Stalag 383 Hohenfels

Hohenfels, Germany

Stalag 383 was a Wehrmacht-administered prisoner-of-war camp for non-commissioned officers, established in late 1942 at a former military training site in the wooded hills near Hohenfels in northern Bavaria. The site had previously functioned briefly as Oflag III C before being redesignated to hold the growing population of Allied NCOs who claimed exemption from enforced working parties; by April 1943 more than 4,000 men were held there, including around 320 New Zealanders, and the camp ultimately housed some 8,000 prisoners at its peak. The population was broadly British and Commonwealth — Army, Navy and Air Force alike — with RAF aircrew among those confined there, including rear-gunner Adrian Heath of No. 101 Squadron Bomber Command, shot down over the Dutch coast in 1942. Uniquely for a camp of its size, Stalag 383 became known for the remarkable cultural and educational life its prisoners organised: by the winter of 1942–43 some 56 clubs were functioning, a 500-voice choir had formed, a library of over 10,000 volumes was assembled, and a swimming pool was in use — activity that also brought the two artists Terry Frost and Adrian Heath together, Heath teaching Frost to paint during their captivity. In the final weeks of the war the camp’s population swelled dramatically as prisoners evacuated from camps further east arrived; on 17 April 1945 the Germans marched the prisoners south through Regensburg toward Frontenhausen before the advancing American forces caught up with them, and on 24 April 1945 Major General Stanley Reinhart’s 65th Infantry Division liberated Hohenfels, accepting the formal surrender of the German commandant and his staff. Between 1945 and 1949 the site served as a displaced-persons camp before being absorbed into the US military training area that still occupies the ground today.

Airmen held here

G E Allan — Unknown
S Archer — Unknown
T Baranowski — Unknown
T E Barnett — Unknown
S Barraclough — Unknown
Donald Cosmo Beddoe — Unknown
H Bennett — Unknown
L J Benson — Unknown
E G R Bestel — Unknown
R L Bott — Unknown
A W J Cleeve — Unknown
R M Coghlan — Unknown
K A Cometti — Unknown
A E Connor — Unknown
T A Cooke — Unknown
W S Dashwood — Unknown
S F Davidson — Unknown
I G Davies — Unknown
F V Davis — Unknown
J H K Deane — Unknown
G R Duckham — Unknown
J W Duffield — Unknown
J Dunlop — Unknown
J K Dutton — Unknown
G B Edwards — Unknown
A A Ferguson — Unknown
E B Frais — Unknown
W F French — Unknown
R W Gowing — Unknown
C H Grace — Unknown
J B Green — Unknown
J W G Hall — Unknown
J C Hamilton — Unknown
R S Hartgroves — Unknown
W C Hayman — Unknown
R P Heard — Unknown
A L R Heath — Unknown
I Hewitt — Unknown
B G Hodgkinson — Unknown
H R Holme — Unknown
E Holt — Unknown
A W Horseman — Unknown
W L Johnson — Unknown
S Konarzewski — Unknown
K N Laing — Unknown
F K Lister — Unknown
J McCann — Unknown
C G Meader — Unknown
J Mercer — Unknown
H Mitchell — Unknown
E A Moore — Unknown
W P Muirhead — Unknown
H C Needham — Unknown
J A Ogden — Unknown
B J P Palmer — Unknown
R Pattison — Unknown
G F Poulton — Unknown
S J Price — Unknown
J Quinn — Unknown
P Y Sekine — Unknown
D G Semple — Unknown
E V Smith — Unknown
F J Smith — Unknown
W R Stapleford — Unknown
R J Stapleton — Unknown
William Gordon Stephens — Unknown
A R Stuart — Unknown
G P Thomas — Unknown
G W Tode — Unknown
A J Tonkin — Unknown
T M Wade — Unknown
E W Wainwright — Unknown
F. S. Waller — Unknown
B S Walley — Unknown
J C Webb — Unknown
A B Wiggins — Unknown
A S Winton — Unknown
J Woods — Unknown
R Yearsley — Unknown