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Stalag 4C Prisoner of War Camp
Stalag 4C was located in an old china factory at Wistritz bei Teplitz near Byst?ice on the Northern border of Czeckoslovakia. It opened in 1941 most of the men were housed in the attached working camps, the largest being at Most where the prisoners of war worked in the Sudetenland Fuel Work, which produced oil from coal. The camp was liberated by the Russian Army in may 1945.
27th Aug 1940 61 Squadron Hampden lost
22nd Jul 1941 Parcels
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The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.
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Want to know more about Stalag 4C Prisoner of War Camp? There are:801 items tagged Stalag 4C 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. |
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G Jackson Royal Tank Regiment G Jackson served with the Royal Tank Regiment British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Tpr. George Edwin Hill 56th Regiment Reconnaissance Corps George Hill served with the 56th Regiment Reconnaissance Corps and the Leicester Regiment. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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A Hawley 42nd Btn Royal Tank Regiment A Hawley served with the 42nd Btn Royal Tank Regiment British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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DH Davies 42nd Btn Royal Tank Regiment DH Davies served with the 42nd Btn Royal Tank Regiment British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Leslie Frederick Turner My Dad, Leslie Frederick Turner of the Royal Marines, was captured in Crete and imprisoned in Stalag 4C.
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Tpr. Albert James "Mick" Hagger 2nd Btn. Royal Tank Regiment My father Albert joined the Army in March 1939 aged 20. He enlisted in the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment and became a trooper driver. He escaped from Dunkirk after sabotaging his truck by draining the sump and running the engine until it seized. Later he was posted to Egypt and fought in the epic tank battles, gaining and losing ground whilst driving a Matilda tank. He mentioned harrowing stories of recapturing ground and having to extract his dead comrades from destroyed tanks in desert heat conditions. That was all he ever told me and would say nothing more of his experiences there. He ended up in the Qattara Depression in the Western desert of Egypt where his battalion was surrounded by superior German forces and his CO ordered a surrender. He and others spiked their tanks with grenades down the barrels to the anger of the Germans! They were treated well and told to take all they could for a long march into captivity. Unfortunately, they were marched away and handed over to the Italian army as prisoners and were promptly robbed of all their belongings. I never found out how dad got to Sudetenland (now the Czech Republic). He was interred in Stalag 4C in Wistritz Bei Teplitz as POW No. 226596. He was put to work in the coal mine and told me they sabotaged the coal wagons by putting sand in the axles, but the Germans then made them carry on using them as a punishment! The only other story about camp life he spoke of was how for cigarettes from a friendly guard they offered to teach him English. After many months of coaching and cigarettes he proudly addressed his colleagues and declared in English, Me Gerry bastard! He was demobbed in January 1946 and earned the 1939-45 War Medal and Africa Star.
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L/Cpl. John James Partridge Crapnell Suffolk Regiment I have been told very little about my grandfather John Crapnell other than he was a POW. I discovered he was at a camp Stalag 4C Wistritz Bei Teplitz. My understanding is he took part in Operation Torch in 1942 before being captured. He then spent the rest of the war as a POW. I am told he had previous military experience but during WW2 he spent some time in 6 Commando.
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Pte. William Nelson Ellsmore Ledbury 172nd Field Regiment Royal Artillery My father, William Ledbury, has written his own story and you can read this on the WW2 Peoples War website. He served in 172nd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery and was held as a PoW in Stalag 4c, Wistritz Bei Teplitz, He celebrated his 100th birthday last July and still has a good memory of wartime. He is now looking forward to his 101th birthday in July this year.
Journey into the Unknown
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Tpr Victor Henry "Jim" Bridle Royal Armoured Corps Victor Bridle servedwith the Royal Armoured Corps in WW2. He was captured when his tank took a direct hit. He was hekd as a POW in Nazi Germany at Wistritz bei Teplitz - Stalag 4C - Labour Camp.
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R. J. Twomlow R.J Twomlow was a POW at Stalag 4C.
I do not know anything else about him apart from that he shared my unusual surname.
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Pte. Harry Gardiner Ford 3rd Platoon 21 Independent Para Coy Harry Ford was taken prisoner on 24th September 1944, during Operation Market Garden at the Driel crossing in Oosterbeek.
Originally placed in m.stamlager in Limberg from 30 Sept to 28th October, he was transferring to Stalag 4c on 30th October until the camp was liberated.
During his time at 4c he was forced to work in the mines.
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Pte. Leslie Malcolm Gordon Rule Durban Light Infantry Leslie Rule was captured at Tobruk and spent a brief time as a POW in Italy before being transferred to Stalag 4c where he worked in a labour commando repairing railway lines damaged by the Allies. My Dad’s POW number is 223559
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Pte. Numa William James Rivers Numa Rivers married my father's 1st cousin, Ethel Mary Palmer, on 28th of July 1945 at All Saints, Ennismore Gardens, Knightsbridge, London. On this marriage certificate it shows his Residence as Johannesburg, South Africa. His father was Numa Charles Rivers, a Carpenter. Unfortunately, we know nothing about him except from online records.
He was a Private in the South African Land Forces with Army No. 33394 and POW No. 223601 at Camp Stalag 4C at Wistritz bei Teplitz, Czech Republic. Whether he died at the camp I have no knowledge. I have not as yet been able to find out this information. His bride remarried on 1st of April 1947. We have assumed he did die in the camp. There is no member of the family alive who can give us any further information. I feel, though, having found this site he should be remembered upon it having obviously fought bravely through out WW2 traveling from South Africa to help the Allied Forces. God Bless Him.
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QMS. Gilbert Ernest Warham Gilbert Warham was my grandfather. He enlisted in the Royal Marines Artillery on 30th of November 1921 when he was 18.
On 31st May 1941, he is reported as a prisoner of war at Stalag 4C at Wistritz Bei Teplitz, POW number 95575
On 29th March 1942, his second period of engagement was technically terminated on completion, although he remained a POW until his liberation on the 8th of May 1945 and his final release from the Royal Marines on 6th November 1945
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Joseph Walker  Joseph Walker is my Dad, he enlisted in the British Army at Darley Dale on 6th of June 1940 aged 20. He was employed as a driver and sent to North Africa where it was his job to transport higher ranking officers around.
He was captured when Tobruk fell and was sent to Bari and later to PG70. Dad never really spoke about his time as a POW but from service records and a diary his mother kept I managed to piece together his journey throughout the war years. He was reported missing in 1942 but it turned out he was ok and his mother received a letter to reasure her.
I know from his mother's records that while in camp PG70 he sent her a request for some books to read as the days were long. The books were heavily vetted before being handed over.
While in the camp he met an old school friend Stuart McVey, they were at school together in Ravenglass.
I know that the camp produced a newspaper called the Seventy Times and it was put together by the POW's. I also found that PG70 was featured in a newspaper in 1943 and possibly called The Prisoner of War, it contains a group photo of the POW's.
Dad ended the war in Stalag IVB but on his service records it does mention him being in Stalag 4c Wistritz Bei Teplitz and his POW number was 258739. I know he worked in an oil refinery and also spent some time mending German planes.
He returned to the UK safely and lived until the age of 83.
I did find an interesting book called Escape from Ascoli written by Ken de Souza. He was one of the few POW's to be held in PG70 who were in the Air Force and his book gives lots of information about life in the camp.
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G Jackson Royal Tank Regiment G Jackson served with the Royal Tank Regiment British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
|
Tpr. George Edwin Hill 56th Regiment Reconnaissance Corps George Hill served with the 56th Regiment Reconnaissance Corps and the Leicester Regiment. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
|
A Hawley 42nd Btn Royal Tank Regiment A Hawley served with the 42nd Btn Royal Tank Regiment British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
|
DH Davies 42nd Btn Royal Tank Regiment DH Davies served with the 42nd Btn Royal Tank Regiment British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
|
Leslie Frederick Turner My Dad, Leslie Frederick Turner of the Royal Marines, was captured in Crete and imprisoned in Stalag 4C.
|
Tpr. Albert James "Mick" Hagger 2nd Btn. Royal Tank Regiment My father Albert joined the Army in March 1939 aged 20. He enlisted in the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment and became a trooper driver. He escaped from Dunkirk after sabotaging his truck by draining the sump and running the engine until it seized. Later he was posted to Egypt and fought in the epic tank battles, gaining and losing ground whilst driving a Matilda tank. He mentioned harrowing stories of recapturing ground and having to extract his dead comrades from destroyed tanks in desert heat conditions. That was all he ever told me and would say nothing more of his experiences there. He ended up in the Qattara Depression in the Western desert of Egypt where his battalion was surrounded by superior German forces and his CO ordered a surrender. He and others spiked their tanks with grenades down the barrels to the anger of the Germans! They were treated well and told to take all they could for a long march into captivity. Unfortunately, they were marched away and handed over to the Italian army as prisoners and were promptly robbed of all their belongings. I never found out how dad got to Sudetenland (now the Czech Republic). He was interred in Stalag 4C in Wistritz Bei Teplitz as POW No. 226596. He was put to work in the coal mine and told me they sabotaged the coal wagons by putting sand in the axles, but the Germans then made them carry on using them as a punishment! The only other story about camp life he spoke of was how for cigarettes from a friendly guard they offered to teach him English. After many months of coaching and cigarettes he proudly addressed his colleagues and declared in English, Me Gerry bastard! He was demobbed in January 1946 and earned the 1939-45 War Medal and Africa Star.
|
L/Cpl. John James Partridge Crapnell Suffolk Regiment I have been told very little about my grandfather John Crapnell other than he was a POW. I discovered he was at a camp Stalag 4C Wistritz Bei Teplitz. My understanding is he took part in Operation Torch in 1942 before being captured. He then spent the rest of the war as a POW. I am told he had previous military experience but during WW2 he spent some time in 6 Commando.
|
Pte. William Nelson Ellsmore Ledbury 172nd Field Regiment Royal Artillery My father, William Ledbury, has written his own story and you can read this on the WW2 Peoples War website. He served in 172nd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery and was held as a PoW in Stalag 4c, Wistritz Bei Teplitz, He celebrated his 100th birthday last July and still has a good memory of wartime. He is now looking forward to his 101th birthday in July this year.
Journey into the Unknown
|
Tpr Victor Henry "Jim" Bridle Royal Armoured Corps Victor Bridle servedwith the Royal Armoured Corps in WW2. He was captured when his tank took a direct hit. He was hekd as a POW in Nazi Germany at Wistritz bei Teplitz - Stalag 4C - Labour Camp.
|
R. J. Twomlow R.J Twomlow was a POW at Stalag 4C.
I do not know anything else about him apart from that he shared my unusual surname.
|
Pte. Harry Gardiner Ford 3rd Platoon 21 Independent Para Coy Harry Ford was taken prisoner on 24th September 1944, during Operation Market Garden at the Driel crossing in Oosterbeek.
Originally placed in m.stamlager in Limberg from 30 Sept to 28th October, he was transferring to Stalag 4c on 30th October until the camp was liberated.
During his time at 4c he was forced to work in the mines.
|
Pte. Leslie Malcolm Gordon Rule Durban Light Infantry Leslie Rule was captured at Tobruk and spent a brief time as a POW in Italy before being transferred to Stalag 4c where he worked in a labour commando repairing railway lines damaged by the Allies. My Dad’s POW number is 223559
|
Pte. Numa William James Rivers Numa Rivers married my father's 1st cousin, Ethel Mary Palmer, on 28th of July 1945 at All Saints, Ennismore Gardens, Knightsbridge, London. On this marriage certificate it shows his Residence as Johannesburg, South Africa. His father was Numa Charles Rivers, a Carpenter. Unfortunately, we know nothing about him except from online records.
He was a Private in the South African Land Forces with Army No. 33394 and POW No. 223601 at Camp Stalag 4C at Wistritz bei Teplitz, Czech Republic. Whether he died at the camp I have no knowledge. I have not as yet been able to find out this information. His bride remarried on 1st of April 1947. We have assumed he did die in the camp. There is no member of the family alive who can give us any further information. I feel, though, having found this site he should be remembered upon it having obviously fought bravely through out WW2 traveling from South Africa to help the Allied Forces. God Bless Him.
|
QMS. Gilbert Ernest Warham Gilbert Warham was my grandfather. He enlisted in the Royal Marines Artillery on 30th of November 1921 when he was 18.
On 31st May 1941, he is reported as a prisoner of war at Stalag 4C at Wistritz Bei Teplitz, POW number 95575
On 29th March 1942, his second period of engagement was technically terminated on completion, although he remained a POW until his liberation on the 8th of May 1945 and his final release from the Royal Marines on 6th November 1945
|
Joseph Walker Joseph Walker is my Dad, he enlisted in the British Army at Darley Dale on 6th of June 1940 aged 20. He was employed as a driver and sent to North Africa where it was his job to transport higher ranking officers around.
He was captured when Tobruk fell and was sent to Bari and later to PG70. Dad never really spoke about his time as a POW but from service records and a diary his mother kept I managed to piece together his journey throughout the war years. He was reported missing in 1942 but it turned out he was ok and his mother received a letter to reasure her.
I know from his mother's records that while in camp PG70 he sent her a request for some books to read as the days were long. The books were heavily vetted before being handed over.
While in the camp he met an old school friend Stuart McVey, they were at school together in Ravenglass.
I know that the camp produced a newspaper called the Seventy Times and it was put together by the POW's. I also found that PG70 was featured in a newspaper in 1943 and possibly called The Prisoner of War, it contains a group photo of the POW's.
Dad ended the war in Stalag IVB but on his service records it does mention him being in Stalag 4c Wistritz Bei Teplitz and his POW number was 258739. I know he worked in an oil refinery and also spent some time mending German planes.
He returned to the UK safely and lived until the age of 83.
I did find an interesting book called Escape from Ascoli written by Ken de Souza. He was one of the few POW's to be held in PG70 who were in the Air Force and his book gives lots of information about life in the camp.
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