Help required! I recently obtained my uncle's Service records. He was conscripted into the RAMC in September 1940 His record shows that after initial service at the Army School of Hygiene at Crookham he was posted on 25 January 1941 to 302 P.O.W.C. during Home service. There is no ambiguity that this is the number recorded on his SR (twice) My, probably naive, investigations into the subject fail to find a camp with this serial. In fact, from my initial investigations I am totally unable to find a camp in the UK or elsewhere with this prefix. I understand that POW camps in the UK have not been solidly researched, and am wondering if anyone can point me in a direction to learn more? Did the numbering systems for POWCs change at some time in the mid-war years? Any help appreciated
Brian, I can only add to the confusion and hope someone has information on POW camps at home. My Dad (not personally on his own) escorted Italian POWs from Sicily and it would be interesting to know where they ended up. Briefly, embarked Augusto 4.3.44 and sailed on Duchess of Richmond in convoy MKF 29 with 2048 Italian POWs, disembarked King George Dock Glasgow 18.3.44. Was with 36 GT Coy (later to become 36 AT Coy) RASC. Brian
Brian, Have you checked out this page? The closest it gets to your camp is # 300. I'm not sure if those are original camp numbers or a system they came up with afterwards? Every Prisoner of War Camp in the UK Mapped and Listed - The Guardian If you follow the links on there it will lead you to a PDF report by English Heritage Prisoner of War Camps - English Heritage Regards ... Edit: Link
Whilst awaiting call up in October 1942 i was living in a small village called Houghton Regis just outside Dunstable. I used to cycle on the downs and remember that there was a POW camp for Germans there, manned, by pure coincidence, by the Terrier unit that some of the boys of my old club belonged to. Couldn't find any reference to it in the list above. Ron
Sadly the Guardian's Google Fusion Table data source is currently emulating a dodo so I'm unable to check for 302's inclusion there - though I fully suspect it won't be any more complete than other online sources. English Heritage, on the other hand, certainly discuss the renumbering problem on p4 of their report and bemoan the "large number of unresolved sites" on p10. So may I also suggest UK POW Camps in WW2 by Gordon Wilkie > Online Archaeology > Online Archaeology - Articles as additionally inviting discussion? Gordon quotes 5 further sources but, since neither does he have camp 302 anywhere in the UK, your best bet may be to review the comments (so far not mentioning "302" BTW), register and wade in with your question there. Finally, though you've discounted ambiguity on the grounds of repetition, I'm bound to wonder whether there is perhaps still some chance of error through both entries being handwritten by the same person - even though you seem to have had no trouble distinguishing between often-confusable 2s & 3s? If so you might usefully post scans/photos here to invite alternate interpretation and perhaps even allow us to spot further contextual clues you may have missed. Steve PS (re repetition): I now recall an RAF case where clerk B reinforced clerk A's typo by faithfully copying it - the suspicion being that clerk A simply mistranscribed a hastily-written map reference! The problem with numerical references, of course, if that folk can't use their vocabularies as a check against mistakes.
Hello Brian, The Guardian information appears to have been sourced from English Heritage, as it repeats a spelling mistake made by the latter regarding Camp 69. It is not Darras Hill, it is Darras Hall; albeit some the German PoW's (ex-SS but low risk types) residing there did work on the farm at Penny Hill, which is just up the road. You will find PoW Camp archives here: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/pow-displaced-persons.htm#16249 Ignore the title, it does not just deal with displaced persons... Good luck with your research! Best, Steve.
No need for deduction as, right at the very bottom of the list it does indeed say, "SOURCE: English Heritage" - not that I can really talk after originally failing to even notice the list below their source data link !
Moota P.O.W. camp (between Cockermouth and Aspatria, Cumberland) was Camp No. 103 in WW2. Can anyone see it on the map? It is listed in the table of the English Heritage report where it is described as a 'German Working Camp'. I believe the Manchester City goalkeeper Bert Trautman was at various German P.O.W. Camps in the North West (but not at Moota) worked on a farm near Milnthorpe, Westmorland before becoming a professional footballer.
View attachment Victor1.pdf Hi Steve Am attempting here to post a scan of the original. Any help appreciated Brian
hi ron ,houghton regis is was a london over spill , i was born there in 1962 , i will ask about p o w camps see what i can find out , i had many happy days on dunstable down but we walked lol , can i ask why you was there ?
Cee - very interestng links. I found the camp near my Uncle's farm in Otterburn (667 Byrness) - I remember him having Germans working there. And amazed to see 291 - Kitty Brewster farm, just up the road from where I lived as a child, we used to explore the fields there, never knew it was a camp.
In 1940 No1 Eastern Command PoW Cage was built on Dunstable Downs, just east of Dunstable. When the bag of PoW failed to materialise with an invasion the camp was allowed to run down, and all the guards transferred to the Pioneer Corps on 24/01/42. It was resurrected later in the war and closed 1945. It should not be confused with the camp at Lingfield which took the designation No1 Eastern Command PoW Camp. The site of the camp is now London Gliding Club. A very few of the old War Dept building remain. For anyone interested in the camps, or in the PoW subject see Prisoners of War in Bedfordshire (ISBN 978-1-4456-0312-4) which relates mainly to the north of the County but includes details of the only known exchange of rifle fire between the Home Guard and an armed enemy on the ground. Stephen. Stephen.
Dunstable http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/peoples_war/gliding_club_dunstable.shtml http://www.londonglidingclub.co.uk/theclub/history.xml http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/93/a8435793.shtml http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/4648-uk-camps/page-2 UK Camps http://www.islandfarm.fsnet.co.uk/
