I have been reading through letters sent by my grandfather to his father and mother on 23 November 1918. In one of them he recounts how he and his fellow POWs had left the POW camp at Sclayn in Belgium, having woken to find the camp's gates lying wide open and none of the guards anywhere to be seen. He says that the now former prisoners headed west to link up with their allies, and the first units they ran into were Canadians. I would dearly love to know if it would be possible to find out which regiment/brigade/whatever of the Canadian Army would have been in that area around the time of the Armistice? If anyone is able to shed any light on this I would be extremely grateful. Grandad said in his letter home that the Canadians had treated him and his fellow POWs "like royalty", and I would so like to find out what regiment may have been involved so that I can say thank you to them (or their modern-day equivalent regiment at least). Thank you all in advance, RRTB
Here's a start. "On 23 November, General Currie received instructions stating that Canadian Corps HQ, 1st Canadian Division, 2nd Canadian Division and Canadian Corps Troops would move to the Rhine. The 3rd and 4th Canadian Divisions would remain in Belgium and were transferred to IV Corps of Fourth Army on 24 November." Do you know the date and/or location where your grandfather met the first Canadian troops?
Hi, I'm sure you'd get great assistance from the Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group Forum (CEFSG) via the below link - Good Luck Steve Y http://cefresearch.ca/phpBB3
Thank you both very much indeed for your great assistance. Canuck: I can't really tell dates unfortunately; I can only go by the stories which Grandad told me and also that which I have gleaned by reading his letters. Grandad was captured on 21 March 1918 near Ronssoi during the Kaiserschlacht. As a machine gunner, he was fortunate to have a German officer step up to him and order him "Hands up, Tommy", for which my grandfather actually thanked the officer since he could just have been shot out of hand. He and the other captives went thence to Valenciennes where they were set to building wooden carts before being finally marched to Sclayn in Belgium where they were held in captivity until the end of the war. No one informed the prisoners that the war had ended; it was waking up to find the camp gates open and the guards gone which made them realise something had happened. Date-wise I can only assume therefore that this must have been in or around 11 November 1918. So somewhere between that date and the 23rd November he will have met up with the Canadians, as one of his later letters addressed to his father is dated 30th November and is obviously sent from Ireland since his father was away on business in England when Grandad finally arrived back home to Kingstown (old name for Dun Laoghaire), so he has to have been in transit between the 23rd and the 30th. Location-wise, we know from his stories and his letter that the prisoners left the camp and headed west to rejoin the allies. Sclayn is built on the banks of the River Meuse, and one can only assume that the soldiers followed the roads in the general direction of west. This is a picture of Sclayn in 1918. On the far side of the river you can see warehouses and behind them a chapel or convent. The nuns in this convent were very good to the prisoners and helped in whatever small way they could. Grandad described the place where he was held prisoner as being either a warehouse or a school-like building. To have found this picture on the internet was extremely emotional for me, even more so because I was able to show my mother where her father had been held captive. Steve: thanks for that link. I shall try it out and see how I get on. RRTB
1914-1918: baptism of fire and innovation - ICRC you might be able to find further info on above link Red Cross POW records regards Bob R.
RRTB, I make some researches on all historical relations between the current territory of the Province of Namur and British (British Empire) forces. I also run a related FB page, which is very specific on Namur and British Military History. Our area of interest includes all Canadian units and British POW. If you still don't have the information, I'll try to search in Canadian WD. By the way, I'm also interested in mentioning this POW camp in our FB page and other researches.
