POW Camp ending in "elegen"

[Tim Wright]

I wonder if anyone could please help me.

My auntie has just given me the first piece of evidence of my grandfather as a POW.

She has given me a postcard / photo of my grandfather, the postmark is for "????elegen", dated 28/9/18.

I know that he was a POW from the 27/5/18 - 29/12/18 but wondered if anyone could help with the identification of the camp?

Tim.

[fritz]

Hi Tim,

perhaps Gardelegen in Sachsen-Anhalt?

http://www.militaria-fundforum.com/showthread.php?t=84454

Fritz

[Tim Wright]

Fritz.

Many thanks for you help.

Tim.

[Doug Johnson]

I have been right through my list and there is nothing else with the same ending, the nearest other one being Erlangen.

Mrs P-H said;

An old town with dilapidated walls (pop. 8,500) near Stendal on the line Hannover-Berlin. A large camp to which prisoners have been sent since September 1914. The centre of many working commandos. 4th Army corps

The american visited several times but the only one I have typed up is the first one from 1915 when they were not allowed in the camp due to a Typhus epidemic.

There is a separate government report on the epidemic here which was handled a lot better than at Wittenberg.

Cd 7861

Gardelegen

Owing to an epidemic of Typhus fever in this camp, I was not permitted within the prison compound and my inspection was, therefore, incomplete. I had an opportunity of walking around the enclosure and viewing it from without, and was permitted free intercourse with the English prisoners, speaking with them across the double line of barbed wire fencing, alone if I so desired. The Commandant, colonel Brunner, accompanied me and offered every facility in obtaining information aand received the suggestions I submitted, promising they should be acted upon as soon as conditions would permit.

Location.- The camp is situated about a mile and a half from the village, absolutely isolated – no dwellings or other buildings in the vicinity. The soil is sandy and the gentle slope on the which the camp is placed gives natural drainage for the rain water. To carry this off, trenches had been dug in the company streets which drained this water off into main catch-basins; these were connected with the underground drainage for the rain water. To water from the wash-houses and kitchens is carried off by the underground drainage system. The camp is unprotected on three sides; on the south, a growth of pine trees crowning the top of the slope is at this point. The whole compound is surrounded by double barbed-wire fencing, twelve feet in height and placed twenty feet apart; the ground between had been ploughed and it was to be utilised for planting potatoes for the use of the prisoners.

Organisation.- Ten thousand prisoners, among whom are two hundred and twenty-eight English soldiers, were here imprisoned. French, Russian and Belgians made up the balance of the number, the greater per cent. being in the order named. The camp was divided into two battalions; those were separated by double barbed-wire fencing and no intercourse between the two battalions permitted. Each battalion had its own kitchen, and wash-houses for clothing and bathing. The prisoners were housed in wooden barracks, about one hundred and fifty feet long, forty feet wide and twelve feet high. Each building was divided into two by transverse wooden partition, making tow large rooms. One hundred and fifty men were quartered in these rooms. They were supplied with mattresses made of wooden (excelsior) and woollen blankets. The buildings had large double windows, were lighted by electricity and heated by stoves. Each building was in charge of a non-commissioned officer (prisoner). He was responsible for the cleanliness of the place and the maintenance of order and discipline among the prisoners under him. A German commissioned officer, with Unteroffizier assistants, was in command of each battalion, but at the time of my visit, because of the prevalence of typhus fever, they were not admitted within the enclosure and the whole administrative work and all other duties were performed by the non-commissioned personnel (prisoners).

Among the prisoners were three officers of the Royal Army Medical Corps – Captains A. J. Brown, O. Williams and P. Davy. The latter were convalescing from an attack of typhus fever. Two Russians and several French military surgeons were also interned here. They were quartered in a separate building and waited upon by orderlies of their own nationality. The three English surgeons received one hundred marks a month, sixty of which was paid for their subsistence.

Water – Without the limits of the stockade, and situated a safe distance, a well had been sunk and an electric pump filled large reservoirs. A second one was in process of being sunk. The use of water was unstinted; taps were placed in each company street. Buildings had been erected within each battalion compound in which shower baths had been rigged, and wash houses had been erected.

Latrines – These were the ordinary trenches housed over and enclosed on the sides by boards. Lime was used as a disinfectant. When full, the contents were pumped into a tank wagon and taken some distance from camp and emptied into specially constructed filtration beds.

Kitchens and Food – Each battalion had its own kitchen. The cooks and their assistants were from among the prisoners. The commandant informed me that previous to the outbreak of typhus, German cooks were employed, but since the appearance of the disease prisoners, as in all other work, were employed. The daily ration consists of the following: morning, a litre of coffee and 300 grammes of black bread - the latter being the amount for the day; dinner, one litre of soup – this composed of some vegetables, potatoes, carrots, etc., and meat (beef, ham, bacon), and once a week, fish; for the evening meal soup is again served out. The men complained of this evening meal as being nothing more than the midday meal thinned out. I did not see any of the meals at Gardelegen, but at Saltzwedel I saw the midday meal and tasted it.

As mentioned above, there were three of the Royal Army Medical corps and 228 English enlisted personnel. The three medical officers had been captured at the beginning of the war, in August last, and had been transferred from Torgau to Gardelegen within the last six weeks or two months. One of them, Captain Davy, was convalescing from typhus. I had a long talk, alone, with Captain Brown. He spoke well of the camp. All of them were busy in the hospital in combating this epidemic. I had the opportunity of talking to several of the enlisted personnel. The majority were well clothed in their own uniforms. Several, however, wore a combination of French and English uniforms and civilian clothes. Captain Davy informed me that in the storehouse were English uniforms, but this had been closed since the outbreak of typhus and the commandant informed me that after the intended measures were undertaken for the disinfection of the personnel, material and barracks, he would have the clothing remedied. Mail and packages were received and distributed by the non-commissioned officers among the prisoners. The men were not allowed to send any mail, and this they could not understand, but it was one of the preventative measures taken by the authorities against the spread of the disease outside the camp.

Some of the men spoke of the ration allotted to them as being insufficient and monotonous.

Hospital and Convalescent Section – The hospital consisted of three buildings, of the same type as the barracks. They were in a separate enclosure and communicating with this space was another compound in which those convalescing from typhus were quartered. It was enclosed on the side next to the prison stockade by a high board fence. Typhus fever developed about six weeks ago. Since the outbreak of the disease they had had about 900 cases, with a mortality of 11 per cent. At present 200 were under treatment. The care and treatment of those ill devolved on the English, French and the two Russian military surgeons with assistants from among the prisoners. A German civilian doctor, a man who had been in Egypt for the last 25 years and had experience in the disease, was in charge of the hospital and all the measures being undertaken towards stamping out the epidemic. He was the only one from outside who was permitted to enter the prison enclosure, and took elaborate precautions against personal infection and carrying it to the outside. His predecessor, a German military surgeon, had contracted the disease and died.

Measures taken against the Disease. – The infection in Typhus fever is carried by the clothing louse, and towards the eradication of this insect the work was directed. Immediate segregation of those infected with a disinfection of their personal clothing, mattresses, blankets, etc was undertaken. When convalescent they were separated from the reminder of the camp, being confined in the convalescent section. Work was being rushed on the completion of a separate building, in which the prisoners and their personal clothing were to be disinfected. It consisted of two departments: (a) in which the clothing was disinfected; this was accomplished by dry heat 110oC. for 20 minutes; ( the personal disinfection consisted in a thorough scrubbing of the body with green soap under a shower and anointing the parts of the body covered with hair, axilla, pubes, etc., with blue ointment. The Barracks, with the mattresses, blankets etc., were to be disinfected with sulphur.

It should be mentioned that the Russian prisoners, who are primarily responsible for the introduction of the disease, are quartered alone, i.e., they occupy barracks by themselves, but all the prisoners associate with one another in the compound.

Prison Guard. – This consists of a battalion of the Landsturm – 1,000 men, one to each ten prisoners. Sentry posts were placed without the outer line of fencing, about 200 feet apart. There were none within the stockade. The administration offices of the camp, together with the barracks for the Landsturm, were placed opposite the prison compound.

Doug

[corisande]

There is a list of POW camps here

http://www.1914-1918.net/grandad/camps.htm

[Tim Wright]

Doug + Corisande

Many thanks for your help.

I am starting to get some understanding of his time as a POW.

My auntie tells me that he was friends with a Polish POW who is also in the picture i have.

If i can work out how to reduce the file size of the photo i will post it.

Thanks again

Tim.