Multi-disciplinary investigations at PoW Camp 198, Bridgend, S. Wales: site of a mass escape in March 1945

Abstract

Since camp closure the site has become derelict, and has not been scientifically investigated. This paper reports on the search to locate the PoW escape tunnel that was dug from Hut 9. This hut remains in remarkable condition, with numerous PoW graffiti still present. Also preserved is a prisoner-constructed false wall in a shower room behind which excavated material was hidden, though the tunnel entrance itself has been concreted over. Near-surface geophysics and ground-based LiDAR were used to locate the tunnel. Mid-frequency GPR surveys were judged optimal, with magnetometry least useful due to the above-ground metal objects. Archaeological excavations discovered the intact tunnel and bed-board shoring. With Allied PoW escape camp attempts well documented, this investigation provides valuable insight into German escape efforts.

Systematic Approach for Remote Sensing of Historical Conflict Landscapes with UAV-Based Laserscanning

“…The average point density and point spacing of terrestrial LiDAR scans, however, are much higher than those of airborne systems. These properties allow for very fine-scale site-level analysis [ 11 , 30 ], but working with ground-based systems is time-consuming and not possible in terrain that is difficult to access, also due to the cumbersome and heavy TLS device.…”

‘For you, the war is over? Not a chance!’ Captivity and escape at Cultybraggan prisoner of war camp, Comrie, Perthshire

“…It explains why the interview records of returning PoWs are full of accounts of repeated escape attempts (Banks and Pollard forthcoming). At Cultybraggan, there was no chance of tunnelling out in the way that the PoWs did in so many German camps, or even as the PoWs did in Bridgend in Wales (Rees-Hughes et al 2016). At Cultybraggan, the soil meant that any attempt at tunnelling was doomed to failure, but the prisoners still tried to tunnel out.…”

“…The details of the fieldwork remain in the Data Structure Report, although the camp was referenced in a published paper (Swan and Scott 2005;Banks 2011). Other examples are Bridgend in Wales (Rees-Hughes et al 2016), where a group of German PoWs were able to tunnel out of the camp; Dumfries House in Ayrshire, which remains in grey literature (Arabaolaza 2013;Jones 2018); and Lager Wick (a forced labour camp rather than a PoW camp) on Jersey, the Channel Islands (Carr 2016). There has been more work outside Britain, such as a series of excavations of PoW camps in Arctic Finland (Seitsonen and Herva 2011;Seistsonen et al 2017) and in Norway (Jasinski and Stenvik;Jasinski 2013).…”

Editorial

“…The middle paper, which I have left to last, is my own work carried out at the Cultybraggan PoW Camp at Comrie in Perthshire. This is another paper about PoW camps, a topic which has been a feature of several papers published by the Journal (Demuth 2009;Cooper 2011;Rees-Hughes et al 2016;Seitsonen et al 2017;McNutt and Jones 2019). This paper is closest in nature to Rees-Hughes et al (2016) in tone, because both relate to the issue of escape.…”

“…This is another paper about PoW camps, a topic which has been a feature of several papers published by the Journal (Demuth 2009;Cooper 2011;Rees-Hughes et al 2016;Seitsonen et al 2017;McNutt and Jones 2019). This paper is closest in nature to Rees-Hughes et al (2016) in tone, because both relate to the issue of escape. The earlier paper looked at a successful breakout by German PoWs from a camp in Wales; the present paper looks at unsuccessful attempts from a camp in Scotland and considers why escaping has been such a part of the PoW narrative.…”