History of POWs at Stalag IIIB and Stalag IIIA: The following information was taken from the personal account of "Life Behind Barbed Wire" by "Angelo M. Spinelli and Lewis H. Carlson."

(1) November 8, 1942 - Landed at Algiers in North Africa.
(2) February 14, 1943 - Captured by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's troops during the Battle of Kasserine Pass in Tunisia.
(3) March 29, 1943 - Arrived in Stalag IIIB at Furstenberg/Oder.
(4) January 31, 1945 - Evacuated from Stalag IIIB because of the advancing Russian Army, and begins the Long March to Stalag IIIA.
(5) February 7, 1945 - Arrived in Stalag IIIA at Luckenwalde.
(6) April 22, 1945 - Liberated from Stalag IIIA by Russian troops.
(7) June 13, 1945 - Arrived back in the United States.

After being captured, the American prisoners of war were put on a JU-52 plane and flew to Capua, Italy, which was near Naples. After landing in Italy, the prisoners stayed there for about a week or ten days, and then were taken to the train station and jammed like animals into 40-and-8 boxcars, so-called because they could carry forty men or eight horses. They were locked in with no water or food, and then taken to Munich, Germany.

The prisoners arrived at Stalag 7A at Moosburg just northeast of Munich. They stayed there for only a few days before being reloaded on the same kind of boxcars and shipped to Stalag IIIB where they would spend the next twenty-two months. The prisoners of war arrived in Stalag IIIB on March 29, 1943. On that first day, one of the guards told them they would never get out alive. Those words stayed with the POWs every moment as a prisoner of war.

One of the German officers in Stalag IIIB told the POWs that the camp contained some 3,500 Americans POWs, 12,000 Russians, 8,000 Frenchmen, and 1,000 Serbians. Stalag IIIB was primarily for noncommissioned officers, with the enlisted men and officers sent to other camps. The American POWs were the first Americans in Stalag IIIB and were put in their own compound. There was a double row of barbed wire that separated the American compound from those ones containing other nationalities. There was also a ten-foot warning wire and if the POWs crossed this wire into the warning zone, they would be shot.

After arriving at Stalag IIIB, the POWs were given tetanus shots in the chest. At that time of year, it was very cold, and because of a lack of heat the POWs had to sleep with all their clothes on. They slept on straw mattresses that were filled with mice, fleas, ticks, and lice.

The POWs had one stove per barracks and one washroom in the building with only a few cold-water spigots for more than 300 men. If they wanted hot water, they had to haul it from the kitchen, if there was some available. There was only one large latrine available toward the rear of the camp. When it was full, the Russian prisoners came and shoveled it into a 'honey wagon,' which was then spread out on nearby farmers' fields. The American prisoners had six barracks in Stalag IIIB, each holding 300 plus prisoners. Later another six barracks were added and as many as 450 prisoners of war were crammed into a single barracks building.

Because the POWs could not be forced to work, they usually stayed in the sack until about 6:55 am in the morning. Roll call was at 7:00 am. Roll call was taken whether it was raining or snowing and they had to stand in the rain or snow until the Germans arrived at a figure that satisfied them. Three or four men would count the POWs and often had a difficult time agreeing on the total numbers. Afterwards, they ate breakfast if there was anything to eat.

The German ration for breakfast was usually only ersatz coffee. Ersatz is made of roasted rice, roasted peas, and roasted chicory. Muckefuck, a generic term in Germany for coffee substitutes, possibly from the French "mocca faux". After breakfast they would be free to go to classes, play ball, or do anything they wanted. Lunch normally consisted of a watery soup. After lunch they were free again until late in the afternoon when there would be another roll call, and would have to stand outdoors and get counted again. For supper the Germans might give them a few patotoes, some ersatz bread, and maybe some meat.

On January 31, with Russian troops closing in, the German officers, with little warning, order the POWs to evacuate Stalag IIIB to another prison camp, Stalag IIIA. This was a forced march through the snow. If a POW was unable to walk he would be shot by the Germans. This departure was so hasty that the prisoners were provided with no provisions and had nothing to eat on the forced march except a few pieces of bread. Water was also in equally short supply. Under such harsh conditions many of the prisoners became sick before reaching Stalag IIIA at Luckenwalde on February 7, 1945.

POWs remained at Stalag IIIA in Luckenwalde for three months before being liberated by the Russians. The living conditions were much worse than they had been in Stalag IIIB, particularly because of the overcrowding and the lack of sanitary facilities. The POWs were liberated by the Russians on April 22, 1945. After the Russians moved into Stalag IIIA there was total chaos. Most of the German guards had fled or been killed by the Russians.

After Russian troops liberated Stalag IIIA at Luckenwalde on the morning of April 22, 1945, they quickly moved on to the battle of Berlin, leaving the prisoners on their own. After the liberation, U.S. Army ambulances transported those prisoners too sick to walk back to the American lines. The normal procedure for all liberated prisoners were to be flown to Paris and then transported by land to Camp Lucky Strike at Le Havre, which was the staging area for prisoners of war returning to the States.

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Duncan C. Norris, Jr.