Stalag 383 was a German

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 ...

Prisoner of War A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held 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 prisoners of wa ...

camp located in

Hohenfels, Bavaria Hohenfels (literally ''High Cliffs'') is a municipality in the district of Neumarkt in the region of Upper Palatinate (german: Oberpfalz) in Bavaria, Germany. The town is host to the United States Army Garrison Hohenfels, which operates the Join ...

History

The

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

founded a training area near

in 1938. A troop camp for trainees, located in a high valley surrounded by dense woodland and hills at a homestead called 'Polnrich', was commandeered for use as a

camp in 1939. At first it was used for Allied NCOs and named Oflag IIIC but was later renamed Stalag 383 as it expanded with other ranks. The camp comprised 400 detached accommodation huts, x , each typically housing 14 men. More were built towards the end of the war as prisoners were moved in from other camps as the Russian front advanced from the east. The name, Oflag III-C, was re-assigned to a camp at

Lübben (Spreewald) Lübben (Spreewald) ( dsb, Lubin (Błota)) is a town of 14,000 people, capital of the Dahme-Spreewald district in the Lower Lusatia region of Brandenburg, Germany. Administrative structure Districts of the town are: * Lübben Stadt (Lower Sorbia ...

and operated between August 1940 and June 1942. On April 24, 1945, Major General

Stanley Eric Reinhart Major General Stanley Eric Reinhart (September 15, 1893 – June 4, 1975) was a senior United States Army officer of the United States Army. He figured prominently in World War II as commander of the 65th Infantry Division. Early life and mili ...

's 65th Infantry Division captured Hohenfels. Major General Gustav Geiger, staff and guards surrendered. The prisoners, including many British and Colonial inmates, were liberated. Later, between 1945-1949 the site became a

displaced persons camp A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for interna ...

. The Americans subsequently retained the site and it doubled in size.

Notable people

Percy Sekine Percy Sekine (born 20 February 1920 in London, died on 15 October 2010) was a distinguished sensei of the Hammersmith, London based Judokan. He represented Great Britain in international judo tournaments four times in the 1940s and 1950s, and wa ...

(1920–2010), RAF pilot and prisoner in 1942

References

External links

Stalag 383 - The Wartime Memories Project

Personal account by Bill Clark, POW at Stalag 383

World War II prisoner of war camps in Germany {{World-War-II-stub

History

Notable people

See also

References

Further reading

External links