WW2 Prisoner of War records

Rach · Post by **Rach** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 12:52 pm

Ancestry has just made available the records of Prisoners of War, WW2. The information it gives though is very brief and there is only an initial, not a full given name. It was just luck that I had my father's army number as his Regiment name was wrong. Also he must have been in 2 camps as this record had him at a different camp to the one he told us about. I think that happened quite a bit.
How I wish I had listened to him more. On the other hand he only told us the good stories and not anything about the dreadful marches etc.
Rae

Maisie · Post by **Maisie** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 2:02 pm

I found it rather disappointing. My father was in 5 different camps in Italy, Czechoslovakia and Germany and it only gave the last camp.
The National Archives at Kew have the originals of the forms returning POWs completed for military intelligence giving information about which camps they were in, escape attempts, medical treatment and war crimes which are much more informative, but I don't think they are available on-line.

Maisie

Rach · Post by **Rach** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 2:37 pm

Thanks, Maisie. That is interesting to know.
Rae

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 5:43 pm

I think the camps covered may be a selected group, certainly not all POWs are listed I think, from what few searches seemed to suggest.

I've a great uncle who was a POW in WW2 in the Phillipines, but no mention of him at Ancestry, but then he does not appear in one of the published books of lists of POW names either...

Ancestry does not seem to give much detail with regard to what is covered in this series so it is difficult to know how comprehensive a list we are looking at.

Best wishes
Lesley

Roxy · Post by **Roxy** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 9:55 pm

The details of returning POWs (from Germany at any rate) are available from the National Archives in WO 344 at £8.50 a go.

I got details about my ggf - captured at Anzio and interred in Germany - from the ICRC; I filled in a form on-line and they replied in about 6 weeks.

I suspect that the details of capture would be in the individuals military records - available to NOK from the Army.

Roxy

Thrall · Post by **Thrall** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 1:08 am

Hi Roxy, thank you for that tip - I found my father´s name in the POW index so presumably there is something I could similarly order. Could you tell me what details you received? Is this a transcript of a debrief on arrival in the UK?

Just on a hunch, having found my father on Ancestry, I Googled his full name and up came a file at National Archives but still locked down until 2013 - amazing what Google finds!
Seemed to be about "Special Operations", but surprisingly, they still want it under wraps, i.e., closed for 66 years. Perhaps it refers to persons possibly still alive. One can appeal the closure but have not had a reply yet, so probably best to be patient!

Guid hunting,

Thrall

Roxy · Post by **Roxy** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 9:59 am

Thrall,

I have not yet ordered the piece from the National Archives - not all POWs completed the form, so a kind gentleman from another forum is going to have a look for me next time he is at Kew - but apparently the amount of information is very varied.

From the Red Cross, the information that I received included confirmation of my ggf's name; rank; number and date of birth as well as the name of his father, his place of capture, his POW number and places of detention.

Happy hunting!

Maisie · Post by **Maisie** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 11:23 am

The form I have from Kew is called "General Questionnaire for British/American Ex-Prisoners of War" "MIS-X". Part 11 is labelled "Top Secret" but I have both parts. It was filled in by the returning POW themself.

Part 1 covers:

No
Rank
Surname
Christian Names (sic)
Unit/Ship/Squadron
Division/Command
DOB
Date of enlistment
Civilian trade or profession
Private address
Place and date of original capture
Were you wounded?
Main camps or hospitals where imprisoned
Were you in a working camp?
Did you suffer any illness?
Did you receive adequate medical treatment?

Part 11 covers:

Lectures before capture
Interrogation
Escapes attempted
Sabotage carried out
Collaboration by UK or US personnel

If they had evidence of war crimes they were to ask for a separate form to make a statement.

In my father's case only escape attempts is completed so there would be no reason not to open the file. If he had named collaborators then the file would probably still be closed.

Maisie

Rach · Post by **Rach** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 5:46 pm

Maisie,
I have had a look at the National Archives WO344 reference but can't see how I can find out whether my father filled one of these out or not. Were you able to find your person before you filled in the form? Also, the help section says that you can only order pieces [ a whole box or volume] or items [generally a file or bundle].

I must admit to finding their website a bit of a minefield! I had success with another item before after much flitting about but later couldn't remember how I had done it to tell someone else!!

Rae

Maisie · Post by **Maisie** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 7:16 pm

Rae

Oh dear, I hope I haven't raised your hopes, my brother got it for me when he was at Kew for something to do with his work. Apparently they are simply filed alphabetically under Germany and Japan. It looks like they are beginning to digitise them but have only done "B".

Unless you can get to Kew yourself let's hope some kind soul is going and can look for you. I'm afraid I'm not in that neck of the woods in the near future.

Maisie

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WW2 Prisoner of War records

WW2 Prisoner of War records

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