ISLAND FARM
PRISONER OF WAR
CAMP: 198 / Special Camp: XI
Bridgend, South Wales.

On the night of 10th-11th March 1945, Seventy German prisoners tunnelled to freedom from Camp 198 in Bridgend.
It was the biggest escape attempt made by German P.O.W.s in Great Britain during the Second World War.

Main entrance of the Island Farm Special Camp 11 - 1948
Click to enlarge image.
Derelict Island Farm Camp (early 1980s)


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Island Farm Originated

      Island Farm
      1938 - How Island Farm originated.


American Units

      American 28th Infantry Division
      October 1943 - American 108th Field Artillery Battalion / 28th Infantry Division

      Corporal William Odell Stricklin

      Port Battalions, Companies, Platoons - May 1944


Island Farm - As a Low Rank Pow Camp
     
      Camp 198
      2nd November 1944 - Island Farm becomes a German PoW Camp.

      Oberleutnant Erwin Kühlewein

      A Death At Island Farm
      Baurat Otto Iskat

      Anti Escape Plans

      The Escape Tunnel

      How The Escape Was Nearly Foiled

      Diversion and Annoyance Tactics


The Big Escape

      The Big Escape

      Listen to The Actual BBC News Recording Reporting Escape
      Read By Alvar Lidell

      The Escaped German Prisoners
      Detailed list of the PoWs who made the escape

      The Search for Escaped PoWs

      Recaptured
      Detailed information about how the PoWs were recaptured

      Newspaper Cuttings Reporting Escape

      Newspaper Cuttings (with Photo) Reporting the Recapture of POWs

      Murder Mystery In Porthcawl, Nr Bridgend.

      After The Escape
      Includes A 1977 Recording of Escapee Lt Carl Brockmeyer)

      Police Commendation 26th March 1945


Island Farm - As Special Camp 11

      About Special Camp XI


Some Of The Prisoners Held

      Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt

      Leutnant Hans Gerd von Rundstedt

      Generalfeldmarschall Ewald von Kleist

      Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein

      Generalfeldmarschall Walter von Brauchitsch

      Generalmajor Walter Robert Dornberger

      SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei Hermann Behrends

      SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS und Polizei Werner Lorenz

      Konteradmiral (Ing.) Hans Voss

      General der Panzertruppe Hasso Von Manteuffel

      Generaloberst Gotthard Heinrici

      General der Panzertruppe Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin

      General der Infanterie Günther Blumentritt

      General der Panzertruppe Heinrich Karl Alfons Willy Eberbach

      Generalleutnant Johann von Ravenstein

      Generalleutnant Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben

      Vizeadmiral Friedrich Hüffmeier

      SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Karl-Maria Demelhuber

Additional POW Profiles
The above POWs were those identified when I initially created this web site. The list is now far more extensive:
CLICK HERE TO SEE OVER 200 ADDITIONAL POWs HELD AT ISLAND FARM
This is a second web page I host.



Life On The Otherside of the Wire / British Guards

      Douglas Richards
      The guard who arrested Feld Marschall Gerd von Rundstedt

      Sergeant William Ronald Williams of 3 Platoon
      A guard at Special Camp 11. Also see photo at the bottom of this page

      Bombardier L,R,Angell
      15th April 1946 - Discharge papers signed by Commandant Major D.B. Topham

      Provost Sergeant Lewis Griffiths

      Captain Edward (Ted) Lees
      Camp Intelligence Officer and Interpreter

      Edward Stewart
      Camp Cook


The Unidentified

      Unidentified Prisoners & Possible Identifications

      Unidentified POW Signatures


Miscellaneous

      International Military Tribunal at Nürnberg (Nuremberg)
      Includes photos of Lord Oaksey visits Bridgend

      Life In Special Camp XI

      POWs Learn English

      Works Of Art by German POWs

      A Birthday At Island Farm
      A Birthday Card To Pfarrer Gruber


German PoW Orderlies to the High ranking German Officers

      Alexander Fritzche

      Helmut Guettler
      German PoW marries a Welsh girl from Bridgend

      Gunter Koball
      Camp interpreter and chief clerk at the accounts office

Aufwiedersehen - Repatriation

      An Official Repatriation List, Photos of the Repatriation and Newspaper Coverage


Closure Of Special Camp 11

      Closure of Island Farm Special Camp 11 (2nd Week May 1948)

Modern Day News / Photos

      Forty Three Years Later... (1988)

      Photos Of Island Farm Prior To The Camp Demolition in 1994
      Photos were taken approximately 1989

      POW Drawings from the Hut Walls

      Fifty Five Years later - Remembering the escape (2000)

      Modern Day - A Waste Of Money ?
      (Councillor Jeff Jones thought preserving Hut 9 was a waste of money.)

      Fifty Six Years Later (2001) - What's To Become Of the Island Farm Land ?

      Hut 9 (Inside and Outside)
      Hut 9 is all that remains of Island Farm today

      2003 - The Escape Tunnel Is Re-opened !


The Royal Ordnance Factories

      Photos Of "The Arsenal" & "The Admiralty" As It Was & Is Today
      Largest Employee Factories To Date In Britain!

      Aerial Photography Of Bridgend Taken by The Luftwaffe & RAF

Air-Raids On South Wales

      Unexploded Bomb (UXB) Classification

      Rare List Detailing Luftwaffe Air Raid Dates On South Wales and The Areas Around Bridgend


Other POW Camps In Great Britain

      Map Showing Location Of Pow Camps and List Of Camps

      People's Recollections of PoW Camps

      Other Escape Attempts From Camps in Great Britain

Tips On How To Find Information

      Looking for information on other POW Camps in Great Britain ?

Website & Hut 9 Under Attack!

      Outspoken attacks on this website and Hut 9 in 2003

      Wales This Week - Televised confrontation with Jeff Jones

      Hut 9 Attacked By Vandals 2004

60th Anniversary of D-Day

      Photos from my trip to Normandy Beaches - June 2004

TV Programmes

      Come Out (Whereever you are) - 1976 BBC Documentary

      The oldest known cine film of the camp (Sgt Ron Williams)

      BBC Country File 2013 - Hut 9 and Island Farm

      The Welsh Great Escape (2004 Docu/Drama)

      IMPORTANT NOTES ON TV ERRORS:
      1) Island Farm was a "white camp" (not black).
      2) Otto Iskat died of high blood pressure (not a beating). See Death Certificate.
      3) Tunnel was 30 feet, not 60 feet.
      4) Escapees were low-rank POWs, not officers.
      5) Actual escape figure was 70 POWs.

Tell Me What You Think Of This Site

      Who am I ? (People who helped with this site)
      Email me: Brett Exton
Sgt William Ronald Williams guarding the fence in 1946.
Note: Red circle shows POWs attempting to saw through the fence post.

Disclaimer:

The preservation of Hut 9 and this web site is dedicated to history and research. This site is not about the politics of Nazism. It is through honest, objective research that one may understand the plight of millions during WWII.

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