Organisation of German POW camps
Camp Administration and BackgroundGerman POW camps were administered and numbered according to military districts.
Blechhammer Synthetic Oil Refinery maps
Camp Administration and Background, WorkThe Refinery was in two parts, Blechhammer North, and Blechhammer South, approximately three Kilometres apart.
Below, shows the layout of Blechhammer North
Below, shows the layout of Blechhammer South
During…
Letters between Arthur Weston and Elfriede Hannak
Camp Administration and Background, Commemoration, Communication, In Camp, Post-war experiencesArthur A Weston OBE organised trips to Lamsdorf and was eventually motivated to write to Elfriede Hannak who had been an office worker at Stalag VIIIB Lamsdorf (it is not clear how he had obtained an address for her).
In this letter written…
Transfer of POWs to German camps from camps in Italy
Camp Administration and Background, Treatment and WelfareItaly formally entered WWII on June 10, 1940, implementing the Pact of Steel, which had been signed by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini on May 22, 1939. As a consequence of the surrender of Italy in September 1943 POWs held in camps in Italy…
Name changes of Stalag VIIIB (344)
Camp Administration and BackgroundThe history of the numbering of Stalag VIIIB can cause confusion for anyone seeking information on Second World War prisoners held in 'Stalag VIIIB'. The camp at Lamsdorf was numbered Stalag VIIIB from early in the war. Many thousands of…
Stalag VIIIB Camp History
Camp Administration and BackgroundStalag VIIIB Lamsdorf was a large, German prisoner of war camp, later renumbered Stalag 344. It was located near the small town of Lamsdorf (now called Lambinowice, in Poland) in what was then known as Upper Silesia. Today on the site of the…