POW Camp Index

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POW Death March, Germany 1945 21st Jan 1945 Heavy Snow 22nd Jan 1945 March 23rd Jan 1945 March 24th Jan 1945 March 25th Jan 1945 March 26th Jan 1945 Very Cold 27th Jan 1945 March 28th Jan 1945 March 29th Jan 1945 March 30th Jan 1945 Bad Conditions 31st Jan 1945 Rations Scarce 1st Feb 1945 Rest 2nd Feb 1945 On the March 3rd Feb 1945 March 4th Feb 1945 Rest 9th Feb 1945 On the March 10th Feb 1945 On the March 11th Feb 1945 Sunday 12th Feb 1945 On the March 13th Feb 1945 On the March 14th Feb 1945 On the March 15th Feb 1945 On the March 16th Feb 1945 On the March 17th Feb 1945 On the March 18th Feb 1945 At Rest 19th Feb 1945 On the March 20th Feb 1945 On the March 21st Feb 1945 At Rest 22nd Feb 1945 March 23rd Feb 1945 March 24th Feb 1945 March 25th Feb 1945 At Rest 26th Feb 1945 At Rest 27th Feb 1945 March 28th Feb 1945 At Rest 1st Mar 1945 On the March 2nd Mar 1945 On the March 3rd Mar 1945 On the March 4th Mar 1945 Rest 5th Mar 1945 March 6th Mar 1945 March 7th Mar 1945 At Rest 8th Mar 1945 March 9th Mar 1945 Rest 10th Mar 1945 On the March 11th Mar 1945 Sunday 12th Mar 1945 March 13th Mar 1945 March 14th Mar 1945 March 15th Mar 1945 At Rest 16th Mar 1945 March 17th Mar 1945 March 18th Mar 1945 March 19th Mar 1945 Under Guard 22nd Mar 1945 Arrival 25th Mar 1945 Abandoned If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Those known to have been held in or employed at POW Death March, Germany 1945 during the Second World War 1939-1945. Anderson Stewart. Pte. Archer Maurice. Sea. Barrett Richard William. Dvr. Burns Joseph Luke. T/Sgt. Clare George. Pte. Clark James Strauss. Sgt. Clark Robert Edward. Pte. Clarkson Thomas. Pte. Clayton Horace Wilfred. Pte. Comley Albert Edwin. Pte. Decker Warren Harding. Pvt. Drew Richard James. Spr. Evinou Andrew Jeffrey. Tpr. Green Errol Edward. F/Lt. Hawarden John James. Pte. Hinds Howard Kenneth. Lt. Howard Lloyd T.. Pvt. Howells John. Pte. Howie MID.. Ian Alexander. Capt. Imperato Robert. Cpl. Johnson Harold William Frederick. L/Cpl. Lander Edward Thomas. Able Sea. Lee Thomas Herbert. Pte. Parker Frank Norman. Peters Frederick. Pte. Price Laurie Noel. Sgt. Randall George Douglas. Dvr. Ray Robert. Cpl. Rollings Clifford Albert. Pte. (d.16th Apr 1945) Ryan Thomas. Pte. Saites BSM. Louis Nick. S/Sgt. Sambrano Armando Loya. S/Sgt. Smith Eric Reginald. Tpr. Swatton Leonard Reginald. Gnr. Treen Walter George. Sig. Walker Jonathan. Cpl. Walsh John Wilton. Sgt. Ward Ben. Pte. Wilkinson Thomas. Sgt. 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 POW Death March, Germany 1945 other sources. The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. Announcements The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 24 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web. 27th April 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. 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There are:56 items tagged POW Death March, Germany 1945 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. Pte. Clifford Albert Rollings 2nd Btn. Royal Sussex Regiment (d.16th Apr 1945) My uncle Clifford Rollings (PoW number 11314), died on the forced march from Stallag XX-B, westwards. He died outside Magdeburg in Germany. He has no known grave, but is remembered on the Dunkirk Memorial. After marching 683km, he died approximately 97 km before the column met the US forces at Burns Wick. Kevin Rollings Add to this record. L/Cpl. Harold William Frederick Johnson Black Watch Harold Johnson, my wife's grandfather) was captured at St Valery with the Black Watch as part of 51st Highland Division. He told us how they were marched to Poland and imprisoned in Marienburg XXB. He was working with pigs while there and used to steal thin slices of bacon and hide them down his trousers so that his friends could eat better. He made two escape attempts and both ended in failure and his friends suffered as a result, so he stopped. He told us how angry they were that the French surrendered. He also expressed anger that Welsh speaking prisoners refused to share their food with the English speaking ones, this was poor form in his view. He was forced into a Death March when Soviet forces approached and forced to sign letters that were attempts to absolve guards of any crimes. He was rescued by British troops somewhere in France (we think) and flown home in a Lancaster. Add to this record. Sgt. Laurie Noel Price 3rd Echelon 2nd New Zealand Division I was about 16 years of age when my uncle, Laurie Price returned to New Zealand after the war. As far as I know this information is correct and is written from memory of conversations within the family. He was my mother's younger brother, one of four who went to the war. Luckily all returned, as did my brother. Sgt. Laurie Price, was with the 3rd Echelon from New Zealand, was sent to Egypt. His next of kin was his mother, Charlotte Maude Price. He was captured in Greece and shipped to Bari, Italy. In Italy he had surgery possibly an appendectomy? Then he was sent to Udine before being moved to Stalag 8A. My uncle was one of the many men who walked across Germany. I understand he spent time at Bournemouth to recover before being shipped back to his home in New Zealand. He said very little about his experiences, except that his surgery was painful, the injection for the surgery didn't work, but the one they gave him afterwards behind the knee allowed him to pull hair out for years later without any pain. The prevalence of lice was mentioned and how his finger nails became V-shaped because it was better to stroke them away rather than scratch and break the skin. On the march across Germany, he and his mates found a cellar with potatoes, they boiled the first lot, dirt and all, the second lot they washed, and the third they peeled before eating them. Unfortunately, I do not know where he met up with the Allied forces. However, he did comment that the American POWs struggled more than most on the long march. He was a very quiet man who never married and died approximately in the 1960-1970s. Add to this record. S/Sgt. Louis Nick Saites BSM Co. B, 1st Btn. 10th Infantry Regiment Thirteen months before Pearl Harbor was attacked, my father Louis Saites joined the Army at the age of sixteen. Life at home was not always easy and that prompted Louis to join the Army. He didn’t have his father’s permission, which was required, so he lied about his age. He needed proof of age and he offered his Greek baptismal certificate, which he had altered. He changed his birth year to make himself two years older. Despite the poor job he did in amending the date, the Army accepted it. So at sixteen, he was a private in the United States Army assigned to the 5th Infantry Division, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Co. G. Louis was 18 when he was assigned to an intelligence unit in Reykjavik, Iceland. He arrived on 16th of September 1941. His job in intelligence was to befriend and get close to Icelandic persons who were suspected of spying for the Germans. Investigating one specific suspect proved very difficult. Louis went to great lengths to discover what he could about the man's activities, even dating the man's daughter while trying to gain entrance to their house. When he was still unable to get into the house, Louis decided to marry the daughter. Finally gaining entrance to the suspect's home, Louis was able to confirm the man was indeed aiding the Germans as a spy. On 20 August 1942, Louis was reassigned to the 5th Infantry Division, 10th Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, Co. B and remained in intelligence. The 5th Division was transferred to the European Theater, and his military records show that he arrived in England on 8th of August 1943. In England and later North Ireland, his work in intelligence was searching for German sympathizers among his fellow soldiers. He felt good that none was ever found. During the two years he was in Great Britain, he also participated in infantry training as the U.S. and the British prepared for the D-Day invasion. The 5th Infantry Division landed in Normandy on Utah Beach on 10th of July 1944. Over the next several weeks, the 5th Division participated in numerous successful attacks, advancing from Normandy to Reims and seizing the city on 30 August 1944. The last battle that Louis fought in was the Battle of Fort Driant. It was during the Battle of Fort Driant that Louis, now a 20-year old staff sergeant, was captured on 7th of October 1944. He had been wounded and had shrapnel in his leg when he took refuge with a group of fellow soldiers. They were hiding in a small bunker built into the side of a mound of earth when they were overtaken by a tank command and forced to surrender. As a prisoner of war, Louis was initially processed at Stalag XII-A in Limburg, Germany. He was interrogated and assigned prisoner number 93244. It wasn’t long before he was shipped by train to Stalag III-C in Alt-Drewitz, Brandenburg, Prussia, now Poland. They travelled in cattle cars that were so full they were all forced to stand the entire way. Life at Stalag III-C was a very difficult experience. It was at this camp that he was not only interrogated but also tortured. Conditions at the prison were very bad. They had little to eat, and what food they did get was awful. They ate weeds, bugs, and mice to augment their diet. Housing was in wooden buildings with very little heat and they were given only one blanket for protection against the harsh winter. After several months of internment, the prisoners learned the Soviet Army was approaching and the Germans were planning to move the prisoners towards Berlin. On the 30th or 31st of January 1945, the Russian Army was nearing the prison camp and the Germans forced the prisoners out of the camp. They were on a forced march when they were suddenly fired upon by the Russians. Louis and another man were near the end of the line of prisoners and took advantage of the chaos to run into the woods. They were able to make their way to a farm and the Polish farmer gave them a couple of bicycles. Travelling away from the camp, they finally met up with the Russian Army and travelled with them to Odessa. After a long period of travelling from Odessa to Egypt, to Malta, to France, and then to Naples, Italy, he was finally sent home. His military records note that he participated in three European Campaigns: Normandy, North France, and Rhineland. He also received his first Combat Infantry Badge. After a 59-day furlough at home in Lansing, Michigan, he returned to duty and was honorably discharged on 10 July 1945. He reenlisted on 10th June 1946 and remained in the Army until retiring in 1962. During his service Louis earned the following: Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Army Presidential Unit Citation (2), Prisoner of War Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Europe/African/Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 3 Bronze Battle Stars, World War II Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal 1945-1990, National Defense Service Medal, Korea Service Medal with 2 Bronze Service Stars, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, and United Nations Service Medal. In addition, he received two Combat Infantry Badges and eight Overseas Bars. Sherry Saites Add to this record. Tpr. Eric Reginald Smith Royal Tank Regiment Eric Smith enlisted as a professional soldier in the Royal Tank Regiment in 1930. He was at Dunkirk and later fought in the North African campaign against Rommel. He was captured at Mehili, Libya in 1941 whilst with the forward Reconnaissance Corps. Subsequently, he was held as a POW in Sulmona, Italy, then at a camp in Germany, and finally at Stalag 344 in Lambinowice, Poland as POW number 220281. With thousands of other POWs, he took part in the infamous Long March as Russian forces advanced westward. He was repatriated in 1945 and left the Army in 1946. Mike Smith Add to this record. S/Sgt. Armando Loya "Sam" Sambrano 18th Infantry Regiment Armando Sambrano was drafted after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He became a Staff Sargent in the European Theater after his Lieutenant was shot for the third time and sent home. My father was 22 years old when he was drafted. He was in the Big Red One in 18th Infantry Regiment. During boot camp, he would iron the uniforms for other soldiers for extra money, and wrote letters for another soldier to his wife because he did not know how to read or write. He felt the brotherhood that was among all the soldiers. My father was of Mexican descent and the nickname they gave him was Black Boy. Once he became the Staff Sargent, he took the role of the older brother and would tell his men to stay alert and dig their foxholes deep in order to protect themselves from German snipers. He saw horrific scenes and never overcame the loss of two of his men. Eventually he put the horrors in the back of his mind because he had a war to fight, and his men to protect. While in Aachen, Germany in September of 1944, he and his men were using grenades to bomb the German pill boxes to fulfil their objective known as Crucifix Hill. His men were then sent to the Hurtgen Forrest and were almost out of ammunition. Upon approaching one of the pill boxes, it exploded. He woke up to a German medic taking care of his wounds. His pants were torn and shredded and his shirt had been torn off of his body. His ears were ringing loudly and his ear was bleeding. He became a POW of the Germans and was sent to Stalag 12C on 17th of October 1944. On 31st of January 1945 the Russians invaded the Stalag and they were free. They had to walk 1,000 miles to reach Odessa, Russia. He was taken by a Russian Ship to Naples, Italy. He arrived back on American soil on 20th of April 1945. Marie Sambrano Aguirre Add to this record. Pte. John James Hawarden Royal Signals John Hawarden known as Jack, was in the British Expeditionary Force and was captured at Dunkirk after being wounded by shrapnel. Records show he was held in Stalag XXB. He didn't talk much about his time as a POW but did say the Polish women were kind to the POWs running into the street to give them food when they were being marched out of Poland and towards Germany. Add to this record. Cpl. Robert Imperato 1st Btn. Welsh Regiment Robert Imperato enlisted into the 1st Battalion Welsh Regiment. He served in Palestine and Egypt until 1940. He then joined 50th ME Commando. He was reported missing in action on the 1st of June 1941 on Crete. He had been injured in action and taken prisoner. He spent the rest of the war in Stalag V111B/344. He was involved in the long march. Add to this record. Spr. Richard James Drew 100th Field Company Royal Engineers My Grandfather Richard Drew was a Sapper for the Royal Engineers 100th Field Company, Royal Engineers. He was captured at Cassel 30th of May 1940 and kept as a Prisoner of War in Stalag 8b until they were repatriated in 1945 after the long march or death march. I have very little information on him apart from what I've found myself searching records. He died in 1966 from complications due to his time as a PoW and I never got to hear his story. Lindsay Hoare Add to this record. Cpl. Robert Ray 2nd Transvaal Scottish My Dad, Robert Ray, was captured at Tobuk on 21st of June 1942 by Rommel and was moved as a POW through Italy (Rome and Sardinia) to Stalag IVB (Muhlberg am Elbe) in 1943, nearby Stalag 304H (Zeithan) then later on to Torun in Poland which he said "hell it was cold there". Later with the Russians advancing he was moved to Fallingbostel, near Hannover and Bremen, from which he escaped and was picked up by British forces and repatriated. He lived till two weeks short of his 88th birthday. His son visited the sites Stalag IVB and 304H in 2000. Add to this record. Pvt. Warren Harding Decker 509th PIR 101st Airborne Division Pvt. Warren H. Decker was wounded and captured during "suicide" mission of the El Djem Bridge on December 27, 1942. POW camps included PG 98, PG 59, Stalag VI, Stalag IV, the "Black March away from Allied/Soviet forces, Wobbelin concentration camp, Stalag IIIA, Stalag IIB, then finally Stalag VIIA. He remained a POW until liberated by 14th Armored Division of Patton's 3rd Army at Stalag VIIA, Moosburg, Bavaria, Germany on April 29, 1945. Robert E. Decker Add to this record. T/Sgt. Joseph Luke Burns 613th Bomb Squadron 401st Bomb Group My father served as a B-17 Flying Fortress flight engineer/top turret gunner during the war. On 1 December 1943, his bomber took part in a raid on Solingen in Germany's industrial Ruhr region. During the return flight, he and some crew-mates bailed out over Belgium after their bomber was hit by flak. For a short time, they were able to evade capture thanks to help given them by heroic members of the Belgian Resistance. Eventually, though, they were taken prisoner and spent the rest of the war in confinement. Mary Burns Surdy Add to this record. Sgt. John Wilton Walsh 77 Squadron My Dad, John Wilton Walsh was a Sergeant Flight Engineer on Halifax B2s out of Elvington and Pocklington, Yorkshire. On his second trip out to bomb he was shot down by a combination of a radar controlled ground to air type 88 ak-ak gun and a FW190. The original card showing the pick up by the Radar controlled gun to the eventual crash of the plane he was in is still available in the war museum. With the pilot killed in his seat, my father wound the elevator trim tabs up and down to try and create a shooting position for the upper gun turret operator to get a shot at the FW190 that was sitting just below their tail pumping fire into the tail of the Halifax B2 they were in. Once it was realised that the whole aircraft was to be lost to fire, the wireless operator, navigator, mid upper gunner and my father decided to bail out. On arriving at ground level my father, knowing he was over Belgium, made contact with a local resident using his schoolboy French and they decided to hide him. My father was looked after by this Belgian family for three months until the Nazi's were making it too hot for them to hold him any longer. My father dressed in civvies was taken to a Brussels prison as a spy and interrogated by the SS for three months. A record card of his subsequent treatment exists in the prison records. These records are available via the War Museum and the Philatelist Society UK. He was then en-trained and sent to Dulag Luft IV, he escaped twice and was caught twice before being sent to Stalag Luft 111 where he became a tunneller. Having spent some time with his game keeper uncle as a boy and teenager, he was adept at trapping rats and birds to add to his normal daily ration, also due to his years as a border at school, from the age of 7 to 17, he tells me that the regime in the prisons he was in was more lax than his school days in Earls Colne Grammar School! Dad spent two and half years in the POW camps and had two Christmas's there. I have his Christmas day menu's in his POW log book. After the enormous march from Stalag Luft 111 in Poland to Germany, where he was liberated and taken home to hospital. He told me of the number of days they marched and I have his map drawn in pencil in his POW log book. He told me about the fact that they had taken the Schmeisser Machine Guns from their guards, only to unload them and give them back to the guards as they entered any new village or town. The German Guards then terrorised the locals into giving their captors food and water, once that had been done the German guards were fed and the march continued with the RAF personnel now in charge of the loaded machine guns. Dad's trip home was in a USAF Liberator, an ironical name for a plane! After his release from hospital he was sent home, on arrival his mother did not recognise him. He weighed 6 stone 8 when he got home, he was 5' 11" tall and weighed 10 st 4 when he enlisted. He was well looked after by his mother, a local school head cook. His aunt, the deputy Matron of the well known Middlesex Hospital, and his other aunt, an elocution and English teacher, all of whom lived together in the house my father now returned. Dad was demobbed some weeks later and little later signed up for further service as a VRT Officer and he finished his service in 1979 having been part of RAF VC10 tanker project. Subsequently he worked on engineering and calibrating the simulators for the Jaguar and then the Tornado. My father left the service as a Squadron Leader having been a Wing Staff Officer for the ATC for many years. An account his last two flights over Germany and his escape from his Halifax bomber, can be found in the book, The Bomber Boys. Until his death in the year 2000 my dad was an active member of the Kriegies Club and other wartime organisations including a lengthy time with the RAF Association organising and working within many charities supporting ex-service personnel. Tony Add to this record. Pte. John Howells Royal Gloucestershire Regiment John Howells was my father, whom I believe was captured in Belgium in 1940, having joined the war in 1939. He served as a POW camp interpreter. The only knowledge I have of this is due to seeing my father's camp ID tag. I always remember it was stamped Stalag XXI-B. I believe the camp closed in 1944 and the prisoners were marched west across Europe. My father kept a daily diary during the march. I saw the contents once, but have no access to the diary due to others in the family. The last sentence in the diary was 'Roll on the Yanks!' My father moved from South Wales to Oxford in 1948. He was a respected school-teacher for 31 years and lived in Marcham Village, near Abingdon, Oxon. He died on 11th of November 1998 in Abingdon Hospital. Norman Howells Add to this record. Able Sea. Edward Thomas Lander HMS Express My grandfather, Edward Lander was shipwrecked and spent days afloat before he was picked up by the Germans and taken prisoner. He was in various POW camps, and I have the list, but he was in BAB 21 (Bau und Arbeits Battalion 21), Stalag 8b, where he is shown in photos unloading Red Cross Parcels. He was also on the forced westward march of POWs in January 1945. Add to this record. Pte. Clifford Albert Rollings 2nd Btn. Royal Sussex Regiment (d.16th Apr 1945) My uncle Clifford Rollings (PoW number 11314), died on the forced march from Stallag XX-B, westwards. He died outside Magdeburg in Germany. He has no known grave, but is remembered on the Dunkirk Memorial. After marching 683km, he died approximately 97 km before the column met the US forces at Burns Wick. Kevin Rollings L/Cpl. Harold William Frederick Johnson Black Watch Harold Johnson, my wife's grandfather) was captured at St Valery with the Black Watch as part of 51st Highland Division. He told us how they were marched to Poland and imprisoned in Marienburg XXB. He was working with pigs while there and used to steal thin slices of bacon and hide them down his trousers so that his friends could eat better. He made two escape attempts and both ended in failure and his friends suffered as a result, so he stopped. He told us how angry they were that the French surrendered. He also expressed anger that Welsh speaking prisoners refused to share their food with the English speaking ones, this was poor form in his view. He was forced into a Death March when Soviet forces approached and forced to sign letters that were attempts to absolve guards of any crimes. He was rescued by British troops somewhere in France (we think) and flown home in a Lancaster. Sgt. Laurie Noel Price 3rd Echelon 2nd New Zealand Division I was about 16 years of age when my uncle, Laurie Price returned to New Zealand after the war. As far as I know this information is correct and is written from memory of conversations within the family. He was my mother's younger brother, one of four who went to the war. Luckily all returned, as did my brother. Sgt. Laurie Price, was with the 3rd Echelon from New Zealand, was sent to Egypt. His next of kin was his mother, Charlotte Maude Price. He was captured in Greece and shipped to Bari, Italy. In Italy he had surgery possibly an appendectomy? Then he was sent to Udine before being moved to Stalag 8A. My uncle was one of the many men who walked across Germany. I understand he spent time at Bournemouth to recover before being shipped back to his home in New Zealand. He said very little about his experiences, except that his surgery was painful, the injection for the surgery didn't work, but the one they gave him afterwards behind the knee allowed him to pull hair out for years later without any pain. The prevalence of lice was mentioned and how his finger nails became V-shaped because it was better to stroke them away rather than scratch and break the skin. On the march across Germany, he and his mates found a cellar with potatoes, they boiled the first lot, dirt and all, the second lot they washed, and the third they peeled before eating them. Unfortunately, I do not know where he met up with the Allied forces. However, he did comment that the American POWs struggled more than most on the long march. He was a very quiet man who never married and died approximately in the 1960-1970s. S/Sgt. Louis Nick Saites BSM Co. B, 1st Btn. 10th Infantry Regiment Thirteen months before Pearl Harbor was attacked, my father Louis Saites joined the Army at the age of sixteen. Life at home was not always easy and that prompted Louis to join the Army. He didn’t have his father’s permission, which was required, so he lied about his age. He needed proof of age and he offered his Greek baptismal certificate, which he had altered. He changed his birth year to make himself two years older. Despite the poor job he did in amending the date, the Army accepted it. So at sixteen, he was a private in the United States Army assigned to the 5th Infantry Division, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Co. G. Louis was 18 when he was assigned to an intelligence unit in Reykjavik, Iceland. He arrived on 16th of September 1941. His job in intelligence was to befriend and get close to Icelandic persons who were suspected of spying for the Germans. Investigating one specific suspect proved very difficult. Louis went to great lengths to discover what he could about the man's activities, even dating the man's daughter while trying to gain entrance to their house. When he was still unable to get into the house, Louis decided to marry the daughter. Finally gaining entrance to the suspect's home, Louis was able to confirm the man was indeed aiding the Germans as a spy. On 20 August 1942, Louis was reassigned to the 5th Infantry Division, 10th Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, Co. B and remained in intelligence. The 5th Division was transferred to the European Theater, and his military records show that he arrived in England on 8th of August 1943. In England and later North Ireland, his work in intelligence was searching for German sympathizers among his fellow soldiers. He felt good that none was ever found. During the two years he was in Great Britain, he also participated in infantry training as the U.S. and the British prepared for the D-Day invasion. The 5th Infantry Division landed in Normandy on Utah Beach on 10th of July 1944. Over the next several weeks, the 5th Division participated in numerous successful attacks, advancing from Normandy to Reims and seizing the city on 30 August 1944. The last battle that Louis fought in was the Battle of Fort Driant. It was during the Battle of Fort Driant that Louis, now a 20-year old staff sergeant, was captured on 7th of October 1944. He had been wounded and had shrapnel in his leg when he took refuge with a group of fellow soldiers. They were hiding in a small bunker built into the side of a mound of earth when they were overtaken by a tank command and forced to surrender. As a prisoner of war, Louis was initially processed at Stalag XII-A in Limburg, Germany. He was interrogated and assigned prisoner number 93244. It wasn’t long before he was shipped by train to Stalag III-C in Alt-Drewitz, Brandenburg, Prussia, now Poland. They travelled in cattle cars that were so full they were all forced to stand the entire way. Life at Stalag III-C was a very difficult experience. It was at this camp that he was not only interrogated but also tortured. Conditions at the prison were very bad. They had little to eat, and what food they did get was awful. They ate weeds, bugs, and mice to augment their diet. Housing was in wooden buildings with very little heat and they were given only one blanket for protection against the harsh winter. After several months of internment, the prisoners learned the Soviet Army was approaching and the Germans were planning to move the prisoners towards Berlin. On the 30th or 31st of January 1945, the Russian Army was nearing the prison camp and the Germans forced the prisoners out of the camp. They were on a forced march when they were suddenly fired upon by the Russians. Louis and another man were near the end of the line of prisoners and took advantage of the chaos to run into the woods. They were able to make their way to a farm and the Polish farmer gave them a couple of bicycles. Travelling away from the camp, they finally met up with the Russian Army and travelled with them to Odessa. After a long period of travelling from Odessa to Egypt, to Malta, to France, and then to Naples, Italy, he was finally sent home. His military records note that he participated in three European Campaigns: Normandy, North France, and Rhineland. He also received his first Combat Infantry Badge. After a 59-day furlough at home in Lansing, Michigan, he returned to duty and was honorably discharged on 10 July 1945. He reenlisted on 10th June 1946 and remained in the Army until retiring in 1962. During his service Louis earned the following: Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Army Presidential Unit Citation (2), Prisoner of War Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Europe/African/Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 3 Bronze Battle Stars, World War II Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal 1945-1990, National Defense Service Medal, Korea Service Medal with 2 Bronze Service Stars, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, and United Nations Service Medal. In addition, he received two Combat Infantry Badges and eight Overseas Bars. Sherry Saites Tpr. Eric Reginald Smith Royal Tank Regiment Eric Smith enlisted as a professional soldier in the Royal Tank Regiment in 1930. He was at Dunkirk and later fought in the North African campaign against Rommel. He was captured at Mehili, Libya in 1941 whilst with the forward Reconnaissance Corps. Subsequently, he was held as a POW in Sulmona, Italy, then at a camp in Germany, and finally at Stalag 344 in Lambinowice, Poland as POW number 220281. With thousands of other POWs, he took part in the infamous Long March as Russian forces advanced westward. He was repatriated in 1945 and left the Army in 1946. Mike Smith S/Sgt. Armando Loya "Sam" Sambrano 18th Infantry Regiment Armando Sambrano was drafted after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He became a Staff Sargent in the European Theater after his Lieutenant was shot for the third time and sent home. My father was 22 years old when he was drafted. He was in the Big Red One in 18th Infantry Regiment. During boot camp, he would iron the uniforms for other soldiers for extra money, and wrote letters for another soldier to his wife because he did not know how to read or write. He felt the brotherhood that was among all the soldiers. My father was of Mexican descent and the nickname they gave him was Black Boy. Once he became the Staff Sargent, he took the role of the older brother and would tell his men to stay alert and dig their foxholes deep in order to protect themselves from German snipers. He saw horrific scenes and never overcame the loss of two of his men. Eventually he put the horrors in the back of his mind because he had a war to fight, and his men to protect. While in Aachen, Germany in September of 1944, he and his men were using grenades to bomb the German pill boxes to fulfil their objective known as Crucifix Hill. His men were then sent to the Hurtgen Forrest and were almost out of ammunition. Upon approaching one of the pill boxes, it exploded. He woke up to a German medic taking care of his wounds. His pants were torn and shredded and his shirt had been torn off of his body. His ears were ringing loudly and his ear was bleeding. He became a POW of the Germans and was sent to Stalag 12C on 17th of October 1944. On 31st of January 1945 the Russians invaded the Stalag and they were free. They had to walk 1,000 miles to reach Odessa, Russia. He was taken by a Russian Ship to Naples, Italy. He arrived back on American soil on 20th of April 1945. Marie Sambrano Aguirre Pte. John James Hawarden Royal Signals John Hawarden known as Jack, was in the British Expeditionary Force and was captured at Dunkirk after being wounded by shrapnel. Records show he was held in Stalag XXB. He didn't talk much about his time as a POW but did say the Polish women were kind to the POWs running into the street to give them food when they were being marched out of Poland and towards Germany. Cpl. Robert Imperato 1st Btn. Welsh Regiment Robert Imperato enlisted into the 1st Battalion Welsh Regiment. He served in Palestine and Egypt until 1940. He then joined 50th ME Commando. He was reported missing in action on the 1st of June 1941 on Crete. He had been injured in action and taken prisoner. He spent the rest of the war in Stalag V111B/344. He was involved in the long march. Spr. Richard James Drew 100th Field Company Royal Engineers My Grandfather Richard Drew was a Sapper for the Royal Engineers 100th Field Company, Royal Engineers. He was captured at Cassel 30th of May 1940 and kept as a Prisoner of War in Stalag 8b until they were repatriated in 1945 after the long march or death march. I have very little information on him apart from what I've found myself searching records. He died in 1966 from complications due to his time as a PoW and I never got to hear his story. Lindsay Hoare Cpl. Robert Ray 2nd Transvaal Scottish My Dad, Robert Ray, was captured at Tobuk on 21st of June 1942 by Rommel and was moved as a POW through Italy (Rome and Sardinia) to Stalag IVB (Muhlberg am Elbe) in 1943, nearby Stalag 304H (Zeithan) then later on to Torun in Poland which he said "hell it was cold there". Later with the Russians advancing he was moved to Fallingbostel, near Hannover and Bremen, from which he escaped and was picked up by British forces and repatriated. He lived till two weeks short of his 88th birthday. His son visited the sites Stalag IVB and 304H in 2000. Pvt. Warren Harding Decker 509th PIR 101st Airborne Division Pvt. Warren H. Decker was wounded and captured during "suicide" mission of the El Djem Bridge on December 27, 1942. POW camps included PG 98, PG 59, Stalag VI, Stalag IV, the "Black March away from Allied/Soviet forces, Wobbelin concentration camp, Stalag IIIA, Stalag IIB, then finally Stalag VIIA. He remained a POW until liberated by 14th Armored Division of Patton's 3rd Army at Stalag VIIA, Moosburg, Bavaria, Germany on April 29, 1945. Robert E. Decker T/Sgt. Joseph Luke Burns 613th Bomb Squadron 401st Bomb Group My father served as a B-17 Flying Fortress flight engineer/top turret gunner during the war. On 1 December 1943, his bomber took part in a raid on Solingen in Germany's industrial Ruhr region. During the return flight, he and some crew-mates bailed out over Belgium after their bomber was hit by flak. For a short time, they were able to evade capture thanks to help given them by heroic members of the Belgian Resistance. Eventually, though, they were taken prisoner and spent the rest of the war in confinement. Mary Burns Surdy Sgt. John Wilton Walsh 77 Squadron My Dad, John Wilton Walsh was a Sergeant Flight Engineer on Halifax B2s out of Elvington and Pocklington, Yorkshire. On his second trip out to bomb he was shot down by a combination of a radar controlled ground to air type 88 ak-ak gun and a FW190. The original card showing the pick up by the Radar controlled gun to the eventual crash of the plane he was in is still available in the war museum. With the pilot killed in his seat, my father wound the elevator trim tabs up and down to try and create a shooting position for the upper gun turret operator to get a shot at the FW190 that was sitting just below their tail pumping fire into the tail of the Halifax B2 they were in. Once it was realised that the whole aircraft was to be lost to fire, the wireless operator, navigator, mid upper gunner and my father decided to bail out. On arriving at ground level my father, knowing he was over Belgium, made contact with a local resident using his schoolboy French and they decided to hide him. My father was looked after by this Belgian family for three months until the Nazi's were making it too hot for them to hold him any longer. My father dressed in civvies was taken to a Brussels prison as a spy and interrogated by the SS for three months. A record card of his subsequent treatment exists in the prison records. These records are available via the War Museum and the Philatelist Society UK. He was then en-trained and sent to Dulag Luft IV, he escaped twice and was caught twice before being sent to Stalag Luft 111 where he became a tunneller. Having spent some time with his game keeper uncle as a boy and teenager, he was adept at trapping rats and birds to add to his normal daily ration, also due to his years as a border at school, from the age of 7 to 17, he tells me that the regime in the prisons he was in was more lax than his school days in Earls Colne Grammar School! Dad spent two and half years in the POW camps and had two Christmas's there. I have his Christmas day menu's in his POW log book. After the enormous march from Stalag Luft 111 in Poland to Germany, where he was liberated and taken home to hospital. He told me of the number of days they marched and I have his map drawn in pencil in his POW log book. He told me about the fact that they had taken the Schmeisser Machine Guns from their guards, only to unload them and give them back to the guards as they entered any new village or town. The German Guards then terrorised the locals into giving their captors food and water, once that had been done the German guards were fed and the march continued with the RAF personnel now in charge of the loaded machine guns. Dad's trip home was in a USAF Liberator, an ironical name for a plane! After his release from hospital he was sent home, on arrival his mother did not recognise him. He weighed 6 stone 8 when he got home, he was 5' 11" tall and weighed 10 st 4 when he enlisted. He was well looked after by his mother, a local school head cook. His aunt, the deputy Matron of the well known Middlesex Hospital, and his other aunt, an elocution and English teacher, all of whom lived together in the house my father now returned. Dad was demobbed some weeks later and little later signed up for further service as a VRT Officer and he finished his service in 1979 having been part of RAF VC10 tanker project. Subsequently he worked on engineering and calibrating the simulators for the Jaguar and then the Tornado. My father left the service as a Squadron Leader having been a Wing Staff Officer for the ATC for many years. An account his last two flights over Germany and his escape from his Halifax bomber, can be found in the book, The Bomber Boys. Until his death in the year 2000 my dad was an active member of the Kriegies Club and other wartime organisations including a lengthy time with the RAF Association organising and working within many charities supporting ex-service personnel. Tony Pte. John Howells Royal Gloucestershire Regiment John Howells was my father, whom I believe was captured in Belgium in 1940, having joined the war in 1939. He served as a POW camp interpreter. The only knowledge I have of this is due to seeing my father's camp ID tag. I always remember it was stamped Stalag XXI-B. I believe the camp closed in 1944 and the prisoners were marched west across Europe. My father kept a daily diary during the march. I saw the contents once, but have no access to the diary due to others in the family. The last sentence in the diary was 'Roll on the Yanks!' My father moved from South Wales to Oxford in 1948. He was a respected school-teacher for 31 years and lived in Marcham Village, near Abingdon, Oxon. He died on 11th of November 1998 in Abingdon Hospital. Norman Howells Able Sea. Edward Thomas Lander HMS Express My grandfather, Edward Lander was shipwrecked and spent days afloat before he was picked up by the Germans and taken prisoner. He was in various POW camps, and I have the list, but he was in BAB 21 (Bau und Arbeits Battalion 21), Stalag 8b, where he is shown in photos unloading Red Cross Parcels. He was also on the forced westward march of POWs in January 1945. Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices.

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