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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Schneidemuhl POW


Mania

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Hi Mania

I am still researching William Davies and nothing new as developed since I mailed you about him; I don't have a photo of him but I have located his gravestone which you can view on www. billiongraves.com

Regards, Roy

Thanks Roy, I found the gravestone with inscription "sculptor"...That must be him!

Regards,

Marek

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Dear Dave,

thank you so much for your answer! It's very important for me to find out about everyday life in the Schneidemuhl POWs camp. We know from pictures and reports that there were wooden barracks, huge kitchen, post office and lazarette. But what we didn't know is that the first winter the POWs had to spend in holes dug in the ground. That's very precious. I'm going to write an article about the camp and POWs, that 's why I try to gather as much information as possible. Your grandfather's diary is just invaluable and well worth commemorating!

As for Piete Kuhr's memoirs: I have studied that book three times, with an old map of Pila from 1915. There's one thing: the POWs cemetery she described in her book is certeinly not the one with the "Black Monument", which was wrongly stated in English version. Both cemetaries were on the opposite sides of the Schneidemuhl.

Last year I visited city museum in Pila. They have a lot of interesting items connected with the camp, some never published pictures, which I ran in the post about uniforms:

http://1914-1918.inv...howtopic=173691

If your grandfather was keen on sport, maybe you recognize him in that picture?!

post-85884-0-31647500-1326056615.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

And the burial of British soldier in the vicinity of the monument (on the left). Any clue about military unit of the soldiers in that picture? Note the names on the crosses- same as on the black monument.

post-85884-0-45098000-1326920080.jpg

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  • 2 years later...

I have been researching my Grandfathers WW1 history, he was a prisoner of war, and from April of 1918 until late December 1918 in Gefangenenlager Schneidermuhl. I have discovered a journal we wrote during this time, and I have many photographs of prisoners. I am building a website from the information I have so far discovered.

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  • 3 years later...

Hi

 

I also have an interest in Gefangenenlager Schneidemuhl because my Grandfather was a POW, he was 19 years old at the time. He had been injured whilst working on a farm, and according to his journal, he arrived at the camp on the 5th April 1918. However, he was reported missing in France on 3rd May 1917, and so far I have been unable to discover where he was taken prisoner, and more importantly, where he was between capture, and turning up at Schneidemuhl almost a year later. He wrote a short journal whilst at the camp, and I have transcribed it onto a website you can see here: http://ww1-pow-journal.weebly.com/

 

I would like to travel to Pila next year, during the Centenary year of the Armistice, but it is my wish to be able to trace his journey from the point of his capture in France, and through to Poland. If anyone has any information, or can point me in the right direction, I would be very grateful. I have contacted his battalion, but they cannot help, many records were lost during bombing raids in WW2.

 

Thank you in advance

 

Peter

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He was taken PoW at Fontaine on 03.05.1917. His Red Cross PoW index card is here

https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Details/4077436/3/2/

 

entering the numbers on the index card into the search box will take you to the various documents relating to his capture and places of internment.

 

Charlie

 

 

 

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Hi Charlie2

 

Thank you so very much for this information, I can now carry on my research which has been halted for 18 months, I can't tell you how much this means to me. I remember my Grandpa so very well, he attended my wedding ceremony almost 46 years ago in 1972, and as you will have seen from the website, he died 2 years later in 1974. He loved cricket, and was also keen on watching boxing on the TV.

 

Thanks again

 

Peter

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  • 2 years later...

I have been researching my wife’s great uncle, Bernard James Mahoney.  He was a private with the Royal Fusiliers (London Regiment) and was captured on 8th August 1916 at Guellemont.  He was transferred to Schneidemuhl at the end of August 1916. It is understood that he worked in nearby salt mines and died on 17th October 1917.  He was buried at the camp and his body transferred to Berlin South Western Cemetery in 1922/23. His name is commemorated on the Black Memorial.  Thank you to all the participants in the communication thread regarding the camp, the salt mines and the black monument. 
Alan

 

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@Alang

welcome to the Forum!

 

Have you seen this thread? It is about the "abandoned 18" and it has maps and photos of the camp's cemetary, and photos of the memorial.

 

Edited by JWK
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