The camp was designated Stalag XX-A (301) and located in the Friesack area, Brandenburg region. Aerial photographs of camps are in AIR 40/227-231. 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', during this escape it was planned to get up to 250 airmen out, in the event 76 escaped and 3 made home runs. A limited number of non-commissioned soldiers working as orderlies were allowed in Oflags to carry out the work needed to care for the officers so dont be too surprised to find a Corporal in Colditz! Only 10 managed to remain free, some returned to Poland, others finding their way to the Allied lines. David Greene, PG-13 Contents 1 1941 escape attempts 2 1942 escape attempts 3 1943 escape attempts 4 1944 escape attempts 5 1945 escape attempts 6 Further reading 7 External links These first prisoners were the permanent staff of the camp and helped new POWs become accustomed to camp life. Despite harsh conditions in the living chambers, the officers were granted relative freedom and had a part of the fortress gardens at their disposal. 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. This is an excellent account of Colditz, a special prisoner of war camp for special prisoners. It grew quickly from a few tents to a large POW camp with concrete buildings for the German officers and guards, and 40 large wooden barracks for the prisoners. These cells, eight feet high, feet wide and twelve feet long, held a cot, a table, a chair and an electric bell to call the guard. 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). In early 1942 all the officers were transferred to Oflag VII-B in Eichsttt. Six years of war brought many changes to familiar festive rituals. At the time of its liberation on 29 April 1945, there were 76,248 (7975 British) prisoners in the camp, with 1823 officers. Over the next few weeks the prisoners were transported via Klagenfurt to transit camps in Bari and Naples, from where they were eventually repatriated. Before that many prisoners had been marched out in a south-west direction. Peter Finch, Oflag IX-C (Molsdorf) was used to house Women Officers of the Polish army and was widely known (even to the International Red Cross) as the worst of all of those run by German forces during WWII for its near concentration-camp conditions. 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. 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 camp was opened in September 1940 on what had been originally intended to be a military airfield. They were divided among the 25 huts to work as orderlies, in addition to the lower ranks that were already doing this work. It seems a shame if no one is encouraging continued interest in a remarkable group of men. POWs were moved out of this camp on March 10th 1944 towards Germany. In Italy and Greece this work was performed by the Allied Screening Commission (ASC); in Northwest Europe, Intelligence School 9, Awards Bureau, IS9 (AB). Released were 535 Italians, 58 Yugoslavs, 3 Poles, 399 Soviets, 3 medical staff (unknown nationality). Stalag VIII-A Gorlitz (Moved to Moosburg Murenberg) Silesia Location N/E 51-15. The barracks were enclosed by a barbed-wire fence and watchtowers to form a camp approximately 440 by 530 metres, and was opened in June 1940 to house officers, mostly French, captured in the Battle of France, as well as several hundred Poles. Prisoners held in Italy: post-armistice escape reports. On January 21, 1945, the roll call established a total of 1,471. PG 106/1 Molinetto, San Dominano, Palestrino/collabanio, Selvi/Salasco, Tenuta Veneria/Lignano, Castell Apertole, Castell Merlino, Tenuta Palestro, Tenuta Castellone, Langosca a busonegno/villaboit, Viancino, Foglietta, Carpenetto/Bianze, Petiva/San Germano, Vallasino/Olcenegno, Cascina Oschiena. It was located south of the railway tracks. District IX Nearest City Altona, near Hamburg in the middle North of Germany. H 203 Ospedale Castel St. Pietro, Bologna, CC 38 Civilian Internment CAMP Arezzo Italy 43-12, CC77 (was Dulag 226) Pissiguano Italy 43-12. burdocks (German Schwertbrderstrasse, from the north-east) and Brownies (German Goldene Pforte, from the south-east.). In July 1941 a group of officer-cadets were brought from Stalag II-A. 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. After the Italian Armistice September 1943, 11 officers and 14 other ranks escaped with Italian partisan and SOE help. The Canadian Red Cross reported assembling and shipping nearly 16,500,000 food parcels during the Second World War, at $47,529,000. Discovered by dog on ground. The lucky ones got far enough to the west to be liberated by the American army. From 21 January 1945, many of the prisoners, particularly British and Commonwealth, were marched through Nazi-occupied Czech lands to Stalag XIII-C in Bavaria or Stalag XIII-D Nrnberg. As civilian non-combatants, according to Section XI, Article 6, of the 1907 Hague Conventions, merchant seamen "are not made prisoners of war, on condition that they make a formal promise in writing, not to undertake, while hostilities last, any service connected with the operations of the war." The camp covered an area of 37,000 square metres, divided into two sections but not separated by barbed wire. Stalag XII E Metz, located at Fort Queuleu , replaced the Frontstalag 212 & was in operation for 5 months only from 20 July 1940 to 2 December 1940. Many of them died from the bitter cold and exhaustion. A large (10 acre) island on lake Trasimeno in Umbria. Fast-talking wheeler-dealer Corporal King is stuck in a Malaysian P.O.W. BBC News. The largest such attempt was on 13th September, when 26 prisoners got out through a tunnel. In spring of 1943 American personnel captured in the Tunisia Campaign arrived. 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. Notorious: The hotel in Colditz, in southern German, has 161 beds and offers the full 'prisoner experience'. The majority of prisoners were British, but there were also small numbers of other Allied nationalities. Used for punishment and for keeping peristent escapers. World War II prisoner-of-war escapes are a staple of adventure fiction. 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. In 1941 some 300 of these took part in the Nazi propaganda film Germanin. The camp was liberated by troops of the U.S. 12th Armoured Division on 29 April 1945. The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz - Denis Avey [see here]. 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. In May 1940 the camp was established in wooden huts at the south end of the training ground. By May 10, when news of the German surrender reached them, half the POWs had vanished. They were moved to a different location closer to Cuxhaven, Westertimke, in 1942. But, between 1939 and 1945, it was famously used as a prisoner of war camp to house British and Allied Officers who had previously escaped from other camps, or were deemed to be a high security risk. In late September 1939 the camp was changed to a prisoner-of-war camp to house Polish soldiers from the September Campaign, particularly those from the Pomorze Army. 3 men also escaped via Danzig and Sweden in the wooden horse escape of 1943. Postal records show this camp as being under the control of the SS. These were prisoners who defied the Nazis, attempted to escape , or were just generally hard to handle. The number of inmates reached its peak of 5,944 officers and 796 orderlies. Article 76 had several agreements designed to ensure that POWs who died whilst in captivity were honourably buried and in marked graves, this did not always happen especially on the long marches in 1945. Adjacent to Klitshcmar railway station 271 British POWs held. There were 209 officers held here as of 26/2/43 and the camp originally opened in May 1941. Timothy Bottoms, It was then used as a temporary camp for French and Serbian officers. Colditz, the medieval castle, located in the state of Saxony in Germany, is probably the most famous of the Nazi's POW camps in WWII.so well known that films have been made about it (although usually fictional). Opened originally in May 1942, 95other ranks were reported here on December30th 1942.. Work camps at Fattoria Bianco, Cetona, Abano, Fogolana. Colonial Office files on British prisoners and internees in the Far East, and British Colonial prisoners in Europe, occur in CO 980 and CO 537/1220-1221. These are listed just for reference as scant details exist that we have sourced so far, the numbers are the geographic location code for the camp. PoWs held here previously however. Most POWs captured in the North Africa campaign were handed onto the Italians for processing. In the village of Burghammer, (Near Hoherswenda NE of Dresden) 2 wooden huts 50 yards long. | | There is a SHAEF report from February 8th 1945 reporting the camp marching south westwards across Bohemia towards Nuremburg against its original intention to move to Goerlitz (Gorlitz) - Stalag VIIIa. The castle was then used as an Internment Camp Ilag VII for men from the British Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey until the camp was liberated in May 1945. On 17 April 1945, the camp was evacuated in the face of the approaching Red Army. After the Allied bombing raids on Wilhelmshaven in February 1942 this facility was moved to Westertimke. WWII POW and Internment Camps by Derek Tomlin this was particularly useful for adding numbers of POWs held to the data of many camps. (Small camp with around 25 prisoners at any one time). Approximately 6,000 officers and orderlies were in the camp. The POWs ate charcoal to help stop dysentery and every POW became infected with lice. An order, however, was almost immediately received from British HQ that none of the PoWs were to leave the camp and would be considered deserters if they did so but to await liberation by the Allied army a few days later when it reached Bologna. Stalag VI-C Bathorn Munster Westfalen Prussia, Closed in 1944 and Moved to Stalag IV Grosstychow East Prussia Location N/E 54-20. In September and October 1943 Italian prisoners arrived after the Italian capitulation. The Czech people in the villages and towns, through which they passed, passed food and clothing to them. That said, Im delighted to say that the project has now restarted but, because of social distancing, it will take longer to complete. | In September 1939 it was used to house British civilian internees and Polish prisoners from the German September 1939 offensive. , the camp originally opened in May 1940 the camp covered an of. Was particularly useful for adding numbers of other Allied nationalities in July 1941 a of... 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