Stalag 17-B WWII POW - Notes Written In a Little Bible

My Father-in-law passed away about a decade ago from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) aka "Lou Gehrig's disease". When he was 19 or 20 years old, he was captured by the Nazis when the bomber he was a gunner on was shot down over Germany during WWII. He was in Stalag 17-B. This Christmas my mother-in-law gave us a little Bible that my husband's father carried on a long march they were forced to make at the end of the war. He had written his vital information inside the front cover and notes in the back that gave a small picture into the last few weeks before they were liberated by U.S. forces. Needless to say, I was in tears when I realized what I was holding.

My husband said that his father never talked about the war or his time as a POW, but near the end of his life he reconnected with the POW survivors groups and attended several of their gatherings. It was wonderful for him to see men that he had not seen since they were liberated. It was also a catalyst for his opening up to us about, at least, his capture. He said that when the plane became disabled, most of them parachuted out and came down in a field. The plane disappeared out of view as it got lower to the ground, with part of the crew still on board. He said that they saw a farmer running across the field toward them, and his first thought was that the farmer would hide them in his barn. That hope was soon gone when he saw that the farmer was leading a group of Nazi soldiers to their location. He said that at the first POW reunion he went to, he discovered that the men he thought had perished when the plane crashed, had survived but had exited the plane so late that they ended up in a different POW camp. He was happy that they had not died in the crash.

The internet makes it so easy to find pictures, information and stories from his POW Camp, and the bit of information in his small New Testament matches perfectly. These little Bibles may have been in the Red Cross packages that were passed out to the prisoners at the beginning of their march from the camp. Not sure, but there was a sticker in the front that said it was from the War Prisoners Aid, YMCA, and the Commission on Chaplaincy Aid for Prisoners of War. Stalag 17-B was a former concentration camp located one hundred meters northwest of the Village of Gneixendorf, six kilometers northwest of Krems-on-the Danube, 85 kilometers West by North of Vienna, Austria.
________________
This was in the front:

Property of S/Sgt. George -------
A.S.N #--------
Home Address
77 Canal St.
Brattelboro, VT.
P.O.W. #105202

Chaplain
Father Kane
Stalag 17-B

This is what is written in the back:

23
17
23
17
29
____
109 kilo April 14th
April 28th 1945.
Completed march of 250 miles

Living in wooded area just 10 miles from Braunau. General Patton's forces only a few kilo from here.

May 2nd Liberated by the 13th Armored Division of 3rd Army, at 6:45 P.M.

May 3rd - 4 yank jeeps came in & took command of camp. Germans are showing true colors today. Our Stalag Officers were asking the Amer. Officers for mercy. No luck! The Lt. Col. in charge of recapture unit is a real Army man. Expect to be moved back to our lines tonite or tomorrow. Many skirmishes around here today. Tanks are still rolling in around the Braunau area.
* * * * * *

From the internet, I got the following first person account of the march. A woman tape-recorded her father, Paul Spodar, who was also in stalag 17-B, as she asked him about the war.

The March

"In the final days of the war the Germans started to dismantle the prison camps. In the beginning of April 1945 the Germans led thousands of POWs from Stalag 17B on a 300 mile march to a "new" camp in Braunau Austria. Hundreds of men were left behind in hospitals too ill to make the march. Unfortunately for the POWs on the march there was no new camp their final destination ended up being in the Weilhardt Forest. The move by the Germans was made so that the approaching Russian troops would not liberate the prisoners.

For almost 3 weeks the POWs covered approximately 15 miles a day in marching columns of 500 men. They were herded along by the guards and their dogs. Paul and crewmates, Jake, Rube, and Beck managed to stay together. At the beginning of the march the men were given a Red Cross parcel it was suppose to have enough food for seven days, the food quickly ran out. During the days of the march they would occasionally pass by working slave laborers consisting of Poles, Ukrainians and other Slavic people. It was at these times that Paul would speak in Ukrainian and beg for any food as they passed the workers. Sometimes Paul got lucky and one would throw a potato or other vegetable without the guards noticing. That little gift of food would be shared between the 4 men.

Through rain and snow the men marched. When someone fell from exhaustion or illness the other POWs would quickly pick them up and drag them along for as long as they could. If a man could go no further he was left by the side of the road where death would take him on his final journey.

During their march they were coming near the Mauthausen Concentration Camp. A column of people were coming towards the POWs at a very slow pace. The POW guards pulled the POWs off to the side of the road. The guards instructed the prisoners in no uncertain terms that if they to tried to talk or pass anything to the people that were going to pass by they would be shot! This was not what usually happened. Before when they passed a group of people the men would try to talk to them with only a stern warning or a cuff with a rifle butt for their discretion. This time the guards meant business don't talk or do anything to the people who were going to pass by. As the column slowly approached they got their answer of why they were not to have anything to do with the people.

First the POWs saw the infamous and brutal SS troops followed by the most pitiful sight. They were Jewish prisoners. You could tell they were Jewish by the big yellow Star of David attached to the rags that they had for clothes. These living skeletons of men were trying to hold each other up as they plodded along. Many did not have shoes, hats or anything on that would protect them from the harsh cold of winter. The POWs just stood there with their hearts going out to these wretched poor souls as they passed by. It sicken the POWs that they could not do anything to help these ill-fated prisoners.

As the POWs resumed their march they saw strewn along the side of the road the bodies of the Jews who could not go on. The POWs said a prayer not for the dead along the road (as they had been released from their mortal misery) but for the others who still had to endure the suffering agony of torture from the SS troops. What little the Jewish prisoners had in the way of covering from the elements, they gave up to respect and cover their dead."


*Links:
This is a great site, Paul's Sentimental Journey, where I got the details of the march.
This link has pictures as well as lots of information.
This is one of the websites that filled in some of the gaps.