War Diaries Talk

#story A letter from a POW *Officer (2nd Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers) from Holzminden Prisoner of War Camp -13th April 1918.

  • marie.eklidvirginmedia.com by marie.eklidvirginmedia.com

    #story A letter from a POW *Officer (2nd Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers) from Holzminden Prisoner of War Camp -13th April 1918. The events leading up to his capture.

    The initials in this letter are MMH – who I believe (according to records) is *Major M M Hartigan, Commanding 2nd Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers, who did send a letter from the POW Camp at Holzminden. Link: https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=Major+M+M+Hartigan+pow+2nd+Battalion+Royal+Munster+Fusiliers See 4th Entry in this article.

    Interesting Article Holzminden Prisoner of War Camp – See Notable Prisoners* (Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother’s, Brother). Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holzminden_prisoner-of-war_camp

    Prisoner of War letter (2nd Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers) 1st page Link: https://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/subjects/AWD0003e27
    2nd page Link: https://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/subjects/AWD0003e2o

    Holzminden prisoner-of-war camp was a World War I prisoner-of-war camp for British and British Empire officers (Offizier Gefangenenlager) located in Holzminden, Lower Saxony, Germany. It opened in September 1917, and closed with the final repatriation of prisoners in December 1918. It is remembered as the location of the largest PoW escape of the war, in July 1918: 29 officers escaped through a tunnel, of whom ten evaded subsequent recapture and managed to make their way back to Britain.

    *1 of the Notable prisoners listed - Michael Claude Hamilton Bowes-Lyon (1893–1953), son of the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and brother of the future Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

    After 2 years of tagging these war diaries, I am still surprised at the interesting diary pages that appear. Especially to read letters of those who were POW in Germany.

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  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    Great find, Marie! Thanks for sharing it. In reading it, it seems he feels so badly for his men and concerned for those whom he lost track of.

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    Thanks, Marie. What a stirring account, and as Cynthia says you can really feel the concern he has for the men he led.

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