WARTIME GUIDES

Many a time we wrote about parcels which came to Stalag XXA .  You can read about them here http://bit.ly/2lnZPRe.  Now we found a letter from 27th Dec. 1942 , thanks to which we got the knowlegde about actually was in the parcels at that time. A Prisoner of War wrote that that week they received parcels from both Canada and England.  Inside there were: roast port and stuffing, stead and tomatoe, Christmas pudding and cake. Also biscuits, chocolate, meat rolls, butter, bully meat, mashed potatoes. 

Thanks to our cooperation to Museum of Dobrzyńska Land in Rypin , Poland we had a great opportunity to give a short presentaion about Stalag XXA and working camps around Rypin. This city is located on the East of Kujawsko - Pomorskie region and since 1941 there was a working camp of Stalag XXA, Thorn (now Torun). Thanks help of the locals we possessed a lot of new facts: how did the camp worked and relations between citizens and Pows. What is more interesting,  we learnt about how partizans helped imprisoned soldiers, ways of escapes and farmers who hid soldiers who had decided to escape. Sometimes these stories could be script for a movie. We hope that with time we'll find new folders in local archives which fulfill white gaps in the history dedicated to personal storiers of British PoW's there. 

1942-1944 Date name Method of exit Equipment preparation Travel Where arrived March 1942 Cpl. T. McGraph From main camp Well equipped. Civilian clothes, razor, food, money Sheltered 3 months in Toruń, given papers and new identity and escorted by organization to Spain passing all controls Spain via Belgium and France June 1942 S/Ldr B. Paddon RAF From main camp slipped away from a local working party An officer to Toruń for Martial court. Within few hours got away completely equipped: clothes, maps,   money, foreign worker’s papers By slow trains to Gdynia, found no ships, came back to Gdańsk (Danzig) Sweden June 1943 B.S.M. A. Paton Pte. L. Green Through window and wire of working party in Graudenz Well prepared with clothes, papers and contracts prepared Train to Gdynia

Few years ago, we wrote about the escapes routs from Stalag XXA. (see here:  http://bit.ly/2d63n6N ) now we present a summary of escapes from Stalag XXA and the attached working camps.  1940 Date Name Method of exit Equipment preparation Travel Where arrived July 1940 T.S.M. Briggs, R.A.C Walked away from a working party during a day Civilian coat from a Pole, no food. Walked by night. Helped by the Poles. Making for Romania till heard it is occupied – then to Russian frontier August 1940 L./Cpl. A.J. Webb, W.G; Pte J.R. Tomlinson Through single wire around working camp No food Helped by Poles. Walked, chiefly by night. Making for Romania till heard it is occupied – then to Russian frontier August 1940 Cpl. H. Lovegrove Knocked out single sentry at working camp in the evening No food, swam the Vistula River A Polish Labourer gave him a compass a