Great War>Prisoners of War

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Dulmen POW Camp    Dülmen POW camp was located at Haltern am See in the district of Lembraken/Sythen near Dülmen. Two officers barracks remain near the entrance of the POW camp and have been converted for residential use. The site of the compound has been quarried and is now a lake. The WWI POW camp cemetery is located in Dülmen, it is believed the camp administration may also have been located there. If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Want to know more about Dulmen POW Camp? There are:0 items tagged Dulmen POW Camp available in our Library   These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War. Those known to have been held in Dulmen POW Camp during the Great War 1914-1918. Airey Sydney. Pte. Manchester Regiment Baker H. H.. Lt. Lancashire Fusiliers Bartholomew Harold Jack. Pte. 32nd Battalion Baylie Edwin. Pte. 19th Hussars Brailey Sidney Harold. Pte. Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment Brown Jarvis Harry. Pte. 50th Battalion Burrows Cyril. L/Cpl. Manchester Regiment Bush Henry. Pte. Kings Liverpool Regiment Bush Henry. Pte. Kings (Liverpool) Regiment Cork Horace Stanley. Pte. Rifle Brigade Davies George Frederick. Pte. Manchester Regiment Duxbury Thomas. Cpl. South Lancashire Regiment Elliott Reginald Frederick Edward. Pte. Royal Sussex Regiment Elsworth William Claude. Pte. 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles Fleming Robert. Cpl North Staffordshire Regiment Foster Jesse Edwin. Pte. Seaforth Highlanders Free William Albert. Cpl. King's Regiment (Liverpool) Gilliam George Victor. Pte. Royal West Kent Regiment Gore MC. . Capt. Harrison John. London Regiment Hepple Frederick Watson. Pte. Northumberland Fusiliers Hirst Walker Sykes. L/Cpl. West Riding Regiment (Duke of Wellingtons) Hodder MM.. Benjamin Alfred. Cpl. Middlesex Regiment Hopkin Robert. Pte Hussey William Henry. Gnr. Royal Horse Artillery Jones John Stanley. Rfmn. Kings Royal Rifle Corps Jordan MM.. James Henry. Pte Suffolk Regiment Kerr Matthew M.. Pte. 106th Infantry Regiment McCallum Angus Duncan. Pte. 16th Battalion McFarland George Beech. Rflmn. Royal Irish Rifles Morgan Forbes. Pte. Gordon Highlanders Pye Lewis Gedge. L/Cpl. Essex Regiment Reilly Joseph Peter. Pte. Royal Scots Fusiliers Semple Samuel James. Rflmn. Royal Irish Rifles Shirley Edmund. Pte. East Kent Regiment Simpson George David. Pte. East Kent Regiment Spall Frederick William. Sgt. Northumberland Fusiliers Spence John. Pte. Manchester Regiment Steels Royce. Pte. Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Summers John George. Pte. Lancashire Fusiliers Taylor Lesley. Pte. Manchester Regiment Thompson James B.. Pte. Northamptonshire Regiment Vipond MM. Joseph. L/Cpl. South African Infantry Willis Thomas William. All names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please. Add a Name to this List Records from Dulmen POW Camp other sources. The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. 1st of September 2023 marks 24 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time. Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the Great War? Our Library contains many many diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. Looking for help with Family History Research?    Please see Family History FAQ's Please note: We are unable to provide individual research. Can you help? 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Joseph Peter Reilly 1st Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers It appears that Joseph Reilly was captured at Hilloch in France on 11th of May 1916 and was taken to Douai, some 30 km away (about 20 miles), a Prisoner of War Camp, and arrived there on 15th of May 1916, this was listed in a POW prisoners document dated 7th of June 1916. Joseph, was then moved to Dulmen POW camp which was in Germany where he was to stay until August 1916. A Prisoner of War list dated 9th of August 1916, from Minden POW camp, showing that Joseph had now been moved there from Dulmen POW camp. A document, dated, 13th of August 1916, shows that Joseph was previously Reported Missing, but then reported prisoner of war in documents released by the German Government By May of 1917 Joseph had moved camps again, this time to Friedrichsfeld, it appears that when he arrived he was suffering from a broken shoulder. A document released reports when Joseph had been released from being a Prisoner of War, and was returned to England. The 2nd of December 1918 this shows the date Joseph was demobbed from the Army on 21st of March 1919 Stuart Reilly Add to this record. 262896 Sgt. Frederick William Spall 5th Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers My Grandad, Fred Spall, was captured at Estaires during the Battle of the Lys part of the 1918 German offensive. He was initially imprisoned in the Dulmen camp before being transferred to Cottbus. He was finally repatriated in January 1919. Don Munro Add to this record. 262862 Pte. Frederick Watson Hepple Northumberland Fusiliers Frederick Hepple was held in Dulmen POW Camp. James Hepple Add to this record. 261870 Pte. Jarvis Harry Brown 50th Battalion Jarvis Brown was born 12 November 1883 in Port Pirie, SA. He married Nellie Adelaide Miller of Foster Street, Forestville, SA (born in 1891, died 6 May 1984, aged 78 years - buried in Cheltenham Cemetery), daughter of James Pearce Miller. Jarvis' occupation prior to enlistment in the Australian Army was a baker in Port Broughton, SA. He was the tallest of the brothers being 5foot 6 and a half inches. He was 32 years old when he joined the Army in March 1916 enlisting in the 50th Battalion. He was reported missing in action on the 10th of June 1916 and was captured and became a prisoner of war from 10th of June 1917 to December 1918 who was captured at the Battle of Messines in Belgium. He was taken to Dulmen camp then to Lindberg in Germany. He was discharged from the Army and returned to Australia on the 9th of March 1919 on the Ulysses. He resided with Nellie and their children at 11 Shakespeare Avenue, Brayville, South Australia. He died in the Repatriation Hospital, Springbank, SA aged 77 years in January 1961, buried in Centennial Park Cemetery. Tonia Brown Add to this record. 261427 L/Cpl. Walker Sykes Hirst 4th Btn. West Riding Regiment (Duke of Wellingtons) Walker Hirst was captured at Erquinghem on 10th April 1918 and sent via Lille to Dulmen POW Camp. Walker Lapthorne Add to this record. 260784 Pte. Harold Jack Bartholomew 32nd Battalion My uncle Jack Bartholomew was captured at Lavantie, France on 20th of July 1916 and held at two POW camps in Westphalia, Germany. The first camp was Munster 1, and the second was Dulmen. He was in Dulmen until he was repatriated to England, arriving on 7th of December 1918, and then to Australia in 1919. Phil Taylor Add to this record. 258419 John Harrison 33rd Batalion London Regiment (d.Pontefract) My Great granddad John Harrison was captured at Neuve Eglise in 1918. He was shot in the hip and was sent to Dulmen camp. Karen Hewlett Add to this record. 258290 Gnr. William Henry Hussey B Battery Royal Horse Artillery William Hussey was born abt 1892, he was a police constable at Watford, Herts when he enlisted in 1915. He married Teresa Florence Buck on the 9th of April 1917 at the Parish Church of St Michaels and All Angels in Watford. William was taken POW on the 30th of November 1917 during the Battle of Cambrai France. He was taken to Dulmen prison camp. He was a police officer before and after WW1. Add to this record. 257980 Pte. Jesse Edwin Foster 8th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders Jesse Foster was born in the Hastings area of Sussex in 1892. He moved to Scotland in his teens where he married and remained thereafter. He was a gardener, but joined the 8th Seaforths for the duration of WW1 being sent to France in 1916. He was captured after a fierce battle in Ypres on the 22nd August 1917, and was a POW first at Limburg, and then at Dulmen. He was very proud to be a Scot (by marriage and residence) and looked fine in his kilt! Mary Newbery Add to this record. 257904 Pte. William Claude Elsworth 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles William Elsworth was my grandfather. I have been researching his WW1 records and we visited the sites where he fought in Belgium last year. I have an army issue canvas wallet containing all of his letters to my grandmother whilst he was a PoW in Dulmen camp. He was wounded but thankfully survived the war and returned home. Sue Levene Add to this record. 257452 Pte Robert Hopkin Robert Hopkin (my grandfather) was taken prisoner on the 23rd March 1918 at Moislains, France. Believe kept in POW camp at Dulmen, Germany. Peter Baird Add to this record. 256862 Cpl. Benjamin Alfred Hodder MM. 21st (Islington) Battalion Middlesex Regiment Benjamin Hodder was my grandfather. In April 1915, at the age of sixteen years and four months, Ben enlisted in 6th Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps declaring his age as nineteen and his trade as an engineer. Family history has it that he ran away from school to join the Army. Like so many others at the time Ben had lied about his age and when this was discovered at Winchester, Hampshire after sixty-five days with the colours he was dismissed. Undeterred, seventeen days later he reenlisted at Islington into the 21st ˜Islington's Own Battalion, Middlesex Regiment using his middle name only probably because his time with KRRC was under the name Benjamin. At the outbreak of war in 1914, the British Army had 700,000 available men. Germany's army was over 3.7 million. In order to address this deficiency a campaign for volunteers was launched, thousands answered the call to fight and among them were 250,000 boys and young men under the age of 19, the legal limit for armed service overseas. The 21st Middlesex was officially raised on the 18th May 1915 at Islington, London and was assigned to 121st Brigade, 40th Division in Kitchener's Army. Ben's commanding officers were Lieutenant Colonel W H Samuel and Majors J McCullough and S D Stewart. On 27th of May 1916 when at Woking, Surrey the 21st was ordered to France and on 5th of June Ben was one of almost a thousand officers and men who boarded trains to Southampton en route to France. The Battalion was split into two groups for the journey across the Channel with some boarding the Steamer Caesarea while others sailed on the Rossetti a former Argentine cattle ship. These two ships were often used to transport troops and had been doing so since 1914. I don't know which ship Ben was on but do know that the Caesarea arrived at Le Havre in the early hours of 6th of June and marched to a rest camp. Those that sailed on the Rossetti joined the others later that day before marching to billets at Barlin 150 miles to the north east towards the Belgium border. Ben's two years on the Great War Western Front were spent in the area of British operations in north eastern France very close to the border with Belgium. He took part in most battles of the time subsequent to the infamous ˜First Day on the Somme and prior to his capture by Bavarian troops of the Imperial German Army during Ludendorffs Spring Offensive of 1918. On 15th June 1916 Ben was detached from the 21st Middlesex and assigned to a newly formed Brigade asset, a Trench Mortar Battery. Trench mortars were a new innovation used in a variety of defensive and offensive roles. By mid 1916 most Divisions had Trench Mortar Batteries which took their number from the Brigade, so in Ben's case as part of 40th Division, 121st Brigade his battery was numbered 121st Trench Mortar Battery. The Battery was formed from Brigade units and put into billets at Lillers, 15 miles north east from Barlin. It consisted of two sections of two officers and NCOs and other ranks from each of the Brigade’s Regiments. Lt. Killinghack of 21st Middlesex Regiment was placed in overall command his fellow officers being Lt. Mansell 20th Middlesex, Lt. Jones 13th Yorkshire and 2nd/Lt. Barrett 12th Suffolk regiments. As mentioned, Ben's unit arrived too late for the opening battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916 when 60,000 British soldiers were made casualties but moved into the line around Loos and was involved in fighting throughout the second half of 1916 through to April 1918. During this time he was awarded the Military Medal, would have pursued Germans toward the Hindenburg Line and fought in the battles of Fifteen Ravine, Villers Plouich, Beaucamp and La Vacquerie and the Cambrai Operations during which he was involved in operations to capture Bourlon Wood. He took part in the battles of St Quentin and Bapaume of the later Somme campaigns and was near to the fighting on the River Lys during Operation Georgette when he was taken prisoner. 20th June 1916 eight 3" Stokes Trench Mortars and six hand carts were received by the newly formed 121st Trench Mortar Battery. The guns were reportedly quite new and in excellent condition but the handcarts were very heavy and the officers complained that they would take a lot of pulling noting that at some stage horse transport would clearly be needed. 21st June 1916 Lt. Killinghack proceeded to Ferfey to the 1st Divisional Bomb School for a Trench Mortar course. 24th to 30th June 1916 three groups of 1 officer and ten other ranks went into Berbiers for their introductory training. The training took three days during which time they were billeted in town. 25th June 1916 the Battery received fifty 3" shells for practice and the next week began firing dummy shells and were put to work digging mortar emplacements. 3rd July 1916 the 121st Brigade moved to Les Brebis to relieve the 2nd Brigade and Ben and his colleagues busied themselves salvaging and making good mortar shells left behind, improving mortar emplacements and cleaning their dugouts. Sadly, the Battery was not issued with telephones which with weapons that are not line of sight I'd have considered essential. Lt. Killinghack clearly though so too and he, and a Captain Morris, the Brigade Scout Officer, went looking for potential observation points. 7th July 1916 Ben lost one of the Battery's officers who was reported to Brigade by Lt. Killinghack for displaying a lack of interest in his work. Lt. Jones was returned to his battalion and replaced by a 2nd Lt. Dowton. I don't know if Jones was Ben's commanding officer but I'm certain he would have been aware of the discipline issue. 8th July 1916 the battery attempted to destroy an enemy observation point but owing to the lack of telephones it proved difficult. They managed to hit it the following day, however, drawing retaliatory fire for two hours leading to a relocation of their mortar emplacements. 12th to 17th June 1916 Ben's Brigade was relieved by the 120th. This allowed time to clean up, engage in squad drills and practice firing with dummy shells away from the line. The battery was back at the front by the 17th and over the next five days engaged in firing and retaliation including on 21st July destroying German machine guns that had been firing at a Royal Flying Corps aeroplane. 23rd July 1916 the Battery moved to a different sector and when they had settled into their new surrounds the Germans sent over a welcome in the form of many trench mortars and rifle grenades. The following day the Battery was directed by Lt. Killinghack to move all eight of their mortars into the line and retaliate for the previous day's welcome. 20th August 1916 one of Ben's comrades Corporal Jones of the 12th Suffolk was killed and on the following day, Corporal Brown, also of the Suffolks was killed by heavy trench mortar which blew in the entrance of our dug-out and smashed in bomb recess and emplacement. Sadly, the 121st TMB War Diary finishes on 31st August 1916 and the National Archive does not appear to have anything more from 121st Trench Mortar Battery which would include Ben's Military Medal action of 24th September 1916. Ben was preparing shells for forthcoming operations when he discovered a shell fusing. His swift action resulted in the award and citation. Ben was captured on the 9th of April 1918 at the village of Fleurbaix near to the River Lys during ˜Operation Georgette. The German offensive was furious, and the British retreated. The situation was desperate and Field Marshall Douglas Haig, Commander of the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front issued his famous ˜Backs to the Wall order, "There is no other course open to us but to fight it out! Every position must be held to the last man, there must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight on to the end." The 121st Brigade had experienced horrendous casualties and at Doulieu, where stragglers were collected formed a composite Battalion and established a defensive line. The war continued until November but for Ben it was over. Captured at Fleurbaix he was transported to Germany to be held at Dulmen Prisoner of War Camp. William Max Add to this record. 256309 Pte. Reginald Frederick Edward Elliott Royal Sussex Regiment Granddad Reg Elliott joined up in August 1915 at the age of 20. He went off to the front with the Royal Sussex Regiment and in October 1915 he was captured at the Battle of Loos. He spent the rest of the war as a POW first at Munster II and then Dulmen Camp. He was 50 on D-Day and died in 1949 aged 55. Sadly I never met him. Keith Robert Ashby Add to this record. 255960 Pte. John Spence 25th Btn. Manchester Regiment My Grandfather John Spence enlisted on the 10th of July 1915. He was 22 years and 5 months old and described himself as a pork butcher, living at the address in Oldfield Street. His next of kin was his Father, also John. He was posted to the 25th Battalion, Manchester Regiment on the 30th of August 1915. He went to France as part of a draft of reinforcements on the 13th of January 1916 aboard the vessel Onward from Folkestone, arriving in France the next day. He went to the 30th Infantry Brigade Depot where he was then posted to the 18th Battalion, Manchester Regiment. He was reported missing on the 30th of July 1916 during the 18th Battalion's ill fated attack on the village of Guillemont. After imprisonment at Dulmen camp, he was repatriated on the 29th of November 1918. Add to this record. 255849 L/Cpl. Cyril Burrows 1/5th Btn. D Coy. Manchester Regiment I have photos of Cyril Burrows and my grandma told me he was in the 1/5th Manchester Regiment in WW1 I have photos in Egypt etc He was in Dulmen on 22nd of June 1917 and on a list of those who escaped. Robert Sheppard Add to this record. 255624 Pte. Matthew M. Kerr Company E 106th Infantry Regiment Matthew Kerr served with the U.S. 106th Infantry Regiment, a part of the U.S. 27th Division, assigned to the British 4th Army. He was captured on 27th of September 1918 during the 106th's assault on the Hindenburg Line near Bony, France. A total of 132 soldiers from the 106th were captured during the assault on the Hindenburg Line near Bony and the St. Quentin Canal Tunnel. He was sent to the Dulmen POW camp and held there until after the Armistice. He made one escape from Dulmen and was recaptured, before he could cross the boarder into the Netherlands. His release date from Dulmen is unknown, however he left Rotterdamn on 5th of December, 1918 and arrived Hull, England on 7th of December, 1918. He returned to the 106th in the LeMans, France area by Christmas, 1918. I have been able to get some records from the ICRC archives, but I am still looking for, his actual release date from Dulmen, details on how he got from Dulmen to Rotterdam, the name of the ship sailing from Rotterdam to Hull (5-7 Dec. 1918) carrying other repatriated POWs, details of movement and transport from Hull to LeMans, and pictures from Dulmen during October and November 1918. Any help with the above is very appreciated. Mark Kerr Add to this record. 255122 Rfmn. John Stanley Jones Kings Royal Rifle Corps On 16th of August 1917 John Jones was captured at the 3rd battle of Ypres also known as Passchendaele. He was then taken to Lager Dulmen POW camp where he stayed until returning home to Goldcliffe in January 1919. Steven Jones Add to this record. 255023 Pte. Henry "Aich" Bush 8th (Liverpool Irish) Btn. Kings (Liverpool) Regiment Henry Bush was taken prisoner on 8th of August 1916 near Guillemont France. Interned in Dulmen Camp. John Ward Add to this record. 254138 Pte. Lesley Taylor 18th (3rd City) Battalion Manchester Regiment My Grandfather, Lesley Taylor, joined up on the 11th of December 1915. He was 20 years 8 months. I believe he was taken prisoner on the 26th July 1916 at Guillemont and sent to Dulmen where he was for the rest of the war. He never spoke about it and died in 1977. Kathryn Richards Add to this record. 251902 L/Cpl. Lewis Gedge Pye 13th Btn. Essex Regiment (d.17th October 1918) Lewis Pye was working as an insurance clerk by the 1911 census and a member of the Workmen's Accident Claims Department at Norwich Union by the outbreak of war. He was taken prisoner in France in April 1917 and held at Dulmen Camp. He died at Munster Kommando 525 in Germany. The Manager wrote to his wife, "It is particularly sad after all the privations which your husband must have undergone, that he should not have been spared to return home to you." Anna Stone Add to this record. 251573 Pte. George Victor Gilliam 6th Btn. Royal West Kent Regiment George Gilliam was captured in Cambrai on 30th of November 1917. His hand was wounded and he had shrapnell in his head. He was sent to Le Quesnoy and then to Dulmen. Jennifer Sumner Add to this record. 251060 Pte. James B. Thompson 2nd Btn. Northamptonshire Regiment (d.17th Nov 1919) James Thompson spent almost 2.5 years in Dulmen. Considering he died when he was just 26 that meant he lived as a PoW in Germany for almost 10% of his lifetime. Gemma Hall Add to this record. 250743 Rflmn. Samuel James Semple 11th (South Antrim Volunteers) Battalion Royal Irish Rifles Samuel Semple served as a Rifleman with the 11th (South Antrim Volunteers) Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles. He wrote to his wife, stating that he is now a prisoner of war at Dulmen, Germany. Two of his brothers were missing in action at Battle of the Somme in 1916. Prior to volunteering he was in the employment of Messrs. Harland & Wolff, Ltd. (shipyard). His mother lived at 34, Derry Street, Belfast. As reported in The Northern Whig, 5th of August 1916. Add to this record. 250523 Rflmn. George Beech McFarland 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Rifles My granddad, George McFarland, arrived in France sometime after the 1st of January 1916 where he served with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles. His POW record states that he was captured at La Boisselle on the 9th July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme and taken to Dulmen POW Camp in Germany. Do not have a date for his repatriation. When the war was over he served with 4th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles. Jean Donald Add to this record. 249890 Pte. Henry Bush 8th (Irish) Battalion Kings Liverpool Regiment Henry Bush served with the Kings Liverpool (8th Irish) Regiment. Henry was taken POW at the battle for Guillemont on the Somme in August 1916. Henry was subjected to field punishment number one on two occasions due to insubordination. He was a feisty man and could use very colourful language at times. He survived the war and died in Speke, Liverpool in 1975. The Division occupied the trenches opposite the village of Guillemont on 30th of July 1916, and spent a week preparing for the attack in which two and a half infantry battalions of the King's Regiment took part. 8th King's, the Liverpool Irish, were to attack to the north of the village, to capture Guillemont Station. The 5th King's and half of the 6th King's were to attack the Guillemont-Hardecourt Road. The attack was planned for 4.30am on 8th of August 1916. 5th King's and Liverpool Rifles quickly achieved their objectives, linking up with the French Army, and established telephone communications back to Brigade HQ, no mean feat! An hour after attacking, the Liverpool Irish reported that they were in Guillemont Station. Unfortunately, the Battalion tasked to take Guillemont village became stuck on barbed wire and withdrew. There was nobody to support the Liverpool Irish, who were being fired on by a machine gun from Guillemont village, so they started to bomb their way down the trenches to the village. The smoke from the guns and the dust thrown up by explosions seems to have disorientated them and they were isolated by the failure of other units to achieve their objectives. Germans in underground positions waited for them to pass over before emerging to attack them in the rear. The Liverpool Irish were eventually cut off and forced to surrender the following day, the survivors could be seen marching to captivity and there was nothing their fellow Liverpool Territorials could do about it. The fighting around Guillemont was severe and tested the Liverpool Territorials. They lost 219 officers and 3,907 other ranks (including those killed, missing, wounded and prisoners of war). He served his time as a POW at Dulmen POW camp in Germany. He was returned to the UK in December 1918. Henry re-enlisted in the 6th Kings Liverpool Regiment, in 1921. D Bush Add to this record. 249677 Pte. Sidney Harold Brailey 6th Battalion Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment My father,Harold Brailey, enlisted at Ashford in 1915, in the 6th Battalion, Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment. In October or November 1917 he was defending a hill overlooking the Schelt Canal near Cambrai, where tanks were first used. When the Germans counterattacked he was shot in the leg and taken prisoner. He had mentioned being in a place called Dulmen but his letters came from Friedrichsfelt, so perhaps he was at the former place only temporarily. He was very dependent on food parcels and 4kg loaves of bread from the Red Cross. He returned home in January 1919. Although the German soldiers were also short of food, he said that their Red Cross parcels were always delivered complete and untouched. Syd Brailey Add to this record. 248612 Pte. George David Simpson 7th Btn. East Kent Regiment My Grandfather George Simpson was captured on 22nd of March 1918 in St Quentin having been shot through the shoulder. He was reported missing and it was 3 months before his family were informed on 29th of June 1918 that he had been found. He was sent from Maubeuge to Dulmen and then to Munster I on 23rd of July 1918. Barbara Campbell Add to this record. 248251 L/Cpl. Joseph Vipond MM 3rd Btn. South African Infantry L/C Joseph Vipond was captured at Delville Wood, France 19th July 1916. Detained at Dulmen until January 17. Removed to Munster until 23rd March 17. Removed to Dulmen for six days. In March of 18 was at Block 2 Sennelage Camp. Escaped 18th March 18. Arrived in England 28th April. For this was awarded the Military Medal. He did not serve abroad again. He died 30th January 1971 in South Africa. Bernard Harris Add to this record. 248122 Pte. Sydney Airey 19th Btn. C Coy. Manchester Regiment Sydney Airey, born in Manchester on 15th of June 1895, reported for enlistment at Palatine Buildings, Manchester, on 7th of November 1914. He was attested the following day as a Private in the 4th City Battalion (the 19th Manchesters), and given the serial number 12679. After being shunted around with his Pals in various places in northern France, he found himself part of The Big Push on 1st of July 1916. He was captured during the Battle of the Somme at Guillemont on 23rd of July 1916 and spent the rest of the war as a POW, initially at Dulmen in Germany. He died at the age of 30, his health having suffered during his imprisonment. Sydney was my grandfather. My mother was 18 months old when he died. Robert Nield Add to this record. 247378 Pte. Edmund Shirley A Coy. 1st.Btn. East Kent Regiment Ted Shirley signed up in 1914, falsifying his age: he was born in 1898 but registered it as 1896. He spent 1914 and 1915 in Kent, then was sent to France in 1916. He said he first was sent to Armentieres where they had to build up walls as the ground was too wet to dig trenches down into the soil. He fought on the Somme from 1916 and received a bullet wound in his left arm in September, recovering at a convalescent centre in France I believe, from your records. He talked about seeing early tanks employed on the battlefield for the first time. On one occasion, when he was stuck in no-man's land he watched as a German sniper shot anyone raising their head to see where they were going as they crawled through barbed wire back across British lines: only those who kept their heads down survived, so that was what he did. In March 1917 he was wounded with a revolver bullet in the right lung and awoke in a German Military Hospital in Lille. He was moved around to a number of camps in 1917, including camps near Limburg an der Lahn, Wittenburg and Dulmen (near Merseburg?). I found this information in Red cross records. He said that prisoners supplemented their diet with nettle soup. When he was fit he was moved to a Lager further east into Germany and put to work on the railway running between Berlin and Leipzig. He did not remain in the Lager, instead he was imprisoned in an small rural railway station. There were about half a dozen British soldiers and the same numbers of French and Russian prisoners imprisoned there. The Russians were treated very badly. At one time, some of them would get out at night to steal potatoes from a local farm to supplement their poor diet. That was until the farmer started shooting at them one night. It was here that he heard the war was over and refused to work anymore. He was finally repatriated to England in 1919. Catherine Shirley Add to this record. 246604 Pte. Edwin Baylie 19th Hussars According to POW records from the National Archives, Edwin Baylie was a POW in 1916 at Dulmen. He also married in Lausanne, Switzerland in Nov 1916 so I'm assuming at some point he was moved. Cali Clarke Add to this record. 246362 Pte. Forbes Morgan Gordon Highlanders Forbes Morgan was captured by the Germans and became a POW at Gefangenenlager 3, Detainee number 444, Munster III. Likely during or after 1916. Brenda Morgan Add to this record. 246038 Cpl. Thomas Duxbury South Lancashire Regiment Corporal Thomas Duxbury was moved to Parchim POW camp after escaping Dulmen POW camp and living in a nearby field for a number of weeks. Kai Duxbury Add to this record. 245360 Thomas William Willis I discovered the POW camps my grandfather, Thomas William Willis, was held in , he was captured on 31st October 1917. His first camp was Limberg, 2nd was Dulmen and finally he was freed from Dyrotz. He never spoke with us grandchildren of his time in prison. He did relate to his wife that he and some others were singing in a ternch and a German soldier thought he was being mocked. He slammed his rifle butt into my grandfather's face and broke his nose. I take good care of his dog tags, war medals, Saint John Bible he was given in Limberg and War Pay Book. R.I.P. Bev Van Hatten Add to this record. 242775 Cpl. William Albert Free 8th Btn. C Coy. King's Regiment (Liverpool) William Free was captured on the 31st of July 1917 near Ypres and held as a prisoner of war at Dulmen Camp. Mark Jones Add to this record. 240232 Pte. George Frederick Davies 18th (3rd City) Btn. Manchester Regiment George Davies was my grandfather and was a private soldier in the 18th Battalion, Manchester Regiment. He was captured during the battle of Zillebeke on the 14th of December 1917 and held at the Dulmen Prisoner of War camp. Sian Add to this record. 239996 Pte. Royce Steels 2nd Btn. Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Red Cross Prisoner of War records show my greatgrandfather Royce Steels was present in Crefeld, Senna II [Sennelager], and Dulmen camps. Philippa Lindsay Add to this record. 232111 Pte. Horace Stanley Cork 9th Btn., A Coy. Rifle Brigade Horace Cork was conscripted in 1916. In early 1917 he was moved to France. The unit was in action during April and May at Arras. On the morning of 3rd May the unit carried out a pre-dawn attack which was to follow a rolling barrage, the objective was Triangle Wood. It was a disaster. "A" Company suffered 75 per cent losses, with Horace Cork being taken prisoner at some point during the battle. He was moved to Dulmen POW camp via Douai, and at a later time moved to Soltau POW camp, where he spent the rest of the war. Pete Cork Add to this record. 231519 Pte. Angus Duncan "Dunc" McCallum 16th Battalion Great Uncle Dunc (as he was known) was born on 10 September 1880. Before the Great War, Dunc McCallum worked as a soap maker, clerk and labourer. He tried to enlist on 27 July 1915 but was rejected because of weakness of the heart and cardiac murmur. He re-applied in March 1916 and was enlisted on 21 August that year at the age of 35. After basic training at Blackboy Hill, he was assigned to the 20th Reinforcements of 16 Btn and the unit finally departed Fremantle on the HMAT Suffolk on 13th of October 1916. After a short training period in the UK the unit crossed to France on the Princess Clementina on 28th of December 1916 where they undertook more rigorous training. Finally Dunc was taken on strength in the field on 11th of February 1917 at Bazentin. The 16th Battalion were in the thick of things at the Battle of Bullecourt (the black day of the AIF) on 11th of April 1917. There were significant casualties killed and wounded with 300 captured. Total 16 Btn losses on that day alone were 17 officers (from a total of 20) and, 623 other ranks (from a total of 797). Dunc was one of those casualties, having been wounded by shrapnel in his left knee. He was interned firstly in Dulmen POW camp until August and then transferred to Hembahn, Munster II Camp where POWs were assigned to work on farms and forests and often enjoyed a superior diet to the civilian population. After the Armistice, Dunc was allowed generous leave in the UK until he was repatriated to Australia on 5th March 1919 and arrived in Albany on the SS Nevasa on 13 April. He spent 6 days in the sick bay suffering from myalgia on the journey home and was discharged as medically unfit on 3rd June 1919. He married Whilemina Denyer later that year, joined the WAGR (keeping it in the family) and was on the staff at Swanbourne Station as a railway porter for 16 years. He was described as a man of remarkable personal charm with a kindliness of character which won him close friendships. Dunc passed away peacefully after a long illness in 1950. He was buried at Fremantle Cemetery in a non-military grave. The Office of the Australian War Graves Commission recently have commissioned an official plaque in the Garden of Remberance plus a small plaque to be placed on Dunc's existing grave. Wendy Mahoney Add to this record. 226752 Capt. Gore MC Captain Gore was a POW in Dulmen and Holzminden POW camps during the war. He escaped from Dulmen and was recaptured. He was then sent to Holzminden and spent nearly two months in solitary confinement as a punishment for attempting to escape from Dulmen. Add to this record. 226680 Lt. H. H. Baker Lancashire Fusiliers Lt Baker was a POW at Dulmen in the Rhine and also at Holzminden in Brunswick. While in Dulmen an escape attempt earned him seven weeks in solitary confinement at Holzminden where he had been sent after recapture. Pete Add to this record. 224242 Pte. John George Summers 18th Btn. Lancashire Fusiliers John Summers was conscripted to the 18th Batt Lancs Fusiliers on 14th of January 1917. He was reported missing on the 13th of April 1918 and held POW at Dulmen, Germany where he appears to have been first found on 28th of August 1918. I know he was repatriated at Hull in December 1918 or January 1919. He was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal after the war. Both medals have since sadly gone missing. I can find no record of where my Grandfather went missing, what action he would have been involved in and exactly what his war effort might have consisted of. It is interesting to read that the Battalion was mostly comprised of men who were short in stature. He was only 5' 5" tall and was a publican in a dockside pub in Middlesborough. He was nearly 30 when he was conscripted and had seven children (my Father included) by the time he was called up. My Grandmother was one of very few women (at that time) who was permitted a Justices licence to run a pub/hotel. He never spoke of his time as a POW but for some reason, had an abiding dislike for Belgians after the war, the reason for this is not known. I would be very grateful if you have any records or information about him that you would be kind enough to share with me. My Father's family are nearly all gone now, save for one very elderly Aunt who is 93. My father also served as an army Chaplain for many years and retired as as a Major before going back to 'civvy street.' He spent many years in the TA following his regular service in Singapore and British Guyana but he missed the Army to his dying day. Many thanks in anticipation. Steve Summers Add to this record. 216565 Cpl Robert Fleming 2/6 Btn. A Coy North Staffordshire Regiment My father, Robert Fleming, was a prisoner of war, captured by the Germans on 21st March 1918 in Bullecourt. According to the International Red Cross he was "a Prisoner of war in German hands detained in Lager Dulmen, coming from Marchiennes (according to a list dated 04.04.1918) and detained in Lager Parchim I/Meckl., coming from Lager Limburg (according to a list dated 11.05.1918). Both lists issued by the German authorities. My mother said he was very bitter towards the Germans because of his experiences as a prisoner of war and always said he would be one of the first to enlist should he ever get the chance to fight them again. He died in 1938 age 41. Richard Fleming Add to this record. 214163 Pte James Henry Jordan MM. 7th Btn Suffolk Regiment Jim Jordan joined the 1st Battalion Suffolk Regiment in 1907 at the age of 19. He was quickly posted to Malta, where he learned his trade of tailor. After Malta came Khartoum and Egypt. The Battalion arrived back in England in November 1914, and set foot in France in February 1915, where they took part in the Second Battle of Ypres and later that year the Battle of Loos. My grandfather was wounded three times during the war but we do not know when. We only know that after the war he was left with shrapnel embedded in his shoulder. The first occasion must have taken him out of action when the 1st Battalion left for Salonika in November 1915 and we assume then he went into the Second Battalion, and later into the 7th. He was with the 7th Battalion when he received his Military Medal (London Gazette, October 1917). On 28th November, following the Battle of Cambrai, when the use of tanks helped break through the Hindenburg Line, he and some comrades were captured. Jim spent the rest of the war at Dulmen Camp. He had four brothers on active service, one in the Navy (who served on the Royal Oak at the Battle of Jutland), and three in the Army. Unfortunately, Jim died in 1932 at the age of 44. Marian Thornley Add to this record. Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices.