Stalag XXB - Long March?

[fisherj]

I am trying to help a friend find out more about his father's time as a POW - specifically whether he was force marched in the "Long March".  Any help would be appreciated.

In 1942, he was at Stalag XXB (Malbork).  I think he may have been there until the end of the war.

Here's his information from the National Archives with details of his capture in 1940:

Name: Frederick William Kirby.
Date of Birth:   /  /1918.
Service: British Army.
Rank: Gunner.
Regiment/Unit/Squadron: Royal Artillery.
Service Number: 1492813.
Date of Capture: 26/05/1940.
Theatre of Capture: Calais.
Camp Name/Number: Stalag XXA Thorn.
PoW number: 7497.

Any ideas would be gratefully received!

[tonepad]

First of all you state Stalag XXB (Malbork) and the National Archives record has Stalag XXA Thorn.
These are two separate camps in different locations.

My uncle was a POW in Thorn and did not have to endure the "Long March" in front of the advancing Russian Army. However when his camp was liberated by the Russians, he and other POWs made their way by foot to Odessa (via Warsaw) on the Black Sea where a British Ship was able to repatriate them.


Tony

[fisherj]

Thanks for your reply.

I realise that these are 2 different camps - and assumed he was moved from one to another, like some other prisoners whose stories I have found on line.

I have also found a hand sketched plan of XXB which states that huts were built in 1942 to house British prisoners - which, if true, would fit with the date the family have been told he was in Malbork. 

https://51hd.co.uk/photos/sketch_stalag_xxb

All I have read recently about life in the PoW camps has been deeply moving.  I am glad to hear that your uncle was not involved in the Long March.