R.A.F. Cosford

I have read an account of a young German POW living in the tool-shed of a small-holding in a village near where I used to live; it seems incredible now but tens of thousands of POW ‘other ranks’ lived and worked on farms all over the country, without guards or barbed-wire, during the war.

They knew when they were well off.

Warren. You may well be right. as the place where they were, was on the site of a large demolished building, ATBH I cannot remember seeing any guards, however, it was more years ago than I can remember in detail.
Thanks for your input though.
Jim
Lincoln .7

But maybe it was not a ‘POW Camp’ as such; mostly when people talk about POW camps they mean ‘high-security’ camps for POW officers.

I have read an account of a young German POW living in the tool-shed of a small-holding in a village near where I used to live; it seems incredible now but tens of thousands of POW ‘other ranks’ lived and worked on farms all over the country, without guards or barbed-wire, during the war.

If you Google pow camps in the U.K., you’ll find Sheriffhales, Whitchurch and Shrewsbury as the only named locations in Shropshire.

Alan, Now you come to mention it, I will make a point of visiting the Mseum and have a “Look See” . Thanks for jogging my addled grey matter..:D

Jim.
Lincoln .7

Warren, many yrs ago, Peterborough was my home town, and right in the centre was an Italian POW camp. I used to visit them, as it was allowed at the time, and many were oft seen to be carving very intricate items from wood, to pass the time of day.which they then sold to buy food and ciggies.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

You must have seen some of the lovely examples of bone carving in Peterborough Museum then ?
Dating back to the French POW’s from the Napoleonic wars

Warren, many yrs ago, Peterborough was my home town, and right in the centre was an Italian POW camp. I used to visit them, as it was allowed at the time, and many were oft seen to be carving very intricate items from wood, to pass the time of day.which they then sold to buy food and ciggies.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

That’s how it reads to me, too. But you can understand your friend’s misunderstanding.

I suppose the question is Chas, is that was Cosford a POW camp for German prisoners or not?.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

I am just re-reading the book by ‘Great Escaper’ the late Ken ‘Shagg’ Rees and one interesting thing, given his later exploits within Stalag Luft III, is that when he was promoted to the (lowly) rank of Pilot Officer in Egypt he was given, with his roommate (tent-mate), their own batman…

…who was an Italian POW!

This seems quite surprising to me, given the wartime obsession with security, that this Italian POW would have had quite a lot of freedom on an operational RAF base; in fact the POW had so much freedom that Ken Rees actually had to ask him why didn’t he escape?

That’s how it reads to me, too. But you can understand your friend’s misunderstanding.

Thanks for the link Chas. I take it, as it’s not quite clear to me, that the 13.000 POWs were in fact RAF Pilots who had been captured by the Germans, hence they were ex POWs that passed through Cosford during their re patriation?.And NOT German POWs.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafcosford/aboutus/cosfordhistory.cfm