Ucieczki jeńców brytyjskich z obozu jenieckiego w Grudziądzu w 1918 roku

• Authors: Żebrowski Mariusz

Title variants

EN

Escapes of British prisoners of war from the Grudziadz POW camp in 1918

DE

Flucht britischer Kriegsgefangener aus dem Kriegsgefangenenlager in Grudziądz (Graudenz) im Jahr 1918

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

This article presents a little-known aspect of the history of Grudziądz, namely the functioning of a prisoner of war camp for British officers in 1918. In the final year of the First World War, Germany was on the brink of its ability to conduct further warfare. This included the ability to retain the growing number of Allied prisoners of war, particularly as the fighting on the Western Front in early 1918 resulted in some 90,000 British and French soldiers being taken prisoner by the Germans. Such a huge number of prisoners of war caused the German military authorities to start setting up camps for them in places that had not previously been considered in any way in this respect. In Grudziądz, part of the barracks that were no longer used by the German army was used for this purpose. As soon as this camp was established, British prisoners of war began to make attempts to escape from its premises. Of the several attempts, the most interesting was the escape undertaken with the help of a dug tunel, through which 16 British officers escaped. Unfortunately, they were all captured within a short time. The camp was liquidated in December 1918 and the POWs were taken to Gdańsk and transported by sea to England. Of the more than 1,000 British prisoners of war who were in the camp, 6 died and were buried in one of Grudziądz’s military cemeteries. This article is only an introduction to further research on the subject of prisoners of war residing in Grudziądz from the early 19th century until the end of warfare in 1945.

• Publisher: Muzeum w Grudziądzu
• Journal: Rocznik Grudziądzki
• Year: 2022
• Volume: 30
• Pages: 147-156

Dates

published

2022

Contributors

author

Żebrowski Mariusz