Stalag 1A Prisoner of War Camp

22nd Jul 1941 Parcels

If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.

Those known to have been held in or employed at
Stalag 1A Prisoner of War Camp
during the Second World War 1939-1945.

Bobrowski Boleslaw Alyois. Kapral
Cote Joseph Alfred. Pfc.
Pyrzak Stefan. Col
Rutherford John James Stuart. Fus.
Wilson Thomas William Spencer.

The 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 Stalag 1A Prisoner of War Camp other sources.

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Want to know more about Stalag 1A Prisoner of War Camp?

There are:1 items tagged Stalag 1A Prisoner of War Camp available in our Library

These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.

Thomas William Spencer "Tug" Wilson 192 Squadron

Tom Wilson, who has died aged 97, was a British RAF Officer who played the violin to cover the noise of sand dispersal during the celebrated Wooden Horse escape by tunnel from Stalag Luft 3. On 29th of October 1943 three escaped through the tunnel and successfully made their way to Sweden.
Tom flew as a navigator in modified Wellington bombers whose role was to gather electronic intelligence on German air defence and radar communication systems. His aircraft was shot down over The Hague on May 26th 1943 and after parachuting down was captured and taken to Stalag Luft 3 in Silesia.
In 1945 as German opposition crumbled Tom and his fellow officers were taken first to Nuremburg and then by forced march to Stalag Luft VIIa at Moosburg in Bavaria. On 29th of April 1945 the camp was liberated by American troops. There were no rations and Tom, with a group of fellow officers, rounded up the Kommandant's herd of swine which the famished prisoners made short work of.
After the war Tom switched from engineering to take a degree in Russian and German and became a language teacher, first at The Royal Liberty School where I was fortunate to be one of his pupils and later as Headmaster of Coleshill Grammar School. He was born in December 1920 and died November 2018.

David Wilson (No relation)

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Col Stefan Pyrzak

My Father, Stefus" Pyrzak was a Prisoner of War in Stalag 1A from October 1939 till August 14 1942. He falsified his date of birth so he could volunteer to the Polish Army. His real date of birth was 1st of October 1920. Therefore he was too young to be accepted by the Army. He changed his date of birth to 1st of January 1916.
He was captured by the Germans in the Warsaw Area and interrogated by the Germans in city of Plock. Today the prison is in May 1 street. Then he was transferred to Stalag 1A and was among the Polish prisoners that started to build the camp for the Prisoners of War that arrived from all over Europe. My father told me some of the stories about conditions in the camp.
I have the original release document for his release. He was supposed to report within 24 hours to the local police. However, he escaped to the forest and finally was able to escape and found the Polish resistance and was fighting against Germans until 1945. In the army he rose to be a Colonel. This information comes from the documents that I found, pictures from the army and the stories that my father told me during the years.

Roman Pyrzak

Add to this record.

Kapral Boleslaw Alyois "Bolek" Bobrowski Ploch 8th Infantry Regiment

When I was little, I clamored over my dad, Bolek Bobrowski while he was on the couch, reading the paper. I noticed a little scar on the back of his neck, just off to the side of his spine. It wasn't very large, maybe 1/4 inch by 3/4 inch. It was the first time I had ever noticed it. I asked him where he got it from. His reply has stuck with me always. "The Nazis. While I escape."
I never asked any again. Many years after his death, I began to put together the pieces of his time in both the Polish Army and the Polish 2nd Corps. It was there I found that he had been captured at the end of September, 1939 by the Germans, sent to Stalag 1A, and then sent onto Stalag 1B, and .... escaped. He was later discovered by the Soviets and imprisoned in a Siberian Gulag in Komi. I understand it was a good thing he escaped from 1B, as many didn't survive there too long.

Phillip A Bobrowski

Add to this record.

Fus. John James Stuart Rutherford Northumberland Fusiliers

Jack Rutherford of the Northumberland Fusiliers, was a pow at Hohenstein Hesse Stalag 1vA.

John Scott Edge

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Pfc. Joseph Alfred "Joe Pro" Cote Parachute Infantry 82nd Airborne

Pfc. Joseph Alfred Cote was captured in Italy , by the Germans on September 15, 1943, shortly after his first jump. From there he and many others were taken by train to Germany. The train ride was not pleasant they were all stuffed in cars like cattle. If you had to use the bathroom you went on the floor and then threw out a window if you could.
An initial intake was done at Stalag IA from there he was sent to Stalag IIB where he would spend the next 19 months for the most part assigned to a work detail. Typical work would be growing crops for the German Army. After a while the Salvation Army notified Joe's parents that he was a German prisoner of war, at first he was reported as missing in action. His parents said at least he's alive and better to be a German POW than a Japanese POW.
Joe, like most, was malnourished and very thin. He had trench foot and at some point had intestinal worms. One time he did not move quickly enough and took a bayonet to the rear end. The guards would yell in German "move quickly swine hound move!" While Joe was a POW his brother Leon Cote was severely injured at The Battle of the Bulge and lost a leg. He later died in a hospital in England.
By 1945 Joe and other prisoners that he had contact with were pretty sure that the war was coming to an end. At this time they got the word: everybody out line up and march. So march they did for some time. On April 13, 1945, which happened to be a Friday, Joe and one other prisoner rolled off the side of the road they were walking on and kept quiet and still. The group passed by without incident. Joe and his fellow escapee spent the next few days in the woods until they were able to make allied contact. Joe always said that his lucky day was Friday the 13th.
Eventually he made it home to Ayer, MA arriving via train at Fort Devens with his father waiting there when he got off. This story was featured by the Lowell Sun newspaper at the time.

Philip Craven

Add to this record.

Thomas William Spencer "Tug" Wilson 192 Squadron

Tom Wilson, who has died aged 97, was a British RAF Officer who played the violin to cover the noise of sand dispersal during the celebrated Wooden Horse escape by tunnel from Stalag Luft 3. On 29th of October 1943 three escaped through the tunnel and successfully made their way to Sweden.
Tom flew as a navigator in modified Wellington bombers whose role was to gather electronic intelligence on German air defence and radar communication systems. His aircraft was shot down over The Hague on May 26th 1943 and after parachuting down was captured and taken to Stalag Luft 3 in Silesia.
In 1945 as German opposition crumbled Tom and his fellow officers were taken first to Nuremburg and then by forced march to Stalag Luft VIIa at Moosburg in Bavaria. On 29th of April 1945 the camp was liberated by American troops. There were no rations and Tom, with a group of fellow officers, rounded up the Kommandant's herd of swine which the famished prisoners made short work of.
After the war Tom switched from engineering to take a degree in Russian and German and became a language teacher, first at The Royal Liberty School where I was fortunate to be one of his pupils and later as Headmaster of Coleshill Grammar School. He was born in December 1920 and died November 2018.

David Wilson (No relation)

Col Stefan Pyrzak

My Father, Stefus" Pyrzak was a Prisoner of War in Stalag 1A from October 1939 till August 14 1942. He falsified his date of birth so he could volunteer to the Polish Army. His real date of birth was 1st of October 1920. Therefore he was too young to be accepted by the Army. He changed his date of birth to 1st of January 1916.
He was captured by the Germans in the Warsaw Area and interrogated by the Germans in city of Plock. Today the prison is in May 1 street. Then he was transferred to Stalag 1A and was among the Polish prisoners that started to build the camp for the Prisoners of War that arrived from all over Europe. My father told me some of the stories about conditions in the camp.
I have the original release document for his release. He was supposed to report within 24 hours to the local police. However, he escaped to the forest and finally was able to escape and found the Polish resistance and was fighting against Germans until 1945. In the army he rose to be a Colonel. This information comes from the documents that I found, pictures from the army and the stories that my father told me during the years.

Roman Pyrzak

Kapral Boleslaw Alyois "Bolek" Bobrowski Ploch 8th Infantry Regiment

When I was little, I clamored over my dad, Bolek Bobrowski while he was on the couch, reading the paper. I noticed a little scar on the back of his neck, just off to the side of his spine. It wasn't very large, maybe 1/4 inch by 3/4 inch. It was the first time I had ever noticed it. I asked him where he got it from. His reply has stuck with me always. "The Nazis. While I escape."
I never asked any again. Many years after his death, I began to put together the pieces of his time in both the Polish Army and the Polish 2nd Corps. It was there I found that he had been captured at the end of September, 1939 by the Germans, sent to Stalag 1A, and then sent onto Stalag 1B, and .... escaped. He was later discovered by the Soviets and imprisoned in a Siberian Gulag in Komi. I understand it was a good thing he escaped from 1B, as many didn't survive there too long.

Phillip A Bobrowski

Fus. John James Stuart Rutherford Northumberland Fusiliers

Jack Rutherford of the Northumberland Fusiliers, was a pow at Hohenstein Hesse Stalag 1vA.

John Scott Edge

Pfc. Joseph Alfred "Joe Pro" Cote Parachute Infantry 82nd Airborne

Pfc. Joseph Alfred Cote was captured in Italy , by the Germans on September 15, 1943, shortly after his first jump. From there he and many others were taken by train to Germany. The train ride was not pleasant they were all stuffed in cars like cattle. If you had to use the bathroom you went on the floor and then threw out a window if you could.
An initial intake was done at Stalag IA from there he was sent to Stalag IIB where he would spend the next 19 months for the most part assigned to a work detail. Typical work would be growing crops for the German Army. After a while the Salvation Army notified Joe's parents that he was a German prisoner of war, at first he was reported as missing in action. His parents said at least he's alive and better to be a German POW than a Japanese POW.
Joe, like most, was malnourished and very thin. He had trench foot and at some point had intestinal worms. One time he did not move quickly enough and took a bayonet to the rear end. The guards would yell in German "move quickly swine hound move!" While Joe was a POW his brother Leon Cote was severely injured at The Battle of the Bulge and lost a leg. He later died in a hospital in England.
By 1945 Joe and other prisoners that he had contact with were pretty sure that the war was coming to an end. At this time they got the word: everybody out line up and march. So march they did for some time. On April 13, 1945, which happened to be a Friday, Joe and one other prisoner rolled off the side of the road they were walking on and kept quiet and still. The group passed by without incident. Joe and his fellow escapee spent the next few days in the woods until they were able to make allied contact. Joe always said that his lucky day was Friday the 13th.
Eventually he made it home to Ayer, MA arriving via train at Fort Devens with his father waiting there when he got off. This story was featured by the Lowell Sun newspaper at the time.

Philip Craven

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The Wartime Memories Project
- Stalag 1A Prisoner of War Camp during the Second World War -

Stalag 1A Prisoner of War Camp

Those known to have been held in or employed at
Stalag 1A Prisoner of War Camp
during the Second World War 1939-1945.

The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

Announcements

Want to know more about Stalag 1A Prisoner of War Camp?

Recomended Reading.

Links

The Wartime Memories Project - Stalag 1A Prisoner of War Camp during the Second World War -

Stalag 1A Prisoner of War Camp

Those known to have been held in or employed at Stalag 1A Prisoner of War Campduring the Second World War 1939-1945.

The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

Announcements

Want to know more about Stalag 1A Prisoner of War Camp?

Recomended Reading.

Links

The Wartime Memories Project
- Stalag 1A Prisoner of War Camp during the Second World War -

Those known to have been held in or employed at
Stalag 1A Prisoner of War Camp
during the Second World War 1939-1945.