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Oflag IV-C
Oflag IV-C, often referred to by its location at Colditz Castle, overlooking Colditz, Saxony, was one of the most noted German Army prisoner-of-war camps for captured enemy officers during World War II; ''Oflag'' is a shortening of ''Offizierslager'', meaning "officers' camp". Colditz Castle This thousand-year-old fortress was in the heart of Hitler's Reich, from any frontier not under Nazi control. Its outer walls were seven feet (two metres) thick and the cliff on which it was built had a sheer drop of two hundred and fifty feet (75metres) to the River Mulde below. Timeline The first prisoners arrived in November 1939; they were 140 Polish officers from the September Campaign who were regarded as escape risks. Most of them were later transferred to other Oflags. In October 1940, Donald Middleton, Keith Milne, and Howard Wardle (a Canadian who joined the RAF just before the war) became the first British prisoners at Colditz. On 7November, six British officers, the " Lauf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colditz
Colditz () is a small town in the district of Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. It is best known for Colditz Castle, the site of the Oflag IV-C POW camp for officers in World War II. Geography Colditz is situated in the Leipzig Bay, southeast of the city of Leipzig. The town centre is located on the banks of Zwickau Mulde river, south of its confluence with the Freiberg Mulde. The municipality had a population of 8,374 in 2020. The town Colditz consists of Colditz proper and the ''Ortsteile'' (divisions) Bockwitz, Collmen, Commichau, Erlbach, Erlln, Hausdorf, Hohnbach, Kaltenborn, Koltzschen, Lastau, Leisenau, Maaschwitz, Meuselwitz, Möseln, Podelwitz, Raschütz, Schönbach, Sermuth, Skoplau, Tanndorf, Terpitzsch, Zollwitz, Zschadraß, Zschetzsch and Zschirla. History The first record of a burgward on the Mulde river, called ''Cholidistcha'', dates to the year 1046, when Emperor Henry III dedicated it to his consort Agnes of Poitou. The name is possibly of Slavic origin. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenneth Lockwood
Captain Kenneth Lockwood (17 December 1911 – 8 October 2007) was a stockbroker and an officer in the British Army. He was one of the first six British prisoners of war to arrive at Oflag IV-C, Colditz, in 1940. He made and assisted in numerous escape attempts, working with the chairman of the escape committee, Pat Reid, and was still at the castle when it was liberated by the US Army in April 1945. He was the honorary secretary of the Colditz Association for 50 years. Lockwood was born in London, the son of a jobber at the London Stock Exchange. He was educated at Whitgift School in Croydon, and then worked for his father's firm in the City of London. He joined the Territorial Army's 22nd (County of London) Battalion of the London Regiment (The Queen's Royal West Surreys) in 1933. He was mobilized in August 1939 and trained at Yeovil before being posted to Le Mans, commanding a company of the 1st/6th Battalion of the Queen's Royal Regiment. After marching with his unit to Belg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oflag IV-B Koenigstein
An Oflag (from german: Offizierslager) was a type of prisoner of war camp for officers which the German Army established in World War I in accordance with the requirements of the 1899 Hague Convention, and in World War II in accordance with the requirements of the Geneva Convention (1929). Although officers were not required to work, at Oflag XIII-B (Hammelburg) when the POWs asked to be able to work for more food, they were told the Geneva Convention forbade them from working.http://www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Oflag%20XIII-B/Prell/Prell-Donald.pdf In some Oflags a limited number of non-commissioned soldiers working as orderlies were allowed to carry out the work needed to care for the officers. Officers of the Allied air forces were held in special camps called Stalags Luft but were accorded the required preferential treatment. The German Army camp commanders applied the Geneva Convention requirements to suit themselves. An exam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arsène Marie Paul Vauthier
Arsène Marie Paul Vauthier (1885-1979) was a French Major General. He was imprisoned in Colditz Colditz () is a small town in the district of Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. It is best known for Colditz Castle, the site of the Oflag IV-C POW camp for officers in World War II. Geography Colditz is situated in the Leipzig Bay, southeast of the c ... from 19 January 1945. References French generals 1880s births 1945 deaths Prisoners of war held at Colditz Castle {{France-mil-bio-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Léon Marie André Buisson
Louis Buisson (14 December 1889 – 5 December 1955) was a French Major General. During the battle of France, he was the commander of the from 15 May 1940 and later took command of a battle group comprising the 3rd Armored Division, the and the 10th Polish Armored Brigade. He was imprisoned in Colditz Colditz () is a small town in the district of Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. It is best known for Colditz Castle, the site of the Oflag IV-C POW camp for officers in World War II. Geography Colditz is situated in the Leipzig Bay, southeast of the c ... from 19 January 1945. He survived the war and died in 1955. He first joined the 22nd BCA (Alpine ''chasseurs'' Batalion) as a rank-and-file, where he rose as a corporal then sergent. Sous-lieutenant (2nd Lieutenant) in the reserve of the 13th BCA part of 6th GCC in 1914, he is wounded on 15.11.1914 at Perthes-les-Hurlu. He rose as a lieutenant on 01.04.1915, Captain in october 1917. He majored N°1 from ''l’Ecole de Guerre'' (war ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Adolphe Louis Robert Flavigny
Jean Adolphe Louis Robert Flavigny (1880-1948) was a French general. He was imprisoned in Colditz Colditz () is a small town in the district of Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. It is best known for Colditz Castle, the site of the Oflag IV-C POW camp for officers in World War II. Geography Colditz is situated in the Leipzig Bay, southeast of the c ... from 19 January 1945. References 1880 births 1948 deaths French generals French military personnel of World War II Prisoners of war held at Colditz Castle {{France-mil-bio-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free French Forces
__NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army (french: Armée française de la Libération or AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (french: Forces françaises libres, label=none or FFL) during World War II. The military force of Free France, it participated in the Italian and Tunisian campaigns before landing in France with the allies liberating the country and occupying Germany until it had forced its capitulation in 1945. History The French Liberation Army was created in 1943 when the Army of Africa () led by General Giraud was combined with the Free French Forces of General de Gaulle. The AFL participated in the campaigns of Tunisia and Italy; during the Italian campaign the AFL was known as the French Expeditionary Corps in Italy ( ''en Italie or CEFI)'' making a quarter of the troops deployed. The AFL was key in the liberation of Corsica, the first French metropolitan department to be libera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grey
Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed of black and white. It is the color of a cloud-covered sky, of ash and of lead. The first recorded use of ''grey'' as a color name in the English language was in 700 CE.Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 196 ''Grey'' is the dominant spelling in European and Commonwealth English, while ''gray'' has been the preferred spelling in American English; both spellings are valid in both varieties of English. In Europe and North America, surveys show that grey is the color most commonly associated with neutrality, conformity Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms, politics or being like-minded. Norms are implicit, specific rules, shared by a group of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trench Coat
A trench coat or trenchcoat is a variety of coat made of waterproof heavy-duty fabric, originally developed for British Army officers before the First World War, and becoming popular while used in the trenches. Originally made from gabardine, a worsted wool fabric waterproofed using lanolin before weaving, the traditional colour of a trench coat was khaki. Traditionally trench coats are double-breasted with 10 front buttons, wide lapels, a storm flap, and pockets that button-close. The coat is belted at the waist with a self-belt, with raglan sleeves ending in cuff straps around the wrists that also buckle, to keep water from running down the forearm when using binoculars in the rain. The coat often has epaulets that button-close, which were functional in a military context. The trench coat was typically worn as a windbreaker or as a rain jacket, and not for sole protection from the cold in winter. Although many come with removable wool liners for additional warmth, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Machiel Van Den Heuvel
Machiel van den Heuvel (7 May 1900, Haarlemmermeer – 29 June 1946, near Bandung) was a Dutch army officer. As a prisoner-of-war in Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle, Germany, during World War II, he served as Escape Officer for the Dutch POWs, a role also held by Captain Pat Reid, the author of ''The Colditz Story'', for the British. Van den Heuvel played a key role in most Dutch officer escapes (such as Hans Larive, Francis Steinmetz and Anthony Luteyn) during the war. POW Machiel ("Jim") van den Heuvel, known as "Vandy" by the British POW's, was a captain in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) who happened to be in the Netherlands at the outbreak of World War II in May 1940. After the Dutch capitulation he refused to give his word of honour not to harm German interests and was sent to a German POW camp. Here van den Heuvel was quickly appointed Escape Officer. Together with Lieutenant Gerrit Dames the two KNIL officers were a main factor for most Dutch escape successe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Singen
Singen (Low Alemannic: ''Singe'') is an industrial city in the very south of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany and just north of the German-Swiss border. Location Singen is an industrial city situated in the very south of Baden-Württemberg in Germany close to Lake Constance just north of the German-Swiss border and is the most important city in the Hegau area. Landmarks The most famous landmark of Singen is Hohentwiel, a volcanic stub on which there are the ruins of a fortress destroyed by French troops during the Napoleonic Wars. World War II 'Singen route' Singen is notable in military history for the Singen route in World War II. This route into Switzerland was discovered by Dutch naval lieutenant Hans Larive in 1940 on his first escape attempt from an Oflag (prisoner's camp for officers) in Soest. After being captured at the Swiss border near Singen, the interrogating Gestapo officer was so confident the war would soon be won by Germany that he told Larive the safe wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
