Hi Guys,
I hope you can help me out some information about my Gran-dad.
My mum always told me my Gran-dad was in the cavalry during 1939, took part during the war. She said that for some reason they surrendered (that they were up against a Panzer division?) and was taken as POW and spent the rest of the war working on a farm in Germany as POW. The region where he grew up is now in Belarus. I actually never got any more information out of my mum, however she has his 1939 and victory medals, just these two which were issued in '82. Grandpa passed away in '85 so I was quite young at the time. I always wanted to find out about him.
After reading this very interesting thread here, I went to the site program straty osobowe and did a search for my gran-dad, and there was the information, the most information I have ever gotten, so thank you to the person who posted this link. I have attached the information I found.
So I have started piecing the bits together. Bierdziki is village in Belarus, about 100km east of Bialystok, in Polska. It says he was in the 4 D.A.K. would I be correct in saying that this was the 4 Dywizjon Artylerii Konnej, and if so surely he would have taken part in the Bitwa Pod Kockiem, where the Poles were winning the battle but ultimately surrendered on the 5/10/39, his record shows he was taken as prisoner on the 6/10/39 at Wola Gulowska where part of the battle took place. Then taken to Stalag IIIA. I think this is supposed to be Stalag VIIIA Stalag VIII A. It was one of the first ones near Gorlitz, now on the border between Poland & Germany (actually drove through there a few years ago, wish I knew then what I know now).
Then he was taken to work in Luckenwalde which is just south of Berlin, and his number was 14,264. Unfortunately it doesn't say when he was released but it would have been after Berlin was taken for sure. He resettled in Gdansk after the war where he met my Grandma (who coincidentally was first married her first husband 10 days before the war started, he was in the army at the time, she never saw him again, heartbreaking).
Any information or confirmation or help would be so much appreciated. I am hoping my dad who will actually be in Suwalki region next year can go to the 3DAK who are stationed there and dig something out!
I also found some family members from my dad's side who were takes as prisoners to work on farms, one was taken to czech area, one to Austria and one to Germany, another was actually born while parents were being repressed. This part of my family lived in Galicia, near Tarnow at the time, they were farmers, so would have been taken off the land rather than the army. So the Germans did split families up to different areas. Those were hard days.
Thank You in advance all!
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