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World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945
Stalag 1B Prisoner of War Camp
22nd Jul 1941 ParcelsIf you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
Those known to have been held in or employed at
Stalag 1B Prisoner of War Camp
during the Second World War 1939-1945.
- Acquier Marius.
- Bobrowski Boleslaw Alyois. Kapral
- Boccaleoni Primo.
- Couillaud Clement.
- Huckvale Frederick Horace Henry. Gnr.
- Inaudi Jean. (d.18th April 1944)
- LeBlicq Henri Michel Leon. (d.19th Jan 1945)
- McKenna John Alphonsus Stuart. Pte
- McKenna John Alphonsus Stuart. Pte.
- Palimaka Jerzy.
- Tave Robert.
- Boccaleoni Primo.
The 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 Add a Name to this List
Records from Stalag 1B Prisoner of War Camp other sources.
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Want to know more about Stalag 1B Prisoner of War Camp?
There are:2 items tagged Stalag 1B 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.
Marius Acquier 52 RA
Acquier Marius was a French prisonnier captured at Audonon on 27/6/1940. He was held in Stalag IB, POW number 51889. He was released on 19/5/1945.
Primo Boccaleoni Battalion Val Chiese 6th Regiment Alpini
My great-grandfather, Primo Boccaleoni, was a simple soldier during WW2. He was sent to Russia with the Italian mountain troops (called Alpini), from July 1942 to February 1943. His battalion Val Chiese received, after the war, the Gold medal of military valor the highest military decoration in Italy.When he returned from Russia he spent some time in a military hospital then he was captured by the Nazis in Vipiteno (Bolzano, Italy) 9 September 1943 (the day after the Armistice of Cassibile). He remained in Hoheinstein Stalag IB from 17 September 1943 to 10 September 1944, then he was sent to another stalag, whose name I don't know. He was released on May 1945 and he returned back to Italy.
When I was a child he told me about Russia... but not a word about the lager. Only after his death in 2009 I discovered documents concerning his internment. I would like to talk with children or grandchildren of other ex-internees about Hohenstein.
Martina Pattuzzi
Kapral Boleslaw Alyois "Bolek" Bobrowski Ploch 8th Infantry Regiment
When I was little, I clamored over my dad, Bolek Bobrowski while he was on the couch, reading the paper. I noticed a little scar on the back of his neck, just off to the side of his spine. It wasn't very large, maybe 1/4 inch by 3/4 inch. It was the first time I had ever noticed it. I asked him where he got it from. His reply has stuck with me always. "The Nazis. While I escape."I never asked any again. Many years after his death, I began to put together the pieces of his time in both the Polish Army and the Polish 2nd Corps. It was there I found that he had been captured at the end of September, 1939 by the Germans, sent to Stalag 1A, and then sent onto Stalag 1B, and .... escaped. He was later discovered by the Soviets and imprisoned in a Siberian Gulag in Komi. I understand it was a good thing he escaped from 1B, as many didn't survive there too long.
Phillip A Bobrowski
Jean Inaudi (d.18th April 1944)
John Inaudi, my husband's grandfather, was sent to Stalag IB in 1940 and then seconded to one of the many Arbeitskommandos working near Preuss Holland (next to a town called Karuviden?), where they extracted peat for plants producing electricity in the region. Then he was assigned to Mulhausen to a butchers 10 miles away. He was in this village with Bruand Edouard, Andrew Bresseau, Jean Bovencourt and Andre Jacquinot. He was repatriated to France in 1942 following the death of his wife.In 1943 he was arrested and deported to Sachsenhausen Oranienburg, where he died during Allied bombing on 18th April 1944.
Manguin Ullern
Robert Tave 92nd Infantry Rgt.
I am looking for information about Robert Tave, interned in Stalag IB on 24th June 1940, before being transferred to Stalag IIID after an unsuccessful escape attempt. After several months in the Stalag, Robert met a young Russian woman named Yelena, who was in the camp with her mother. Robert and Yelena fell in love and their love endured in this difficult time, despite the circumstances in which they met. Everything changed when Robert learned that Yelena was pregnant. He did not wish for his child to be born in a prison camp.They made the decision to escape and to go to Russia which at that time was nearer. After several days on the run, along with their friend Arthur, they were recaptured. They were then separated forever. Yelena, at the request of the labour camp director was sent to Poland, while Mr Tave said he was deported to Berlin.
For months Robert sent parcels to Yelena via the Red Cross, and then one day the parcels stopped. At that time, Germany was being pounded relentlessly by the Allies, while Russia was quickly advancing on another front, via Poland. Does anyone know anything more about Robert and Yelena?
Eric Lavaud
Clement Couillaud
My grandfather, Clement Couillaud, was a POW in Stalag 1B, Hohenstein in Eastern Prussia.Marie-Paule Leroux
Henri Michel Leon LeBlicq (d.19th Jan 1945)
My uncle Henri Le Blicq died in Stalag 1B; I would like to find the circumstances of his death. His brother Joseph died in 1942 in Stalag II C.Editors Note: the camp was dismantled at the latest in January 1945 which would have been about the time of his death. After the end of the war the remains of the Belgian soldiers were transported home.
Gaby Laitem
Gnr. Frederick Horace Henry Huckvale Royal Artillery
My father, Fred Huckvale served in the Royal Artillery and was listed as a POW at camp Hohenstein. Also, I do know for a fact, that he was a volunteer (not a conscript) and was based in India, before the outbreak of war. This is where things might get a bit sketchy, as I'm trying to recollect what he told me, which was many years ago. I am assuming, because of being located where he was, that he would have been sent to fight the Japanese once they came into the war. I'm sure he told me, that he was on a ship, which was destined for Singapore. However, in the meantime, there was an uprising in Iraq (where rebels wanted to overthrow British control of the oil fields from what I can gather), and they were diverted to there instead, to help quell it. He definitely told me that he felt as though fate was on his side, as his original destination, Singapore, fell to the Japanese. Like many people of his generation, he would say how cruel the Japanese were to POW's. I think he fought both in Iraq and Iran. I know he mentioned seeing Soviet troops on one side of the road, but they weren't allowed to speak to them. I have done a little bit of searching online, and read somewhere that the Soviet Union did send troops into Iran.I don't know exactly thereon after, but he must have then gone on to be dispatched into the North African campaign. All I know is that he was taken as prisoner (by a very young German soldier who spoke fluent English), and think it may have been at Tobruk. At some point, he must have been in captivity of the Italians, who he said treated him badly, and beat him. Another member of our family has recently told me, that he escaped and made it back to England, but this is where things seem to conflict, as I don't think it was from camp Hohenstein, but from somewhere in Italy. That seems difficult to believe, but he did seem determined to escape, but from where, we just don't know.
If anyone has got any more information on any of this, or knew of my late father, I would love to hear from them.
Susan Harvey
Pte. John Alphonsus Stuart McKenna D (Taranaki) Company 19th Battalion
On 25 January 1941 my father, John Alphonsus Stuart McKenna, volunteered for war service and was attested into the 2nd NZ Expeditionary Force (2NZEF). He had been offered “essential industry” status but refused, preferring instead to go overseas and fight. He had prior service in the Territorial Force as a Sergeant. His record shows he entered Trentham Camp on 18 February 1941 and embarked for Egypt on 7 April 1941 as a member of the 5th Reinforcements. They embarked on the ‘Nieuw Amsterdam’ at Wellington and sailed for the Middle East via Sydney, Perth, Singapore and Colombo, Ceylon. The ship disembarked in Egypt on 16 May 1941 and Dad was taken on the strength of Taranaki Company, the 19th Battalion, 4th NZ Brigade Group, 2nd NZ Division, on 26 June 1941.He began desert training at the Infantry Training Depot, 2 NZEF Base Camp at Maadi on 27 September and marched back into the 19th Battalion on 19 October 1941. He was in the 1941 battles around Tobruk (Ed Duda and Sidi Rezegh), followed by the 1942 Break-Out at Minqar Qaim, where he was in the leading (Taranaki) company, and the Battle of Ruweisat Ridge where the 4th NZ Brigade, particularly the 19th Battalion was decimated. Dad was captured by the Germans on 15 July 1942 on Ruweisat Ridge. On 15 July 1942, the last day of the Battle, his Army record shows that Dad was posted missing.
On 24 October 1942 a cable from Rome (The Vatican we were told as children) was received stating he was incarcerated at Campo PG 57 at Gruppignano. His Army record shows he was posted as a Prisoner of War (POW) on 25 October 1942.
On 24 July 1943 a communication was received from Rome stating he was in Campo PG 103/7 at La Maina (Sauris) in the Dolomites. According to a Top Secret questionnaire completed by Dad in the UK on 25 April 1945 he said he worked at this camp on a hydroelectric scheme. Cables from Rome advised that Dad had been ill with chronic intestinal catarrah in April 1943 and had been discharged from the “Hospital Militaire” at Udine cured of the illness but in “organic decline”.
After the Italian surrender Dad and other prisoners from Campo PG 103/7 were transferred to Germany by train. According to the 25 April 1945 Top Secret questionnaire Dad arrived at Stalag VIIA at Moosberg on 15 September 1943. On 3 November 1943 Dad moved to Stalag XIA, Altengrabow, near Magdeburg, arriving on 6 November 1943. A capture card reporting Dad at Stalag XIA was noted in his records on 15 November 1943. On 24 December 1943 Dad was moved to Stalag XIB at Fallingbostel. A camp leader communication was received by the NZ Army on 23 January 1944 advising Dad was in Stalag XIB as POW number 138645.
On 25 December 1943 he was moved to work camp KDO 7002 at Ufingln, where he worked building air raid shelters. On 6 August 1944 he was moved to Arbeitskommando 7001 at Halendorf where he worked in a steel works. He stayed there until 9 April 1945. Both work camps were attached to Stalag XIB.
At Stalag XIB, on 13 April 1945, the German Commandant announced that the British Forces were very close and that he proposed to move his guard company, leaving a token guard on the camp to avoid possible interference by SS troops in the area. Senior prisoner NCOs then took over the complete administration of the camp, even to issuing leave passes to the German guards. On the morning of 16 April British tanks of units of the 7th Armoured Div (the Desert Rats) arrived at the camp gates and the POWs were released from Stalag XIB at 0837 hours 16th April 1945.
Dad’s records show him being reported “safe in the UK” on 23 April 1945. and also show him embarking in England on 18 June 1945. Dad arrived back in NZ on 19 July 1945 (I was then nearly 7 and my brother Denis was 5).
Kevin McKenna
Pte John Alphonsus Stuart McKenna D (Taranaki) Company 19th Battalion
On 25 January 1941 my father, John Alphonsus Stuart McKenna, volunteered for war service and was attested into the 2nd NZ Expeditionary Force (2NZEF). He had been offered “essential industry” status but refused, preferring instead to go overseas and fight. He had prior service in the Territorial Force as a Sergeant. His record shows he entered Trentham Camp on 18 February 1941 and embarked for Egypt on 7 April 1941 as a member of the 5th Reinforcements. They embarked on the ‘Nieuw Amsterdam’ at Wellington and sailed for the Middle East via Sydney, Perth, Singapore and Colombo, Ceylon. The ship disembarked in Egypt on 16 May 1941 and Dad was taken on the strength of Taranaki Company, the 19th Battalion, 4th NZ Brigade Group, 2nd NZ Division, on 26 June 1941.He began desert training at the Infantry Training Depot, 2 NZEF Base Camp at Maadi on 27 September and marched back into the 19th Battalion on 19 October 1941. He was in the 1941 battles around Tobruk (Ed Duda and Sidi Rezegh), followed by the 1942 Break-Out at Minqar Qaim, where he was in the leading (Taranaki) company, and the Battle of Ruweisat Ridge where the 4th NZ Brigade, particularly the 19th Battalion was decimated. Dad was captured by the Germans on 15 July 1942 on Ruweisat Ridge.
• On 15 July 1942, the last day of the battle, his Army record shows that Dad was posted missing.
• On 24 October 1942 a cable from Rome (The Vatican we were told as children) was received stating he was incarcerated at Campo PG 57 at Gruppignano.
• His Army record shows he was posted as a Prisoner of War (POW) on 25 October 1942.
• On 24 July 1943 a communication was received from Rome stating he was in Campo PG 103/7 at La Maina (Sauris) in the Dolomites. According to a Top Secret questionnaire completed by Dad in the UK on 25 April 1945 he said he worked at this camp on a hydroelectric scheme.
• Cables from Rome advised that Dad had been ill with chronic intestinal catarrah in April 1943 and had been discharged from the “Hospital Militaire” at Udine cured of the illness but in “organic decline”.
• After the Italian surrender Dad and other prisoners from Campo PG 103/7 were transferred to Germany by train. According to the 25 April 1945 Top Secret questionnaire Dad arrived at Stalag VIIA at Moosberg on 15 September 1943. On 3 November 1943 Dad moved to Stalag XIA, Altengrabow, near Magdeburg, arriving on 6 November 1943. A capture card reporting Dad at Stalag XIA was noted in his records on 15 November 1943. On 24 December 1943 Dad was moved to Stalag XIB at Fallingbostel.
• A camp leader communication was received by the NZ Army on 23 January 1944 advising Dad was in Stalag XIB as POW number 138645.
• On 25 December 1943 he was moved to work camp KDO 7002 at Ufingln, where he worked building air raid shelters.
• On 6 August 1944 he was moved to Arbeitskommando 7001 at Halendorf where he worked in a steel works. He stayed there until 9 April 1945. Both work camps were attached to Stalag XIB.
• At Stalag XIB, on 13 April 1945, the German Commandant announced that the British Forces were very close and that he proposed to move his guard company, leaving a token guard on the camp to avoid possible interference by SS troops in the area. Senior prisoner NCOs then took over the complete administration of the camp, even to issuing leave passes to the German guards. On the morning of 16 April British tanks of units of the 7th Armoured Div (the Desert Rats) arrived at the camp gates and the POWs were released from Stalag XIB at 0837 hours 16th April 1945.
• Dad’s records show him being reported “safe in the UK” on 23 April 1945.
• Dad’s records show him embarking in England on 18 June 1945.
• Dad arrived back in NZ on 19 July 1945 (I was then nearly 7 and my brother Denis was 5).
Kevin McKenna
Jerzy Palimaka
My father was detained at Stalag 1B POW camp Hohenstein between 1939-1940. I am seeking anyone who might have known him or who may have photographs.Wanda Palimaka
Marius Acquier 52 RA
Acquier Marius was a French prisonnier captured at Audonon on 27/6/1940. He was held in Stalag IB, POW number 51889. He was released on 19/5/1945.
Primo Boccaleoni Battalion Val Chiese 6th Regiment Alpini
My great-grandfather, Primo Boccaleoni, was a simple soldier during WW2. He was sent to Russia with the Italian mountain troops (called Alpini), from July 1942 to February 1943. His battalion Val Chiese received, after the war, the Gold medal of military valor the highest military decoration in Italy.When he returned from Russia he spent some time in a military hospital then he was captured by the Nazis in Vipiteno (Bolzano, Italy) 9 September 1943 (the day after the Armistice of Cassibile). He remained in Hoheinstein Stalag IB from 17 September 1943 to 10 September 1944, then he was sent to another stalag, whose name I don't know. He was released on May 1945 and he returned back to Italy.
When I was a child he told me about Russia... but not a word about the lager. Only after his death in 2009 I discovered documents concerning his internment. I would like to talk with children or grandchildren of other ex-internees about Hohenstein.
Martina Pattuzzi
Kapral Boleslaw Alyois "Bolek" Bobrowski Ploch 8th Infantry Regiment
When I was little, I clamored over my dad, Bolek Bobrowski while he was on the couch, reading the paper. I noticed a little scar on the back of his neck, just off to the side of his spine. It wasn't very large, maybe 1/4 inch by 3/4 inch. It was the first time I had ever noticed it. I asked him where he got it from. His reply has stuck with me always. "The Nazis. While I escape."I never asked any again. Many years after his death, I began to put together the pieces of his time in both the Polish Army and the Polish 2nd Corps. It was there I found that he had been captured at the end of September, 1939 by the Germans, sent to Stalag 1A, and then sent onto Stalag 1B, and .... escaped. He was later discovered by the Soviets and imprisoned in a Siberian Gulag in Komi. I understand it was a good thing he escaped from 1B, as many didn't survive there too long.
Phillip A Bobrowski
Jean Inaudi (d.18th April 1944)
John Inaudi, my husband's grandfather, was sent to Stalag IB in 1940 and then seconded to one of the many Arbeitskommandos working near Preuss Holland (next to a town called Karuviden?), where they extracted peat for plants producing electricity in the region. Then he was assigned to Mulhausen to a butchers 10 miles away. He was in this village with Bruand Edouard, Andrew Bresseau, Jean Bovencourt and Andre Jacquinot. He was repatriated to France in 1942 following the death of his wife.In 1943 he was arrested and deported to Sachsenhausen Oranienburg, where he died during Allied bombing on 18th April 1944.
Manguin Ullern
Robert Tave 92nd Infantry Rgt.
I am looking for information about Robert Tave, interned in Stalag IB on 24th June 1940, before being transferred to Stalag IIID after an unsuccessful escape attempt. After several months in the Stalag, Robert met a young Russian woman named Yelena, who was in the camp with her mother. Robert and Yelena fell in love and their love endured in this difficult time, despite the circumstances in which they met. Everything changed when Robert learned that Yelena was pregnant. He did not wish for his child to be born in a prison camp.They made the decision to escape and to go to Russia which at that time was nearer. After several days on the run, along with their friend Arthur, they were recaptured. They were then separated forever. Yelena, at the request of the labour camp director was sent to Poland, while Mr Tave said he was deported to Berlin.
For months Robert sent parcels to Yelena via the Red Cross, and then one day the parcels stopped. At that time, Germany was being pounded relentlessly by the Allies, while Russia was quickly advancing on another front, via Poland. Does anyone know anything more about Robert and Yelena?
Eric Lavaud
Clement Couillaud
My grandfather, Clement Couillaud, was a POW in Stalag 1B, Hohenstein in Eastern Prussia.Marie-Paule Leroux
Henri Michel Leon LeBlicq (d.19th Jan 1945)
My uncle Henri Le Blicq died in Stalag 1B; I would like to find the circumstances of his death. His brother Joseph died in 1942 in Stalag II C.Editors Note: the camp was dismantled at the latest in January 1945 which would have been about the time of his death. After the end of the war the remains of the Belgian soldiers were transported home.
Gaby Laitem
Gnr. Frederick Horace Henry Huckvale Royal Artillery
My father, Fred Huckvale served in the Royal Artillery and was listed as a POW at camp Hohenstein. Also, I do know for a fact, that he was a volunteer (not a conscript) and was based in India, before the outbreak of war. This is where things might get a bit sketchy, as I'm trying to recollect what he told me, which was many years ago. I am assuming, because of being located where he was, that he would have been sent to fight the Japanese once they came into the war. I'm sure he told me, that he was on a ship, which was destined for Singapore. However, in the meantime, there was an uprising in Iraq (where rebels wanted to overthrow British control of the oil fields from what I can gather), and they were diverted to there instead, to help quell it. He definitely told me that he felt as though fate was on his side, as his original destination, Singapore, fell to the Japanese. Like many people of his generation, he would say how cruel the Japanese were to POW's. I think he fought both in Iraq and Iran. I know he mentioned seeing Soviet troops on one side of the road, but they weren't allowed to speak to them. I have done a little bit of searching online, and read somewhere that the Soviet Union did send troops into Iran.I don't know exactly thereon after, but he must have then gone on to be dispatched into the North African campaign. All I know is that he was taken as prisoner (by a very young German soldier who spoke fluent English), and think it may have been at Tobruk. At some point, he must have been in captivity of the Italians, who he said treated him badly, and beat him. Another member of our family has recently told me, that he escaped and made it back to England, but this is where things seem to conflict, as I don't think it was from camp Hohenstein, but from somewhere in Italy. That seems difficult to believe, but he did seem determined to escape, but from where, we just don't know.
If anyone has got any more information on any of this, or knew of my late father, I would love to hear from them.
Susan Harvey
Pte. John Alphonsus Stuart McKenna D (Taranaki) Company 19th Battalion
On 25 January 1941 my father, John Alphonsus Stuart McKenna, volunteered for war service and was attested into the 2nd NZ Expeditionary Force (2NZEF). He had been offered “essential industry” status but refused, preferring instead to go overseas and fight. He had prior service in the Territorial Force as a Sergeant. His record shows he entered Trentham Camp on 18 February 1941 and embarked for Egypt on 7 April 1941 as a member of the 5th Reinforcements. They embarked on the ‘Nieuw Amsterdam’ at Wellington and sailed for the Middle East via Sydney, Perth, Singapore and Colombo, Ceylon. The ship disembarked in Egypt on 16 May 1941 and Dad was taken on the strength of Taranaki Company, the 19th Battalion, 4th NZ Brigade Group, 2nd NZ Division, on 26 June 1941.He began desert training at the Infantry Training Depot, 2 NZEF Base Camp at Maadi on 27 September and marched back into the 19th Battalion on 19 October 1941. He was in the 1941 battles around Tobruk (Ed Duda and Sidi Rezegh), followed by the 1942 Break-Out at Minqar Qaim, where he was in the leading (Taranaki) company, and the Battle of Ruweisat Ridge where the 4th NZ Brigade, particularly the 19th Battalion was decimated. Dad was captured by the Germans on 15 July 1942 on Ruweisat Ridge. On 15 July 1942, the last day of the Battle, his Army record shows that Dad was posted missing.
On 24 October 1942 a cable from Rome (The Vatican we were told as children) was received stating he was incarcerated at Campo PG 57 at Gruppignano. His Army record shows he was posted as a Prisoner of War (POW) on 25 October 1942.
On 24 July 1943 a communication was received from Rome stating he was in Campo PG 103/7 at La Maina (Sauris) in the Dolomites. According to a Top Secret questionnaire completed by Dad in the UK on 25 April 1945 he said he worked at this camp on a hydroelectric scheme. Cables from Rome advised that Dad had been ill with chronic intestinal catarrah in April 1943 and had been discharged from the “Hospital Militaire” at Udine cured of the illness but in “organic decline”.
After the Italian surrender Dad and other prisoners from Campo PG 103/7 were transferred to Germany by train. According to the 25 April 1945 Top Secret questionnaire Dad arrived at Stalag VIIA at Moosberg on 15 September 1943. On 3 November 1943 Dad moved to Stalag XIA, Altengrabow, near Magdeburg, arriving on 6 November 1943. A capture card reporting Dad at Stalag XIA was noted in his records on 15 November 1943. On 24 December 1943 Dad was moved to Stalag XIB at Fallingbostel. A camp leader communication was received by the NZ Army on 23 January 1944 advising Dad was in Stalag XIB as POW number 138645.
On 25 December 1943 he was moved to work camp KDO 7002 at Ufingln, where he worked building air raid shelters. On 6 August 1944 he was moved to Arbeitskommando 7001 at Halendorf where he worked in a steel works. He stayed there until 9 April 1945. Both work camps were attached to Stalag XIB.
At Stalag XIB, on 13 April 1945, the German Commandant announced that the British Forces were very close and that he proposed to move his guard company, leaving a token guard on the camp to avoid possible interference by SS troops in the area. Senior prisoner NCOs then took over the complete administration of the camp, even to issuing leave passes to the German guards. On the morning of 16 April British tanks of units of the 7th Armoured Div (the Desert Rats) arrived at the camp gates and the POWs were released from Stalag XIB at 0837 hours 16th April 1945.
Dad’s records show him being reported “safe in the UK” on 23 April 1945. and also show him embarking in England on 18 June 1945. Dad arrived back in NZ on 19 July 1945 (I was then nearly 7 and my brother Denis was 5).
Kevin McKenna
Pte John Alphonsus Stuart McKenna D (Taranaki) Company 19th Battalion
On 25 January 1941 my father, John Alphonsus Stuart McKenna, volunteered for war service and was attested into the 2nd NZ Expeditionary Force (2NZEF). He had been offered “essential industry” status but refused, preferring instead to go overseas and fight. He had prior service in the Territorial Force as a Sergeant. His record shows he entered Trentham Camp on 18 February 1941 and embarked for Egypt on 7 April 1941 as a member of the 5th Reinforcements. They embarked on the ‘Nieuw Amsterdam’ at Wellington and sailed for the Middle East via Sydney, Perth, Singapore and Colombo, Ceylon. The ship disembarked in Egypt on 16 May 1941 and Dad was taken on the strength of Taranaki Company, the 19th Battalion, 4th NZ Brigade Group, 2nd NZ Division, on 26 June 1941.He began desert training at the Infantry Training Depot, 2 NZEF Base Camp at Maadi on 27 September and marched back into the 19th Battalion on 19 October 1941. He was in the 1941 battles around Tobruk (Ed Duda and Sidi Rezegh), followed by the 1942 Break-Out at Minqar Qaim, where he was in the leading (Taranaki) company, and the Battle of Ruweisat Ridge where the 4th NZ Brigade, particularly the 19th Battalion was decimated. Dad was captured by the Germans on 15 July 1942 on Ruweisat Ridge.
• On 15 July 1942, the last day of the battle, his Army record shows that Dad was posted missing.
• On 24 October 1942 a cable from Rome (The Vatican we were told as children) was received stating he was incarcerated at Campo PG 57 at Gruppignano.
• His Army record shows he was posted as a Prisoner of War (POW) on 25 October 1942.
• On 24 July 1943 a communication was received from Rome stating he was in Campo PG 103/7 at La Maina (Sauris) in the Dolomites. According to a Top Secret questionnaire completed by Dad in the UK on 25 April 1945 he said he worked at this camp on a hydroelectric scheme.
• Cables from Rome advised that Dad had been ill with chronic intestinal catarrah in April 1943 and had been discharged from the “Hospital Militaire” at Udine cured of the illness but in “organic decline”.
• After the Italian surrender Dad and other prisoners from Campo PG 103/7 were transferred to Germany by train. According to the 25 April 1945 Top Secret questionnaire Dad arrived at Stalag VIIA at Moosberg on 15 September 1943. On 3 November 1943 Dad moved to Stalag XIA, Altengrabow, near Magdeburg, arriving on 6 November 1943. A capture card reporting Dad at Stalag XIA was noted in his records on 15 November 1943. On 24 December 1943 Dad was moved to Stalag XIB at Fallingbostel.
• A camp leader communication was received by the NZ Army on 23 January 1944 advising Dad was in Stalag XIB as POW number 138645.
• On 25 December 1943 he was moved to work camp KDO 7002 at Ufingln, where he worked building air raid shelters.
• On 6 August 1944 he was moved to Arbeitskommando 7001 at Halendorf where he worked in a steel works. He stayed there until 9 April 1945. Both work camps were attached to Stalag XIB.
• At Stalag XIB, on 13 April 1945, the German Commandant announced that the British Forces were very close and that he proposed to move his guard company, leaving a token guard on the camp to avoid possible interference by SS troops in the area. Senior prisoner NCOs then took over the complete administration of the camp, even to issuing leave passes to the German guards. On the morning of 16 April British tanks of units of the 7th Armoured Div (the Desert Rats) arrived at the camp gates and the POWs were released from Stalag XIB at 0837 hours 16th April 1945.
• Dad’s records show him being reported “safe in the UK” on 23 April 1945.
• Dad’s records show him embarking in England on 18 June 1945.
• Dad arrived back in NZ on 19 July 1945 (I was then nearly 7 and my brother Denis was 5).
Kevin McKenna
Jerzy Palimaka
My father was detained at Stalag 1B POW camp Hohenstein between 1939-1940. I am seeking anyone who might have known him or who may have photographs.Wanda Palimaka
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