Lodge Moor was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

military camp A military camp or bivouac is a semi-permanent military base, for the lodging of an army. Camps are erected when a military force travels away from a major installation or fort during training or operations, and often have the form of large cam ...

based near

Redmires Reservoirs The Redmires Reservoirs are a group of three reservoirs in Fulwood, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They are fed from the Hallam Moors by various small streams including Fairthorn Clough. The three reservoirs are named Upper, Middle and ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, that was best known for housing

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It held approximately 11,000 at its peak, mostly Germans. It was established in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

for training purposes.

History

World War I

In World War I, Redmires Camp was set up in the area around Redmires Reservoir as a training camp for the

Sheffield City Battalion The Sheffield City Battalion was a Pals battalion during the First World War . Raised in 1914, it was designated as the 12th (Sheffield City) (Service) Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment. History Recruits The battalion found its recruit ...

. Archaeological surveys of nearby training areas, including trench systems dug by the trainee soldiers, were undertaken between 1999 and 2006, but no investigations were made of the camp. When the Sheffield City Battalion went overseas, the camp area was used by other British military units. It subsequently became a prisoner of war camp, with its most famous inmate being the future Admiral

Karl Dönitz Karl Dönitz (sometimes spelled Doenitz; ; 16 September 1891 24 December 1980) was a German admiral who briefly succeeded Adolf Hitler as head of state in May 1945, holding the position until the dissolution of the Flensburg Government follo ...

who had been commanding a

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

when he was captured on 4 October 1918.

Inter-war Period

In 1925, a severe outbreak of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

meant that nearby

Lodge Moor Hospital Lodge Moor Hospital is a former isolation hospital on Redmires Road in the Lodge Moor area of the City of Sheffield, England. The hospital which opened in 1888 and closed in 1994 initially treated Smallpox but soon broadened its treatment to oth ...

was unable to house all the patients, and Redmires Camp was used as an auxiliary hospital. It remained in use as such until 1935.

World War II

At the beginning of World War II the name of Redmires Camp was changed to Lodge Moor Camp, becoming Prisoner of War Camp 17. The camp housed Italian POWs who established a friendly rapport with the locals. As the war progressed they were replaced by German prisoners who endured overcrowding; the

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...

described the conditions as "insufficient/uninhabitable". A witness suggested there were more than 70 prisoners in huts designed for 30. Others were in tents.

Murder

On 24 March 1945, Gerhardt Rettig, a German prisoner of war, was severely beaten by fellow German prisoners of war, and later died of his injuries in hospital. Two men were subsequently tried for his murder and

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

Current Condition and Uses

Many of the concrete bases for the Nissen huts remain, along with remains of toilet blocks and emergency water storage tanks. However, apart from the concrete bases, the area is now overgrown with trees, bracken and brambles, and used mainly by dog walkers. It is signposted as Redmires Camp Plantation and owned by

Sheffield City Council Sheffield City Council is the city council for the metropolitan borough of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It consists of 84 councillors, elected to represent 28 wards, each with three councillors. It is currently under No Overall Contr ...

. In 1979, a small part of the area was cleared to make a permanent site for Travellers, which is still in use today. Archeology students from the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

, working with the Sheffield Lakeland Landscape Partnership (SLLP), undertook new searches of the World War II camp remains in the Summer of 2019. In April 2021, visitors to the site reported that Sheffield City Council workers, clearing trees from the site, had damaged concrete bases of the prisoners' accommodation, broke one of the toilet blocks, and crushed the remains of sewage pipes. The site is protected as a Scheduled Monument.

References

{{reflist World War II prisoner of war camps in England World War I prisoner of war camps in England