Island Farm German Pow Camp 198 and Special Camp 11 (Hut 9 )

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 between myself and Councillor Jeff Jones

          Hut 9 Attacked By Vandals 28th/29th January 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 on the escape - also shows some of the former escapees

          The oldest known cine film of the camp
          Taken by Sgt Ron Williams ( Photo below)


          29th January 2013 - BBC Country File
          Hut 9 and Island Farm appeared on CountryFile - with myself and John Craven


          The Welsh Great Escape
          A 2004 docu / drama detailing the escape (featuring escapees Steffi Ehlert and Gerhard Fiegel)

                    IMPORTANT: Please be advised that there are lots of significant mistakes in the above programme,
                    The Welsh Great Escape, below are just a few examples:

                    1) Island Farm is quoted as being a "black camp" (Staunch Nazi) - Island Farm was a "white camp"
                    2) PoW Otto Iskat was severely beaten by fellow PoWs for failing to send Adolf Hitler a birthday card,
                                        See: Otto Iskat died of high blood pressure and a heart attack as per his death certificate
                    3) The tunnel was 60 feet in length
                                        The tunnel was nearer 30 feet in length
                    4) The PoWs who escaped were "German officers"
                                        The PoWs who took part in the escape were low ranked German PoWs. Island Farm wasn't an officer camp until 1946
                    5) The escape number is misquoted twice (67 and 72)
                                        The actual escape figure was 70 PoWs
                    6) Lily Griffiths was shot 3 days after the escape
                                        The escape was Saturday 10 / Sunday 11th March 1945, but the shooting was the 12th March.
                    7) Lily died within hours of being shot
                                        Lily was shot on the 12th March 1945 and died on the 16th March 1945
                    8) A supposed BBC News (Voice Over) - Gets date wrong (16th March 1945) for final escapees recaptured
                                        The actual date was, see: 17th March 1945

Tell Me What You Think Of This Site

            Who am I ? (Something about me, and the people who have helped me with this web site)
           
Email me: Brett Exton             

Sgt William Ronald Williams (Penarth) guarding the fence of Island Farm in 1946.

Note: the red circled area highlights an attempt by POWs to saw through the corner fence post. Consequently, the guards added a secondary support post to strengthen the fence.

 

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Disclaimer:

The preservation of Hut 9 and this web site is dedicated to the history and research of the Island Farm POW camp and the German POWs interned during the years 1944 -1948.
Although, the web site profiles many POWs both during WWI and WWII, this web site is not about the politics of Nazism.

The extensive use of photographs within this web site is done so for historical purposes and should not be viewed as an attempt to glorify the tragic events of WWII.

This web site does not support in any way those who would condone or embrace individuals, groups and/or organisations that are intolerant, racist or violent.

This web site does not support or endorce those that use the theme of WWII history to further their own political agenda.

It is through education, study and research that one may come to their own conclusions about WWII and the German experience, those that do not attempt to do so are guilty of ignorance.

Only through honest, objective and impartial research can one ever hope to understand the plight of so many millions of people during the Second World War.

This web site is respectfully dedicated to all those who suffered and died during the most devastating war in human history, on all sides.

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