POW Camp Index

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.     Site Home     WW2 Home     Add Stories     WW2 Search     Library     Help & FAQs  WW2 Features     Airfields     Allied Army     Allied Air Forces     Allied Navy     Axis Forces     Home Front     Battles     Prisoners of War     Allied Ships     Women at War     Those Who Served     Day-by-Day     Library     The Great War  Submissions     Add Stories     Time Capsule     Childrens Bookshop  FAQ's     Help & FAQs     Glossary     Volunteering     Contact us     News     Bookshop     About Advertisements World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

Stalag 4D Prisoner of War Camp Arbeits Kommando BE12, Stalag IVd E116 Arbeits Kommando, Stalag 4D      Stalag 4D (IV-D, according to the German designation system) was a small WW2 camp for Allied prisoners of war in Torgau, Germany. It was situated in in two separate buildings in the centre of Torgau, a few minutes walk from the towns railway station. Torgau was surrounded by a network of work-camps (called Arbeitskommandos) where POWs worked at various forced labor activities. Stalag 4D wasnt a typical prison camp established to house and confine POWs. Instead, it served as the distribution centre for the surrounding work-camps, processing POWs arriving at Torgau by rail and assigning them to those work-camps. At any given time, it is thought to have had assignment responsibility for approximately 800 prisoners. Stalag 4D also had jurisdiction over a small sub-camp called Stalag 4D/Z (IV-D/Z), located about 12 miles north of Torgau, that was used for holding POWs who were to be repatriated in prisoner exchanges.   22nd Jul 1941 Parcels If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Those known to have been held in or employed at Stalag 4D Prisoner of War Camp during the Second World War 1939-1945. Aitken John Murray. L/Cpl. Bailey Harry Frederick. Sig. Bayliss Arthur. Gnr. Chandler Davd Eric. Pte. Cook Fred. Pte. Devlin W. R.. Pte. (d.4th April 1945) Erskine MID.. William Baird. L/Cpl. Geary Ernest. Pte. Giddings Philip. L/Cpl. Grace Leslie Kitchener. Jordan Richard L.. Levick George Frederick. Pte. Morley Leonard Oliver Alfred. Marine. Nason FS. Norris L. A.M.. Rollason Alfred Frederick. Pte. Rollason Alfred Frederick. Pte. Semeniuk Teodor. Shadforth Robert. L/Bdr. Suffield Sydney. Pte. Taylor Frank Woffenden. Gnr. Walker David. Pte. 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 4D Prisoner of War Camp other sources. The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. Announcements 1st of September 2024 marks 25 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time. The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 25 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web. 18th Dec 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 265120 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible. Looking for help with Family History Research?   Please read our Family History FAQs The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation. Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home. If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations. Want to know more about Stalag 4D Prisoner of War Camp? There are:513 items tagged Stalag 4D 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. L. A.M. Norris 9th Btn A Sqd. Royal Tank Regiment L. Norris served with the 9th Btn A Sqd. Royal Tank Regiment British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below. Dan Add to this record. FS Nason Staffordshire Yeomanry FS Nason served with the Staffordshire Yeomanry British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below. Dan Add to this record. L/Cpl. John Murray Aitken 2nd Sqd Lothian and Border Horse L/Cpl.John Aitken served with the 2nd Sqd Lothian and Border Horse British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below. Dan Add to this record. Marine. Leonard Oliver Alfred Morley Royal Marines My father Len Morley was captured in the sea off Crete in 1941 and spent the rest of the war in PoW camps. The one mentioned in the records I can find is Stalag 4d Torgau (Elbe) as PoW No 11392. But I understand this was mainly a transit camp. Malcolm Morley Add to this record. L/Cpl. William Baird Erskine MID. 8th Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders William Erskine joined the 8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders at the beginning of the war. He married in 1941 and had 1 son. He fought in the successful North African campaign. He was then sent to Sicily and to the Italian campaign. He was promoted to Lance Corporal sometime then. Somewhere in the push northwards through Italy he was captured by the German army and perhaps that was when he was listed as missing on 27th of October 1943. He was actually forced to march through Germany and onto Torgua in Eastern Germany where he was held POW in Stalag 4d. He was made to work in local armaments companies where on the production lines he deliberately pierced holes in the wrong places. He also escaped on 2 occasions but was recaptured each time. He was released by the Russian advance and returned home to Scotland at the end of the war when he met his 4 year old son for the first time. He was awarded the following medals: The Italy Star, The Africa Star, The 1939-1945 Star and the War Medal 1939-1945. William G Erskine Add to this record. Leslie Kitchener Grace Royal Sussex Regiment My grandfather, Leslie Grace was posted in Egypt and was wounded in battle. His regiment had to retreat and the injured were left behind. He was captured and a German officer came up to him and said "You'll be OK, Tommy, tomorrow you will be a prisoner. I may be killed." He was taken to a POW camp in Italy and sometime afterwards, he was transferred to Germany to Stalag 4D. My grandfather's memories were: There was never enough food in the camp, so they were always hungry, he lost 6 stone in weight and was suffering from malnutrition. When he got home in 1945, he had spent 2 years and 5 months in hospital. He said German people that he met were hungry too, and he never had bad feelings towards the German people. He smuggled out four handwritten newspapers from the camp (they give a great insight into life in camp including shows they put on), hand-drawn pictures of some of the inmates, Cribb championships. There are lots of other names of inmates in the papers and it would be wonderful to share them with family members. Some of the names are: A Mowl F Jewkes W Blissett 249383 D Johnson 259995 T Cummins 10689 H Cartwright 259993 E Hubbard 11150 W Millyard 259946 Nicola Add to this record. Pte. Davd Eric Chandler Welch Regiment My father-in-law, David Chandler, was captured on the 28th of April 9141 in Crete. He wrote in 3 diaries and I am in the process of transcribing them. It's a fascinating account which I'm doing in the main for Dave's 3 sons. I hope I can share this document to anyone who may be interested. He was a POW in Stalag 4d from the 13th of August 1941 until being liberated by the Americans in 1945. Paul Fenton Add to this record. Pte. Alfred Frederick Rollason 3rd Para Brigade, HQ Parachute Regiment Alfred Rollason was held POW at Arbeitskommando BE12 I am his son and I have other names of POW's held there and have artifacts from the camp plus its actual location and other info. Tony Rollason Add to this record. Pte. Fred Cook 5th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment Great Uncle Fred Cook was in the 5th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment, which served with the 69th Infantry Brigade in the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division. He signed up in January 1940 and was in France and then the Western Desert where he was captured in June 1942. He was sent to Stalag IVD in Torgau, Saxony and records show that he was not considered a POW in June of 1945. There's not much info about Stalag IVD but looking at other stories from men who were there it seems that some of them were captured near Tobruk by the Italians but when the Italians surrendered, the prisoners were then taken by the Germans to Germany. Uncle Fred's regiment fought it's way through the Italian lines as an alternative to taking the short route through the armoured German lines which must be where he was captured. That would fit with what I've been told about Uncle Fred not liking the Italians! Karen Eynon Add to this record. Gnr. Frank Woffenden Taylor 197th AA Bty. Royal Artillary Frank Taylor served during WWII, being captured by German forces in 1942 in Tobruk, Africa. He was taken to Gulag IV D (via other locations) until liberation. I have acquired several extremely interesting documents including service record, 2 POW newsletters, a Gulag IV D bandage, photographs and an account of his time during this period. Any comments or information would be appreciated, I am his grandson. Craig Add to this record. Pte. Alfred Frederick Rollason 3rd Parachute Brigade Army Air Corps Alfred F Rollason, my father, enlisted with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment on 19th Feb 1942 which was converted to 8th (Midlands) Parachute Battalion. He trained as a paratrooper and earned his wings in January 1943. He was assigned to the HQ Defence Platoon of 3rd Parachute Brigade prior to D-Day, it is not certain whether he dropped in France by parachute or glider. His role was that of a 'runner' and his platoon were responsible for defending the Brigade HQ at Le Mesnil crossroads near Ranville in Normandy. It is unknown whether he was dropped in the correct zone and/or whether he actually made it to the HQ area, he was taken Prisoner of War on D-Day 6th June 1944. By 30th Jul 1944 it was confirmed that he had arrived at Stalag X11A Limberg a 'transit' camp where new POW's were processed prior to being transferred to other camps. He left Limberg on the 25th Aug 1944 and was transferred to Stalag 1VD Torgau where he arrived on 13th Sept 1944. Torgau was an 'administratiion camp' that organised prisoners to be sent out to surrounding Arbeits Kommandos (Work Camps) to be used as forced labour. Alfred Rollason was sent to BE12 Bitterfeld where he was set to work in an open caste lignite (brown coal) mine Grube Golpa that fuelled a major power station. He was liberated by the US army on 14th April 1945 as they moved east, he was eventually repatriated on 13th May 1945, where after a period of extended leave was posted to Royal Artillery, Kinmel Camp, North Wales on 4th Sept 1945 where he reverted to his trade as a carpenter and trained as a driver subsequently being demobbed and transferring to the Army Reserve on 18th Jan 1947. Upon leaving the Torgau Prison Camp he collected a number of interesting literature souvenirs including a hand written camp magazine prepared by the prisoners, the Christmas pantomime programme, sample menus with listings of contents of the various red cross parcels and prison camp newspapers. Tony Rollason Add to this record. Teodor Semeniuk My father-in-law, Teodor Semeniuk, passed away and my husbnad and I have been searching for any infomation that could lead us to his family. We have very little information other than he was born in Halyczowka (not sure where this is - Poland I think). We know he was captured on 1st September 1939 in Rybnik, Poland and sent to Stalag IVA at Hohenstein according to a list dated 28th September 1939. He was then sent to Stalag IVD in Torgau around 1944 according to a presence card dated August 1944. His Prisoner of War number is 3571. Rita Semeniuk Add to this record. Sig. Harry Frederick Bailey Royal Signals My brother Harry Bailey was captured on Cos in 1943 and was transported to Germany via Yugoslavia (in a cattle truck). I do not know if Stalag 4D was the only camp he was imprisoned in (I recall him saying he and other POWs were forced to march West at a late stage of the war). When he arrived back in the UK in 1945, he weighed only 7 stone and took some time to recover back to his normal weight (11 stone or so). I would be interested to get more information about Stalag 4D etc. Stan Bailey Add to this record. Pte. David Walker My Grandfather David Walker was captured at Tobruk and was prisoner of war in Italy and then he was taken to Germany. In Germany he was held in Stalag 4D. He never talked about his time in the POW camps. I am researching our family history and if anyone has any information about his time in either the Italian or German POW camps I would be grateful. He died when I was sixteen so I was never able to ask him about it Karen Maloney Add to this record. Gnr. Arthur Bayliss 277/68 Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment My late father Arthur Bayliss of Kidderminster, Worcestershire, enlisted in Bishop Auckland in September 1940 as a gunner in the 277/68 Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery. In February 1941 he was posted to the Middle East where he fought until he was captured by the Italians at Tobruk in June 1942. As Prisoner Number 247030 he was held for approximately 18 months by the Italians at Campo p.g. 75 PM 3450 and Campo 54, PM 3300 before arriving at Stammlager IVB in December 1943. He was put to work breaking stone and then transferred to Stalag IVD in March 1944. Twelve months later he was working in a sugar factory making vitamin tablets, which he described as ‘a cushy number’. That work ran out and he was sent to work in an emergency hospital. Being a bit of a Fed up with this life he soon decided to try to escape and went through the wire on 25 March 1945. He slept in the woods at Golpa but was arrested by German civilian Police two days later. He was charged at Bittefeld and sentenced to 5 days jail on bread and water. On release he was sent back to work, this time in the penal colony, again with a guard keeping watch over him. On 4th April 1945, whilst at work, he witnessed Pte W R Devlin, an Australian POW being shot by a German civilian. It was Pte Devlin’s 23rd birthday. Dad was a bearer at his funeral 3 days later. On April 13th the Bittefeld area was evacuated and Dad was marched approximately 25 km to camp Schammewitz but he decided to escape again and took off that same night, his objective was to reach Wurzen. Freedom was short lived, he was recaptured on 16 April at Schildan and taken to the cells at Torgau. Stalag IVD was then evacuated and Dad together with all the other prisoners were marched to Stalag IVB with Ukranians aged only 14 to 16 years. On 23rd April Stalag IVB was liberated when the Russian Cavalry rode into camp and on the 30th Dad left Stalag IVB with the objective of reaching Leipzig. He lived well in various houses en route passing through Torgau, Arzburg, Belgern, and Neusen. He diverted to Dahlen on hearing that the Yanks were there and they took him to Maachern and then on to Halle. Like so many POW’s Dad never talked about his years as a prisoner and so this information is very sketchy. It has been pieced together from letters to Vera, his wife, which of course were censored, his diary, kept only for a short time in 1945 and jottings in his Service Pay book. Hopefully it may add to the knowledge of how others’ family members existed during this time. If anyone knew Dad or recognises events I would be very pleased to hear from them. I doubt that Dad escaped alone, in fact one of the few tales he told of his escapes was that he and his comrades caught and killed a pig to eat. They built a fire to roast it. However, they were so hungry that they couldn't wait for it to cook and ate it partially raw, with the result that it made them all ill. He also said that whilst in camp they had such little food that he would scrounge potato peelings from the guards. He had some names in his Soldiers Service and Pay Book which were:- Tommy Norfolk of Leicester R Douglas of Liverpool A Mellows of Nottingham K Whittingham of Wolverhampton Were these people with whom he was imprisoned? Did they get home safely and are they still alive? If anyone recognises the names or has information about them, I would love to know. Graham Bayliss Add to this record. L. A.M. Norris 9th Btn A Sqd. Royal Tank Regiment L. Norris served with the 9th Btn A Sqd. Royal Tank Regiment British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below. Dan FS Nason Staffordshire Yeomanry FS Nason served with the Staffordshire Yeomanry British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below. Dan L/Cpl. John Murray Aitken 2nd Sqd Lothian and Border Horse L/Cpl.John Aitken served with the 2nd Sqd Lothian and Border Horse British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below. Dan Marine. Leonard Oliver Alfred Morley Royal Marines My father Len Morley was captured in the sea off Crete in 1941 and spent the rest of the war in PoW camps. The one mentioned in the records I can find is Stalag 4d Torgau (Elbe) as PoW No 11392. But I understand this was mainly a transit camp. Malcolm Morley L/Cpl. William Baird Erskine MID. 8th Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders William Erskine joined the 8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders at the beginning of the war. He married in 1941 and had 1 son. He fought in the successful North African campaign. He was then sent to Sicily and to the Italian campaign. He was promoted to Lance Corporal sometime then. Somewhere in the push northwards through Italy he was captured by the German army and perhaps that was when he was listed as missing on 27th of October 1943. He was actually forced to march through Germany and onto Torgua in Eastern Germany where he was held POW in Stalag 4d. He was made to work in local armaments companies where on the production lines he deliberately pierced holes in the wrong places. He also escaped on 2 occasions but was recaptured each time. He was released by the Russian advance and returned home to Scotland at the end of the war when he met his 4 year old son for the first time. He was awarded the following medals: The Italy Star, The Africa Star, The 1939-1945 Star and the War Medal 1939-1945. William G Erskine Leslie Kitchener Grace Royal Sussex Regiment My grandfather, Leslie Grace was posted in Egypt and was wounded in battle. His regiment had to retreat and the injured were left behind. He was captured and a German officer came up to him and said "You'll be OK, Tommy, tomorrow you will be a prisoner. I may be killed." He was taken to a POW camp in Italy and sometime afterwards, he was transferred to Germany to Stalag 4D. My grandfather's memories were: There was never enough food in the camp, so they were always hungry, he lost 6 stone in weight and was suffering from malnutrition. When he got home in 1945, he had spent 2 years and 5 months in hospital. He said German people that he met were hungry too, and he never had bad feelings towards the German people. He smuggled out four handwritten newspapers from the camp (they give a great insight into life in camp including shows they put on), hand-drawn pictures of some of the inmates, Cribb championships. There are lots of other names of inmates in the papers and it would be wonderful to share them with family members. Some of the names are: A Mowl F Jewkes W Blissett 249383 D Johnson 259995 T Cummins 10689 H Cartwright 259993 E Hubbard 11150 W Millyard 259946 Nicola Pte. Davd Eric Chandler Welch Regiment My father-in-law, David Chandler, was captured on the 28th of April 9141 in Crete. He wrote in 3 diaries and I am in the process of transcribing them. It's a fascinating account which I'm doing in the main for Dave's 3 sons. I hope I can share this document to anyone who may be interested. He was a POW in Stalag 4d from the 13th of August 1941 until being liberated by the Americans in 1945. Paul Fenton Pte. Alfred Frederick Rollason 3rd Para Brigade, HQ Parachute Regiment Alfred Rollason was held POW at Arbeitskommando BE12 I am his son and I have other names of POW's held there and have artifacts from the camp plus its actual location and other info. Tony Rollason Pte. Fred Cook 5th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment Great Uncle Fred Cook was in the 5th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment, which served with the 69th Infantry Brigade in the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division. He signed up in January 1940 and was in France and then the Western Desert where he was captured in June 1942. He was sent to Stalag IVD in Torgau, Saxony and records show that he was not considered a POW in June of 1945. There's not much info about Stalag IVD but looking at other stories from men who were there it seems that some of them were captured near Tobruk by the Italians but when the Italians surrendered, the prisoners were then taken by the Germans to Germany. Uncle Fred's regiment fought it's way through the Italian lines as an alternative to taking the short route through the armoured German lines which must be where he was captured. That would fit with what I've been told about Uncle Fred not liking the Italians! Karen Eynon Gnr. Frank Woffenden Taylor 197th AA Bty. Royal Artillary Frank Taylor served during WWII, being captured by German forces in 1942 in Tobruk, Africa. He was taken to Gulag IV D (via other locations) until liberation. I have acquired several extremely interesting documents including service record, 2 POW newsletters, a Gulag IV D bandage, photographs and an account of his time during this period. Any comments or information would be appreciated, I am his grandson. Craig Pte. Alfred Frederick Rollason 3rd Parachute Brigade Army Air Corps Alfred F Rollason, my father, enlisted with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment on 19th Feb 1942 which was converted to 8th (Midlands) Parachute Battalion. He trained as a paratrooper and earned his wings in January 1943. He was assigned to the HQ Defence Platoon of 3rd Parachute Brigade prior to D-Day, it is not certain whether he dropped in France by parachute or glider. His role was that of a 'runner' and his platoon were responsible for defending the Brigade HQ at Le Mesnil crossroads near Ranville in Normandy. It is unknown whether he was dropped in the correct zone and/or whether he actually made it to the HQ area, he was taken Prisoner of War on D-Day 6th June 1944. By 30th Jul 1944 it was confirmed that he had arrived at Stalag X11A Limberg a 'transit' camp where new POW's were processed prior to being transferred to other camps. He left Limberg on the 25th Aug 1944 and was transferred to Stalag 1VD Torgau where he arrived on 13th Sept 1944. Torgau was an 'administratiion camp' that organised prisoners to be sent out to surrounding Arbeits Kommandos (Work Camps) to be used as forced labour. Alfred Rollason was sent to BE12 Bitterfeld where he was set to work in an open caste lignite (brown coal) mine Grube Golpa that fuelled a major power station. He was liberated by the US army on 14th April 1945 as they moved east, he was eventually repatriated on 13th May 1945, where after a period of extended leave was posted to Royal Artillery, Kinmel Camp, North Wales on 4th Sept 1945 where he reverted to his trade as a carpenter and trained as a driver subsequently being demobbed and transferring to the Army Reserve on 18th Jan 1947. Upon leaving the Torgau Prison Camp he collected a number of interesting literature souvenirs including a hand written camp magazine prepared by the prisoners, the Christmas pantomime programme, sample menus with listings of contents of the various red cross parcels and prison camp newspapers. Tony Rollason Teodor Semeniuk My father-in-law, Teodor Semeniuk, passed away and my husbnad and I have been searching for any infomation that could lead us to his family. We have very little information other than he was born in Halyczowka (not sure where this is - Poland I think). We know he was captured on 1st September 1939 in Rybnik, Poland and sent to Stalag IVA at Hohenstein according to a list dated 28th September 1939. He was then sent to Stalag IVD in Torgau around 1944 according to a presence card dated August 1944. His Prisoner of War number is 3571. Rita Semeniuk Sig. Harry Frederick Bailey Royal Signals My brother Harry Bailey was captured on Cos in 1943 and was transported to Germany via Yugoslavia (in a cattle truck). I do not know if Stalag 4D was the only camp he was imprisoned in (I recall him saying he and other POWs were forced to march West at a late stage of the war). When he arrived back in the UK in 1945, he weighed only 7 stone and took some time to recover back to his normal weight (11 stone or so). I would be interested to get more information about Stalag 4D etc. Stan Bailey Pte. David Walker My Grandfather David Walker was captured at Tobruk and was prisoner of war in Italy and then he was taken to Germany. In Germany he was held in Stalag 4D. He never talked about his time in the POW camps. I am researching our family history and if anyone has any information about his time in either the Italian or German POW camps I would be grateful. He died when I was sixteen so I was never able to ask him about it Karen Maloney Gnr. Arthur Bayliss 277/68 Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment My late father Arthur Bayliss of Kidderminster, Worcestershire, enlisted in Bishop Auckland in September 1940 as a gunner in the 277/68 Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery. In February 1941 he was posted to the Middle East where he fought until he was captured by the Italians at Tobruk in June 1942. As Prisoner Number 247030 he was held for approximately 18 months by the Italians at Campo p.g. 75 PM 3450 and Campo 54, PM 3300 before arriving at Stammlager IVB in December 1943. He was put to work breaking stone and then transferred to Stalag IVD in March 1944. Twelve months later he was working in a sugar factory making vitamin tablets, which he described as ‘a cushy number’. That work ran out and he was sent to work in an emergency hospital. Being a bit of a Fed up with this life he soon decided to try to escape and went through the wire on 25 March 1945. He slept in the woods at Golpa but was arrested by German civilian Police two days later. He was charged at Bittefeld and sentenced to 5 days jail on bread and water. On release he was sent back to work, this time in the penal colony, again with a guard keeping watch over him. On 4th April 1945, whilst at work, he witnessed Pte W R Devlin, an Australian POW being shot by a German civilian. It was Pte Devlin’s 23rd birthday. Dad was a bearer at his funeral 3 days later. On April 13th the Bittefeld area was evacuated and Dad was marched approximately 25 km to camp Schammewitz but he decided to escape again and took off that same night, his objective was to reach Wurzen. Freedom was short lived, he was recaptured on 16 April at Schildan and taken to the cells at Torgau. Stalag IVD was then evacuated and Dad together with all the other prisoners were marched to Stalag IVB with Ukranians aged only 14 to 16 years. On 23rd April Stalag IVB was liberated when the Russian Cavalry rode into camp and on the 30th Dad left Stalag IVB with the objective of reaching Leipzig. He lived well in various houses en route passing through Torgau, Arzburg, Belgern, and Neusen. He diverted to Dahlen on hearing that the Yanks were there and they took him to Maachern and then on to Halle. Like so many POW’s Dad never talked about his years as a prisoner and so this information is very sketchy. It has been pieced together from letters to Vera, his wife, which of course were censored, his diary, kept only for a short time in 1945 and jottings in his Service Pay book. Hopefully it may add to the knowledge of how others’ family members existed during this time. If anyone knew Dad or recognises events I would be very pleased to hear from them. I doubt that Dad escaped alone, in fact one of the few tales he told of his escapes was that he and his comrades caught and killed a pig to eat. They built a fire to roast it. However, they were so hungry that they couldn't wait for it to cook and ate it partially raw, with the result that it made them all ill. He also said that whilst in camp they had such little food that he would scrounge potato peelings from the guards. He had some names in his Soldiers Service and Pay Book which were:- Tommy Norfolk of Leicester R Douglas of Liverpool A Mellows of Nottingham K Whittingham of Wolverhampton Were these people with whom he was imprisoned? Did they get home safely and are they still alive? If anyone recognises the names or has information about them, I would love to know. Graham Bayliss Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices.

Links

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.