1943 Germany US Soldier POW Camp Postcard Cover Stalag 8B to NYC Oskar Neumann

Item Specifics

Country

Germany

Condition

Cover (Postal History)

Stamp Format

Single

Item Description

Up for auction is an beautiful stampless feldpost censored postcard cover from Stalag 8B in Lamsdorf Germany from an American soldier named Oskar Neumann to Adolf Ullmann in New York City. Postmarked march 4, 1943. In excellent condition which is unusual for POW mail. Priced to sell. Nice postal history cover. Note that this is a stampless Feldpost cover with no postage affixed. Great cancels and POW camp and censorship markings.

Wikipedia says this about the camp:

Stalag VIII-B Lamsdorf was a notorious German Army prisoner of war camp, later renumbered Stalag-344, located near the small town of Lamsdorf (now called Lambinowice) in Silesia. The camp initially occupied barracks built to house British and French prisoners in World War I. At this same location there had been a prisoner camp during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.

Timeline

It was opened in 1939 to house Polish prisoners from the German September 1939 offensive. Later approximately 100,000 prisoners from Australia, Belgium, British India, British Palestine, Canada, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, the United States and Yugoslavia passed through this camp. In 1941 a separate camp, Stalag VIII-F was set up close by to house the Soviet prisoners.

In 1943, the Lamsdorf camp was split up, and many of the prisoners (and Arbeitskommando) were transferred to two new base camps Stalag VIII-C Sagan (modern Zagan and Stalag VIII-D Teschen (modern Ceský Tešín). The base camp at Lamsdorf was renumbered Stalag 344.

The Soviet Army reached the camp on 17 March 1945.

Later the Lamsdorf camp was used by the Soviets to house Germans, both prisoners of war and civilians. Polish army personnel being repatriated from POW camps were also processed through Lamsdorf and sometimes held there as prisoners for several months. Some were later released, others sent to Gulags in Siberia.
Stalag Luft VIII-B

By 1943, the famous camp for Allied flight personnel in Sagan - Stalag Luft III - had become so overcrowded that about 1,000, mostly non-commissioned flight personnel, were transferred to Lamsdorf. A part of Stalag VIII-B was separated by building new barbed-wire fences, designated Stalag Luft VIII-B. Thus a camp within a camp was created. However all food was provided from kitchens operated by army personnel in the camp proper.
Medical facilities

The hospital facilities at Stalag VIII-B were among the best in all Stalags. The so-called Lazarett was set up on separate site with eleven concrete buildings. Six of them were self-contained wards, each with space for about 100 patients. The others served as treatment blocks with operating theaters, X-ray and laboratory facilities, as well as kitchens, a morgue, and accommodations for the medical staff.

The lazarett was headed by a German officer with the title Oberst Arzt ("Colonel Doctor"), but the staff was made up entirely of prisoners. They included general physicians and surgeons, even a neuro-surgeon, psychiatrist, anesthesiologist, radiologist.
Evacuation and repatriation

In January 1945, as the Soviet armies resumed their offensive and advanced into Germany, many of the prisoners were marched westward in groups of 200 to 300 in the so-called Death March. Many of them died from the bitter cold and exhaustion. The lucky ones got far enough to the west to be liberated by the American army. The unlucky ones got "liberated" by the Soviets, who instead of turning them over quickly to the western allies, held them as virtual hostages for several more months. Many of them were finally repatriated towards the end of 1945 through the port of Odessa on the Black Sea.

Shipping
will be a flat $2.00 within the continental U.S. for USPS mail. Overseas airmail shipping is $3.00. Questions? Please contact me at: azteccollectables at hotmail.com. Check out my
other online auctions of rare and vintage stamps. My e bay store, Aztec Collectables, has a fine and growing selection of unique covers, stamps and postcards. Please make pay arrangements within 72 hours of winning
the auction. I will combine shipping on multiple wins, if you want combined shipping wait until I invoice you.

Seller Information

Seller

AztecCollectables (3334)

Registered Since

11/23/2011

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Aztec Collectables

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Item Location

Florida, United States

Ships To

Worldwide

Returns Accepted

No