}
Prisoners of War
‘The crucial day is coming closer and closer, which we are awaiting with trembling hearts, as it will bring back freedom to us too‘
Karl Schildt, a German Prisoner of War at Flax Bourton near Bristol, writing home about an expected peace, 18th May 1919
When enemy servicemen were captured on either side, they were sent to Prisoner of War camps throughout the Empire so that they could not escape and re-join their units.
In England the men were put to work, filling the shortage of labour left by those who had enlisted. Over 1,000 Prisoners of War were held in five POW camps around Bristol at Henbury, Shirehampton, Yate, Thornbury and Flax Bourton.
The biggest was at Yate, north of Bristol where 497 military and two naval men lived in huts and worked on road building. They had gardens and a library. The 42 prisoners at Thornbury lived in a manor house and worked on local farms.
Three men from those two camps escaped but were recaptured, and two men, Otto Schaefer and Paul Klimas, died whilst being treated at Beaufort War Hospital.
All the Prisoners of War held in England were sent home in 1919.
When enemy servicemen were captured on either side, they were sent to Prisoner of War camps throughout the Empire so that they could not escape and re-join their units.
In England the men were put to work, filling the shortage of labour left by those who had enlisted. Over 1,000 Prisoners of War were held in five POW camps around Bristol at Henbury, Shirehampton, Yate, Thornbury and Flax Bourton.
The biggest was at Yate, north of Bristol where 497 military and two naval men lived in huts and worked on road building. They had gardens and a library. The 42 prisoners at Thornbury lived in a manor house and worked on local farms.
Three men from those two camps escaped but were recaptured, and two men, Otto Schaefer and Paul Klimas, died whilst being treated at Beaufort War Hospital.
All the Prisoners of War held in England were sent home in 1919.