Stalag 5B Prisoner of War Camp

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 5B Prisoner of War Camp
during the Second World War 1939-1945.

Czajka Leon. Pte.
Guter Philip Eugene. Sgt.
Hagedorn Paul Albert.
Hughes Maurice James. Pte. (d.11th April 1941)
Jordan Paul John. PFC
vanTelle Ernest. Sgt.

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 5B Prisoner of War Camp other sources.

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Want to know more about Stalag 5B Prisoner of War Camp?

There are:32 items tagged Stalag 5B 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.

Pte. Leon Czajka 5th Transport Unit

My great-grandfather was Leon Czajka Sr., and as little as it's known he was surely born on 12th December 1903 in a village called Chobot in Poland. His parents' names were Franciszek Czajka and Katarzyna Dziura. He got married right before the outbreak of WW2 to Maria Nowak and had never met his son, who happens to be the best grandpa in the world, Leon Czajka Jr.
From my grandfather's stories, I've heard that he went missing in the first months of the war, probably still in 1939 during the so-called September Campaign. Nobody knew whether he was dead or still alive in a camp until 1942 when his wife Maria received a notice from the Red Cross. Maria discovered that her husband had been killed in one of the camps somewhere in Germany. A few years later, she had met a man who claimed to be Leon's friend and knew more about his death. So he told her the following story, which became a family saga. 'Leon was a good man, but one day they came for him. They tortured him so badly but he didn't say a word. Suddenly, one of the officers got so mad that he threw Leon onto the floor and started jumping on him so savagely that he broke all of Leon’s ribs and caused his internal organs to burst out through his mouth.'
Now it's time for a little twist. Recently, I came across some information about my great-grandfather on the IPN website (official National Memory Institute organization), and it's written there that he was held captive in Stalag V-A and V-B (prisoner ID 3884) and was freed on 31st July 1940. I tried to straighten things out, as there is also a spelling error in his birth place, but I have had no response. So what is the truth? What really happened to Leon Czajka Sr.?

Dominika

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Pte. Maurice James Hughes 5th Btn. Gloucestershire Regiment (d.11th April 1941)

Maurice Hughes was in the 5th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment and was captured, it is thought, after Dunkirk. He was next heard of in Stalag 5B in Villigen Schwartzwald, in hospital. He died aged 20 on 11th April 1941.

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Paul Albert Hagedorn 1st Armored Division

Paul Hagedorn is my great uncle. This article about him by Mark H Hunter was published in the Denver Post on the 27th of May 2002:
'We were slaves; it was terrible' Vet survived Nazi camp, death march'
The best way to describe World War II veteran Paul Hagedorn is that he is a survivor. The 84-year-old Army veteran survived some of the war's bloodiest battles, two years of starvation and slave labor in Nazi prison camps, and a grueling winter "death march" across Germany in the closing days of the war. Hagedorn is also surviving a lifelong battle with war-related health problems and the effects of a stroke, a broken hip and two heart attacks. "I can tell you things you wouldn't believe," Hagedorn said. "Sometimes I don't believe them myself." The only problem is, the terrible wartime memories overwhelm his emotional control and words can't come out - only tears. "I don't know whether I feel fortunate or not. I feel guilty . . . so many of my buddies never came home," Hagedorn said after composing himself. "It was only by the grace of God. I don't know how else to look at it."
Hagedorn was born and raised on a potato farm in Southern Colorado's San Luis Valley. Drafted into the Army in 1940 and assigned to the 1st Armored Division, Combat Engineers, he built bridges and roads in North Africa.
His unit survived several battles with Gen. Erwin Rommel's Afrika Corps, but it was overwhelmed in the 1943 Battle of Faid Pass. Hagedorn and others escaped only to wander in the Tunisian desert for six days before being captured. "I carried a wounded buddy all night while we hid during the day," Hagedorn said. "The Americans kept pushing Rommel a day ahead of us. We couldn't find them." Four miles from the American lines, near Kasserine Pass, Hagedorn was captured. His group was force-marched to Tunisia, then flown to Italy, packed into railroad cattle cars and moved to Germany, where he was incarcerated in several stalags POW camps.
While being held at Stalag 2B, the men were beaten and tortured while they dug ditches and rebuilt bombed-out factories, Hagedorn's wife Marjorie explained while he daubed his eyes. "The Lord kept him alive for me," she says, softly. The men were transferred to Stalag 5B, where they worked in potato fields and chopped wood in nearby forests. For 27 months their only food was potato-sawdust soup. "I was skin and bones. We were slaves," Hagedorn said. "It was terrible." Malnutrition drained half his body weight, and endless labor ruined his back, denying him his postwar dream-job of operating a dairy farm. Ironically, while Hagedorn's captors were beating him and confiscating his Red Cross packages, back home in the United States, German POWs incarcerated in the Monte Vista Armory were treated well, local historians say. Many German POWs worked on area potato farms, including Hagedorn's own family farm. "They were doing what they felt was the right thing to do," Hagedorn said. He holds no grudge toward his farmer friends and family. "But it hurt me when I came home."
The winter of 1945 was one of Europe's coldest and was especially hard on men who were forced to work outdoors all day and sleep naked in unheated barracks. "They'd take our clothes at night so we wouldn't escape," Hagedorn said. "Even if we did, we had nowhere to go."
As the Soviet Red Army swept across Europe, the Germans retreated, taking their captives with them. Germans didn't want to be captured. They knew the Russians didn't take any German prisoners alive," he said. In early February, "in the dead of winter in knee-deep snow," he said, 12,000 Allied prisoners began walking across Germany. When Russian troops liberated them in early May, "there were only about 500 of us left. I saw more hell there than at the front lines," Hagedorn said. "I had some buddies killed right in front of me."
As the war ended, so many American POWs were liberated that the Army gave them passes to make their own way to England. A week later Hagedorn was back in America. There were no parades, no celebrations, no nothin'," Hagedorn said sadly. He's raised a family, outlived his first wife, worked many jobs and now keeps busy puttering around the townhouse he shares with Marjorie, his second wife. They knew each other before the war but married others. After their spouses died in the 1980s they found each other again and renewed their love.
Hagedorn is a member of the American Ex-Prisoners of War, Disabled Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars. He often spends quiet afternoons reading the "Ex-POW Bulletin," a monthly magazine that features several pages of "Taps" obituaries, evidence of America's loss of about 1,000 World War II veterans a day. "There aren't too many of us left," Hagedorn said. "Out of 37 guys who served with me, only three of us are left." As with many POWs, Hagedorn's war-related health problems were ignored by the Veterans Administration, and he didn't receive medical benefits until the mid-1950s. He was also ignored when the Army passed out postwar medals. In 1996, after former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown called the Pentagon, he got his POW medal. In spite of governmental neglect, he still loves his country. "Glad I went, and I'm glad I could do what I did for my country - but when I came home, I was on my own," Hagedorn said. "I just don't know why it took them all these years." His advice to young people considering a military career is cautious. "It all depends. Some kids just can't find themselves, and they ought to try it. There are good opportunities for education and it's not a bad income," Hagedorn said. "I don't think I'd encourage my son to go, though."

Sue Hansen

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PFC Paul John Jordan C Coy.,109th Med.Bn. 34th Inf. Div.,168 Regt.

My uncle, Paul John Jordan, was born in Maibe, WV on April 27th 1919. As a young man in the 1930s, Paul worked in the Water Department in the C.C.C.
Paul was the first of six Jordan brothers to join the armed forces. He enlisted on July 14th 1941, several months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, at Baltimore, MD. He was trained as a medic and then assigned to the 34th Infantry Division. He was placed in C Company, 109th Medical Battalion of the 168th Infantry Regiment. He was listed as 5'11" and 147 lbs.
Paul's 34th Infantry Division was sent straight from Newport News,VA to Oran, North Africa to begin "Operation Torch". In early February of 1943, the 34th Infantry Division's 3rd Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment was positioned 10 miles east of Sidi Bou Zid on three hills: D.J. Lessouda (northernmost), D.J.Hadid (southernmost) and D.J.Ksaira, which was the easternmost position of the American Forces. C Company, 109th Medical Battalion was atop this hill. At 0430 on February 14th 1943, the German 10th and 21st Panzer Division tanks moved out to attack Sidi Bou Zid.
A raging sandstorm had been blowing for 12 hours and the American Forces couldn't see or hear anything. The storm was blowing from east to west - right into the faces of the Americans atop these three hills. The German tanks first surrounded, then later bypassed these positions. The German infantry, riding the tanks and scout cars, then unleashed a relentless fire upon these three hills for two days. Relief columns sent from Sidi Bou Zid were repeatedly attacked by the German Luftwaffe, and the Americans lost 44 tanks at this time. On the nights of February 15th and 16th, several Americans escaped this ring, but 600 from Lessouda, and 800 from Ksaira surrendered to the Germans.
"Paul Jordan was listed as missing in action on February 17th 1943. He was transported to Sicily on February 3rd 1943, to mainland Italy on March 10th 1943, to Austria on March 14th 1943 and, finally, to Germany, on March 16th 1943. He spent time in Stalags 3A, 7A, 2B, 3B and 5B."

Daniel Patrick Lehan

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Sgt. Philip Eugene "Bob" Guter 102 Cavalry Regiment

My father, Philip Guter, was a POW in Stalag 5B, after having been captured on Sicily. He earned the Silver Star.

Thomas Guter

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Sgt. Ernest vanTelle 2/11th Battalion

This photo has the names written on the back - Back row - McDowell and Eton, Second row - Barlet, Michel, van Telle (dad), Wilkins and Johnson, First row - Henderson, Warren, Collison and Daly

My Dad, Ernest van Telle was a sergeant in the AIF 2/11th Battalion, captured on Crete. He was interned in Stalag 8B circa 28.10.41. He was later transfer to Stalag 357 on the 24th April 1944. Dad was a red head and "Bluey" is a nickname that was applied to red heads. (It's an Aussie thing). He has now moved into a home, in the moving process we discovered a number of photos taken at the POW camp. Can anyone put a name to any of the faces?

Gail Brindley

Add to this record.

Pte. Leon Czajka 5th Transport Unit

My great-grandfather was Leon Czajka Sr., and as little as it's known he was surely born on 12th December 1903 in a village called Chobot in Poland. His parents' names were Franciszek Czajka and Katarzyna Dziura. He got married right before the outbreak of WW2 to Maria Nowak and had never met his son, who happens to be the best grandpa in the world, Leon Czajka Jr.
From my grandfather's stories, I've heard that he went missing in the first months of the war, probably still in 1939 during the so-called September Campaign. Nobody knew whether he was dead or still alive in a camp until 1942 when his wife Maria received a notice from the Red Cross. Maria discovered that her husband had been killed in one of the camps somewhere in Germany. A few years later, she had met a man who claimed to be Leon's friend and knew more about his death. So he told her the following story, which became a family saga. 'Leon was a good man, but one day they came for him. They tortured him so badly but he didn't say a word. Suddenly, one of the officers got so mad that he threw Leon onto the floor and started jumping on him so savagely that he broke all of Leon’s ribs and caused his internal organs to burst out through his mouth.'
Now it's time for a little twist. Recently, I came across some information about my great-grandfather on the IPN website (official National Memory Institute organization), and it's written there that he was held captive in Stalag V-A and V-B (prisoner ID 3884) and was freed on 31st July 1940. I tried to straighten things out, as there is also a spelling error in his birth place, but I have had no response. So what is the truth? What really happened to Leon Czajka Sr.?

Dominika

Pte. Maurice James Hughes 5th Btn. Gloucestershire Regiment (d.11th April 1941)

Maurice Hughes was in the 5th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment and was captured, it is thought, after Dunkirk. He was next heard of in Stalag 5B in Villigen Schwartzwald, in hospital. He died aged 20 on 11th April 1941.

Paul Albert Hagedorn 1st Armored Division

Paul Hagedorn is my great uncle. This article about him by Mark H Hunter was published in the Denver Post on the 27th of May 2002:
'We were slaves; it was terrible' Vet survived Nazi camp, death march'
The best way to describe World War II veteran Paul Hagedorn is that he is a survivor. The 84-year-old Army veteran survived some of the war's bloodiest battles, two years of starvation and slave labor in Nazi prison camps, and a grueling winter "death march" across Germany in the closing days of the war. Hagedorn is also surviving a lifelong battle with war-related health problems and the effects of a stroke, a broken hip and two heart attacks. "I can tell you things you wouldn't believe," Hagedorn said. "Sometimes I don't believe them myself." The only problem is, the terrible wartime memories overwhelm his emotional control and words can't come out - only tears. "I don't know whether I feel fortunate or not. I feel guilty . . . so many of my buddies never came home," Hagedorn said after composing himself. "It was only by the grace of God. I don't know how else to look at it."
Hagedorn was born and raised on a potato farm in Southern Colorado's San Luis Valley. Drafted into the Army in 1940 and assigned to the 1st Armored Division, Combat Engineers, he built bridges and roads in North Africa.
His unit survived several battles with Gen. Erwin Rommel's Afrika Corps, but it was overwhelmed in the 1943 Battle of Faid Pass. Hagedorn and others escaped only to wander in the Tunisian desert for six days before being captured. "I carried a wounded buddy all night while we hid during the day," Hagedorn said. "The Americans kept pushing Rommel a day ahead of us. We couldn't find them." Four miles from the American lines, near Kasserine Pass, Hagedorn was captured. His group was force-marched to Tunisia, then flown to Italy, packed into railroad cattle cars and moved to Germany, where he was incarcerated in several stalags POW camps.
While being held at Stalag 2B, the men were beaten and tortured while they dug ditches and rebuilt bombed-out factories, Hagedorn's wife Marjorie explained while he daubed his eyes. "The Lord kept him alive for me," she says, softly. The men were transferred to Stalag 5B, where they worked in potato fields and chopped wood in nearby forests. For 27 months their only food was potato-sawdust soup. "I was skin and bones. We were slaves," Hagedorn said. "It was terrible." Malnutrition drained half his body weight, and endless labor ruined his back, denying him his postwar dream-job of operating a dairy farm. Ironically, while Hagedorn's captors were beating him and confiscating his Red Cross packages, back home in the United States, German POWs incarcerated in the Monte Vista Armory were treated well, local historians say. Many German POWs worked on area potato farms, including Hagedorn's own family farm. "They were doing what they felt was the right thing to do," Hagedorn said. He holds no grudge toward his farmer friends and family. "But it hurt me when I came home."
The winter of 1945 was one of Europe's coldest and was especially hard on men who were forced to work outdoors all day and sleep naked in unheated barracks. "They'd take our clothes at night so we wouldn't escape," Hagedorn said. "Even if we did, we had nowhere to go."
As the Soviet Red Army swept across Europe, the Germans retreated, taking their captives with them. Germans didn't want to be captured. They knew the Russians didn't take any German prisoners alive," he said. In early February, "in the dead of winter in knee-deep snow," he said, 12,000 Allied prisoners began walking across Germany. When Russian troops liberated them in early May, "there were only about 500 of us left. I saw more hell there than at the front lines," Hagedorn said. "I had some buddies killed right in front of me."
As the war ended, so many American POWs were liberated that the Army gave them passes to make their own way to England. A week later Hagedorn was back in America. There were no parades, no celebrations, no nothin'," Hagedorn said sadly. He's raised a family, outlived his first wife, worked many jobs and now keeps busy puttering around the townhouse he shares with Marjorie, his second wife. They knew each other before the war but married others. After their spouses died in the 1980s they found each other again and renewed their love.
Hagedorn is a member of the American Ex-Prisoners of War, Disabled Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars. He often spends quiet afternoons reading the "Ex-POW Bulletin," a monthly magazine that features several pages of "Taps" obituaries, evidence of America's loss of about 1,000 World War II veterans a day. "There aren't too many of us left," Hagedorn said. "Out of 37 guys who served with me, only three of us are left." As with many POWs, Hagedorn's war-related health problems were ignored by the Veterans Administration, and he didn't receive medical benefits until the mid-1950s. He was also ignored when the Army passed out postwar medals. In 1996, after former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown called the Pentagon, he got his POW medal. In spite of governmental neglect, he still loves his country. "Glad I went, and I'm glad I could do what I did for my country - but when I came home, I was on my own," Hagedorn said. "I just don't know why it took them all these years." His advice to young people considering a military career is cautious. "It all depends. Some kids just can't find themselves, and they ought to try it. There are good opportunities for education and it's not a bad income," Hagedorn said. "I don't think I'd encourage my son to go, though."

Sue Hansen

PFC Paul John Jordan C Coy.,109th Med.Bn. 34th Inf. Div.,168 Regt.

My uncle, Paul John Jordan, was born in Maibe, WV on April 27th 1919. As a young man in the 1930s, Paul worked in the Water Department in the C.C.C.
Paul was the first of six Jordan brothers to join the armed forces. He enlisted on July 14th 1941, several months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, at Baltimore, MD. He was trained as a medic and then assigned to the 34th Infantry Division. He was placed in C Company, 109th Medical Battalion of the 168th Infantry Regiment. He was listed as 5'11" and 147 lbs.
Paul's 34th Infantry Division was sent straight from Newport News,VA to Oran, North Africa to begin "Operation Torch". In early February of 1943, the 34th Infantry Division's 3rd Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment was positioned 10 miles east of Sidi Bou Zid on three hills: D.J. Lessouda (northernmost), D.J.Hadid (southernmost) and D.J.Ksaira, which was the easternmost position of the American Forces. C Company, 109th Medical Battalion was atop this hill. At 0430 on February 14th 1943, the German 10th and 21st Panzer Division tanks moved out to attack Sidi Bou Zid.
A raging sandstorm had been blowing for 12 hours and the American Forces couldn't see or hear anything. The storm was blowing from east to west - right into the faces of the Americans atop these three hills. The German tanks first surrounded, then later bypassed these positions. The German infantry, riding the tanks and scout cars, then unleashed a relentless fire upon these three hills for two days. Relief columns sent from Sidi Bou Zid were repeatedly attacked by the German Luftwaffe, and the Americans lost 44 tanks at this time. On the nights of February 15th and 16th, several Americans escaped this ring, but 600 from Lessouda, and 800 from Ksaira surrendered to the Germans.
"Paul Jordan was listed as missing in action on February 17th 1943. He was transported to Sicily on February 3rd 1943, to mainland Italy on March 10th 1943, to Austria on March 14th 1943 and, finally, to Germany, on March 16th 1943. He spent time in Stalags 3A, 7A, 2B, 3B and 5B."

Daniel Patrick Lehan

Sgt. Philip Eugene "Bob" Guter 102 Cavalry Regiment

My father, Philip Guter, was a POW in Stalag 5B, after having been captured on Sicily. He earned the Silver Star.

Thomas Guter

Sgt. Ernest vanTelle 2/11th Battalion

My Dad, Ernest van Telle was a sergeant in the AIF 2/11th Battalion, captured on Crete. He was interned in Stalag 8B circa 28.10.41. He was later transfer to Stalag 357 on the 24th April 1944. Dad was a red head and "Bluey" is a nickname that was applied to red heads. (It's an Aussie thing). He has now moved into a home, in the moving process we discovered a number of photos taken at the POW camp. Can anyone put a name to any of the faces?

Gail Brindley

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The Wartime Memories Project
- Stalag 5B Prisoner of War Camp during the Second World War -

Stalag 5B Prisoner of War Camp

Those known to have been held in or employed at
Stalag 5B Prisoner of War Camp
during the Second World War 1939-1945.

The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

Announcements

Want to know more about Stalag 5B Prisoner of War Camp?

Recomended Reading.

Links

The Wartime Memories Project - Stalag 5B Prisoner of War Camp during the Second World War -

Stalag 5B Prisoner of War Camp

Those known to have been held in or employed at Stalag 5B Prisoner of War Campduring the Second World War 1939-1945.

The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

Announcements

Want to know more about Stalag 5B Prisoner of War Camp?

Recomended Reading.

Links

The Wartime Memories Project
- Stalag 5B Prisoner of War Camp during the Second World War -

Those known to have been held in or employed at
Stalag 5B Prisoner of War Camp
during the Second World War 1939-1945.