Hello. I am a new member, my interest is my father in law, Christopher Wilson PoW number 3366, 2nd Searchlight Regiment, 5 Battery, Royal Artillery. Captured Bolougne, 23rd May 1940. Stalags, XX1B, XX1C, XX1C/H, and BAB21 from 15th Sept 1942, until Jan 21st 1945. I have his diary of places and dates passed through on the long march, also Photo's of PoWs in camps. Any information to help my research welcome, if i can help anyone else please get in touch. Regards. Keith Newman
Welcome to the forum Keith, There are a couple of sources for POW records. The International Red Cross can provide information from their archives. At the National Archives there might be a POW liberation questionnaire filled in by your father-in-law. However, as you have his personal diary, these records may not tell you anything that you do not already know. Best wishes, Lee
Hello and welcome to the forum. I have 5 Bty and 2 SL Regts war diaries for 1940. Unfortunately there is no diary for 5 Bty in May (as is the case with many BEF diaries). Here's a couple of pages that you may find of interest from the diary. Hopefully they'll give you a bit of an idea of his routine before capture. Also there is a lot of info posted by me and DBF on Boulogne in the 'Guards' and '1940' sections of the forum.
You may also want to consider getting a copy of this excellent book: Jon Cooksey - Boulogne - AbeBooks
Hi Keith, My grandfather Gnr. Thomas Joseph Risley - 23 Field Regiment RHA - was also a POW in BAB21 until he too was forced on the the long march. Any info on the march or photos you could send over of the camp and its pows would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks Mark
Hello Keith and Mark, You might be interested in the information regarding BAB21 here. I was involved in the project as I did the translation from the Italian into English: Blechhammer If you click on BAB21 on the right hand side you will find some information on the Long March. Vitellino
many thanks for sharing this David. It made for very interesting reading. My own great grandad was captured near Abbeville too.