WW2 DLI POW Numbers Arranged Consecutively

I'm steadily adding more British Army POW numbers in consecutive sequence to the website, concentrating on Durham Light Infantry soldiers and specifically those who were transported from Italy to Germany in September 1943: namely numbers in the sequences 139000, 155000 and 222000 and upwards, who were packed off to various camps in Germany from Camps PG 53, PG 70 and PG 82.

I've also added a new section which lists a selection of DLI POWs consecutively according to their German POW number.

These POW numbers begin lower than 100 and extend to over 295000, though obviously only a small sampling is included at present. This sequence can be accessed from this page:

http://stalag4d.atspace.co.uk/page210.html


I've also just added a word index list search feature to the site, courtesy of Freefind, which allows every word in the site to be seen and searched in alphabetical order. This can be accessed from bottom left of the

web site home page

Camp E 715 Stalag 4B POW Numbers, in the range 220000-222000

I've now added a substantial listing of Stalag 4B POW numbers in the range of 220000 to to 222000 to the existing index, many of these men were later assigned to Camp E 715, which was part of the I G Farben Auschwitz industrial complex.

The index page for the entire listing is here:

http://stalag4d.atspace.co.uk/page75.html

And the new introduction to the 220000 sequence starts here:

http://stalag4d.atspace.co.uk/page300.html

As before, these numbers are arranged in consecutive order as issued by the German authorities rather than by alphabetical surname. So in many cases it's now possible to see exactly who each soldier was literally standing beside on the day his stalag number was assigned.

Now included in the listing are several British POWs who have become the subject of books in recent years. This is noted in the listing where known.

I have also noted those Camp E 715 British POWs within the sequence who gave testimony or affidavits at the 1947 I G Farben War Crimes trial and linked from two names within the listing to their testimony transcribed on this excellent external external website:

The Mazal Library

The testimony of Signalman D T Frost (POW Number 220340) is on this page of the Mazal Library site:

http://www.mazal.org/archive/nmt/08/NMT08-T0623.htm

And that of Driver Eric J Doyle (POW No 220745) is here:

http://www.mazal.org/archive/nmt/08/NMT08-T0616.htm

Of the 1,400 plus British POWs at E 715 in early 1944, only seven British POWs were called to give evidence at the 1947 I G Farben trial, with a further 12 supplying sworn affidavits. I have included these details next to their names and numbers where known. Thus this POW listing for the first time indicates those other British POWs who were there and thereabouts with some of these sworn eyewitnesses in 1943.

Also included in the updated listing is Rifleman Denis Avey (POW Number 220243) who was the subject of this November 2009 BBC news story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8382457.stm

The sequence of numbers featuring Denis Avey is currently on this page:

http://stalag4d.atspace.co.uk/page303.html

Though otherwise fascinating and praiseworthy, the BBC news story neglected to give any details of the exact location and date of Avey's capture, the previous Italian camps he was held at, or of the regiment in which he served. This is all too typical of the mainstream media, who in their stories about World War Two, inevitably refer to a soldier as a 'Desert Rat' or a 'D Day Veteran' or, as in Avey's case, being in 'Special Forces', without ever specifying the exact unit in which the soldier served.

The purpose of this POW listing and of my website as a whole is to counter this vague 'social vacuum' theory of military history.

These men in uniform all those years ago were hardly ever alone and their experiences were hardly ever unique--then. Theirs was a collective experience: when they weren't organised in platoons and companies they were in queues or one kind or another--like the one in which their POW numbers were assigned.

What's now so special, after almost 70 years, is that so few of them put their experiences on record. Like World War One, World War Two is fast becoming an era of faded group photographs with no names attached. Much history is hidden and lost behind those mystery faces. Army life, whether in barracks or the frontline is always a shared experience and should be documented as such.

I have also added a substantial number of DLI POW names and numbers to the Stalag 4B number sequence extending to 280000, a process which is on-going.

16 DLI Support Company, 1945 Photograph

The latest photograph on the site is an informal group photo of the Carrier Platoon, Support Company, 16 DLI in 1945. The photo seems to have been taken 'in the field' and is of poor quality at present. However, I'm hoping that someone out there will have a better quality original--and be able to place names to a few more of the men featured. Among around 30 unidentified faces and a fearsome array of mortars, rifles, Bren guns and at least one Tommy gun, the photograph also features Carrier Platoon officer Lt Russell Collins MC, Sgt H Chilvers MM and the Support Company CO, Captain Harry Myneer MM. The photograph is on this page:

http://16dli.awardspace.co.uk/page319.html

The Gallantry award citations of Collins and Chilvers can be read in the Honours and Awards section of the site, here:

http://16dli.awardspace.co.uk/page36.html

16 DLI WW2 Campaign Medals and Service Certificate 1940-46

The latest addition to the site is a photograph of the campaign medals of L/Cpl Wilfred Townsend (4467119) of the Mortar Platoon, 16 DLI, who was with the Battalion from its formation in July 1940 through to its disbandment in early 1946. His campaign medals thus represent the entire service of the Battalion in World War Two and comprise the following:

The British War Medal 1939-45
The Defence Medal 1939-45
The 1939-45 Star
The Africa Star (with First Army Clasp)
The Italy Star.

The photograph is on this page:

http://16dli.awardspace.co.uk/page300.html

Also, on a related theme, I have also just added the DLI service certificate of Pte J G Copeman, (4464500), another soldier who served with the 16th DLI from the beginning in 1940 to the end in 1946. Already on the site is the certificate of Alex Gray of the Signal Platoon. As yet, I have yet to find a certificate awarded to any 16th DLI soldier who was not a full five year veteran with the Battalion. I wonder were they only issued to men who were there from the beginning? If anyone has one for a soldier whose service began after 1940, please let me know. Pte Copeman's certificate can be seen on this page:

http://16dli.awardspace.co.uk/page301.html

And for comparision, that of Pte Alex Gray is on this page:

http://16dli.awardspace.co.uk/page158.html

All items are also listed on the Letters and Documents index page.

Both Townsend and Copeman's Army numbers are also now included consecutively in my listing of 446 series DLI Army numbers, which is indexed from this page:

http://stalag4d.atspace.com/page5.html

Major A E C Vizard, 'E', 'A' and 'HQ' Companies, 16 DLI

There's now an extensive collection of photographs and documents on the site relating to the war service of Major A E C 'Viz' Vizard, who joined the 16th Battalion The Durham Light Infantry with a draft of 150 reinforcements in early March 1943. At this stage, just after the Battle of Sedjenane, the severe losses suffered by the Battalion meant that Vizard's reinforcements had to be formed into an ad hoc rifle company, dubbed 'E Company'.

Arthur Vizard was a pre-war Territorial in the 8th Battalion the Middlesex Regiment and was commissioned into the Middlesex Regiment in 1941.

He subsequently served with the 70th (Young Soldiers) Battalion of the DLI in the UK and the 16th Battalion DLI, in North Africa, Italy, the Middle East, Greece and Austria. He was CO of A Company at Salerno, where he was seriously wounded.

He later rejoined the 16th as HQ Coy CO through to the final Battalion disbandment in 1946. The items include: group photos of the 8th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment and the Officers of 70th DLI, the September 1943 War Office wounded in action telegram to Vizard's mother and several hugely evocative informal photographs from his time with the 16th DLI in the Middle East, Greece and Austria. These items, all courtesy of Graham Skilton, begin from this page:

http://16dli.awardspace.co.uk/page302.html

Sedjenane POWs at Camp E 715 Auschwitz

Latest addition to the site is a group photograph taken at work camp E 715 at Auschwitz. Here, from October 1943, the British POWs were engaged in construction work for the I G Farben concern. With regular mail and Red Cross parcels, their treatment was much better than the horrors meted out to the Jewish and Soviet prisoners, who they often worked alongside, but it was still a very harsh routine.

The men featured include Pte G R Hamilton, who was serving with B Company, 16 DLI when he was taken POW during the Battle of Sedjenane on 2/3/43 and Ptes Frank Sansom, Harry Foster and W Fretwell, all of the 5th Sherwood Foresters, who were all almost certainly taken POW at Sedjenane, too.

This section also includes Pte Hamilton's diary listing of dates, places and distances coverred during the long march west from Auschwitz, which lasted from late January into March 1945. It's very possible that other men on this photograph are also 16 DLI and 5th Foresters. Hopefully more names will be forthcoming. All further details welcome. This new section begins on this page:

http://16dli.awardspace.co.uk/page292.html

And among the documents featured are a copy of Pte Hamilton's

‘Register Form for Recovered Prisoners of War’

which records his capture on 2/3/43 (and note the misspelling of Sedjenane) and his liberation at Stalag 7A on 3/4/45. I have never seen a document like this before, so it's great to have a specific 16 DLI example on the site.

I've also updated the POW Numbers section of the site with many more names and numbers and it's now possible to view a near complete consecutive listing of men in the 222000 range, which includes Ptes Hamilton (222076) and Sansom (222079). Obviously, many of these men could well be on this group photo. The numbers sequence for Hamilton, Fretwell and Sansom is currently on this page:

http://stalag4d.atspace.co.uk/page338.html

279 Battery, 70th Field Regiment at Sedjenane, 1943

Latest addition to the website is a selection of photographs of Sergeant James Shackleton, who was a Sergeant in C Troop, 279 Battery, 70th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery during the Battle of Sedjenane in early March 1943. The photographs include one of all eight sergeants of 279 Battery in 1942. These are courtesy of James Shackleton's son Iain, who has also provided details of his father's war service.

One of James Shackleton's friends in 279 Battery was Sgt John Wise. Remarkably, John Wise was interviewed for the excellent 1995 book War on the Ground by Colin John Bruce (Constable)

I've included a couple of brief quotes from this interview and put these in the context of James Shackleton's war experiences--John Wise was the best man at his wartime wedding, in July 1942. This wedding photo is also in this section.

I've also revamped the opening age of the website devoted to the 70th Field Regiment and have now included left and right larger views of the late war group photo of the Regiment's officers. These items can now all be accessed from this new index page:

http://stalag4d.atspace.co.uk/page36.html

and also from the 16 DLI Photographs Index page.