Re: Stalag Luft lll
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In reply to:
Re: Stalag Luft lll
Sandra Braccioforte 3/16/04
Sandra, my father was a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III and was also in Moosburg.He was in the 8th Air Force 3rdDivision's 452nd Bomb Group and was stationed in Deopham Green while in England.His plane crashed over Germany, and it was sheer dumb luck that the Germans that found him didn't shoot him on site.Actually, there was a gentleman in my dad's camp that jotted down pictures of the camp's various areas and then put it together in a book after the war--each of the men he knew could purchase a copy.While I cannot copy all pages and send them to you (as the book is likely copyrights)--and all I have are copies on my computer anyway (gave the original book back to my father after I copied it all), I can e-mail or send you (via regular mail) pages that you might find interesting.Stalag Luft III was actually in Sagan, Germany.Here is a little of what the writer says of the camp:
"...The original Luft III camp was situated at Sagan in lower Silesia, one hundred miles southeast of Berlin and seventy-five miles northwest of Breslau...Sagan, a small town on the Bober River, a tributary of the Oder, is surrounded by heavy forest land.The prison camp itself was built on partially cleared land southeast of the town.Many of the pine stumps remained until scavenging priosners dug them up for firewood, an ever-essential but scarece commodity."
"The historic Russian push into Eastern Germany caused this evacuation by foot on January 28, 1945, at midnight as Russian sepearheads with their heavy artillery pushed in audibly from the east.The German Luftwaffe personnel in charge of the camp was determined at any cost to prevent the liberation of highly trained airment by the rapidly advancing Russian armies and resorted to the "last ditch" measure of walking out to the southwest as snowflakes pottended a blizzard."
"There can be no doubt that the ten thousand or more despairing men of Luft III, who "hit the road" that momentous night as hope sounded from the east, will forever remember the tortuous trek that followed in the ever-increasing fury o the blizzard.Snow fell for four days in near-zero temperature...Six days and sicty-two miles from Sagan, a part of the miles-long line entrained at Spremberg for Nuernberg.Others went on to Moosburg, near Munich...Finally Nuernberg was reached and existence began again at Stalag XIII-D on the edge of the city..."
It sounds like your uncle and my father were not in the same group, except, perhaps, when they were at Stalag Luft III in Sagan.Then, it sounds like, many went separate ways.
The title page of the book states: "Stalag Luft III--a collection of German prison camp sketches with descriptive text based on personal experiences by Bob Neary."
More Replies:
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Re: Stalag Luft lll
Sandra Braccioforte 5/22/05
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Re: Stalag Luft lll
Marilyn Krzus 5/23/05
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Re: Stalag Luft lll
Sandra Braccioforte 5/23/05
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Re: Stalag Luft lll
Robert Johnson 9/27/13
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Re: Stalag Luft lll
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Re: Stalag Luft lll
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Re: Stalag Luft lll
Marilyn Krzus 5/23/05
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Re: Stalag Luft lll