4. Fallschirmjäger-Division

[noworldorder555]

Apologies for the delayed response and thank you for your kind replies. When I posted my original message regarding my grandfathers German Military Career, I also shared that information with a local historian who had replied to a previous message regarding the 'POW Camp No.188' in Johnstone, Scotland (where my father grew up). My father always assumed they were POW's (DP's) there but according to Town Hall records, they were residents. The Military no longer used the Nissen Huts so they became housing!?

Anyway my Grandfather was captured in Metz in France by two 'Black U'S' allies. My emphasis is only on the 'Black' because I have since learned the U.S. had '23 Black units' in total which participated in the American Expeditionary Force in Europe and the one under Pattons command was the 999th Field Artillery Battalion. When my grandfather was captured he was beaten along with another soldier and ordered to dig his own grave. It's said he pulled a photograph of his wife and two sons (my father and uncle who were still in Königshütte, O.S.) from his top pocket and showed it to the Officer in command, something happened? There was another incident or intervention, hence my grandfather survived his ordeal and became a POW.

I have since learned several vital details since my original post, 'Siegmarshofen' is a village or small town today known as 'Semecourt', a French municipality, with 886 inhabitants in the Department of Moselle, Lorraine Region. In short it is located to the north of the City of Metz in the area where the 462nd Division was operating. The history records state that the place was named after a Franc named 'Sigmar' and was based on the French side of the historical Franch-German language border. In 1871 by the Peace of Frankfurt it came to the German Reich, and during WW1, On Sept. 2 1915, by Imperial Decree, all French speaking communities were to receive German sounding names. On October 7 1915 'Semecourt' was renamed 'Siegmarshofen'. So I've established where he was captured on the 9th October 1944.

Now onto POW Camp No.2. I had checked the online references regarding the list of POW Camps in the U.K. and am aware of 'Toft Hall', however I don't think that's where he was sent. According to the details on the form my grandfather 'arrived' at the Camp on 16.11.1944. He was processed 4 days later. With some deeper digging into the small details (stamps, dates and Commanders) on my grandfathers POW Identity form, I've managed to establish the following - Lieut. Col. J.S. Windsor (who was in charge of the processing of German POW's at Camp No.2) was in the 'South Wales Borderers'. I've established that he was based in Folkstone, Kent. 182nd on 31 August 1944. If I can locate 'John Stephen Windsors' whereabouts on 20.11.1944 - the date in which my grandfather signed his POW declaration, I can confirm the following, which was copied from a file at the P.R.O:

Category - P.W. Base Camp
No. of Camp - 2
Address of camp - Woodhouselee Camp, Milton Bridge, Midlothian, Scotland.
Telegraphic address - Priswar Milton Bridge.
Railway Station - Edinburgh (Waverley).
Telephone No. 48
Commandant - Lt. Col. J.S. Windsor, M.C.
War Establishment - V/202/2 (1500 - 2000 ORs)

To date I can confirm the following:

Captured - Metz: 9th October 1944
Arrived in Camp No.2: 16th November 1944
Processed at Camp No.2: 20 November 1944

I think he following also applies, my grandfather arrived in the U.K. from Port Winston at Arromanches, Normandy, with a number of other prisoners. He would have embarked at one of the main ports in South England - Southampton or Portsmouth. Every prisoner arriving had to go through a screening process. They were deloused and put on trains which would take them to one of the nine Command Cages. They woud be interrogated to establish their loyalty to the Nazi regime, then graded. Coloured patches were sewn onto their uniforms:

A white patch meant no particular loyalty or indifference to Nazism.
A grey patch meant not an ardent Nazi, had no strong feelings either way.
A black patch meant a hardcore Nazi, which usually meant Waffen SS prisoners. (Fallschirmjager and U-Boat crews). My grandfather omitted his time in the Fallschirmjager's from his interrogation report, for obvious reasons.

The ardent Nazi prisoners were sent to the most rural locations throughout the U.K. My grandfather was sent to the one and only 'holding cage' in Scotland - HAMPDEN PARK, lol... Honestly!? Scotland's National Football Stadium???? From there he would have got a train to Waverley Station and sent to: Woodhouselee Camp, Milton Bridge, Midlothian, Scotland.

He declared himself 'Polish' (The whole family had German Citizenship and none of them opted for British Citizenship). Back home in Königshütte, O.S. the Gestapo and every other police unit were looking for my grandfather. All of his telegraphs were to be intecepted by the authorities. My grandmother was reciecing a 'Widowers War Pension' because no one knew if he was K.I.A. or M.I.A. Anyway my grandmother somehow received notification of my grandfathers whereabouts and she paid a father to smuggler her and her 2 son's (my father and uncle) from East Germany into West. My grandmother and the children somehow made it to a camp in England. I'm assumung it was a 'Polish Resettlement Camp'... Even though she wasn't too fond of Poles. These are details I'm yet to confirm.

I am sorry for the long winded reply but so much of our own personal history gets lost or destroyed.

I'll keep you posted with any further updates.

Amanda

[mspring]

Bit late reply - but Lt.Col JS Windsor was the Commandant at Toft Hall in the 1947 listing of camps.