German POW in France

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DGoss
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Joined: 01 Mar 2017, 01:50
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

German POW in France

#1

Post by DGoss » 16 May 2019, 02:17

Hi

My grandfather was in the Heer in the Wehrmacht and was taken Prisoner of War in France. Judging from some postcards that he sent while being held captive, it looks like he was captured sometime in the Fall of 1944. He was with the Grenadier Regiment 127 that was part of the 48th Infantry Division. Fieldpost number:15841 (D) is on letters. There is a POW number: 31G-655569-German, U.S. Army -PWIB-France on the postcards.

Does anyone know if/how to obtain any information with that number? I'm trying to find out when he was captured, where and where he was held.

It also says that he was "Released CCD, Group A" Not sure when that was released.

Thanks for any help

Daryl
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GregSingh
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Re: German POW in France

#2

Post by GregSingh » 16 May 2019, 04:11

It also says that he was "Released CCD, Group A" Not sure when that was released.
I think it's about this postcard being released by censorship. CCD = Civil Censorship Detachment.
Postcard has 1946 all over it, so most likely it's when it was released by CCD.


DGoss
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Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Re: German POW in France

#3

Post by DGoss » 16 May 2019, 15:00

From what I know, the family didn't receive those postcards back in Celle until 1946. So it took quite a long time before they knew what happened to him. But that's about all I know. Hence the search :)

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eindhoven
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Re: German POW in France

#4

Post by eindhoven » 21 May 2019, 21:42

DGoss wrote:
16 May 2019, 02:17
There is a POW number: 31G-655569-German, U.S. Army -PWIB-France on the postcards.
31 = number given to the theater of operations (31 = ETO, European Theater of Operations)
G = letter that indicates in which country's army the POW served (G = Germany, A = Austria, I = Italy)
655569= personal number of the POW, also known as the Internee Service Number (ISN)

PWIB= Prisoners of War Information Bureau

The Red Cross (note the stamp) visited with and provided the cards to your Opa and handled sending the correspondence for him. These were cleared by the camp censors.

https://www.icrc.org/en/document/reques ... -civil-war

Do you speak German? You should also contact the Standesamt Celle if this is where your Opa was born. They will likely have some additional service records not just on this inquiry but your larger family.

DGoss
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Joined: 01 Mar 2017, 01:50
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Re: German POW in France

#5

Post by DGoss » 23 May 2019, 22:17

Thank you Eindhoven. I still have family in Celle actually. The funny thing is that I just received a letter from the Red Cross in Germany stating that they didn't have any kind of record of him. I responded and sent them copies of those post cards above.

That may give them additional information to help also.

I will reach out to the Standesamt also. They helped me with a birth certificate recently.

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