Info Stalag IV B

[mustang1944]

Hello everyone,

I have adopted the grave of PFC J.W. Cannon.
PFC Cannon served in B Company 422nd Infantry Regiment,and was k.i.a. on April 8th,1945 at Stalag IV B.
Because of the fact that I have contact with his son,I would like to ask everyone on the board if they can help me with the following.

PFC Cannon's son is coming to visit his fathers grave at the US War Cemetery Margraten (The Netherlands),next month.
And he have asked me if I can help him with more information and photo's from Stalag IV B.

I hope that some can help me with photo's or information,such as how was live in POW Camp Stalag IV B,when was this POW Camp liberated,and so on.

I can be contacted at: [e-mail]

Thank you.

[connie]

I hope others will have information to add. You might also mention this site to the lost soldier's son. This is another connection to his father's past.

You might point him to the thread under the POW experience that speaks of POW Camps that held members of the 106th. 106thdivision.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=pow&thread=255&page=1

There is a section here on this camp with links including links to the accounts of other POW's on the Indiana Military site.

Our thanks go to you and others in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg (and elsewhere) who tend the graves and provide a link for family. Whether this son joins our site or not, please give him our best.

[mustang1944]

Thanks for it Connie,
I will have a check and print those pages for the son of PFC Cannon.
Do you perhaps known if there are Veterans of B-Company 422nd Infantry Regiment ,watching this board ?
I hope that someone has got any photo's from how the POW Camp looked like during the war.

[Carl W.]

Hi Jan

Life in Stalag IV-B was harsh as it was in all other POW camps during the war. Especially in 1945, when the German army was itself running on its last resources so they had little to spare for the POWs they were supposed to care for. Camp 4B was liberated by the Russian Army on April 23, 1945.

The former camp site still exists today although it is overgrown with trees. The barracks were demolished after the war, but the camp still retains its original outline. There is a small museum to remember Stalag IV-B, the largest German POW camp of the war. It's address:
Initiativgruppe Lager Muhlberg e.V., Klosterstraße 9, 04931, Muhlberg/Elbe, Germany

Some interesting info:
www.uokg.de/Text2/Mit-Muhlberg01.html

The Camp entrance gate during WWII




Greetings
Carl

[bigjohn]

Dad often told of lots of cabbage soup which, if it was a good day, served with some black bread. He also mentioned "ersatz" coffee which was made with ground acorns, sawdust and/or what have you. The Red Cross packages, when they got through, were highly prized possessions!

[mustang1944]

Thanks Carl,

I sure will contact the museum in Germany.
I hope Carl,that there will come more reaction to this posts.
Hopefully,I can inform the son of PFC Cannon,when he's in the Netherlands. I will put photo's from the meeting here,when I have meet the son next month.