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Memories of a POW Camp


leon21

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Here are some newspaper cutting from a scrapbook I compiled about 20 odd years ago, I recently found it in the attic and flipped

through it ,forgot these were in it. Might be of interest to some. I lived near this site for many years and still remember the concrete

pillboxs that stood near the mill. and have seen some of the POW graves, no names just numbers on the small headstones.post-3823-0-39430500-1356626971_thumb.jpgpost-3823-0-90545500-1356627027_thumb.jpgpost-3823-0-67983800-1356627063_thumb.jpgpost-3823-0-10543700-1356627094_thumb.jpg

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Heres a few more photos of Glen mills prisoners.

 

Pic 1. P.o.ws reparing wire fence at camp.

 

Pic 2. Working in the camps vegetable garden.

 

Pic 3. Taking some of the sacks of vegetables harvested to the cookhouse.

 

Pic 4. Prisoners at the camp Christmas Eve 1940.

 

Pic 5. Camp stamp on P.O.W letter. ( Camp No 168, later change to 176 )

 

Pic 6. Map of P.O.W. camps in Britain at its peak in 1948.

 

The first P.O.Ws in Britain were interned in two camps, ordinary soldiers were held in Glen Mill and officers interned at Grizedale

Hall Lancashire. ( Camp No 1 ) in 1939. By 1948 the number of camps was to grow to 600.

The camps further North housed the more ardent Nazis and members of the Waffen SS as well as Fallschirmjager and U-Boat crews.post-3823-0-75516500-1356702403_thumb.jpgpost-3823-0-74488600-1356702427_thumb.jpgpost-3823-0-29115200-1356702445_thumb.jpgpost-3823-0-17886500-1356702467_thumb.jpgpost-3823-0-93573000-1356702524_thumb.jpg

post-3823-0-48103800-1356702493_thumb.jpg

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Troops were billeted at the buildings which were later used to house Polish refugees before becoming the Arthurs and Kenyon centre.

The prefabricated housing estate at crete street built by the Glen Mill P.O.Ws I remember well. One of my Aunts and Uncles lived in

one of these buildings when they first got married, What I remember most about them was how warm and cosy they were, sadly they

were pulled down in the late 50s and replaced by the concrete jungles of the 1960s.

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There are still some prefabricated houses around the corner from me with old people still living in them, they are probably collectors items now :lol:

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  • 5 years later...

Here is a photo of Heinkel 111 ( 1H+GH of 1/KG26 based at Trondheim-Vaernes in 1940 it was shot down and

ditched in Druridge Bay Northumberland on 15th August 1940. It's mechanic Gefr Alwin Machalett is on the

left talking to his friend Uffz Erich Schmidt, who was captured after his He111 ( 1H+AH ) was shot down over

southern England on 11th September 1940. Gefr Alwin Machalett with his crewmates Uffz Willi Zimmerman

( Pilot ), Oblt Rudolf Roch (Observer), Gefr Erwin Kulick  ( Wireless Operator ), and Flgr Ernst Henrichsen

( rear gunner ), were all sent to the Glen Mill Camp and later shipped to a camp in Canada were they remained

till the end of the war.

The second photo shows Oblt Rudolf Roch and Uffz  Willi Zimmerman being marched through Amble the other

crew members were behind out of the photo.

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Here is a photo of the mill and some sketches drawn by another Luftwaffe POW Feldwebel  Theodor Vater,

who sketch the area around the camp and inside.

1st a view of Glen Mill from behind the mill to the left is the Bank Top Mill.

2nd a view looking down the valley to the right towards the village of Lees, the mills were from left to right

are the Athens Mill, the Leesbrook Mill, and the Egyptain Mill.

3rd & 4th of conditions in side the mill.

5th this sketch of POWs playing football was drawn on the back of a cigarette packet.

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Here's a short video of POW prisoners at Glen Mill No2 Camp in 1939.

 

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Here is a image of part of a Luftwaffe map, showing the camp circled  with a note to bomber crews to avoid the area.

The note reads " Achtung  Deutsches  Gefangeneniager in Oldham - Leeds, the cartographer confusing the Oldham

place name of the village of Lees, with that of the city of Leeds.

Achtung-Deutsches-Gefangenenlager-in-Oldham-Leeds[1].jpg

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Official losses for 15.8.1940 according to Luftwaffe sources are:

Uffz. Willi Zimmermann           GB v., g.
Oblt. Rudolf Roch                          GB v., vw., g.
Gefr. Erwin Killick                        GB v., vw., g.
Gefr. Günther Malacheit            GB  v., g.
Flg.    Ernst Henrichsen              GB v., vw., g.

The list for 11.9.1940 is a lot longer, 22 persons

v = vermißt
vw = verwundet
g = gefangen
+ = tot

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Gefr Alwin Machallets account  of events that day states that, Flgr Ernst Henrichsen face was streaming with blood.

It looked terrible but it was in fact a grazing shot along the hairline, wireless operator, Gefr Erwin Kulick was also

injured when a bullet caught his ear lobe, he made a rough and ready bandage for Henrichsen and Kulick.

Machallets own injury was a bullet to his left leg which had entered below the kneecap, and had travelled through

the calf and had left a large tearing wound where it had exited.

He was taken to Newcastle Hospital for an operation  and stayed there for ten days, then he was taken by ambulance,

and under female guard to POW Camp No.2 a former textile mill at Oldham near Manchester.

He does not mention any injures to Ziimmerman or Roch.

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Very detailed information, all in the same book you mentioned?

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Yes Paul, it's good to have a persons own story of events, gives you a better understanding of what they went through.

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  • 2 years later...

Strange - here we have another one with the markings  1H+GK  shot down several times - once in February 1940 over the North Sea if I remember rightly and again on 15. August 1940. An aircraft with this marking is also one of the first with which Unteroffizier Walter Neusüß flew, which he mentioned personally, and is visible on only one early photo.

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