help with grandfather's WW2 POW records

[manukarik]

Is this William Lawrence your grandfather?

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205018422

Although it does say RAF...

Ignore! Your grandfather was William Lawson. Sorry!

[HMac]

Dylan said:  In his casualty card it says  that on 13/5/1942 it was reported that:
"Survivor from one of our units sunk in he Mediterranean'' ref no: 4I0L ref no 4/805

Any chance you could put a piece of that card up for context please?
I am struggling with the date and the text 'one of our units' which suggests allied ship.

Regards
Hugh

[Andy J2022]

Do you have any idea how I might find out what happened to my grandfather at this POW camp?

Hi Dylan,
It may be that after he was repatriated your grandfather was asked to complete a questionnaire about his time in captivity. If he did it will be in series WO 344 at TNA. These records have not been indexed down to individuals and obviously have not been digitized. The TNA reference system is a little confusing at this point. William Lawson's questionnaire could have been included in one of four different files, so ideally you would neeed to check them all personally:
WO 344/387/1 Laban - Laws
WO 344/387/2 Laban - Leys
WO 344/181/1 Lawman - Laws
WO 344/181/2 Laws-Chapman - Lazzari

In addition, WO 208 contains special, more detailed questionnaires for PoWs who escaped or who were on escape committees etc. As previously mentioned the only other source of information about life in the camps was contained in the ICRC camp reports (see WO 224 and FO 916). Obviously these reports did not name individual PoWs and were just a snapshot of life at the time the ICRC representatives visited.

While it is the case that the Germans probably kept fairly detailed records on the PoWs, I'm not sure if these have survived and if they have where they might be found. The Americans captured and microfilmed an enormous quantity of German civil and military records and these films are now held in their National Archives in Maryland. The films clearly include some PoW records, but they only seem to cover US servicemen, and not all Allied PoWs. See here for more: https://www.archives.com/genealogy/records-world-war-ii-prisoners-of-war-index.html

The individual PoW cards at TNA (WO 416) only contain the bare minimum of information about each man, as you have seen from the information you have, sufficient to identify him and log his movements. At most there may be also be a record of any hospital admissions. That said, if you can get to TNA you will be able view the actual card and photographs etc for your grandfather in WO 416/218/336. This is preferable to ordering a copy because while you are there you can search the WO 344 (post release individual debrief questionnaires) and WO 224 (ICRC camp reports) records which also haven't yet been fully indexed and certainly aren't digitized.

[Lee Murphy]

Dear Andy and Hugh, thank you both for your help , it is very much appreciated.
Sorry Hugh I'm not sure I understood your point. Are you suggesting my grandfather was on an allied ship that was sunk in the Med?

The Wiener Holocaust library has informed me that it contains 163 frames of records from the StatlagV111B Teschen camp, where my grandfather was sent,  but sadly these are all in German.

Andy, thank you for your suggestions I will pursue these.
Thank you so much.
Kind Regards
Dylan Murphy

[HMac]

Hi Dylan,

Sorry Hugh I'm not sure I understood your point. Are you suggesting my grandfather was on an allied ship that was sunk in the Med?

The comment: it was reported that:
"Survivor from one of our units sunk in he Mediterranean'' ref no: 4I0L ref no 4/805".

No, not really. I was just curious about that comment which to a Navy guy like me doesn't make much sense. He was in Axis captivity at this time but 'one of our units sunk in the Mediterranean' is ambiguous and that could be interpreted from a Navy point of view at least as one of our ships sunk in the Mediterranean. I prefer to see the actual document or part thereof to properly understand the overall context. I wouldn’t have written it like that but it may just be the way different services wrote up their files.   

Regards
Hugh

[Lee Murphy]

Dear Hugh, please find attached a photo from the record sent to me by the army of how my grandfather was in a ship that was sunk in the Med.

[HMac]

Hi Dylan,
Army records are not really my area so I will defer to anyone else.

That entry still doesn’t make sense to me but I am thinking the date 13.5.42 is just the W.O. reporting that he was a survivor while in transportation from N. Africa but actual date unknown.
So, what do we know? We know he was reported missing in November 1941 then we know he was a POW in Rome reported Jan 1942 but date and camp unknown. So, sometime after November 1941, it is possible that he was on an Italian transport that was torpedoed by, I would suggest, one of our units.
So, worth checking which transports, that carried prisoners, were sunk during this period. One that comes to mind - SEBASTIANO VENIERO was torpedoed on 9.12.1941.
Regards
Hugh

[Lee Murphy]

Hi Hugh, thank you for your helpful comments.
Where could I find out which transports, that carried prisoners, were sunk during this time period?
Is there an archive or museum I could consult?
Thank you for your time and help with this.
Regards
Dylan Murphy

[greenrig]

You posted the WO/416 index summary.  It says there is a photograph.
 For that alone, I would request the card.  There may be other useful info on the card also.  If it is convenient for you, you can visit Kew to see the card. Alternatively, they will scan and send for a fee.