1944 British Prisoner of struggle, Stalag XII-A Limburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
My father mentioned to me as soon as, " that his friends died for nothing with the state of this usa now". alas my father was proper.
My father R.G.Townsend was once very lucky to continue to exist unscathed from Tunisia, and the North African marketing campaign 1942 and Sicily landings in 1943. He was a brave younger man of twenty years.
His luck ran out when he was captured at Arnhem in 1944. Many British prisoners captured all over the combat of Arnhem had been at the start sent to Stalag XIIA. sooner than he used to be transferred to every other camp in Poland, he was at last liberated by using US troops.
He was once demobbed in 1947.
Operation Market garden (17–25 September 1944) used to be an unsuccessful Allied militia operation, fought within the Netherlands and Germany within the 2d World warfare.
Their mission -- to take, and hold, the Arnhem Bridge over the Rhine, far behind enemy lines until lend a hand arrived.
This historic Dutch city has never forgotten its debt to the 10,000 British and Polish soldiers who got here from the sky in some of the great heroic failures of the 2d World struggle.
In September 1944, 70 years in the past, with Paris liberated the Allies hatched a new plan – codenamed Operation Market garden - to thrust north thru Holland and on into Germany to deliver the final blow. Airborne troops would land through parachute and glider to capture a collection of Dutch bridges and then hold on unless an unlimited armoured column may arrive by means of highway and beef up them. The remaining bridge straddled the Rhine at Arnhem. but, after all, the cavalry couldn't get there in time.
thru a combination of poor planning and dangerous luck – the Germans had just parked a crack SS unit within the space – the evenly-armed Allied troops ended up surrounded by using overwhelming enemy forces. Of the 10,000 males who landed at Arnhem, just under 2,four hundred would make it out once more after a vicious nine-day battle. the remainder had been killed or taken prisoner.
Stalag XII-A Limburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
prerequisites at Limburg had been notoriously bad with next to nothing in the way in which of services. that is partly defined through the truth that Stalag XIIA's primary perform was once to act as a transit camp which processed newly captured Prisoners of war before distributing them amongst the other, better prepared Stalags in Germany. in most cases a new prisoner would arrive, be interrogated, documented, and moved on inside a couple of weeks, due to this fact most men didn't have to endure this miserable camp for long. however it was as a result of this brief keep that the prisoners might not be equipped to make the prerequisites extra habitable, nor have been new arrivals in a position to obtain in any such short period of time the luxuries of the often life-saving red go Parcels. The inhabitants of the camp used to be always extraordinarily high because for many prisoners captured on the Western entrance, passing throughout the gates of Stalag XIIA was once their first point of call.
despite these issues and the unwieldy numbers, little used to be completed through the authorities to raise the camp above the bottom widespread denominator. For the British and american citizens, brief lodging came within the form of four very large marquees, not absolutely distinct to circus tents. There was no furnishings of any sort inside of these constructions, as an alternative the cramped conditions dictated that everyone had to sleep back to back on the ground, which in some cases used to be cobbled stone, with, if they had been extremely lucky, a unfastened scattering of straw for bedding.
Between ingredients, that have been just a few notches above hunger rations, there was absolutely nothing in the way in which of leisure to occupy the minds of the prisoners. There was once no lighting in the camp, and so as quickly because it obtained dark men slept unless crack of dawn as a result of there was little level to being awake. the threat of illness, especially diarrhoea, used to be far from being extraordinary, and the camp possessed almost nothing in the way of clinical amenities. The stone bathrooms served a few thousand males, and as such created a substantial stench.
regardless of the transitory nature of the camp, some of these held at Stalag XIIA have been more everlasting residents and spent several years there. The Russians were, as used to be the case in all German camps, handled as a sub-species and have been effectively left to rot. on the other hand there used to be a extensive inhabitants of Indian soldiers who had been captured during the combating in North Africa in 1942, and so they sat out the rest of the warfare at Limburg. As Commonwealth troops they were handled higher than most, and like POW's all over Germany who had been imprisoned for a long time, that they had discovered make their lives reasonably comfy and have been in a position to keep each themselves and their quarters easy.
Upon arrival, males who had been beginners to lifestyles as a POW had the basic ground principles of Stalag legislation spelt out to them, one in all which used to be a warning that they might be shot in the event that they positioned as so much as a finger upon the tall barbed wire fence that surrounded the camp. for many freshly captured servicemen, Stalag XIIA used to be their first opportunity to write down a postcard dwelling to their domestic, and even if it would take weeks to arrive it was steadily the case that this often is the first news they might receive that their family members, now posted as lacking-in-motion, had been alive. the next picture is an example of the sort of postcard, nearly all of that have been phrased in an an identical or extremely equivalent fashion.
Leaving the Camp
When the time got here to depart Stalag XIIA to a more everlasting camp, the bulk have been despatched by way of rail from Limburg station. depending on their destination this ride may remaining anything else from a few days to a week, as a result of the stoppages caused by the regular possibility of opportunistic strikes by means of British and American fighters. there have been a number of instances of planes strafing a train which, against the principles set out within the Geneva conference, carried no markings on it to indicate that it carried POW's, and in consequence some men were killed or wounded.
The cattle trucks that the prisoners were herded into possessed no longer even the splendid comforts that they'd change into conversant in at Stalag XIIA. in most cases 50 males had been packed into each and every automotive, and most had to stand right through the duration of the ride as there was no longer enough room to get down and sleep, though in some instances it was once possible for males to relaxation in shifts. throughout transportation very little used to be provided in relation to food or water. on occasion males were issued with a large sandwich prior to departure which they had to make last for per week, while others got nothing first of all, but were given a foul model of cheese alongside the best way. on the other hand the German guards have been keen to exchange their very own meals for any gadgets of the prisoners package. every automobile contained just one rest room, usually in the type of a deep tin of one description or every other. the chance to empty this container did not come too steadily, and as such the already stale air inside of each carriage became one thing to behold. due to the nature of their food regimen considering that arriving at Stalag XIIA, the boys often suffered with diarrhoea all through transportation.
September 1944
Many British prisoners captured all over the fight of Arnhem were in the beginning sent to Stalag XIIA. at the moment the camp held a vibrant mixture of nationalities; Africans, French, Indians, Italians, Russians, British, and a bigger choice of americans. it is unsure exactly what number of servicemen had been interned at Limburg right now or some other other, although upwards of 20,000 could be a possible figure. daily rations for each and every man was a fifth of a loaf of bread with a serving of margarine, on occasion with slightly of filling, for breakfast, followed by espresso after morning roll call, and ultimately the principle and evening foods have been a watered down soup.
December 1944
On the twenty third December, sixty three men were killed all through a British air raid one night time. The intended target had been the railway station at Diez, a few miles away, however sadly the flares dropped by using the pathfinder plane drifted off path in a robust wind and a few strayed into Stalag XIIA. The bombs of RAF Mosquitos didn't leave out the highlighted target of a concrete building, housing mostly clinical personnel.
At about this time, when American prisoners from the battle of the Bulge started out to reach, rations per man had been decreased to a tenth of a loaf, adopted via espresso, then a soup at lunch time, and either a potato soup or three jacket potatoes for supper.
Liberation - 1945
When Allied infantrymen began to cross the Rhine in March 1945 the position of Limburg was once in an instant threatened and so the Germans started to evacuate as many prisoners as they may. 1,200 British and American squaddies were packed into the same old railway transport, but the unmarked train was strafed rapidly after its departure via US P-47 Thunderbolts and numerous the prisoners were killed. A Scottish padre managed to get probably the most men off the train, and in so doing he ended the air strike by way of ordering them to dispose of their shirts and arrange their bodies in a box to spell "POW", the usage of the white skin on their backs. The P-forty seven's broke off their attack, but continued to observe the train so as to keep at bay different hunting plane which can spot the teach and regard it as prey. The wounded have been moved to a hospital in Limburg, even as the remainder endured their trip away from the entrance line.
www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PWp.c20Camps/Prisonerpercent20of...
just a few days after, in late March or early April, American troops of the ninth Armoured Division arrived at the camp and then proceeded to seize the city, meanwhile the camp and its 15,000 former prisoners had been placed within the care of the united states 70th Division. Stalag XIIA used to be renamed "Allied Prisoner Camp No.2", as a result of despite the fact that the British, American, and French prisoners were despatched house at the earliest probability, it was once not so easy to organize for the elimination of the approximate 7,500 Russians, Poles, and Yugoslavs that remained, and they needed to keep on the camp until this might be completed.
Representatives were appointed to speak for the servicemen of each us of a and a day by day council was once held to discuss any issues that the prisoners had. The Russians had reservations concerning the presence of US guards patrolling the perimeter fence the place there had earlier been Germans, and so they suspected that they will nonetheless be prisoners. They had been certain that this used to be no longer the case, and in an effort to make the location more high-quality to them it was agreed that Russian troops would serve alongside an American soldier at every protect post, although on the suggestion of the Captain who represented the Russians, they were not issued with ammunition.
so much to the delight of the lads the meals ration was appreciably increased to ten-in-one, though as was once the customized the rations were not loved for my part, but as a substitute heaped into an awfully large pot and boiled right into a stew. due to the poor situation of the camp, the occupying pressure had to operate in depth repair work to the amenities that had been in existence. The German guards who had been captured when Stalag XIIA used to be reached nonetheless remained on the camp and were employed in various roles, considered one of which was once the maintenance of the American mess.
There used to be an accident at some point when the American mess sergeant and the German cook went to Limburg together in search of potatoes, because there have been none at the camp and the cook may no longer bring himself to make a meal without them. whilst within the city they took the opportunity to indulge themselves in a little party, but upon returning to the camp their vehicle crashed and the cook was killed.
probably the most more peculiar points of interest at Stalag XIIA was the presence of over 15,000 discarded American helmets. After the liberation, these had been organized into an incredible pyramid outdoor the gates, an image often captured on film.
www.trailblazersww2.org/sims_pictures/70thpercent20Helmetp.c20Pil...
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2015-11-14 14:forty five:27
Orignal From: 1944 British Prisoner of war, Stalag XII-A Limburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
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