Stalag IX-C

Stalag IX-C
Bad Sulza, Thuringia
Stalag IX-C
Coordinates	51°05′52″N 11°37′58″E / 51.097867°N 11.632828°E / 51.097867; 11.632828
Type	Prisoner-of-war camp
Site information
Controlled by	Nazi Germany
Site history
In use	1940–1945
Battles/wars	World War II
Garrison information
Occupants	Polish, Belgian, French, British, Yugoslav,Italian, Canadian, Commonwealth, American prisoners of war

Stalag IX-C was a German prisoner-of-war camp for Allied soldiers in World War II. Although its headquarters were located near Bad Sulza, between Erfurt and Leipzig in Thuringia, its sub-camps – Arbeitskommando – were spread over a wide area, particularly those holding prisoners working in the potassium mines, south of Mühlhausen.

Camp history

The camp was opened in February 1940 to hold

Hospitals

Also under the administration of Stalag IX-C was a large hospital, Reserve-Lazaret IX-C(a). This was in the town of Obermaßfeld, south-west of Erfurt, in a three-story stone building that was previously a Strength Through Joy hostel. The hospital was operated by British, Canadian and New Zealand medical staff. Its staff was considerably augmented in October 1944 with the arrival of an entire ambulance team of the British 1st Airborne Division, captured at Arnhem. Patients came from across Germany, but mainly from Wehrkreis IX. The hospital was liberated by the U.S. 11th Armored Division.

There was also a smaller hospital Reserve-Lazaret IX-C(b) at Meiningen.

Escapes

In March 1942, two British privates, Macfarlane and Goldie, escaped wearing their blue work detail overalls over their battledress. They wore rucksacks to cover the markings "KG" (Kriegsgefangener, "prisoner of war") on their backs. They secreted themselves in a rail wagon carrying salt to Belgium. There they managed to contact an escape line and, by the middle of the year, they were safely back in Scotland.^[1]

Notable inmates

• Captain John B. Sherman,
  RAMC, Army No. 115959, carried out skin grafts using a razor blade.^[2]
• ETO
  in World War II.
• Pierre-Antoine Cousteau, reporter.
• Ted Brown, American radio personality.^[3]
• Jack Hinton a New Zealand soldier who served during the Second World War. He was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces, for his actions at Kalamata on 29 April 1941 during the Battle of Greece.

See also

• List of prisoner-of-war camps in Germany
• Stalag

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Stories of Great Escapes
• Memoir of British Airborne medic
• Reserve-Lazarett IX-C(a) from 303rd Bomb Group, 8th AF, Association.

External links

• New Zealand WWII Archives