Post by connie on Oct 1, 2021 10:52:49 GMT -5
This thread is currently undergoing re-construction...
MAP of GERMAN POW CAMPS: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/4961/thread
FINDING a POW's WORK CAMP: jrwentz attached two helpful posts near the bottom of the following thread: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/4942/thread
OVERVIEW OF CAMPS THAT HELD MEMBERS OF THE 106th: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/752/thread
Oflag 64 -Szubin, Poland
click to enlarge
Built around a Polish Boys School.
From Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oflag_64
Late fall 1943 - An escape committee started digging a tunnel to pass under the barbed wire fence.
March 1944 - upon learning of the disastrous results of the "Great Escape" from Stalag Luft III the escape committee ordered a shut-down of the operation.
June 1944 - senior American officers captured in the Battle of Normandy sent to Oflag 64.
January 21, 1945 - the roll call established a total of 1,471. Because of approaching Soviet troops, all capable of walking were marched out. The senior U.S. officer was Lt.Col. Paul Goode..
January 23, 1945, the camp was liberated by the Soviet 61st Army. There were approximately 100 Americans, sick and medical personnel, and a few that had hidden in the old escape tunnel. About 200 escaped from the marching column and returned to the camp.
The group that marched out of Szubin, reached Oflag XIII-B at Hammelburg on March 10. They marched through snow and bitter cold most of the nearly 400 miles. About 400 dropped out on the way, too weak to march, or escaped. A number were shot. Lt. Col. Goode marched with them all the way. Part of the group, including Lt. Col. Goode were again marched out to Stalag VII-A, Moosburg, where they were finally liberated by units of the U.S. 14th Armored Division 29 April (three weeks after Hammelburg had been liberated by the same unit)
Those that had stayed at the camp experienced considerable difficulties. The Soviets wanted to hold them hostage, until all Soviet POWs in camps behind Allied lines were returned to them. Finally, under the command of Col. Frederick Drury they reached Odessa (Russia) and were evacuated on a New Zealand ship, HMNZS Monowai.
The Welcome Swede
The reason that the camp had many amenities was Swedish attorney Henry Söderberg (d. 1998), who was the YMCA representative to the area, and frequently visited the camps (including Stalag Luft III, famous for "The Great Escape") bearing gift items that furnished each camp with a band and orchestra, a well-equipped library, and sports equipment, along with religious items needed by chaplains, causing him to become known as "The Welcome Swede", which became the title of a 1988 book by American journalist J. Frank Diggs (1916-2004), a POW at nearby Oflag64.
Wikipedia Notes on Camp Redesignation: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oflag_XIII-A
In June 1941 a new compound Oflag 62 was opened for high-ranking Soviet officers captured during Operation Barbarossa. It was redesignated Oflag XIII-D in September 1941.
This camp was closed April 1942 and the surviving officers (many had died during the winter due to an epidemic) were transferred to other camps.
From December 1944 to March 1945 XIII-D was designated Oflag 73 and used to accommodate officers of various nationalities evacuated hastily from camps in the east that were threatened by the rapid advance of the Red Army.
On 15 April 1945, Lt. Donald Prell (who had been recaptured after escaping from Oflag XIII-B and sent to Oflag 73) awoke to find all the camp's guards had disappeared. He and another POW walked out the front gate to freedom.
On 16 April 1945 the United States Army liberated the camp, finding only Serbian officers and those too sick to have been marched out, including some Americans who had been wounded by strafing American planes while being marched from Hammelburg.
Also See Stalag XIII-D - Nürnberg Langwasser /Oflag 73: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5029/thread
106th Connection
List of 423 Infantry Regiment POW's: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/Rosters/REFERENCES/64%20-%20423rd%20roster/64.htm
Sidebar List of POW Camps & some names of POW's there www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/SoThinkMenu/GermanPW-START.htm
Sidebar List of Diaries, Obits, & Articles, etc. alphabetically on the Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/SoThinkMenu/106thSTART.htm
Moon, William P., Major, commander 1st Bn 422 www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Oflag%2064%20Schubin/Moon-WilliamP/WilliamMoon.htm
Bill was Commander of the 1st battalion, 422nd Infantry of the 106th Division when they were attacking the Belgian town of Schonberg on December 19, 1944. Hit by tanks on the right flank and rear, most of the battalion was captured. "Several of us got away and found a group in a wooded area near Schonberg. But we were recaptured there on December 21 during the 'Battle of the Bulge,'" he reports. He was only at Oflag 64 for a couple of weeks before the camp was marched out. With blisters on both heels, he found that he couldn't walk around much.
O'Neill, Robert McLeod 422-G, POW Oflag 64 : 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/2289/thread
According to the Indiana Military Site Roster, O'Neill, who was second platoon leader in G company of the 422nd arrived at Oflag 64 on January 12, 1945 and escaped during the march to Germany sometime in January 1945.
Parker, Richard B, 1 Lt, 422-AT- 1st platoon. POW Stalag IV-B, Oflag 64 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5036/thread www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Oflag%2064%20Schubin/RichardParker/ParkerWarDiary.htm
Parker experienced the bombing of Limburg. Then..."We left Limburg on the 26th (December 1044)...We crept through Germany for five days, stopping frequently and always moving slowly. I might add at this point that it is extremely uncomfortable not to be able to lie down for nine days....
On the 30th of December we arrived at Stalag IV B, Muehlberg. We stood in the open for three hours before finally entering the delousing chamber, but it was worth it - for here we had the most wonderfully hot shower of our lives. It was so hot that we all felt faint and light-headed upon emerging from it...After the delousing we were processed and taken to a barracks. There was no American compound at IV B so we were taken in by RAF non-coms. They had hot tea and soup waiting for us, and water to shave in. Those boys were wonderful to us... It was almost amusing to find that I was in a barracks with my platoon. How that group managed to stick together I don't know, but it certainly was good to see them, even if they were ragged and haggard. I'll never see a nicer, more cooperative platoon...
We stayed in the IVB ten days, receiving one Red Cross package (English) per two men.... We left Muehlberg on January 8 for Of lag 64, a camp for American officers at Szubin, Poland. That trip was fraught with trials, We occupied half of each box car and the guards occupied the other half. There was a barbed wire fence between us. When we had a "rest stop", we either had to climb over the fence to the guard's door or have them get out and open the door on our side...
We arrived at Oflag 64 on the 10th of January. I found that Colonel Goode, who lived across the street at Ft. Leavenworth, was the senior American officer, that each man got a parcel a week, that cigarettes were plentiful and that it was colder than hell. Hesse and I moved into a cubicle with 6 other officers. One a high school classmate of my brother's, and another a good friend of Hesse's. I got a wool undershirt and two blankets, got a copy of Gibbon's "Decline and Fall" from the camp library, crawled into my sack...
When the Russian drive commenced, we all speculated on what the future held for us. That the Germans would evacuate us we didn't doubt for a minute, but as each day came and the Russians drew nearer, we saw no signs of our impending departure other than a constant stream of refugees pouring down the roads in wagons, trucks, cars, carriages and on. foot. Finally, on the morning of the 20th (January), we were told to be prepared to move at any time.
Stewart, Neil, Cpt. 422F- Notes from National War Museum state he was here: www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Oflag%2064%20Schubin/Stewert-NeilP/Stewart-NeilP.htm
Battle of the Bulge Artifact of Captain Neil P. Stewart ( dog tags, golden lion patch & MIA telegram)
Captain Stewart was the commanding officer of K company 422nd Infantry regiment 106th Division during the Battle of the Bulge. He wore these dog tags around his neck during the battle, his capture and forced march of several hundred kilometers to a POW camp in Poland. Upon his arrival at POW camp, Oflag 64, Stewart was issued the rectangular German prisoner of war Identification tag. Captain Stewart endured nearly five months of captivity before being liberated by Allied forces in late April, 1945. Gift of Dr. J. Campbell, The National World War II Museum Inc., 2005
Also some conversation on this discussion board: 106thdivision.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=other&thread=445&page=1
Kanners, Victor 1st Lt, ? POW Oflag 64, 13 B, A Moosburg, a recent arrival to Oflag 64 (after Limburg transition camp and time in a bombed box car), begins his account on the eve of the march from the camp ahead of the Russian forces. He was not anxious to leave because, among other reasons, the men in this camp received weekly distribution of Red Cross packages.
MAP of GERMAN POW CAMPS: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/4961/thread
FINDING a POW's WORK CAMP: jrwentz attached two helpful posts near the bottom of the following thread: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/4942/thread
OVERVIEW OF CAMPS THAT HELD MEMBERS OF THE 106th: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/752/thread
Oflag 64 -Szubin, Poland
click to enlarge
Built around a Polish Boys School.
From Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oflag_64
Late fall 1943 - An escape committee started digging a tunnel to pass under the barbed wire fence.
March 1944 - upon learning of the disastrous results of the "Great Escape" from Stalag Luft III the escape committee ordered a shut-down of the operation.
June 1944 - senior American officers captured in the Battle of Normandy sent to Oflag 64.
January 21, 1945 - the roll call established a total of 1,471. Because of approaching Soviet troops, all capable of walking were marched out. The senior U.S. officer was Lt.Col. Paul Goode..
January 23, 1945, the camp was liberated by the Soviet 61st Army. There were approximately 100 Americans, sick and medical personnel, and a few that had hidden in the old escape tunnel. About 200 escaped from the marching column and returned to the camp.
The group that marched out of Szubin, reached Oflag XIII-B at Hammelburg on March 10. They marched through snow and bitter cold most of the nearly 400 miles. About 400 dropped out on the way, too weak to march, or escaped. A number were shot. Lt. Col. Goode marched with them all the way. Part of the group, including Lt. Col. Goode were again marched out to Stalag VII-A, Moosburg, where they were finally liberated by units of the U.S. 14th Armored Division 29 April (three weeks after Hammelburg had been liberated by the same unit)
Those that had stayed at the camp experienced considerable difficulties. The Soviets wanted to hold them hostage, until all Soviet POWs in camps behind Allied lines were returned to them. Finally, under the command of Col. Frederick Drury they reached Odessa (Russia) and were evacuated on a New Zealand ship, HMNZS Monowai.
The Welcome Swede
The reason that the camp had many amenities was Swedish attorney Henry Söderberg (d. 1998), who was the YMCA representative to the area, and frequently visited the camps (including Stalag Luft III, famous for "The Great Escape") bearing gift items that furnished each camp with a band and orchestra, a well-equipped library, and sports equipment, along with religious items needed by chaplains, causing him to become known as "The Welcome Swede", which became the title of a 1988 book by American journalist J. Frank Diggs (1916-2004), a POW at nearby Oflag64.
Wikipedia Notes on Camp Redesignation: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oflag_XIII-A
In June 1941 a new compound Oflag 62 was opened for high-ranking Soviet officers captured during Operation Barbarossa. It was redesignated Oflag XIII-D in September 1941.
This camp was closed April 1942 and the surviving officers (many had died during the winter due to an epidemic) were transferred to other camps.
From December 1944 to March 1945 XIII-D was designated Oflag 73 and used to accommodate officers of various nationalities evacuated hastily from camps in the east that were threatened by the rapid advance of the Red Army.
On 15 April 1945, Lt. Donald Prell (who had been recaptured after escaping from Oflag XIII-B and sent to Oflag 73) awoke to find all the camp's guards had disappeared. He and another POW walked out the front gate to freedom.
On 16 April 1945 the United States Army liberated the camp, finding only Serbian officers and those too sick to have been marched out, including some Americans who had been wounded by strafing American planes while being marched from Hammelburg.
Also See Stalag XIII-D - Nürnberg Langwasser /Oflag 73: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5029/thread
106th Connection
List of 423 Infantry Regiment POW's: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/Rosters/REFERENCES/64%20-%20423rd%20roster/64.htm
Sidebar List of POW Camps & some names of POW's there www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/SoThinkMenu/GermanPW-START.htm
Sidebar List of Diaries, Obits, & Articles, etc. alphabetically on the Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/SoThinkMenu/106thSTART.htm
Moon, William P., Major, commander 1st Bn 422 www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Oflag%2064%20Schubin/Moon-WilliamP/WilliamMoon.htm
Bill was Commander of the 1st battalion, 422nd Infantry of the 106th Division when they were attacking the Belgian town of Schonberg on December 19, 1944. Hit by tanks on the right flank and rear, most of the battalion was captured. "Several of us got away and found a group in a wooded area near Schonberg. But we were recaptured there on December 21 during the 'Battle of the Bulge,'" he reports. He was only at Oflag 64 for a couple of weeks before the camp was marched out. With blisters on both heels, he found that he couldn't walk around much.
O'Neill, Robert McLeod 422-G, POW Oflag 64 : 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/2289/thread
According to the Indiana Military Site Roster, O'Neill, who was second platoon leader in G company of the 422nd arrived at Oflag 64 on January 12, 1945 and escaped during the march to Germany sometime in January 1945.
Parker, Richard B, 1 Lt, 422-AT- 1st platoon. POW Stalag IV-B, Oflag 64 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5036/thread www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Oflag%2064%20Schubin/RichardParker/ParkerWarDiary.htm
Parker experienced the bombing of Limburg. Then..."We left Limburg on the 26th (December 1044)...We crept through Germany for five days, stopping frequently and always moving slowly. I might add at this point that it is extremely uncomfortable not to be able to lie down for nine days....
On the 30th of December we arrived at Stalag IV B, Muehlberg. We stood in the open for three hours before finally entering the delousing chamber, but it was worth it - for here we had the most wonderfully hot shower of our lives. It was so hot that we all felt faint and light-headed upon emerging from it...After the delousing we were processed and taken to a barracks. There was no American compound at IV B so we were taken in by RAF non-coms. They had hot tea and soup waiting for us, and water to shave in. Those boys were wonderful to us... It was almost amusing to find that I was in a barracks with my platoon. How that group managed to stick together I don't know, but it certainly was good to see them, even if they were ragged and haggard. I'll never see a nicer, more cooperative platoon...
We stayed in the IVB ten days, receiving one Red Cross package (English) per two men.... We left Muehlberg on January 8 for Of lag 64, a camp for American officers at Szubin, Poland. That trip was fraught with trials, We occupied half of each box car and the guards occupied the other half. There was a barbed wire fence between us. When we had a "rest stop", we either had to climb over the fence to the guard's door or have them get out and open the door on our side...
We arrived at Oflag 64 on the 10th of January. I found that Colonel Goode, who lived across the street at Ft. Leavenworth, was the senior American officer, that each man got a parcel a week, that cigarettes were plentiful and that it was colder than hell. Hesse and I moved into a cubicle with 6 other officers. One a high school classmate of my brother's, and another a good friend of Hesse's. I got a wool undershirt and two blankets, got a copy of Gibbon's "Decline and Fall" from the camp library, crawled into my sack...
When the Russian drive commenced, we all speculated on what the future held for us. That the Germans would evacuate us we didn't doubt for a minute, but as each day came and the Russians drew nearer, we saw no signs of our impending departure other than a constant stream of refugees pouring down the roads in wagons, trucks, cars, carriages and on. foot. Finally, on the morning of the 20th (January), we were told to be prepared to move at any time.
Stewart, Neil, Cpt. 422F- Notes from National War Museum state he was here: www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Oflag%2064%20Schubin/Stewert-NeilP/Stewart-NeilP.htm
Battle of the Bulge Artifact of Captain Neil P. Stewart ( dog tags, golden lion patch & MIA telegram)
Captain Stewart was the commanding officer of K company 422nd Infantry regiment 106th Division during the Battle of the Bulge. He wore these dog tags around his neck during the battle, his capture and forced march of several hundred kilometers to a POW camp in Poland. Upon his arrival at POW camp, Oflag 64, Stewart was issued the rectangular German prisoner of war Identification tag. Captain Stewart endured nearly five months of captivity before being liberated by Allied forces in late April, 1945. Gift of Dr. J. Campbell, The National World War II Museum Inc., 2005
Also some conversation on this discussion board: 106thdivision.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=other&thread=445&page=1
Kanners, Victor 1st Lt, ? POW Oflag 64, 13 B, A Moosburg, a recent arrival to Oflag 64 (after Limburg transition camp and time in a bombed box car), begins his account on the eve of the march from the camp ahead of the Russian forces. He was not anxious to leave because, among other reasons, the men in this camp received weekly distribution of Red Cross packages.