In an attempt to broaden my knowledge of POW camps where my great grandad was held I thought it might be useful to look into some of the source documents that many of the books about POWs draw on. Before employing the services of someone to go to TNA to look them out (Hi Drew! ) I thought I might ask if anyone on the forum may already have copies which they would be willing to share or know of websites etc where they might have been transcribed? I'd be interested in the following files in particular... Stalag IXC camp history - WO 208/3278 Stalag IXC Red Cross report - WO 224/31 Stalag Luft III Belaria camp history - WO 208/3284 Stalag Luft III RAF Personnel camp history - WO 208/3283 Stalag Luft III Red Cross report - WO 224/63A Stalag VIIIA Gorlitz - Red Cross report - WO 224/26 Oflag VIB Warburg camp history - WO 208/3290 Oflag VIB Warburg Red Cross report - WO 224/73 Oflag XXIB Schubin camp history - WO 208/3296 Oflag XXI Schubin Red Cross report - WO 224/82
I have Stalag Luft III Belaria camp history - WO 208/3284. PM me your email address and I'll send it to you. It's only 12 pages . Regards, Dave
Thanks Dave. Very much appreciated. I figured that some of these files might be quite short compared to War Diaries etc - should make them cheaper to copy if I need to get someone to visit Kew.
The camp histories in WO 208 were compiled from an MI9 perspective after the war so look at the escape organisation in a camp, morale and treatment of prisoners by the Germans. Some are quite short like this one for Thorn Stalag XX A Thorn - www.arcre.com Others can extend to hundreds of pages where there was a lot of attempted escape activity like at Sagan. The Red Cross reports were compiled intermittently through the war and report on camps conditions and treatment of POWs. Lee
Sorry, Stefan, but from incredibledisc's list I only have the one I posted about. I can highly recommend both Lee and Andy (Drew5233) to copy what you want at a most reasonable cost. Dave
Thanks Lee. I’ve read bits and pieces of some of the Red Cross reports with the awareness that the camp authorities were probably keen to highlight the Good and cover up the bad as much as possible - a bit like those POW magazines they used to put out which published lots of photos of smiling kreigies playing sports or turned out in smart new uniforms.
I would be very interested in obtaining copies of the below histories: Stalag XXB Marienburg Stalag XXIB Schubin Stalag IIE Schwerin Stalag XX!A Schildburg Would Drew or Lee be the best bet to get copies of these?
