Magdeburg and Soviet Repatriation

Discussion in 'Prisoners of War' started by toki2, Sep 10, 2014.

  1. toki2

    toki2 Junior Member

    My father was with the British 8th Army Third Division as a driver RASC Tipper attached to RE units. I can trace his route in the vanguard where he was mostly engaged in road and airport building/ repair all the way from Normandy to Hamburg. It has always puzzled me why on 6th June his platoon are sent to Magdeburg which I believe was in the American sector bordering the Russian sector. I have recently found out that Magdeburg was one of the assigned places where Russian displaced persons were handed over for repatriation. My father did tell me that he witnessed Russians being shot at by their own people when trying to flee but I presumed that this was in the Baltic area.

    I am now convinced that he was assigned to transport these people. Is this a possible explanation?

    Also, could he possibly have been in Berlin at his time? My mother is adamant that he was. His unit's war diary report him in Magdeburg 6th June - next report in Blankenese Hamburg 20th June so he was away for two weeks.
     
  2. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Toki

    bit of a typo there as 8th Army did not have a 3rd Division as they were in Italy but 2nd Army did have the real 3rd Division

    we had the same tale in Austria where we rounded up many Soviet people for Stalin to shoot - he killed millions of his own

    Cheers
     
  3. Joe Brown

    Joe Brown WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Magdeburg, that is where I rejoined my Battalion of the 7th/9th (Highlanders) Battalion The Royal Scots after I was wounded in the consolidation phase after the capture of Heinsberg, just over the German Border.

    It had been a long and tedious journey to get back to them. From the Casualty Clearing Station, a General Hospital in Brussels, air-ambulance to Wiltshire and then ambulance train to a Ministry of Pensions Hospital in Malvern, Wiltshire. The War over in Western Europe, posted to a Holding battalion in Edinburgh and then appointed to organise an derelict Nissen hutted Camp into a Staging Unit for men be posted to Norway. Whilst doing that job was wrongly connected by the switchboard at Scottish Command and found myself hearing 'Officers Postings' and seized the opportunity to make a plea to be reposted back to the 7th/9th in Germany.

    My sad tale worked and was within 48 hours on my way to Ostend Transit Camp and on the first day there approached by two Warrant Officers wearing the 52nd (Lowland) Division Mountain shoulder flashes and asked me if they could have my permission to see if they could obtain a truck to get us speedily back to the 52 Division. There is nothing so powerful as the Warrant Officers 'Old Boys' Network and within a few hours they were back to report that all was ready to leave at 8.30 the next morning if that was suitable for me. It sure was and we left en route to Bremen where I had last reports of the 7th/9th as they had been heavily involved in the capture of the town.

    Alas, they were not there and had moved on to Magdeburg and arrived to a rapturous reception and immediately appointed Battalion Signals Officer. As the Lines of Demarcation had recently been defined we were ordered to hand over the area to the Russians and my first task was meeting up with my Russian equivalent to hand over our network of telephone lines.

    Later, read that it was believed that Hitler's ashes were stored in Hamburg.

    Yes, I remember Magdeburg . . . it was a one of the few very happy moments for me in the War to be back amongst my much-missed comrades of the 7th/9th Highlanders Battalion.

    Joe Brown.
     
    Guy Hudson likes this.

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