On 1 December 1941 Flt Lt Peter Stevens RAFVR, disguised as a German Unteroffizier, led a party of 10 POWs disguised as orderlies, and two more disguised as guards complete with dummy rifles, up to the gates of the camp. This camp housed British POWs from 1940 until it's evacuation in May 1945 and forced march westwards. Interesting read about Colditz Castle, a prison for difficult prisoners during the Second World War. In 1939 as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact it was annexed by the Soviets and on July 26, 1941 was occupied by the Nazis and is now in the Ukraine. 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. On each floor there were toilets and sinks with running cold water but no baths. Prisoners of various nationalities were generally separated from each other by barbed-wire fences subdividing each stalag into sections. 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. | However, in this and subsequent bombing attacks, many prisoners were killed in individual Arbeitskommandos. Director: Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated. 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. When the sound of Allied artillery grew closer, the German guards were less harsh in their treatment of POWs, because the prisoner roles may soon be reversed. Two days, later, on January 23, 1945, the camp was liberated by the Soviet 61st Army. The prison buildings consisted of 2 compounds, each with its own cook-house, ablution block, recreation huts and orderly Rooms. 145 Terramo (Campotosto / Montorio al Vomano). Stalag XII-A to IX-B Limburg An Der Lahn Hessen-Nassau, Prussia Location N/E 50-08. 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. We still hold two meetings a year at the Union Jack Club London. The International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva keeps incomplete lists of all known POWs and internees of all nationalities for the Second World War. Located at coordinates 54 degrees 25 minutes North, 20 degrees 32 minutes 5 seconds east. New buildings; Textile Works near Railway Line in two Sections, Nearest Airfield Macerata. The series of records WO 416 consist of cards for over 200,000 prisoners of war and civilians, and deceased airmen whose bodies were found near to their planes. The cards normally give details of camp and POW number; surname and full forenames; date and place of birth; discharge A number and rank/rating; the name of the ship, official number and date of loss; next-of-kin and relationship; home address. POW camp in the castle of Bad Wurzach, although this was unlike Colditz in that it was really a large country house, not a castle as such. This camp was used after the armistice to house the 40,000 Jews from Modena/Bologna before their transfer to Auschwitz. Lieutenant Leo de Hartog holding 'Moritz', one of the two dummy heads of POWs made to mislead German guards during daily roll calls. It should be noted that the Japanese did not allow inspections of their camps in Malaya or Singapore. At this point, the average POW lost 1/3 of his body weight since capture. A second tunnel, about 40 m (130 ft) long, was built from April to August 1944. Incidentally the sanatorium of this town was where the Aktion T4 Nazi state euthanasia programme was instituted in 1939, by the end of WWII over 275,000 Germans had been murdered countrywide in this scheme. The camp was built in 1939 and designated Stalag I-C. At first it held Polish POWs, then from 1940 also French and Belgians, and from 1941 Soviets. The Senior Officer on Liberation was Colonel Hubert Zemke of the US army air corps. 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). Situated in a monastery in Bergamo district. In June 1940, Belgian and French POWs were housed in the former Bergen-Belsen construction workers camp. The camp was clean and living conditions were satisfactory. Although individuals are rarely mentioned by name, a speculative search of files in these record series may still prove fruitful. Sleeping accommodation was in wooden double bunks in groups of 8. On 8 September 1943, the day of the Italian Armistice, the gates at the Bologna POW camp were thrown open and those inside invited by their guards to break for freedom. Set up by the Italians in May 1942 and ran until September 8th 1943. 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. Soon afterwards a delegation of high-ranking German officers inspected the camp, and the prisoners were warned that "escaping is no longer a sport". In late 1943 an escape committee started digging a tunnel which was to pass under the barbed wire fence, but in March 1944, upon receiving news of the disastrous results of the "Great Escape" from Stalag Luft III the escape committee ordered a shut-down of the operation. The camp of huts near Fallingbostel became known as Stalag XI-B and was to become one of the Wehrmacht's largest prisoner of war (POW) camps, holding up to 95,000 prisoners from various countries. The remaining inmates asked that he inform the Americans of their plight which he did, and despite Koenigstein being in the Soviet zone, a decision was taken to swiftly remove the French generals from the castle on May 11. In June 1940 British, Belgian, Dutch and French senior officers and a small number of orderlies were transported to Mainz from transit camps in France and Belgium after the end of the Battle of France. Six years of war brought many changes to familiar festive rituals. The camp was situated on a former army training ground (bungsplatz), and had been used during World War I as a camp for Soviet prisoners. 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. Generally speaking, Im more of a fan of his espionage tales than the broader war histories hes done, but this takes all of those elements and boils it down to one incredible pressure-cooker of a story. Nigel Stock, Tous Public Campo PG 66, on a flat stretch of ground on the outskirts of Capua, had been in use as a prisoner-of-war camp since early 1941, when a medical officer reported favourably on its food, water supply and sanitation, and the men stated that they were being well taken care of.. Stalag I-B Hohenstein was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp located 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) west of Hohenstein, East Prussia (now Olsztynek, Poland). In Poznan itself, three forts were used to house PoWs; Rauch, IIIA and VIII. The remaining prisoners responded to the threat of a pitched battle on their doorstep by digging slit trenches. | Sports equipment and textbooks were obtained from the Red Cross and YMCA. 'Imperial Prisoners of War held in Italy dated August 1943. 6975 POWs were held here as of 26/2/43 and it originally opened in October 1942. Drama, Sport, War. This instructed them to remain in camp and await imminent liberation by the advancing Allied forces. Frequently prisoners speaking the same language, for example, British Commonwealth soldiers, were permitted to intermingle. Internally, it was divided in half by a road running east-west, the Ziegelkampstrae. Some of the Dutch prisoners escaped when en route to Neubrandenburg camp via train by jumping from the boxcars and managed to get home. The prisoners were liberated there by units of the British Army on 5 May 1945. Other prisoners of war, including Douglas Bader, distracted the guards and used signaling devices to help the escapers. John Sturges It remained in use until 1993. Useful intelligence was more generally obtained from naval or air force personnel by studying the reasons for their capture or failure of equipment and so on, This continued the report narrative from the point where the escaper or evader came under an escape organisation within a POW camp. The construction of the second camp, Lager-Ost ("East Compound") began in June 1941 to accommodate the large numbers of Soviet prisoners taken in Operation Barbarossa. As with all POWs, escape was always in mind. On 25 February 1945 most of the remaining prisoners were forced to march westward in advance of the Soviet offensive and endured great hardships before they were freed by Allied troops in April 1945. On January 21, 1945, the roll call established a total of 1,471. Altogether 141 prisoners died in Oflag VI-B. They give details of name, rank and service/army number as well as regiment/corps, prisoner of war number and their final camp location (in Italy/Germany/both). Location lists and additional aerial photographs of POW camps in Germany, Italy and Occupied Europe, including reports on transfers, are in AIR 14/1235-1240, and similar documentation on German camps occurs in AIR 40/227-231. On the night of 27 September 1944 British aircraft attacking the nearby railroad junction in Nrde, dropped some bombs on the camp, killing 90 officers. Several work sub-camps were attached to this camp, the main camp was known as the film studio. Most of the men were moved by train to Stalag XX-A in West Prussia, but some 900 were taken to the port of Memel, where they were put aboard the merchant ship Insterburg for a 60-hour journey to Swinemnde. There were 209 officers held here as of 26/2/43 and the camp originally opened in May 1941. POWs were allowed to send two letters and four postcards each month. Housed up to 2,000 eastern European POWs, this was the biggest POW camp in Umbria. I greatly enjoy WWII history but sometimes books on that topic are too brutal, and depressing. From the 15th of August 1940 there were 356 officers and 140 other ranks. The camp was renumbered Oflag-67. Bremen Oldenburg 53-08, Reserve Lazarett Konstanzam Bodensee Konstanz Baden 47-09, Reserve Lazarett Leipzig Warren Leipzig Saxony 51-12, Reserve Lazarett Lyzeum Eschwege Prussia 51-10, Reserve Lazarett Marburg/Lahn Marburg Hessen-Nassau, Prussia 50-08, Reserve Lazarett Minden (Mil. District XI Nearest city Kassel, in the centre of Germany. The forts had been built at the end of 19th century to defend the western border of Kingdom of Prussia. Camp 34 - Construction of a large housing project for German colonists. | Oflag XIII-A, Oflag XIII-B and Oflag XIII-D were all located on the old Nazi party rally grounds in Langwasser, Nuremberg, in northern Bavaria. The camp was organised into huts about 40 yards long and 8 yards wide. The lucky ones got far enough to the west to be liberated by the American army. A larger scale attempt was unsuccessful. The transferred records consist of three principal series: the individual Claims Folders, serially numbered (with gaps) for over 100,000 helpers; the numbered and unnumbered Correspondence Files of the Allied Screening Commission; and the Routing Slips of Paying and Investigating Officers of the Commission. | Fort 11 (XI) named after Stefana Batorego. 13th century castle near Florence. Located at Szubin a few miles south of Bydgoszcz, in Pomorze, Poland, which at that time was occupied by Nazi Germany. For the first few months they lived in the open or in tents during a very cold winter, while they built the wooden and brick huts for the permanent camp. Newly released documents at The National Archives show the three remarkable and successful escape attempts made by three British-born Officers - Flight Lieutenant Hedley S Fowler, Lieutenant. Claudette Colbert, The lists are described as being corrected generally up to 30 March 1945. From May and June 1940 Dutch and Belgian prisoners arrived from the Battle of France, followed by French. Nominal card indexes to the principle series of escape and evasion reports in WO 208/3298-3327 (pre-D-Day) and WO 208/3348-3352 (post-D-Day) can be searched on findmypast.co.uk. 50,000-55,000 of them were buried in 500 mass graves at the Sudwa cemetery located nearby. Situated in a previous almshouse, large and modern. | Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use. 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