Oflag XIII-B

Coordinates: 50°05′18″N 9°54′8″E / 50.08833°N 9.90222°E / 50.08833; 9.90222

A M4 medium tank of the 47th Tank Bn., 14th Armored Division crashes into the prison compound at Oflag XIII-B, April 6, 1945.

Oflag XIII-B was a German Army World War II Prisoner-of-war camp camp for officers, originally in Langwasser near Nuremberg. In 1943 it was moved to 3 km south of Hammelburg, Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Germany.

Hammelburg was a large German Army training camp, set up in 1873. Part of this camp had been used as a POW camp during for Allied army personnel in World War I. After 1935 it was a training camp and military training area for the newly reconstituted German Army. In World War II the German Army used parts of camp Hammelburg for Oflag XIII-B. It consisted of stone buildings. Stalag XIII-C for other ranks and NCOs was located close by.

Timeline

• May 1941 - Part of Oflag XIII-A Langwasser, near Nuremberg, was separated and a new camp, designated Oflag XIII-B, created for Yugoslavian officers. predominantly Serbs captured in the Balkans Campaign.
• April 1943 - at least 3,000 Serbian officers were moved from Langwasser to Hammelburg. Many were members of the Yugoslavian General Staff, some of whom had been POWs in Germany during the first World War.
• 11 January 1945 - American officers captured during the Battle of the Bulge arrived and were placed in a separated section.
• 25 January - at this time the total number of Americans was 453 officers, 12 non-commissioned officers and 18 privates.
• 9 March 1945 - American officers (captured in the North Africa Campaign,1943 or Battle of Normandy) arrived in a forced march from Oflag 64 in Szubin, Poland.
• 25 March - American count: 1291 officers and 127 enlisted men which included the 423 officers and 67 enlisted men who arrived from OFLAG 64 at Schubin, Poland^[1].
• 27 March 1945 - Task Force Baum breached fence of camp, but was later surrounded by German troops and surrendered.
• 29 March - many of the POWs were force marched to Langwasser (Nuremberg) from the partially damaged camp and some were killed when Allied planes strafed the marching columns.
• 6 April 1945 - camp is liberated by Combat Command B of the U.S. 14th Armored Division

Rations

"In the American camp by March rations had decreased to the level of 1,070 calories a day. Officers were allowed to purchase supplementary rations from the canteen when supplies were available. These usually consisted of cabbage, carrots and beets. There were no Red Cross packages delivered during the entire period, but the Serbian officers insisted on sharing with the American officers on a per capita basis all of the Red Cross food parcels received by Serbs. In all, approximately 1,500 parcels were given to the Americans during the 3 months of the camp's operation^[2]".

See also

• Task Force Baum
• Oflag 64
• Oflag
• John K. Waters, George S. Patton's son-in-law and one of the men imprisoned at Oflag XIII-B

Sources

External links

• description of Oflag XIII-B and Task Force Baum
• report of Int.Red Cross 25 March 1945
• more about Task Force Baum
• POW stories
• More POW stories

For a first-hand description from Donald Prell, a POW in Oflag XIII-B who was liberated and tried to find his way back to the US lines, only to be recaptured, log on to: http://www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Oflag%20XIII-B/Prell/Prell-Donald.pdf