Metadata : Private Papers of P W Whitton
Collection
- Country:
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Holding institution:
- Imperial War Museum
- Holding institution (official language):
- Imperial War Museum
- Postal address:
- Lambeth Road London Greater London United Kingdom SE1 6HZ
- Email:
- Email: contact@iwm.org.uk
- Country:
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Holding institution:
- Imperial War Museum
- Holding institution (official language):
- Imperial War Museum
- Postal address:
- Lambeth Road London Greater London United Kingdom SE1 6HZ
- Email:
- Email: contact@iwm.org.uk
- Reference number:
- Documents.25933
- Title:
- Private Papers of P W Whitton
- Title (official language):
- Private Papers of P W Whitton
- Creator/accumulator:
- Whitton, Peter William
- Date(s):
- 1940/1945
- Language:
- English
- Extent:
- 1 file
- Scope and content:
- Transcription (55pp ts) of a retrospective account / journal, written whilst a prisoner of war in Germany during the Second World War, of his experiences in northern France in May 1940 with the 2nd Battalion Irish Guards, preparing to counter units of the invading German Army in the Boulogne area when he was taken prisoner near the town, the long forced march into captivity via intermediate camps at Montreuil, Hesdin, Bertrix and Trier before being taken to Schubin / Szubin (Stalag XXIB) in occupied Poland, being sent out on various POW working parties in the immediate vicinity including a period spent in the XXIB sub-camp at Warthelager until January 1941 when he was moved to Stalag XXIA (Schildberg) and then to Zgierz near Lodz (Litzmannstadt) until June 1941, with some interesting observations on the demolition by POW working parties of houses formerly owned by Jewish inhabitants of Zgierz, and on the Jewish ghetto in Lodz, transfer in rapid succession to Stalag XXIC at Wollstein (Wolsztyn), Lamsdorf (Stalag VIIIB), and ? Oels (Olesnica) until December 1941, the journal including very few entries between then and January 1945 when it resumes with an account of the forced march of POWs westwards from the Lamsdorf satellite camp at Jaworzno to the vicinity of Regensburg in south-eastern Germany (March 1945), the arrival of US troops, the end of the war and his repatriation in May 1945; appended to the transcription is a later memoir of his wartime experiences (28pp), including his call-up into the Irish Guards at Caterham Barracks and Old Dean Camp at Camberley shortly after the outbreak of war in 1939, proceeding on active service to northern France immediately after his wedding in May 1940, commenting on the total inadequacy of his weapons training to meet the German Army in battle, the rest of the memoir describing various aspects of his captivity as a POW, including a typhus epidemic at Lamsdorf, hearing the story of a fellow-POW and survivor of the Le Paradis massacre (William O'Callaghan), being in charge of the sick bay in the mining camp at Kattowitz / Katowice, his experiences working in the coal mines there and at Sosnowitz / Sosnowiec and Jaworzno, camp entertainment and low-level sabotage attempts, and his severe ill-health on return to the UK, probably caused by his POW experiences.
- Access points: locations:
- Germany
- Access points: persons/families:
- Whitton, P W
- Access points: persons/families (additional):
- Whitton, P W
- Subject terms:
- Holocaust--Ghettos
- Prisoners
- World War II
- Access, restrictions:
- Visit IWM website for Research Room access provisions see https://www.iwm.org.uk/research/research-facilities
- Finding aids:
- Online catalogue see: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030044514
- Reference number:
- Documents.25933
- Title:
- Private Papers of P W Whitton
- Title (official language):
- Private Papers of P W Whitton
- Creator/accumulator:
- Whitton, Peter William
- Date(s):
- 1940/1945
- Language:
- English
- Extent:
- 1 file
- Scope and content:
- Transcription (55pp ts) of a retrospective account / journal, written whilst a prisoner of war in Germany during the Second World War, of his experiences in northern France in May 1940 with the 2nd Battalion Irish Guards, preparing to counter units of the invading German Army in the Boulogne area when he was taken prisoner near the town, the long forced march into captivity via intermediate camps at Montreuil, Hesdin, Bertrix and Trier before being taken to Schubin / Szubin (Stalag XXIB) in occupied Poland, being sent out on various POW working parties in the immediate vicinity including a period spent in the XXIB sub-camp at Warthelager until January 1941 when he was moved to Stalag XXIA (Schildberg) and then to Zgierz near Lodz (Litzmannstadt) until June 1941, with some interesting observations on the demolition by POW working parties of houses formerly owned by Jewish inhabitants of Zgierz, and on the Jewish ghetto in Lodz, transfer in rapid succession to Stalag XXIC at Wollstein (Wolsztyn), Lamsdorf (Stalag VIIIB), and ? Oels (Olesnica) until December 1941, the journal including very few entries between then and January 1945 when it resumes with an account of the forced march of POWs westwards from the Lamsdorf satellite camp at Jaworzno to the vicinity of Regensburg in south-eastern Germany (March 1945), the arrival of US troops, the end of the war and his repatriation in May 1945; appended to the transcription is a later memoir of his wartime experiences (28pp), including his call-up into the Irish Guards at Caterham Barracks and Old Dean Camp at Camberley shortly after the outbreak of war in 1939, proceeding on active service to northern France immediately after his wedding in May 1940, commenting on the total inadequacy of his weapons training to meet the German Army in battle, the rest of the memoir describing various aspects of his captivity as a POW, including a typhus epidemic at Lamsdorf, hearing the story of a fellow-POW and survivor of the Le Paradis massacre (William O'Callaghan), being in charge of the sick bay in the mining camp at Kattowitz / Katowice, his experiences working in the coal mines there and at Sosnowitz / Sosnowiec and Jaworzno, camp entertainment and low-level sabotage attempts, and his severe ill-health on return to the UK, probably caused by his POW experiences.
- Access points: locations:
- Germany
- Access points: persons/families:
- Whitton, P W
- Access points: persons/families (additional):
- Whitton, P W
- Subject terms:
- Holocaust--Ghettos
- Prisoners
- World War II
- Access, restrictions:
- Visit IWM website for Research Room access provisions see https://www.iwm.org.uk/research/research-facilities
- Finding aids:
- Online catalogue see: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030044514
