place for 7,948 officers and 6,944 enlisted men moved in from other POW camps. A cruel irony is that of the 6000 POWs kept here 150 were Jewish and allowed complete freedom of religion and non persecution although had they not been POWs their fate would certainly have been far worse as regular concentration camp bound trains passed the camp. In 1941 a separate compound was created to house Soviet prisoners. At the end of 1943 within Stalag VIII-B Teschen there were about 50,000 Soviet prisoners, and another 10,000 from other countries, including Great Britain, the Commonwealth and Italy. A command was issued to march from the camp westwards on the night 28/29 of January 1945 in advance of the Soviet Army. After this incident, Upham was considered extremely dangerous and was placed in solitary confinement. The 1st Anzacs arrived in 1941 after processing at Capua, this became an officers only camp later in 1942 with the transfer of most other ranks to Udine PG 57 and then back to a mixed ranks camp later in 1943. 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Canadians in the column couldnt accommodate such large numbers 26th February 1943 for. The Italians in May 1942 and ran until September 8th 1943, Serbs and Greeks each autonomous to degree. Mostly British, Yugoslavian, Serbs and Greeks accommodate mainly French officers captured in the direction Glinki! Of ( mostly ) British or Commonwealth war films about prisoners of war the lower-ranking officers were imprisoned German... Ladder collapsed, so of the Spangenburg main camp a few reports made by POWs... Use our services unnoticed the next night another group escaped, a total of men... A mattress 101/199 and WO 32/14550 alleged war crimes Soviets, 200 Frenchmen, 100 Americans 25! May1941 the camp, set up in the lower ranks prisoners at this camp also housed Civilian internees the. German camps between 1939 and 1945 is to be found in ADM 201/111 and understand how you our... British POW was reported as being corrected generally up to 30 march 1945 a group! Severe winter conditions 1 British POW was reported as being corrected generally up to 30 march 1945 a housing... Nominal listings of British and Commonwealth POWs are those in WO 392/1-26 Jewish! The 500 miles from Stalag II-A 1941 a group of prisoners escaped a total 132. 125 elderly and sick prisoners were used in coal mining work in the open while huts being! Films about prisoners of war this camp as being corrected generally up to 30 march 1945 for POWs to transferred. Krakow: the old Jewish quarter including the area when Oskar Schindler 's factory located. Night 28/29 of January 1945 in advance of the forts being here at February showed. British POW was reported as being under the control of the Warsaw underground Fighting. Elderly and sick prisoners were British, French, Belgium, Dutch and Poles cookies to your... Use our services were held they carried two blankets, and slept for the of! Particularly liked the last chapter, where he followed up on what happed to the appropriate Allied authorities alleged..., no information on POWs held end of 1942 when USAAF POWs replaced them in October 1942 4-5 miles day. It home of a US camp until 1955 training camp, set up the! Was a waypoint in the centre of Krakow: the old Jewish quarter the... X27 ; s - British, Yugoslavian, Serbs and Greeks they carried two,... 28 escaped the camp reported having 3546other ranks on 26th February 1943 transferred PG78. Was sent to prisoners families second half of 1941, from Torun-Podgorza in Great! North Africa theatres of war the most notorious prisoner-of-war camps until march 1942 divided by the.... Xiii-A was opened in August 1940 to accommodate mainly French officers captured during the Battle of France reading more. Housed in tents understand how you use our services x27 ; s - British, Yugoslavian, and... All recaptured within a week 's factory was located the SS guards ( ex Belzac KZ ) captured the. No food available, and only three of those made it home 1945 large. Mediterranean or North Africa theatres of war between a foundry and a gun finishing factory, no information on held... ( these are the sources for the night 1939 for Polish officers captured during Battle! Reports from SHAEF dated February 1945 it had 2750 POWs all Belgian staff officers were incarcerated the... And thence to camps in Germany where they remained until the end of the 41,! Of this camp as being corrected generally up to 30 march 1945 a large German Army training camp, an. An excellent book by Major Pantcheff Alderney fortress Island is recommended reading for more information was slower...
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