Stalag 357 RAF March North: April 1945

Discussion in 'Prisoners of War' started by mgunnill, Nov 25, 2019.

  1. mgunnill

    mgunnill Junior Member

    Grateful for any help on this please!

    I have Fl Sgt H.F. Court 1267019, from 51 Squadron shot down near Arnhem May 28th 1943 from HR750 out of RAF Snaith. Ended up in Stalag 357.

    From here, the rest is bits of detail from various family members. He was marched north, from the camp in a column of 2000 men, I think from April 6th 1945. Those left behind were liberated April 16th. Court may have been in a group of men marching towards Gresse. I know about the friendly fire incident, but I am not sure Court was there. A sister of Courts remembers him saying, along with another PoW, the two men fell down a bank and hid, till the others had marched on. They were wandering around for one/two weeks and started to walk backwards from where they had marched, and finally came across the American front line. It may have been the American 6th Army.

    I have applied for Court's full service record and the PoW Questionnaire he completed on arrival in the UK. While I am waiting for these, I wondered if this story made sense to anyone else? After nearly six months research this appears to be the last part of my story.

    Grateful for any comments and possible suggestions/corrections. Thank you

    Mike
     
  2. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Hi Mike

    The sites search engine is excellent and I think you will find if you haven’t already that there are a good number of threads on the March you mention. There could be details locked away in them that might help you.

    TD
     
  3. mgunnill

    mgunnill Junior Member

    Thank you, I will re-read them. Grateful TD
     
  4. ozzy16

    ozzy16 Well-Known Member

    HI,
    A quick look on FMP shows him at Stalag 357, Kopernikus, Germany,. Jan 1944-Mar 1945.
    POW no 102,

    Graham.
     
  5. mgunnill

    mgunnill Junior Member

    Thx Graham, yes sorry I should included that.

    Mike
     
  6. ozzy16

    ozzy16 Well-Known Member

    No worries Mike.
    It's worth noting not all pow's filled in questionnaries, many didn't.
    Prior to camp 357 he was at camp L6. Others on here more expert than I, may have more information on L6 and it's whereabouts.

    cheers..........Graham.
     
  7. mgunnill

    mgunnill Junior Member

    Thx again, Graham. Just heard from The National Archives under a FOI Request, they have removed a restriction on his file. Finger crossed again.
     

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