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Stalag 12A Prisoner of War Camp
Stalag 12A was one of Germany's largest prisoner of war camps and was located in Limburg, Germany.
22nd Jul 1941 Parcels
7th June 1944 Shot down over Brittany
If you can provide any additional information, especially on actions and locations at specific dates, please add it here.
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Want to know more about Stalag 12A Prisoner of War Camp? There are:94 items tagged Stalag 12A Prisoner of War Camp available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Sargent Richard E Young 327 GIR Company G 101st Airborne My dad, Sgt. Richard E. Young of the 101st Airborne 327 GIR. Company G was captured at Marvie near Bastogne either the 23rd or 24th of December. I know he was taken to Limburg Germany but that is about all I can come up with. He was with Lieutenant Morrison at Hill 500 when he was captured late in the afternoon or evening. I am looking for the group of Germans who captured them. I think I can find out through the literature I have gathered. There are very few of his company left.
Has anyone heard of Hill 500? I would like to go to Germany someday and trace his footsteps as much as I can.
As far as information about Stalag 12a, I found information on my dad from the National Archives in Washington DC. The National Archives has since moved to Baltimore I believe.
My dad was also at Carantan with the 101st where they were in a heck of a fight. The Sargent was hit by a mortar and Dad took over.
I would like to know how and when my dad and the prisoners at Limburg in Stalag 12a were liberated.
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Sargent Richard E Young 327 GIR Company G 101st Airborne My dad, Sgt. Richard E. Young of the 101st Airborne 327 GIR. Company G was captured at Marvie near Bastogne either the 23rd or 24th of December. I know he was taken to Limburg Germany but that is about all I can come up with. He was with Lieutenant Morrison at Hill 500 when he was captured late in the afternoon or evening. I am looking for the group of Germans who captured them. I think I can find out through the literature I have gathered. There are very few of his company left.
Has anyone heard of Hill 500? I would like to go to Germany someday and trace his footsteps as much as I can.
As far as information about Stalag 12a, I found information on my dad from the National Archives in Washington DC. The National Archives has since moved to Baltimore I believe.
My dad was also at Carantan with the 101st where they were in a heck of a fight. The Sargent was hit by a mortar and Dad took over.
I would like to know how and when my dad and the prisoners at Limburg in Stalag 12a were liberated.
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Albert Edward Morgan Albert Edward Morgan was a POW in Stalag 12a; this is all the information we have. He did survive the war, but was divorced by my Grandmother due to his behaviour – this, we think, was due to what he went through in Stalag 12a and the war.
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W/O L. W. C. Lewis 514 Sqd. W/O Lewis survived the loss of Lancaster DS822 JI-T when it came down at La Celle Le Bordes France on the 8th of June 1944 whilst on a bombing raid to Massy Palaiseau. He evaded capture until the 16th of August and was then taken to Stalag 12a and later to Stalag Luft 1.
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Capt. George Francis Madden 716th Bomb Squadron 449th Bombardment Group   George Madden, enlisted in the US Army in 1942 and completed aviation mechanics training and bombardier-navigator school by early 1943.
Pte. Madden was honorably discharged in August of 1943 to accept a commission as a 2nd Lt.
After training, Lt. Madden was sent to Bruning Army Air Field, Nebraska to join the 15th Air Force, 449th Bombardment Group, 716th Bomb Squadron as a Bombardier/Navigator, 2nd Lt.
He was promoted to 1st Lt. in April of 1944. In late 1943, the 449th deployed to Italy as part of a large-scale buildup of the heavy bomber force to join the 47th Bomb Wing at Foggia, Italy. On the
9th of June 1944 the mission to Munich was redirected to oil installations at Porto Marghera, Italy.
Aircraft 42-52550, Fickle Finger, was hit by flak and crash landed on the beach near Adria, Italy. Lt. Madden, serving as the nose gunner, and several other crew members bailed out while 4 crew members stayed with the crippled aircraft.
Lt. Madden was turned over to the Germans and sent to Stalag Luft III.
In January 1945, he was moved to Stalag XII then on to Stalag VIIA. On 29th of April 1945 he was liberated and returned to the United States in May of 1945.
In November 1945, 1st Lt Madden was promoted to Captain. He was reassigned to the 8th Air Force, 97th Bomb Wing, 37th Bomb Group, 341st Bomb Squadron, where he continued his service as a navigator and also as a personal officer.
On a training mission to Bassingbourn, England, his B-50 aircraft was involved in an accident on take off killing Capt. Madden and 4 other crew members on 3rd of February 1951.
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Bmbdr. Ernest Leslie Fletcher 2nd Airlanding Anti Tank Regiment Royal Artillery Ernie Fletcher was awarded the Africa Star, Italy Star, France and Germany Star as well as a few other medals. He never told me (his son) much of his war efforts other than he was a part of the 1st Oban Regiment. But he did say he flew in a glider across to Arnhem. Lots of gliders crashed in the soft mud causing many casualties. He was told to stay behind at the landing point with others to assist his comrades from their gliders where possible. It was there that he was captured by the Germans and sent to prisoner of war camp Stalag 12a. He did say whilst there, when they saw a rat, they all tried to kill it to eat as rationing was hard.
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L/Cpl. Albert W. Atkinson 1st Btn. Border Regiment My grandfather, Albert Atkinson, was captured by a blown up bridge on the Rhine by Germans and interred at the Stalag XIIA Limburg an der Lahn. Prior to this he was involved in the Battle of the Bridge at Arnham, whereby he helped capture 3 bridges.
I have very little information on my grandfather's time during the war but he did write down his experiences in a matter of fact way. He refused to talk about it with anyone and even my father, Albert's son, did not know much about Albert's experiences. All I know is that he was captured at the Stalag XIIA Limburg an der Lahn, POW 91879, but he then 'left the camp with 2 other people' whilst being moved, that's all I know.
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Cftsmn. Rowland Kenneth Smith 156th Coy. Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Rowland Smith served with 156th Coy. REME attached to 4th Para. He was captured at Oosterbek, sent to Stalag 12A and remained there until liberated.
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S/Sgt. Bernard Edward "Benny" Branback I have a post card from my dad, Bernard Branback to my mother from Stalag XIIA, he tells my mother that he is glad to be able to drop a few lines and that he is a prisoner in Germany, slightly wounded. Do not worry about him as he is well and safe.
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PFC. Michael Louis Codian 28th Infantry Division Michael Codian was captured in the Huertgen Forest and spent the rest of the war in Stalags 12A and 9B Limburg An Der Lahn, Hessen-Nassau, Prussia.
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Recomended Reading.Available at discounted prices.
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The Last Escape. The Untold Story of Allied Prisoners of War in Germany 1944-45John Nichol & Tony Rennell
As WW2 drew to a close, hundreds of thousands of British and American prisoners of war, held in camps in Nazi-occupied Europe, faced the prospect that they would never get home alive. In the depths of winter, their guards harried them on marches outof their camps and away from the armies advancing into the heart of Hitler's defeated Germany. Hundreds died from exhaustion, disease and starvation. The Last Escape is told through the testimony of those heroic men, now in their seventies and eighties and telling their stories publicly for the first time.
A very good account of a forgotten part of the Second World War; Allied POW's caught in the final months of the Third Reich. The author's of this book have provide the reader with a detailed and moving account of what happened to the many thousands of Allied POW's caught in the final struggle for Nazi Germany towards the end of WW2.
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