PEOPLE'S RECOLLECTIONS OF POW CAMPS
Please be
aware that my list of PoW camps is NOT a definitive list. In the years
I have been researching Island Farm I have never been fortunate to find such
a list. The previous list is one which has been painstakingly pieced together
over the years using all manor of varying documents.
I often receive emails from people who recall the presence of a camp but very
rarely its name, number or exact location. However, due to the frequency of
such emails I thought that I would add the email accounts to this web page in
the hope that it might help somebody locate a camp or come forward with some
additional information
The following are examples of such camps camps which have been brought to my attention but it is unclear whether these were POW camps or used by the military:
Barry Cooper February 2006: Was there a pow camp at Grazeley Green, near Reading Berkshire? NGR SU678673 ?
POW camp 88 was at Mortimer (Little Park Farm), so was 2 or 3 miles from Grazeley Green; similarly Camp 135 at Spencer's Wood (Stanbury House), again several miles away. The only other POW camps recorded as being in Berkshire are Camp 7 at Ascot, Camp 25 at Farncombe Down, Camp 43 at North Hinksey, Camp 246 at Pangbourne, Camp 652 and Camp 693 both at Didcot, and Camp 1001 at Thatcham.
Of course the question is - were there other pow camps that are not on the list? Grazeley had the appearance of a POW or army camp, but was it? Perhaps it was an army camp, or maybe the huts were constructed at the time AWRE/AWE (Atomic Weapons Research Establishment) was built to accomodate the workers. So far, I've drawn a blank on all these possibilities. The camp was located between the southern edge of the AWE Burghfield site and the Grazeley Green - Burghfield Common road just west of, but very close to, Grazeley Green village. NGR SU678673 would be map reference for central part of site.
Back in the late '50s (when I was a UKAEA person staying there) access was available from the south (the main entrance) and from the north. I'm 99.99% sure that I've located the right place - but it is now completely different! No huts as it's just a playing field, but the concrete north-south road is still there, and access only available from the AWE track on the north side. Someone reckons that it was an Italian pow camp, but I've found no proof of this. It is next door to a farm and I'm wondering if it was accomodation for prisoners, or ex-prisoners, working there.
Mike Hulme February 2006:
About a mile south of Condover, Shropshire there was a RAF training airfield during WW2 and part of the western end of this was used to house German prisoners, at least at the end of the war. What I don't know is how long this site had been in use during the war time. The entrance to the camp site was at OS Map Ref: SJ 4908 0423 with the camp on the north side of this road. I was not born until 1943 but I can remember visiting this camp after the end of WW2 whilst former German prisoners were still housed there awaiting repatriation. The prisoners were used as farm labourers in the area. My home at that time was within walking distance of the camp site.