The National Archives holds over 100 files concerning the murder of 50 Allied airmen who escaped from Stalag Luft III in March 1944: an incident known as 'The Great Escape' which make fascinating reading. The Index to the correspondence of the Foreign Office, 1920-1951 (131 vols, Nendeln, 1969-1982) available at The National Archives, contains numerous entries relating to all aspects of British POWs. The largest population present within the camp was Soviet, followed by the French, Belgian, Dutch, British and Commonwealth, Italian, and American prisoners were also present in large numbers. Hammelburg was a large German Army training camp, set up in 1893. It was liberated by a Soviet armoured division on 28 April 1945. Author Ben MacIntyre brings the drama into high relief in Prisoners of the Castle, a nonfiction rendering of life in the most famous of the nearly one hundred WWII Nazi POW camps. At Muskau they were given a 30 hour delay for recuperation and then marched another 20 miles to Spremberg. Escapes assisted by Yugoslav Partisans became increasingly common, with most escapers being led south to the Partisan base and airfield at Semic in Bela Krajina. Originally opened in July 1942 to house up to 6,000 POWs, it held 5169 on 26th February 1943. October 1944 -soldiers from the Polish Warsaw Rising came, including over 1,000 women soldiers and officers. Feigned heart disease by smoking heavily and drinking concentrated black coffee prior to medical examination and was repatriated. On 5 May 1945 the Norwegians were transported east to a camp near Lignica in Silesia, then travelled for several days by train to Hamburg and Aarhus, Denmark, finally arriving in Oslo on 28 May 1945. Some took the opportunity to escape at this point. Their repeated, elaborate, and sometimes bizarre attempts at escape are a nice change from the stories of Grunts on the front lines. This report from Wikipedia and various eye witness accounts: The count was held up the morning of the march as the MOC (Man of Confidence) was in negotiation with the Kommandant for the safety of the men who were too sick for the march. 126 POWs held here as of 26th February1943, originally opened July 1942. Later renamed Quebec barracks and a base of the British Army after the war. By February 1944 most of the officers had been transferred to other Oflags. On 5th March 1943 the Schubin Tunnel escape led by the indomitable Wing Commander Harry Day got 35 POWS out of the camp, although none escaped home. March and April 1945 - about 8,000 Concentration camp prisoners are brought here from the Neuengamme concentration camp and placed in the enclosure that had been Marlag, Bar of milk or plain chocolate (often Cadbury's fruit and nut, or something similar), Tin of condensed milk (Klima Canadian instant milk beverageor else Carnation or Nestle brand). Originally a button factory and then an armaments factory before being converted to a POW camp in 1942. Consequently, additional documentation is sometimes attached. 52 Pian di Coreglia (Chiabati, Genoa). Stars: On 5 February, Polish General Tadeusz Br-Komorowski, deputy commander of the Armia Krajowa (Home Army) and responsible for the Warsaw Uprising, arrived with his entourage. After two weeks detention in nearby Willibaldsburg Castle, the escapees were sent to Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle. Four were recaptured. Stalag XVIII-B Spittal Drau Opened March 1941. To relieve overcrowding, some of the officers were transferred to Oflag VII-C/Z in Tittmoning Castle. James Fox, His escape from Colditz took place on 9 September 1942. Soon after their arrival the senior Canadian officer, Brigadier W.W. Southam, convened a conference which compiled an after action report on the Raid. British N.C.O. Set up in September 1943, it housed about 1200 prisoners, mostly British. Most of them headed south, towards Switzerland, sleeping by day and travelling by night. It served as the hospital for all Soviet POWs in the region until January 1945. The others were at Oerbke (Stalag XI-D (321)) and Wietzendorf (Stalag X-D (310)). Located to the south of the town of Wolfsberg, in the southern Austrian state of Carinthia, then a part of the German reich. By the time of the camp's evacuation in April 1945, Allied prisoners of every nation at war with Germany were present within the camp. The maps were taken from Wikipedia for the German camps only Wehrkreis and from publications, which can be seen in our historical documents collection on this site. Besides, some include dates of death, exchange, repatriation and arrival back in the United Kingdom. There were 209 officers held here as of 26/2/43 and the camp originally opened in May 1941. In June 1943 it was renamed Stalag Luft VI and used to hold British and Canadian Air Force NCOs, and from February 1944, also Americans. Originally a hutted and tented camp with a double boundary fence and watchtowers set up in the Great War. It is now a tourist attraction and I signed up for a guided tour of the castle and grounds, learning more about its time as the Escapers Gaol, which spurred me on to write this blog, using official records at The National Archives. These contain miscellaneous papers relating to the circumstances of loss/capture. The following morning they caught a train to Tuttlingen and walked to the Swiss border. Stalag VII-A Moosburg Bavaria Location N/E 48-12 (Work Camps 3324-46 Krumbachstrasse 48011, Work Camp 3368 Munich Location N/E 48-11). Director: District XX Nearest city Olsztyn, Poland (German name: Allenstein). | Tom Hardy, In the village of Burghammer, (Near Hoherswenda NE of Dresden) 2 wooden huts 50 yards long. Tin of 50 cigarettes or tobacco (sent separatelyusually Player's brand cigarettes or Digger flake pipe tobacco). Stalag XII-A to IX-B Limburg An Der Lahn Hessen-Nassau, Prussia Location N/E 50-08. Jack Warner, The staff officers were imprisoned in the casemates and the generals in one of the forts. It was a dark night and they successfully reached a freight train that was switching cars at the station that was close to the farm. | Stalag II-E Schwerin Mecklenberg Location N/E 53-11. Most were immediately sent to Arbeitskommandos (work details). Italian camp rosters up to 1943 are very scarce and difficult to source, if the person you are searching for remained a Prisoner after 1943 it may well be useful to search the German camp records as they have a definite possibility of being recorded there. Oflag VII-B Eichstatt (British) Bavaria 49-11, Oflag X-B Nienburg An Der Weser Hanover, Prussia 52-09, Oflag XII-B Hadamar Hessen-Nassau, Prussia 50-08. The camp was adjoined on one side to Stalag VIIIc, the 'other ranks' army camp, although the administration of both camps was entirely seperate. On our databases you will often see a record office number referred to, these record offices were the collection points in 1945/6 for returning POWs documents and are noted on our records for information only as most would haveclosed shortly after the war. In June 1942, to ease overcrowding, three new barracks were built, and 400 British NCOs were transferred to Stalag XVIII-B at Spittal. Stalag XVII B held soldiers of ten different nationalities throughout the war. Located at Annaberg-Bucholz in Germany, this was also a POW camp in WWI. Stalag Luft IV Gross Tychow/Burzlaff, Poland, Stalag Luft IV Gross-Tychow (formerly Heydekrug) Pomerania, Prussia (moved to Wobbelin Bei Ludwigslust) (To Usedom Bei Savenmunde) Location N/E 54-16. The location of Colditz Castle, situated on a steep conical hill above the River Mulde and surrounded by barbed wire and under the watchful eyes of armed sentries, made the camp difficult, but not impossible, to escape from. The training and selection by Abwehr II and the German Army took place during the period from 1940-1943. It held 1 British and 12 US POWs according to a red cross visit passed onto the SHAEF in February 1945. Originally designed to hold 4,000 in July 1942. They give details of name, rank and service/army number as well as regiment/corps, prisoner of war number and, presumably, the camp location when the register was made. Opened originally in December1941, 431other ranks were reported here on February 26th 1943. At the instigation of the U.S. and Swiss governments, the International Committee of the Red Cross put pressure on the German government not to keep civilian non-combatants in a POW camp. 203 Bologna hospital in Castel S Pietro. The march lasted until February 25th and ended up in the town of Waren where they were liberated by the Soviet Army soon after. It was located around the village of Westertimke, about 30 km (19 mi) north-east of Bremen, though in some sources the camp's location is given as Tarmstedt, a larger village about 4 km (2.5 mi) to the west. Between these two large buildings were another two smaller ones which had previously been the factory's administration blocks. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The "entertaining yet objective and often-moving account" (The Wall Street Journal) of one of history's most notorious prisonsand the remarkable cast of POWs who tried relentlessly to escape their captors, from the author of The Spy and . Many prisoners managed to escape and were sheltered in private homes. POWs were moved out of this camp on March 10th 1944 towards Germany. Located at 53 degrees 9 minutes North and 12 degrees 10 minues east this camp held 1727 Yugoslav, 583 Italians and 2414 French the Red cross visited it in early 1945. Nevertheless, it was recognised that in most instances an evader/escaper had little opportunity of observing enemy activities due to the normal practice of 'hiding-up' during the day. It is estimated that over 4,000 British and Allied personnel escaped or evaded capture across Europe during the Second World War. Stalag XX-B Marienburg Danzig Location N/E 54-19 (now Malbork Poland). OFLAG VIIIe Johannisbrunn/Troppau, Poland. Macintyre is a writer-at-large for The Times (U.K.) and has written monographs whose narratives include the history of the British SAS; deceptions that encompass plans to misinform the Nazis in the lead up to the invasions of Sicily and D-Day; well-known spies such as Kim Philby, Oleg Gordievsky, the woman known as Agent Sonya, Eddie Chapman; and his latest the escapees from the Nazi fortress, Colditz. 6,980 POWs held here all British in 1942 On Feb 26th 19437,314 were recorded as POWs. From April 1940 onwards the camp expanded with the completion of three wooden barrack blocks. They also organized the dates of escapes so that one group did not interfere with another. The camp ended in an area called "Padule", under the village of Castelvecchio, next to the railway station of CollelinkingLucca to Pontedera until 1958. This was a work camp, making roads and operating a stone quarry. The barracks in the Landwehr Road was built in 1935 for the Wehrmacht. Closed in March 1942, opened in June the preceding year. In April 1944 the count of internees in Laufen included 459 British internees (417 Channel Islanders) and 120 American civilians who had been trapped in Europe when war was suddenly declared in December 1941. A large number of the inmates made their way to the Swiss frontier and were interned when the Italian guards abandoned their posts after the armistice in 1943. 23 wooden huts were burnt down. (These are the sources for the German/Italian camps information contained on this site -they are hand transcribed and are fully searchable). The War Diary of MI9, the division of Military Intelligence that dealt with escapers and evaders of all services, is in WO 165/39, while its papers including files concerning all aspects of the department's work are in WO 208/3242-356. Ordinary servicemen were required to doany work they were able to do, as long as it was not dangerous and did not support the German war effort, (Geneva Convention section III, article 49). On the way to the border they were stopped by an SS policeman, but their forged papers were sufficient to pass inspection. Several escape attempts, one successful on March 29th 1943 - Six British and New Zealand officers escaped through a tunnel from Castello di Vincigliata (Campo 12) near Florence, Italy. After 1935 it was a training camp and military training area for the newly reconstituted German Army. 53 British POWs held at a Brick factory on the road between Meissen & Oschatz. Oflag II-D was a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp located at Gross Born, Pomerania (now Borne Sulinowo, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland). E3 Blechammer (Next to the Donau-Oder canal & close to the Hydrierwerke oil refinery). The camp housed around 2,500 British and 900 other commonwealth and allied nations' POWs and 7,500 USAAF in huts (10 x 12 metres) for 15 men with 3 tier bunks. 14 sub work camps also at isola della scala, Lazise, Mozzecane, Vigasio, San Bernadino, Montecchia di Crosara, Legnano, Vendagadizza, Zevio, San Matino buon Albergo, Bonavigo, Oppeano & Angiari. Beds were for officers, elderly and the sick. Stars: Used as a Transit Camp. They were flown back to Paris on May 12, many of them free for the first time in five years. Neubrandenburg camp was liberated by the Soviets in April 1945. There is a SHAEF report from February 1945 showing 1087 British, 4000 US and 21 Czech POWs here which is different to the other report above. OFLAG VIIIh Oberlangendorf, Czech republic, OFLAG IXa Spangenburg bei Kassel, Germany. Sulmona served as a POW camp in both world wars. A civilian hospital attached to Camp 53 (Sforza Costa Liguria) camp. The sources: Records held at the National Archives under reference WO392/1-26 and Air40/1488-90 amongst many others. The senior British officer in 1942 was Colonel George Younghusband. Major-General Gustave Marie Maurice Mesny was killed on the way from Knigstein to Colditz Castle. In June 1940, part of Stalag IV-A was separated and made into an Oflag for Belgian, British, and French officers taken prisoner during the Battle of France. It was used by the Nazi Organisation Todt, a forced labour programme, to build bunkers, gun emplacements, air-raid shelters, and concrete fortifications. 0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 90%. Stars: Some of the Warsaw underground Jewish Fighting Organisation fought back but this couldnt stop the murder of the 14,000 prisoners and themselves. This was the POW camp next door to Auschwitz death camp and the inmates of Auschwitz frequently worked alongside British POWs on this work detail. 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