Prisoner of War Camps

Prisoner of War Camps Prisoner of war camps in the UK: German PoWs somewhere in England bring in the harvest. Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images What would happen if the UK's prison population suddenly increased by 400,000 people? That's what occurred between 1939 and 1948, when thousands of Germans, Ukranians and others became Britain's prisoners of war, according to a new book. The camps where the PoWs were imprisoned have largely (but not all) disappeared. At one time hundreds of them were spread across the UK. The best known was Island Farm in Wales - scene of a 'great escape' in 1945, with some German POWs getting as far as Birmingham and Southampton. Author Sophie Jackson has written a book, Churchill's Unexpected Guests, examining this overlooked period of Britain's history, looking at what happened to every camp from the period. “Researching POW camp locations proved a challenge when compiling Churchill's Unexpected Guests. Few official lists of camps or prisoners remain from that time and most camps were temporary and pulled down after the war. Some have subsequently been built on. Most modern camp lists are based on archaeological work – ironic when the camps existed a mere 60 years ago. English Heritage has worked hard to find the locations of camps, but even so many are still undiscovered. Records from the time give an insight into camp life and sometimes reveal the name of a camp, but often the documents didn't reveal the actual address, and prisoners were not allowed to write their camp address on any letters they sent home. Despite the difficulties a great number of camps have been identified, including the few listed here. Some were more famous than others, such as Island Farm Camp, Bridgend from which an audacious escape attempt was made by German prisoners. ©Wiltshire OPC Project/Cathy Sedgwick/2015 Over the coming years no doubt more camps will be added to this list as they are discovered, but many will remain forgotten forever, the last traces of their Nazi occupants long lost.” The English Heritage research referred to by Sophie was conducted by Roger Thomas and published in 2003. Thomas says the full list is still not complete: “Although there is a numeric sequence of 1,026 PoW Camps, there is no indication that this total was ever fully utilised. Substantial gaps exist in the sequence that are common to all sources consulted. Nevertheless, a number of sites have been located that remain unidentified and presumably fitted into the sequence somewhere.” Some sites comprised more than one facility. Thanks to English Heritage, we are allowed to reproduce that list. Extract of List connected to Wiltshire Name & Location County Country Notes Le Marchant Camp, Devizes Wiltshire England Barracks Easton Grey Camp, Malmesbury Wiltshire England Standard Type. Light Industrial and agricultural use. Eden Vale Camp, Westbury Wiltshire England Standard type. Site occupied by housing Military Hospital, Lydiard Park, Wiltshire England Purton Lydiard House, Lydiard Millicent, Wiltshire England Camp associated with Military Hospital Swindon Lopscombe Corner Camp, Salisbury Wiltshire England Precise location not identified Ashton Gifford Camp, Godford, ** Wiltshire England There is a great deal of uncertainty about Warminster this site, the only Godford listed by the OS is situated in Devon. Stratton Factory Camp, Swindon Wiltshire England Precise location not identified Hill Camp, Westbury Wiltshire England Precise location not identified Aliwell Barracks, North Tidworth Wiltshire England Precise location not identified ** Note – Should read Ashton Gifford, Codford, Warminster (The Guardian – Monday 8 November, 2010) ©Wiltshire OPC Project/Cathy Sedgwick/2015 Extracts from Wiltshire and The Great War: Training the Empire’s Soldiers by T. S. Crawford ♦ Enemy Internees and Prisoners of War When, early in the war, Westbury Rural District Council heard that 500 German prisoners of war (PoWs) were being sent to Wiltshire, a councillor suggested the downs near Imber as a suitable place for them to be held, because this area was well watered. Malice might have been behind the suggestion, because it is one of the bleakest spots in Wiltshire. Had the suggestion been accepted. disease and perhaps death would have been rife, though it could be argued that British troops endured living under canvas in the locality, albeit with a high rate of sickness. When internment and prison camps were established in Wiltshire they were attached to military bases and airfields. A War Department list dated November 1917 mentions only two prison camps in Wiltshire, at Lark Hill and Perham Down, and an interned aliens’ camp at Bulford, but a Home Office report dated January that year lists camps at Bulford, Chisledon, Codford, Lark Hill, Fovant, Perham Down, Sutton Veny and Yatesbury. At that time, they were guarded by men of the Royal Defence Corps, who were either too old or medically unfit for active Front-Line service. In May civilian internment camps were noted at Bulford and Sutton Veny — and at Fargo and Sutton Veny hospitals, where either the inmates worked as orderlies or were patients in guarded wards. ….. Major J. L. Isler of Switzerland visited five Wiltshire working camps in October 1917. At Codford the camp had held combatant prisoners up to 11 June, when they had been replaced by civilians, comprising 114 Germans, 24 Austrians and 19 Turks. They were employed as carpenters, plumbers and painters and in road-making, being paid from 7d to 10½d an hour and working fifty—two hours a week. At Lark Hill there were 501 ‘combatant prisoners’, fifty of whom were sleeping in tents. On 9 September a sentry had fired into the PoW compound, wounding six men, four of whom had gone to hospital; a court of inquiry found that the sentry was mentally deranged and so not accountable. At Fovant, Sub-Lieutenant W. T. Cruickshank was in charge of 125 Army and sixteen Naval men, with five others under detention for attempted escapes. At Sutton Veny there were 200 German soldiers, who complained about the lack of a drying-room; the camp was to be closed in a fortnight’s time and its inmates moved to another nearby. ….. A list drawn up in October 1918 of camps that might be visited to determine the work skills of prisoners notes 144 PoWs at Chisledon, 179 at Codford, 844 at Lark Hill and 194 at Perham Down. No camp in Wiltshire met the popular conception of a PoW camp holding large concentrations of men, or experienced any fame or notoriety as did the facilities at Frith Hill in Surrey, Donington Hall or Douglas on the Isle of Man. But several did feature in the national press (though, curiously, not so much in local newspapers) when warnings were issued to the public about escaped inmates. Between May 1917 and June 1918 The Times listed twenty-two escapees from Wiltshire camps. ©Wiltshire OPC Project/Cathy Sedgwick/2015 In May 1917 three Germans escaped from their camp on the eastern side of Lark Hill, near the former British and Colonial Aircraft Company sheds. They had been dressed in German uniforms, but these had been found discarded. On 13 September that year, three German soldiers and two sailors escaped from Fovant, three being quickly recaptured, the other two being caught a day or so later. ….. Most escapees were quickly recaptured, but the two who came closest to success were the German sailors Otto Homke and Conrad Sandhagen, who escaped from Lark Hill on 17 April 1918 and were at liberty until early May, when they were caught trying to take a boat on the south—east coast with the aim of crossing to Zeebrugge. They were dressed as civilian sailors, in blue serge clothes and high boots, and between them had an Australian shilling and nearly £1 in English silver coins. A mile from where they were caught they had hidden two bags containing biscuits, bread and other food, clothing, razor, shaving brush and knife. The men looked robust and well fed and one had a large bottle of water. …… Some of his compatriots were far less fortunate, 103 dying and being buried in Wiltshire, mostly from the virulent influenza of 1918—19. In January 1919 at Sutton Veny Hospital 273 of the 573 patients were German. Of graves of the Great War period there were seven at Chisledon, two at Devizes, forty-seven at Durrington, one at Fovant, thirty-eight at Sutton Veny and eight at Tidworth. (In the 1960s the bodies of German PoWs from both world wars were removed from local cemeteries and churchyards and reinterred a Cannock Chase.) …… Those who survived still had a long wait before returning home. In September 1919 Hubert Jaegster wrote from tent number 27 at Lark Hill to his mother in Braunschweig: “As you will see from this letter, I am in the same sorry state as before, so a reunion is not on the cards for the time being. I know you have been expecting me home for a long time, but you will have to be strong and patient for a few more months. It seems the present government is making no efforts whatsoever to get us back.” At the end of July there had still been 91,818 PoWs in Britain, but nearly all of these were home by the end of the year. (With permission from Terry Crawford) ©Wiltshire OPC Project/Cathy Sedgwick/2015 .

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