Wittenberg POW Camp
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Want to know more about Wittenberg POW Camp? There are:10 items tagged Wittenberg POW Camp available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.
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Those known to have been held inWittenberg POW Camp during the Great War 1914-1918. - Costello John Arthur. Pte. Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
- Davies Robert. Pte. Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
- Field . Capt. Royal Army Medical Corps
- Fry . Mjr. Royal Army Medical Corps
- Goble Herbert. Pte. East Surrey Regiment
- Gordon Norman Victor. Pte. 15th Battalion
- Gormley John. Pte. Loyal North Lancs Rgt
- Higham Frank. Pte. Royal Welsh Fusiliers
- Jackson W.. Pte. Middlesex Regiment
- Lauder . Lt. Royal Army Medical Corps
- Long E.. L/Cpl. Loyal North Lancs Rgt
- McDonald Arthur. L/Cpl. Royal Irish Regiment
- Miller Thomas. Sgt. Highland Light Infantry
- Morgan Leonard. Pte. Welch Regiment
- Morgan Leonard. Pte. Welch Regiment
- Priestley . Mjr. RAMC
- Ramsay George. Pte. Queen's Own Cameron Highlands
- Rennells W. J. M.. South Lancashire Rgt.
- Shipwright P.. L/Cpl. Loyal North Lancastershire Regt
- Shirley Edmund. Pte. East Kent Regiment
- Stinson Samuel Robert. L/Sgt. Irish Guards
- Sutcliffe A. A.. Capt. Royal Army Medical Corps
- Trew Albert William. Pte. Royal Dublin Fusiliers
- Vidal . Capt. Royal Army Medical Corps
- Ward J.. Pte. Loyal North Lancastershire Regt
All names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please.
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Records from Wittenberg POW Camp other sources.
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259625 Pte. John Arthur Costello 1st Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment (d.4th December 1915) John Costello died in Wittenberg P.O.W. camp on 4th/5th December 1915 from TB confirmed by Red Cross records. He was my great uncle.
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257939 Pte. Norman Victor Gordon 15th Battalion (d.17th November 1917) Norman Gordon enlisted 29th of November 1915 aged 21 years 2 months. He went overseas with the 20th Reinforcements and joined 15th Battalion. He was captured at Bullecourt on 11th of April 1917 and was sent to Wittenberg. He was working at the Golpa coal mine and was returning to camp on 17th of November 1917 with a group of other prisoners. They were walking beside the train track and as a train approached Norman stumbled, he fell onto the track and was killed instantly.
He is buried at Berlin South Great Western Cemetery Stahnsdorf.
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256784 Pte. Leonard Morgan 2nd Battalion Welch Regiment Leonard Morgan was my grandfather on my mother's side. He was taken prisoner at Nieuport according to the Red Cross POW record. He was allocated Prisoner numbers first for Wittenberg, then another on transfer to Merseburg on 22nd of September 1915.
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255353 L/Sgt. Samuel Robert Stinson 1st Btn. Irish Guards Samuel Stinson was born on the 3rd of April 1887 in Skreen, Sligo, Ireland.
His father, also Samuel, was in the Royal Irish Constabulary which Samuel Robert joined on the 2nd of October 1905.
On 15th of March 1909 he enlisted in the Irish Guards and was at Chelsea Barracks, London.
He married on 29th of July 1914 and embarked for the Western Front on 13th of August 1914.
The family received a card dated 13th of April 1915 stating that Samuel was a prisoner of war in Wittenberg, Germany. Further correspondence was received from Wittenberg dated 5th of June 1915 and then from Scheveningen, Holland dated 28th of April 1918.
After the war Samuel re-enlisted in the Royal Irish Constabulary and on partition of Ireland in the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
When WW2 broke out he re-enlisted in the British Army and later worked at the War Office.
Samuel Robert Stinson died on 16th of March 1949 and is buried in the Brigade of Guards section of Brompton Cemetery, London.
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254685 Pte. Leonard Morgan 2nd Btn. Welch Regiment From the release of the POW records I found that my grandfather, Leonard Morgan was taken prisoner at Nieuport and was originally at Merseburg camp. He was then at Wittenburg from Dec. 1916.
He had attested on 4th of August 1904, he was most likely Militia (T.A.) originally.
I couldn't believe my eyes when I first viewed his details which I only looked at with a very cursory glance. Knowing the place he lived was something I happily remembered.
Alas, I never knew him as he probably died in 1955 which is when I was born but the house was still the same and my Grandmother didn't pass away until she was 99. We actually lived in the North Riding of Yorkshire so only visited Wales about 3 times as a youngster (my mother was their daughter).
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252316 Pte. Herbert Goble 1st Btn. East Surrey Regiment Herbert Goble enlisted on the 25th of November 1915 at Littlehampton and was originally with the Royal Sussex Regiment. He went to France in September or October 1916 (records are damaged and hard to read) but was transferred to the 1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment on 7th of November 1916.
He is listed on a Prisoner of War Repatriation record, showing his Last Place of Internment as Wittenberg, arriving there 26 December 1918.
He was captured at Oppy, France on 8th of May 1917.
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251303 Pte. Frank Higham 10th Btn. Royal Welsh Fusiliers (d.25th Dec 1918)  Frank Higham lived and worked in Hyde Cheshire. When he joined the Army in 1916 he was 32 and married. He was initially in the Cheshire Regt but was transferred to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
He was captured at the Battle of Delville Wood and spent the remainder of the war as a POW at Wittenburg Camp in Germany. Frank communicated to his family that he was working in a sugar mill. He said he was being treated well - but that was likely as not to upset his wife and family as Wittenberg had a reputation as the worst camp and Typhus had been rife.
When the war ended and the German infrastructure failed, Denamrk offered to help repatriate prisoners to the UK. Denmark set up 9 staging posts (8 in Denmark; 1 in Sweden) to which soldiers were moved. The plan was, they would stay there about a week to get decent food/health checks/spruced up before being returned home.
Frank was at Ljungbyhed Military Camp in Sweden and was due to sail home on Christmas Day 1918 on the HMS Wessex. Unfortunately he had arrived in Sweden in a poor condition and despite the best efforts of the Ljunbyhed Hospital, he died from Spanish Flu on Christmas Day 1918. He was buried 2 days later at Riseberga Church, Skane, Sweden.
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249041 Pte. Albert William Trew 2nd Btn. Royal Dublin Fusiliers (d.21st April 1918) Albert Trew was my great uncle, third of 3 brothers and 2 sisters. All brothers died either during the WW1 or after as a result of WW1. I know he was involved in the battle of Cambrai in March 1918, wounded & taken prisoner. He was taken to a hospital in Wittenberg, Germany where he died of his wounds on 21st April 1918. I believe he is buried in a Cemetery in Germany, somewhere near Berlin.
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247378 Pte. Edmund Shirley A Coy. 1st.Btn. East Kent Regiment Ted Shirley signed up in 1914, falsifying his age: he was born in 1898 but registered it as 1896. He spent 1914 and 1915 in Kent, then was sent to France in 1916. He said he first was sent to Armentieres where they had to build up walls as the ground was too wet to dig trenches down into the soil.
He fought on the Somme from 1916 and received a bullet wound in his left arm in September, recovering at a convalescent centre in France I believe, from your records. He talked about seeing early tanks employed on the battlefield for the first time. On one occasion, when he was stuck in no-man's land he watched as a German sniper shot anyone raising their head to see where they were going as they crawled through barbed wire back across British lines: only those who kept their heads down survived, so that was what he did.
In March 1917 he was wounded with a revolver bullet in the right lung and awoke in a German Military Hospital in Lille. He was moved around to a number of camps in 1917, including camps near Limburg an der Lahn, Wittenburg and Dulmen (near Merseburg?). I found this information in Red cross records. He said that prisoners supplemented their diet with nettle soup.
When he was fit he was moved to a Lager further east into Germany and put to work on the railway running between Berlin and Leipzig. He did not remain in the Lager, instead he was imprisoned in an small rural railway station. There were about half a dozen British soldiers and the same numbers of French and Russian prisoners imprisoned there. The Russians were treated very badly. At one time, some of them would get out at night to steal potatoes from a local farm to supplement their poor diet. That was until the farmer started shooting at them one night. It was here that he heard the war was over and refused to work anymore. He was finally repatriated to England in 1919.
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230693 Pte. Robert Davies 1st Btn. Loyal North Lancashire Regiment I don't know a lot about my great grandad Robert Davies's experience of war - he never spoke about it. He joined the army originally in 1896 and attested for the militia on 14th April 1896. He enlisted at Warrington Barracks and was assigned Service No. 4662 and posted to the South Lancashire Regiment. Then he signed up for the regular army and was posted to the 2nd Btn. Loyal North Lancashire Regiment with Service No. 5643.
He spent the first two years on home duty in England, then in 1899 at the British Garrison in Malta. He attended an instruction course and was assigned to the 17th mounted infantry section. He was stationed around Malta, Gibraltar and Crete. In 1904 he went to South Africa. He was now married with children and living at 19 Hughes Street, Liverpool and working as a dock labourer.
He re-enlisted in 1914 at Seaforth Barracks and was given Service No. 3689 and posted to the 3rd Btn. Loyal North Lancashire Regiment (his old regiment). He was reposted to the 1st Btn. and embarked for Le Havre and went to Flanders. He then went to Ypres and Givenchy. He was reported missing in December 1914. But it was not until 1915 that his family learned that he was a prisoner of war at Wittenberg. He was transferred to Zerbst in July 1917, but I don't think it was much before 1920 that he saw home again.
He suffered from very bad shell shock and had really bad shakes. He came back very thin and the family said he wasn't the same man. He never spoke about his experiences. He never claimed his medals. I think it must have been very traumatic for him.
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226821 Capt. Vidal Royal Army Medical Corps Captain Vidal, RAMC, was sent to Wittenberg POW Camp to help during the typhus epidemic in 1915.
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226819 L/Cpl. P. Shipwright 1st Btn. Loyal North Lancastershire Regt (d.2nd April 1915) Cpl. Wright volunteered to help during a typhus epidemic at Wittenberg POW camp where he was a prisoner. Sadly, he died on 2nd April 1915, after contracting the disease. He is buried in Berlin South Western Cemetery, grave XIII.D.5.
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226816 Pte. J. Ward 1st Btn. Loyal North Lancastershire Regt (d.18th April 1915) Private Ward volunteered to help during the typhus epidemic at Wittenberg POW Camp. Sadly, he contracted the disease and died on 18th April 1915. He is buried in Berlin South Western Cemetery, grave XIII.D.3.
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226808 Capt. A. A. Sutcliffe Royal Army Medical Corps (d.12th March 1915) Captain Sutcliffe was sent to Wittenberg POW Camp to give medical help during a typhus epidemic. Sadly, he died on 12th March 1915 at the age of 33 after contracting the disease. He is buried in Berlin South Western Cemetery, grave XIX.C.4.
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226801 W. J. M. Rennells 2nd Btn. South Lancashire Rgt. (d.28th March 1915) Private Rennells was a prisoner at Wittenberg POW Camp. He died on 28th March 1915 during the typhus epidemic in the camp. He is buried in Berlin South Western Cemetery, grave XII.C.12
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226799 Pte. George Ramsay 1st Btn. Queen's Own Cameron Highlands (d.11th March 1915) Pte George Ramsay, aged 32, died of typhus pn 11th March 1915 during the outbreak at Wittenberg POW Camp. He is buried in Berlin South Western Cemetery, grave XIX.C.12.
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226797 Mjr. Priestley RAMC Major Priestley was one of six doctors who were sent by the Germans to deal with the typhus outbreak at Wittenberg POW Camp between January and late July 1915.
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226786 Sgt. Thomas Miller Highland Light Infantry Sergeant Miller volunteered to help medical staff at Wittenberg POW Camp, where he was a prisoner, during the typhus epidemic outbreak (from January to late July 1915). Sgt. Miller did not succumb to the disease.
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226781 L/Cpl. Arthur McDonald 2nd Btn. Royal Irish Regiment A prisoner in Wittenberg POW Camp, L/Cpl McDonald volunteered to help the medical staff during an outbreak of typhus, which raged in Wittenberg Camp from January 1915 until late July 1915. Sadly, he contracted the disease and died on 1st June 1915. He is buried in Berlin South Western Cemetery, grave XIV.B.10.
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226774 L/Cpl. E. Long 1st Btn. Loyal North Lancs Rgt (d.31st March 1915) L/Cpl Long was a prisoner in Wittenberg POW Camp. He volunteered to help the medical staff during a typhus epidemic which ran from January to July 1915. Sadly, L/Cpl Long contracted the disease and died on 31st March 1915. He is buried in Berlin South Western Cemetery, grave XIII.D.1.
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226773 Pte. John Gormley 1st Btn. Loyal North Lancs Rgt (d.10th March 1915) Private Gormley was a prisoner in Wittenberg POW Camp. He died on 10th March 1915 during the typhus epidemic which raged in the camp between January and July 1915. He is commemorated on the Wittenberg Memorial and also on the Le Touret Memorial, Pas de Calais, Panels 27 and 28.
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226770 Lt. Lauder Royal Army Medical Corps Lt Lauder was one of six RAMC doctors who were sent by the Germans to help with an outbreak of typhus at Wittenberg POW Camp (January to July 1915).
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226761 Pte. W. Jackson 1st Btn. Middlesex Regiment (d.9th March 1915) Private Jackson was a prisoner at Wittenberg POW camp. He volunteered to help those who had contracted typhus during an outbreak of the disease. Sadly, he succumbed to this illness and died on 9th March 1915. He is buried in Berlin South Western Cemetery, grave XIX.D.2.
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226750 Mjr. Fry Royal Army Medical Corps (d.17th March 1915) Major Fry was one of six RAMC doctors dispatched by the Germans to deal with the typhus outbreak at Wittenberg POW Camp. Sadly, he became infected with typhus and died. He is buried in Berlin South-Western Cemetery, grave XIX.C.5.
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226749 Capt. Field Royal Army Medical Corps (d.10th April 1915) Captain Field was one of six doctors who were sent by the Germans to Wittenberg POW Camp to deal with an outbreak of typhus. Sadly, he caught typhus and died in April 1915. He is buried in Berlin South-Western Cemetery, grave XIX.C.3.
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