Hi There I see this an elderly forum and I have just joined ww2talk.com I am unsure if this forum will serve my object, which is to cobble together more information and potentially retrace my father's journey in some manner (I won't be risking the blizzards the bayonets or the starvation, though). Briefly my father was captured in Nth Africa at Fort Michelle on 8th April 1941 and, as a POW first of Italians and later Germans was eventually repatriated to UK mid May 1945. The conditions described in his report "ROUGH HISTORY OF MY P.O.W. LIFE" are utterly appalling throughout This brief recorded history includes the following extracts that may relate to this forum: "After about 3 months a big batch of us were sent to the coal mines firstly in Milavity & then Dimbrover. . . . . . "It was from this camp that we started on our 800 miles forced march through the snow blizzards & ice carrying as many of our worldly goods as possible with us. . . . . . . "The whole march took about 3 months during which time we covered over 800 miles out of Poland through Obersalicia – Sudaten land Checkoslavakia & ended at a village called Michael Nieu Kirken in Bavaria where we fended for ourselves for some couple of weeks & then we were picked up by the americans. . . . . I have taken an overview of the content of this forum and think it may, at least in part, be a much fuller record of events than my father's record which runs to a dozen handwritten (though I have transcribed them) pages - which contain little in the way of detail of specific stalag numbers or place names My father was in 11th Battery, 3rd anti-tank regiment of the 2/3rd Australian Anti-Tank Regiment, 9th Division, AIF and sadly passed away in February 1960, so I did not have a lot of opportunity to know him. If there is "anybody out there" :wink: who may care to improve my education I would be pleased to hear from you. Cheers Alan PS my apologies if this entry contravenes a rule or something - at present I know none.
Hi Welcome It may be worth starting a thread just for your father, and so keep any/all details together in one place. Name: N G H Croker Rank: Pte Army Number: NX59392 Regiment: 3 Anti/Tk. Rg. POW Number: 32822 Camp Type: Stalag Camp Number: 344 Camp Location: Lamsdorf, Poland Section: Australian Imperial Force: Officers and Other Ranks TD
Hi TD Thank you for your suggestion which in due time I shall take up and for your welcome to the site. Part of the problem I perceive and possibly over compensate for is his de-brief mentions he was at 12 different camps with reference to: Dinna, Benghazi, Tripoli,(a camp some miles out of) Capua, Sulmona, Prato Al Isarco, Grupiginano (campo 57) until the Italian capitulated, Markt Pango (Austria), Gorlity (NE Germany) (Stalag 8A), Loshnooitvich (Poland) then Milavity & Dimbrover under German direction - all before starting the 800 mile "European Tour" possibly subject of this forum. His de-brief is silent on where he went on this "Tour", hence my original question on this forum - is the "Tour" described in this forum likely to be the "Tour" my father took 71 years ago, given the only two scraps I have being the start and finish general locations that seem to roughly accord with the timing of this forum’s subject (first months of 1945). I am not sure how I would set up a forum "thread" to reflect this overall excursion from North Africa terminating in the UK - I am presently reading also a forum of the 2/3 Regiment with similar enquiries as a "first bite" as well as this forum. Anecdotally not many would be aware of the first few years of his incarceration (from North Africa to Grupiginano) as most were simply posted as "missing" (as my father was for the most of the first year) and the mortality rate was extreme then and subsequently until Milavity and Dimbrover - so I'm guessing few would now know anything about it. Naturally I will research war memorial archives and other sources later in the year when time permits. I would be very pleased to hear any other comments you or anybody may have. Cheers Alan
Hi Alan Try this link to the forum topic for POW's - http://ww2talk.com/forums/forum/26-prisoners-of-war/ - towards the top right hand corner is a black button that says 'Start New Topic' - I would suggest that if you name the thread for your father and add tags such as regiment, camp names etc then it will allow members here to pick up on it. We also often have new members join because they have read a thread and are either related to the person or know them indirectly via their relations memories, photos, places, etc etc TD
