Hi, i am looking for some help tracing the war record of my late Uncle Les, I know he was captured at Dunkirk and spent the war as a POW at Stalag 8B. Full name- Leslie Douglas Chard Army number -945842 DOB- 11th Dec 1918 Camp- Stalag 8B POW number- 11471 Rank- Gunner artillery Released by allied forces 18th May 1945 Would be grateful for any info of his movements after capture and what they did in the camp ect Chardy
Hello and welcome to the forum. I can only help with the stuff prior to capture if you know the regiment- I have all the RA Regt's war diaries for 1940 France. Cheers and good luck Andy
Hi, i am looking for some help tracing the war record of my late Uncle Les, I know he was captured at Dunkirk and spent the war as a POW at Stalag 8B. Full name- Leslie Douglas Chard Army number -945842 DOB- 11th Dec 1918 Camp- Stalag 8B POW number- 11471 Rank- Gunner artillery Released by allied forces 18th May 1945 Would be grateful for any info of his movements after capture and what they did in the camp ect Chardy Hi Chardy, more info will come via his liberation Report (if he completed one), International Red Cross reports, his service records, and googling the POW Camp. He was likely in a work camp attached to the main POW camp. He could have been doing anything from working on a farm to filling bomb craters. If he listed the work camps on his Liberation report you can then track them down. My signature has a link for info on how to get the liberation reports, IRC report, service records, medals info etc. Remember Stalag 8B (Stalag VIII-B ) was the LAST camp he was in. Wayne
I have found out 367/140 field battery if this helps and captured Cassell ? 30/5/1940, Found some paperwork saying Camp Com 71 transit camp 18/1 1946 with his details on it, but cant find reg number! Finding it hard to get any more info but would be interested in the events at cassell leading up to the 30/5/1940 and where the prisoners went from there and how? Any info would be great Thanks Chardy
I have the regt's history and a book covering the regt's fighting at Cassel. If someone moves this to the 1940 section I will come back to it next month. Unfortunately I only have time to have a quick look on here at the moment. Cheers Andy
Don't have anything on the battery specifically but my Grandfather was with the 4th OBLI at Cassel, captured May 30, 1940. Here is the transcribed War Diary for his unit during that time to give you some idea. Drew5233 (Andy) has the diary for the reg't, he'll certainly get it posted when he has a moment but in the meantime I hope this gives you a bit of an idea what they were up against. Wayne
Thanks Wayne, Andy says to move this to 1940 section and he will come back next month, but as a newbe to the forum i dont understand what he means or how to do it, can you help? Thanks again for both of your replys Chardy
Don't worry , it's a job only us admin types can do. I'll move it to 1940 & when he has time Drew will add shedloads of war diary pages, regt history, etc etc
I can confirm there is a 367 Battery War Diary (That I haven't copied yet) but it only covers March and April - That said it may still contain some useful/interesting info. Regarding the Regt's diary this only goes up to the 29th May. The author, Maj. Christopherson was knocked unconscious by mortar fire on the 29th whilst engaging other mortars over open sites. You may want to order a copy of Grand Party by Graham Brookes if you can find one, I believe it's quite rare. It's a regimental account of the fighting in 1940 written by the CO.
I can confirm there is a 367 Battery War Diary (That I haven't copied yet) but it only covers March and April - That said it may still contain some useful/interesting info. Regarding the Regt's diary this only goes up to the 29th May. The author, Maj. Christopherson was knocked unconscious by mortar fire on the 29th whilst engaging other mortars over open sites. You may want to order a copy of Grand Party by Graham Brookes if you can find one, I believe it's quite rare. It's a regimental account of the fighting in 1940 written by the CO. One copy available on Abebooks for £99 ! brook - grand party - AbeBooks Makes me glad I ordered a second copy by mistake a few years ago - I know I never paid anywhere near that for either of them
Thanks Drew, i have just tracked down a copy which i have picked up today from my Library, the first date stamp in the book is 18 th dec 1943!!! so a real Fragile read!! Any joy with the 367 war diarys ? Thanks for your help Chardy
