The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.     Site Home     WW2 Home     Add Stories     WW2 Search     Library     Help & FAQs  WW2 Features     Airfields     Allied Army     Allied Air Forces     Allied Navy     Axis Forces     Home Front     Battles     Prisoners of War     Allied Ships     Women at War     Those Who Served     Day-by-Day     Library     The Great War  Submissions     Add Stories     Time Capsule     TWMP on Facebook     Childrens Bookshop  FAQ's     Help & FAQs     Glossary     Volunteering     Contact us     News     Bookshop     About Advertisements World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

238793 Pte. Bernard Dolan "Benny" Morrell British Army Black Watch from:Dundee, Scotland My dad, Bernard Morrell, was a POW in WWII. He was captured in Moselle, France on 13th May 1940. He was then a prisoner of war in German hands. He arrived at Stalag XXA on 30th of May 1940, his POW number was 5237 (Stalag XXA) and also another POW (Stalag X1B). When he arrived he got moved so many times I am surprised if he was able to keep or make friends with his unit or new POW people like himself. Like I said, his dates are Stalag XXa on 30th May 1940, coming from Dulag XII according to a list dated on 31th May 1940, and two capture cards dated 6th June 1940 and 31st June 1940. Transferred from Stalag XXa to Stalag XIb on 15th March 1941, according to a list dated 18th March 1941. Arrived at Stalag XIb on 17th March 1941, coming from Stalag XXa on the same day (looks like). Again transferred from XIb to Stalag XX on 10th April 1941 according to two lists dated 19th April 1941 and 22nd April 1941. Transferred again to Stalag XX to Stalag XXIa on 15th May 1941. Detained in Stalag XXIa and transferred to Stalag VIIIb on 8th June 1941 according to a list dated 17th July 1941. Arrived at Stalag VIIIb on 16th June 1941 coming from Stalag XXIc/h. Again transferred from Stalag VIIb to Stalag VIIIc on 19th October 1943. Detained in Stalag VIIIc according to capture card dated on 5th December 1943, and a list sent 29th February 1944. So, there are nine lists issued by the German authorities, then three capture cards and one list sent by the British camp leader to Stalag VIIIc. Out of all the transfers, why or how could anyone make friends or not even know where they going to be staying, let alone all the worry if you are going to survive the POW camps? Why did they transfer him so many times? All I can think of is maybe he was trying to get out or he would not do what he was meant to do. Hope someone can give me a bit of help. But my poor dad - I can't begin to know what every one of the soldiers went through, so heart-breaking are some of the stories I have read. I do know that one of my relations said that my dad did have terrible nightmares when he came home. May be that is why he drank quite a bit and who can blame him? There was no counselling in his day - it was get on with it, go to work every day - which he did when he got work. So sad for every one of them. Catherine Morrell Add to this record.  Related Content: Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) Stalag 8C Prisoner of War Camp Stalag 21A Prisoner of War Camp Stalag XXIA Stalag 7B Prisoner of War Camp Stalag 8b Prisoner of War Camp Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.