Border POWs after Arnhem

At the end of WW2 in Europe all returning Allied POWs, were asked to complete questionnaires about their experience of captivity. For men captured at Arnhem there are 2,358 of these questionnaires, roughly a third of the potential total, in the National Archive.

The Questionnaires include those of 152 men from men in The Border Regiment. Those who returned before the repatriation scheme was in full swing account for most of the missing questionnaires. For example Captain Cleasby and Lieutenant Baillie were held at Oflag IX A/H. This camp was liberated on 1 April 1945 almost a fortnight before its sister camp Oflag IX A/Z. There are questionnaires from men held at A/Z, none from men at A/H.

Perhaps the most significant omission is that of Lieutenant Colonel Haddon’s, who was held at Oflag XII A at Hadamar. He was freed on 26 March.

Managing POWs

The Germans managed their new prisoners according to the Geneva Convention.  This prevented officers from working; ORs had to work and theoretically NCOS could work if they wished.

Primary camps

At Arnhem the Germans also differentiated between wounded and able-bodied men. After an initial problem, when some wounded went to Limburg, walking wounded went by hospital train first to Stalag XI B at Fallingbostel. The officers were then moved within 48 hours to Oflag IX A/H or A/Z for registration. Severely wounded men went directly to hospitals in The Netherlands and Germany and some did not enter the POW system proper until December 1944. Most men were in their permanent camps by the end of October.

Officers

Able-bodied  officers and men went by train to Stalag XII A, an OKW camp, at Limburg for registration, before the officers were separated and sent to Dulag XII B. From there they went to Oflag 79 outside Brunswick.

Stalag Luft

The Geneva Convention also required that captured troops were held in camps managed by their equivalents in the capturing power’s military.

Navy men should be held by the Kriegsmarine; RAF by the Luftwaffe and Army by the Heer. However in the German Armed Forces (Wehrmacht) airborne troops  were part of the Luftwaffe.

The Germans recognised this and their standing orders were:

“Paratroopers, airborne and anti-aircraft troops in the British and American armed forces are part of the army, not the air force. Prisoners of war from these branches of service are not to be counted as Air Force prisoners of war as specified in “Regulations about the prisoners of war” from 05.30.1943 No. 2000 43g. They are therefore not to be held in Air Force camps, but in those of the OKW.” [Oberkommando der Wehrmacht camps were managed by the Army]

However the orders went on to give the Luftwaffe the lead role in interrogating airborne prisoners as the Luftwaffe had the necessary expert knowledge.

“Since in the German armed forces, these types of prisoners would be part of the Air Force, their interrogation for intelligence gathering purposes is the responsibility of the Air Force.”

Confusion

Despite these orders about half the Glider Pilot POWs did go to Stalag Lufts and not all the Arnhem POWs passed through the Dulag Luft. However the men’s questionnaires confirm  that most of their interrogators at Arnhem and later at other camps were members of the Luftwaffe. And indeed the  Army made little use of their interrogation centre - Oberbefehlshaber (OB) West.

Peter Green