WWII Websites

36TH Infantry Division


http://www.texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org/texas.htm

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Stalag IIB:
The Final Report
Unclassified

American Prisoners of War in Germany (1)
Prepared by Military Intelligence Service
War Department
1 November 1945

http://darbysrangers.tripod.com/id64.htm

 

Try this one

www.majordickwinters.com

Winters commanded Easy Company of the 101st Airborne after Easy and other elements dropped into Normandy on D-Day

I say "after" Easy dropped---before then Easy was commanded by Capt Herbert Soble and then Lt. Meehen---Soble was transferred from Easy and Meehen's plane was shot down over the drop zone on D-Day

 

Probably not what you are looking for, but I got to wondering one day what "Kilroy was here" meant.

http://www.kilroywashere.org/001-Pages/01-0KilroyLegends.html

 

Fooling around on the internet one night , I found this:

http://www.archive.org/stream/PrisonersOfWarBulletinVol.33March1945/POW9_djvu.txt

Stalag II B
Ben Morasco, an American prison-
er of war, sent, through Geneva, the
following report on sports at Sta-
lag II B:

Softball is the favorite pastime enjoyed
by American prisoners of war at Stalag II B,
somewhere in Germany. To date, three
leagues, each lasting about a month, have
been played. The first series was taken by
the Apple Knockers and the last two by
the Butter Cups, who finished in third
place in the first league. Some real ball was
played through each series, with many pro-
fessional ball players found to be in our
midst. Some of the outstanding players are:
Frank Lavascio, Allen Dernback, and George
Cottone from New York; Roy Fagan and
Wallace Graves from Texas; W. R. Plouf
from way up in Washington; "Pop" Drake
from Oklahoma; Bill Orlaski from Mich-
igan; George York from Bean Town, Bos-
ton; Mahlon Black from Pennsylvania; and
Ruben Camacho from Sunny California.
Practically every state in the union was
represented by at least one player on one
of the many teams. Another item of im-
portance is the age-old feud between the
North and South. Three ball games have
been played between the two factions, and
the Rebels have beat the Yanks in two of
them. Plans are under way at present for
a fourth game.
Volleyball is enjoyed by a few. In a tour-
nament to determine the champs of the
Stalag, an American team composed of
Steve Schweitz, Roy Fagan, Wally Graves,
Allen Dernback, Ruben Camacho, and Jett
Black took top honors. They defeated the
French and Belgians with ease. A hand-
carved plaque, made by a French prisoner,
was presented to the winners.
________________________________________________

The name in bold is my father. I know almost nothing about his time as a POW. He just wouldn't talk about it and he was killed in a car wreck while I was in the Corps. I never had a chance to raise the subject while grown with military experience of my own.

I was pleased and surprised to find this little blurb.

It is an overall interesting website. You can read the actual paper.

 

http://www.usshouston.org/

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/prisoners_of_war.htm

http://www.west-point.org/family/japanese-pow/

Of course there are many, many more on WW II.

 

And here was how German POW's fared at Camp Atterbury:

"When I arrived at camp Atterbury in the middle of September 1944 (I was wounded and taken prisoner on August 20th in Normandy) life in the POW camp was heaven. We received a new U.S. Army outfit, got as much to eat as we could eat and slept in a bed with a mattress.

"There were no German officers and no non-commissioned officers in Camp Atterbury, except for a short period of time when a few hundred officers passed through, which was probably late in 1945. The first few months I was working in one of the 12 kitchens within the POW camp, but I found this rather tiresome and volunteered for work outside the camp.

"There is hardly a menial job I didn't do during the next year; picking tomatoes and apples, working in a slaughterhouse, driving a tractor, pressing shirts and trousers, washing dishes and so on. Some of this work was done as far south a the Kentucky border and some as far north as Indianapolis..."

 

The POWs at Stalag IIB were used primarily as agricultural slaves all over the area. The treatment varied widely depending on the character of the German commander they worked for, but the hours were long and conditions were universally bad. The food was worse, as well as skimpy. The German routinely confiscated Red Cross supplies.

Quite a contrast.

 

Sure was. My father saw German POW's working at the Charlestown Powder Plant many days. He said they would sing like larks and happy to be alive.

 

German prisoners were rounded up and corralled in a location on Normandy's coast-------------few things they needed to know

1. Were they headed to England or to the United States?? Made all the difference in whether they would enjoy a lengthly holiday or not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. Did the ship they were to sail on come equipped with air conditioning and with ice cream makers???:flower::type:

One German unit had a white sheet tied to the end of a flag pole----ready to surrender to approaching Allied forces-----the commander notices a column of tanks approaching his position---the tank commander approaches the German unit-----the German unit notices it was a British unit that had advanced on them demanding their surrender----the German commander attempts to "wave" them(the British unit) on telling them that he would give his word that he would surrender to the next approaching AMERICAN unit coming his way----the British commander tells the German commander---if you do not surrender to us---we will notify the first approaching RUSSIAN unit we come across of your exact position!!!!!!!!!!! The German commander reluctantly surrenders pleading then with the British commander that they be turned over to the first American unit they come across while they were headed to the Allied rear!!!!

 

Unfortunately it didn't always work out so well. A US soldier (of a German Jewish family who had immigrated before the war) wrote about shooting a German in the stomach who had approached his position at night. As he lay dying he asked the American, "Why? I was surrenduring". The American replied, "Ich wissen nicht" (I didn't know).