News

On Monday, 22 January 1945, the Germans gave the order to evacuate Stalag 344 Lamsdorf. It started with the British prisoners-of-war, who were sent on foot into long and difficult journey to the West. In the following days the camp was left by other prisoners-of-war, such as Polish, Soviet, Yugoslavian and Italian soldiers.

Readiness to evacuate the Lamsdorf camp had already been declared a few days earlier (on 18 January). The reason for that was an offensive of the Red Army from the direction of the Vistula River. In the last rail transport (on 20 January), Lamsdorf was left by 300 prisoners-of-war, former Warsaw insurgents. Each of them received a quarter loaf of bread for the journey. The transport never got to its destination – the Gross Born camp. This camp was already in the process of being evacuated. The prisoners-of-war from Lamsdorf had been directed to Stalag X B Sandbostel (Lower Saxony). They arrived there after 10 days.

Other groups of soldiers were evacuated on foot in cold, snow and a strong wind. On 22 January 1945, a group of thousand men from the so-called Britenlager begun their march. They had a distance of 240 km to cover, 20 km on average each day. They received a portion of camp bread and one Red Cross parcel each for the journey.

On Wednesday, 24 January 1945, the evacuation of the Stalag took on a mass character, involving both the prisoners of the so-called Russenlager and the camp commandant and guard battalions of the national riflemen. By 26 January, the main part of the POWs had left Stalag 344 Lamsdorf and were moving by various routes deep into Germany. The departure also involved prisoners-of-war from the working parties subordinated to the camp. However, the evacuation rush meant that some of them - especially those in the south-western districts - were not evacuated and continued to work even until the spring of 1945. On the other hand, other ones, such as those near the town of Kluczbork, were liberated by Red Army soldiers.