Smith , S A
Sapper Sidney Arthur Smith
From Pamela Crooks 07/06/2024
My mum’s brother was in Stalag VIIIB.
He was in the Royal Engineers 226 Field coy. service no. 2193840 (48th division?) Killed in Stalag VIIIB camp 13.12.43 Aged 25
Buried KRAKOW RAKOWICKI CEMETERY
The circumstances of his death have never been quite clear. The story was that my granddad was told is that Sid was accidently shot in the head when another soldier wrestled with a guard whilst they were out on a work party.
Grandad tried hard to find out more but was met with silence.
Does anyone remember Sid or remember being told about this incident? He was tall with black hair and was good at cricket. He lived in Tooting, London and was engaged to a girl called Victoria (Vic). My mum who is now 85 is really keen to find out what really happened to her brother.
UPDATE: 07/06/2024
Sid was shot and killed along with another prisoner by a guard in a wash room at camp E563. He describes them as being shot dead at a distance of one foot. This information was a witness statement from the Company Sergeant Major writing about War Crimes on Section Q of the liberation form.
My grandfather never believed the story that he was told about it being an accident. It now appears he was right.From Pamela Crooks. 04/04/2025
I have been helped hugely by members of the Facebook Stalag VIIIb group who have generously looked up information and shared it with me. I have extensive documentation including witness statements with regard to the shooting and killing of my uncle by a German guard when he was a POW.
Extra details: Sidney Smith was my uncle,. He was taken POW in 1940 and taken to Sallag VIIIb POW camp. He was in a working party at a coal mine E563. Robertsgrube, (Robert’s Shaft) Coal Mine, Bory, Jaworzno, Poland.
On Friday 13th December 1943 Sid was in the washroom with other prisoners showering after a shift when a guard picked a fight with an Australian prisoner and stated beating him up for being ‘too slow’. The other prisoner retaliated and the guard shot him dead and the bullet hit my uncle in the head and killed him too. Both my Uncle and the other POW were only 25 years old at the time. The shooting was witnessed by other POW’s and there was an enquiry into this war crime in 1946. However it does not seem that the Guard whose name was Josef Hackenberg (or Hackenbeck) ever faced justice.
Sidney Smith deserves to be remembered. My late mother often spoke of him and described him as a gentle soul.
(I discovered that some records have my uncle named as Sydney. This is incorrect. His name is Sidney with an i.)
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