WARTIME GUIDES

                                              pic1. footbal team in Stalag XXA                                                           pic2. rugby team in Stalag XXA                                             Pic.3 Sport Platz at Fort 15 Even though the daily food rations were not sufficient an inordinate number of calories were b...

                                           The Rascals Band in Stalag XXA                                            Pic.2. Orchestra at Fort 15 Starting from 1940, PoWs kept in Stalag XXA were able to oraganize a sing-song accompanied on a mouth organ  followed by "Pennies from Heaven" played with a comb and piece tissue. Due time however, more instruments arrived from Switzerland . By the late 1941 an orchestra had been created at Thorn. pic.2 source https://www.awm.gov.au/

To whom it may concern, if you are interested in the history of Stalag XXA in Thorn please don't be afraid to post a question either on our email or in a comment parts, we are willing to answer all nagging inquiries and help if necessery

On your route to Poland we recommend you to visiting DAG Fabrik Bromberg (Bydgoszcz, Poland) which is the place of a former nitroglicerine factory, one of two in Europe. Below are some pictures of DAG visit also a webpage http://www.exploseum.pl/

Unlike in many other forced work camps, PoWs in Stalag XXA were allowed to maintain their Britishness by reading books or even performing various plays. Walking and gymnastics were possible in the two courts which, as stated, were sunny and open to fresh air.  The men having expressed a desire for a football, the Embassy representative ordered one from a near-by town, together with some games, playing cards, etc.  Books will be sent from Berlin.  The Y.M.C.A. representative in Berlin who has initiated the start of a larged fenced recreation ground near camp 2.

                                             Fort IV The camp is located in 2 (with the addition of a military hospital 3) forts of a ring of fortifications surrounding a town considered of military value before 1914.  The forts are extensively built of brick, covered by sod, and are of an extremely substantial construction affording excellent air raid shelters.  The mean are housed in caserates, i.e. barrel-vaulted rooms opening on a corridor at one end with windows at the other.  The rooms, while recipients of little or no sunlight, are sufficiently lighted and ventilated.  One fort, housing the men, contains two large courts one of which is being arranged as football-field.  Exercise is possible in these courts which are sunny, and also on a ...

Marienburg Commonwealth Cemetery  Illnesses Because of the poor conditions POWS were very weak, many of them died, hundreds were so weak that they could barely move. Many POWs suffered from TB, skin sores, loss of teeth, hair loss, stomach crumps and diarrhoea. Yet, there were many men who did not managed to deal with mental problems, some POWs simply went mad, one POW even jumped off the roof. Each fort contains a small dispensary with some 10 cots, but cases of any seriousness are sent to the hospital in the above mentioned fort situated between the two forts occupied as living quarters.  This lanaret has 170 beds, but was occupied by 43 patients of whom 3 only were Britshers; two were surgical cases and one man was suffering from pneumonia.  These men were being looked after by a British sanitary corps however  the surgical cases were minor ones, one suffering from a cyst while the other had an injury to his knee.  The lasaret was clean and well kept; ...

Here you can see the film from unveiling the monument of the British PoW in Fort XIII, Stalag XXA, September 2009

Monthly bath in Stalag XXA Living conditions Lawrence Travers Dorins a former POW describes „fort XI was surrounded by a high bank and the fence around it with gates across the entrance road, on one side there was also a dry moat with a bridge on it. The bridge led to a tunnel” The fortress was covered with trees, bushes and earth so that the fortress could not be visible from the bird's eye. Prisoners slept in caponiers where initially were supposed to sleep Prussian soldiers. Yet PoW describes the rooms as if there were designed as rooms in the concentration camps. Rooms looked as semi tunnels. “The perpendicular walls were about 3m high and the height of the arched roof was about 5 m, wooden bunks provided sleeping spaces. Each room had only two small windows which obviously allowed no ventilation. Due to the end of the night the air was solid and everyone would have a headache due to oxygen starvation” .In those rooms kept approximately 32 men. There were three shelves whe...

If you inquire information or documentation about your relatives kept in Stalag XXA, please contact The Red Cross. There you get the most precise data. Here is the address:     Comite International De la Croix-Rouge Agence Centrale de Recherches 19 avenue de la Paix CH-1202 Geneve Switzland / Confederation Suisse

Not many people are aware of the fact that even in Forced Work Camps, Pows wrote  poetry. Below there is a moving poem written by Mr Harry Tapley. Written by Harry Tapley, 4th Btn Gordon Highlanders PoW No. 5532 Kriegsgfangener Lager Stalag XXB, XVIIIB, XXA I find it hard just to explain As I travel back down memory lane Of the strength of mind, and stale black bread And cattle trucks, and frozen dead The companionship, when might was right The petty thieving in the night, The lice, the rags, the hunger pains The barbed wire fence, the stink of drains The sudden blackouts when you stand A raging torrent of commands, Sleeping in snow in open spaces Guards death frozen in their places Sharing out each little mite Eating potatoes black with blight Clogs and foot cloths hurting feet While topping miles of sugar beet Dreaming of bellies being filled While just another prisoner's killed, The eager listening to all news The lies, the rumours, the different vi...

There are things such as postcards which bring memories of POWs kept in Stalag XXA. Postcards supplied by courtesy of Mr K. Richardson  

10 Alexandra Terrace EVENWOOD Bishop Auckland Co. Durham DL14 9QN England 28 April 2011 Dear Pawel 4456672 Corporal Joseph Russell Bell, 10/DLI (POW 10558 Stalag XXA) Died 24 July 1943 On behalf of the Bell family, may I thank you and Hanna for your assistance with our visit to Torun, 15 April 2011.   Your knowledge of WW2 history, the Prussian Forts and Stalag XXA have been a great help to us in our efforts to learn more about Russell Bell.   We still do not know whether he was killed as a result of attempting to escape or natural causes.   We will have to wait for the Red Cross details to arrive from Geneva to see if they shed any light on the matter. May I also extend our warm thanks to the people who run the Muzeum Historyczno-Wojskowe.   We found this to be an excellent museum and one which deserves greater support and public backing.   We were so impressed that we will forward copies of all our personal material concerning Russell to the museum and...

Trip to Poland

Fort XIII during WW II Fort XIV and Fort XIII today

According to "Geneva records" there were 11.115 British POWs kept in Stalag XXA in 1941, at the end of war there were 5.099. source: Geneva records t.1-4, AMJW

Here is a part of the Prisoner of War newspaper from September 1942, at the bottom of the page you can see a short description of Stalag XXA camp organisation.

 This map presents The ring, namely 17 forts aroud Toruń which were built in the XIX century after Franco-Prussian War to protect Torun from Russian invasion. Seven forts were used as POW camps (fort XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII) during WW2. This map shows the organisation of Fort XIII and its Forced Work Camps 13A and 13B source: Bundersamt fur Kartographie und Geodasie 2006  A detailed description of Stalag's organisation source: E. Traugott, Der Feste Platz Thorn 1945, Westprussen Jahrbuch.

A part from Russian propaganda movie which shows liberation of Stalag XXA in 1945. This movie presents English and French soldiers who are leaving Torun. It is worth mentioning that liberation took place in the winter, so this sunny weather you can see in the movie is slightly inappripriate. Moreover, from the sources we have found, the liberation looked slightly diffrent: "It was an uphill grade and the road was ice-covered and slippery. Russian, French and British prisoners jostled up the road in their hundreds. Soon we gained the comparative shelter of the woods but nobody thought of stopping for a rest.(...) Wouldn’t we ever stop for a rest? Then, after covering about 12 kilometres in all, we were directed off the road to a small farmhouse. Gratefully we lowered the stretchers to the ground and sat about resti...