Marlag und Milag Nord: German POW Camp for Merchant Navy Seamen

Marlag und Milag Nord was a Second World War German prisoner-of-war camp complex for men of the British and Canadian Merchant Navy and Royal Navy. It was located around the village of Westertimke, about 30 km (19 mi) north-east of Bremen, though in some sources the camp's location is given as Tarmstedt, a larger village about 4 km (2.5 mi) to the west. There were also American merchant seamen detained here as well as some U.S. Navy personnel.

Status of Merchant Seamen

Of more than 5,000 Allied merchant seamen captured by the Germans during the war, most were held at Marlag-Milag. As civilian non-combatants, according to Section XI, Article 6, of the 1907 Hague Conventions, merchant seamen "...are not made prisoners of war, on condition that they make a formal promise in writing, not to undertake, while hostilities last, any service connected with the operations of the war." The Germans, however, always treated Merchant Navy seamen as POWs (as did the British from 1942). In 1943 the Germans suggested an exchange of equal numbers of Merchant Navy prisoners, but this offer was refused by the First Lord of the Admiralty A. V. Alexander on the grounds it would be more to Germany's benefit, as it would provide them with a large number of men suitable to be used as U-boat crews, of which they were desperately short.

Camp History

Stalag X-B

Initially, prisoners from the Merchant and Royal Navy were confined in several camps in Northern Germany. In April 1941 they were gathered together at Stalag X-B at Sandbostel and housed in two compounds designated Ilag X-B (Internierungslager, "Internment camp") and Marlag X-B (Marinelager, "Navy camp"). At the instigation of the U.S. and Swiss governments, the International Committee of the Red Cross put pressure on the German government not to keep civilian non-combatants in a POW camp. The Germans complied, selecting what was originally a small Luftwaffe training camp consisting of six barracks and a small airfield at Westertimke. In July 1941 the prisoners of Ilag X-B were set to work dismantling their barrack huts at Sandbostel, then rebuilding them at Westertimke, finally completing the Milag camp in February 1942. Marlag camp was not completed until July 1942.

Marlag and Milag Nord

Marlag, the Royal Navy camp, was divided into two compounds; "O" housed officers and their orderlies, while "M" held petty officers and ratings. The majority of prisoners were British, but there were also small numbers of other Allied nationalities. In late 1942 all the ratings were sent to Stalag VIII-B at Lamsdorf and assigned to Arbeitskommando ("Work details"), and "M" housed only NCOs.

Milag (Marineinterniertenlager, "Marine internment camp"), the Merchant Navy camp, was 300 m (980 ft) to the east of Marlag. This also divided into two separate compounds for officers and men. The area in between contained the guard house, a prison block, fuel bunker, and the camp hospital.

Just outside the gates of Milag was the Kommandantur ("Headquarters") and accommodation for the guards. In between the camps there was a large shower block which was used by men of both camps.

Each camp contained a number of single-story wooden huts; 29 in Marlag and 36 in Milag. Most of them were barracks, while the others contained kitchens, dining rooms, washrooms, guard barracks, storehouses, a post office and other administrative buildings. The barracks were divided into rooms each accommodating 14 to 18 men who slept in two and three-tiered bunks.

The POWs occupied themselves in various ways. There was a camp theatre in Marlag and the POWs performed concerts and plays. Each camp had its own sports field and there was also a library with around 3,000 books. Prisoners ran courses in languages and mathematics, as well as commercial, vocational, economic and scientific subjects. Sports equipment and textbooks were obtained from the Red Cross and YMCA. POWs were allowed to send two letters and four postcards each month. There were no restrictions on the number of letters a POW could receive. Naturally all incoming and outgoing mail was censored. A popular diversion was provided by the "Milag Jockey Club" which held race meetings every Saturday evening. The "horses" were wooden models that raced on a 36-foot (11 m) track, controlled by dice. The POW bet on the races, and money was raised and donated to the Red Cross.

Under normal conditions the camps had a capacity of 5,300. According to official figures in April 1944 there were 4,268 men held there. Initially the camp was guarded by Naval troops. Later they were replaced by Army reservists.

Other Camps

The German Navy also operated a Dulag (Durchgangslager, "Transit camp") in Wilhelmshaven, where newly arrived prisoners were processed before being sent to other camps. After the Allied bombing raids on Wilhelmshaven in February 1942 this facility was moved to Westertimke. The camp Dulag Nord was located between Marlag and Milag.

In September 1943, 630 merchant seamen from India, China, Burma and Aden were moved out of the Milag into a new camp, Milag (Inder) (known as the Inderlager or "Indian Camp") west of Westertimke. To the north and east of the village three smaller camps were also built. The Kommandatur contained the headquarters and administration buildings, while the Stabslager and the Wache contained accommodation for the administrative personnel and the camp guards.

Liberation

At the end of 1944 prisoners evacuated from other camps began to arrive, resulting in overcrowding, and a reduction in food rations. On 4 February 1945 some 3,000 men evacuated from Stalag Luft III arrived at Marlag-Milag. In order to accommodate them the entire population of Marlag "M" were moved into "O".

On 2 April 1945 the Commandant announced that he had received orders to leave the camp with most of his guards, leaving only a small detachment behind to hand over the camp to Allied forces, who were already in Bremen. However that afternoon a detachment of over a hundred SS-Feldgendarmerie entered the camp, mustered over 3,000 men and marched them out, heading east. The next day, at around at 10.00 a.m., the column was strafed by RAF aircraft, and several POWs were killed. Over the next few days the column was attacked from the air several times. Finally the Senior British Naval Officer offered the Germans the POWs parole, in return for being allowed to rest during the day and march at night. The Germans agreed.

On 9 April 1945 the guards at Milag-Marlag moved out and were replaced by older men, presumably local Volkssturm. Meanwhile, the column slowly headed east, finally crossing the River Elbe, north of Hamburg, on 18 April.

On 19 April units of the 15th Panzergrenadier Division positioned tanks and artillery next to the camps. The remaining prisoners responded to the threat of a pitched battle on their doorstep by digging slit trenches. The artillery fired from the positions next to the camps, but fortunately had moved away by the time the British Guards Armoured Division liberated the camps on 27 April 1945.

The next day, 28 April, the column finally arrived at Lübeck on the Baltic coast. They were liberated by the British 11th Armoured Division on 1 May 1945.

Post-war Use

After the German surrender Marlag-Milag was used by the British occupation authorities to house German prisoners-of-war. Marlag "O" was designated Civil Internment Camp No. 9 and housed high-ranking party officials and suspected war criminals. In 1946 Marlag "M" was used as a location to film Basil Dearden's POW drama The Captive Heart."

Between 1952 and 1961 Milag was used as accommodation centre for female refugees from East Germany. The northern part of Milag was eventually built over with new housing, while the southern half is now heavily wooded.

The Bundeswehr took over the site of Marlag, and from March 1963 as the Timke-Kaserne ("Timke Barracks") it was the headquarters of the Flugabwehrraketenbataillon 31 ("31st Anti-aircraft Missile Battalion") of the 4th Luftwaffe Division, operating the MIM-23 Hawk surface-to-air missile. They finally left the site in 1993, since when it has been redeveloped as a business park.

Escapes

Several escape tunnels were dug from Milag. The first was about 12 m (40 ft) long, built from March to August 1943. Twelve prisoners escaped, though all were recaptured within two weeks. A second tunnel, about 40 m (130 ft) long, was built from April to August 1944. Five men escaped, but again were soon recaptured. Another tunnel built by Norwegian prisoners was discovered before its completion. In addition, another tunnel was dug to store contraband.

Two officers; Lieutenant Denis Kelleher RNVR, and Lieutenant Stewart Campbell, FAA, escaped from Marlag in early 1944, wearing blue overalls to cover their uniforms, and managed to reach Britain within 22 days, having been smuggled to neutral Sweden on a ship from Bremen.

Another successful escaper from Marlag was Lieutenant David James, RNVR. In December 1943 James slipped out of the shower block, but was arrested at the port of Lübeck. In late 1944 he escaped again and this time made it to Sweden.

Notable Prisoners

Lieutenant David Hunter RM, captured at Calais in May 1940, he twice escaped from Marlag X-B at Sandbostel, and ended the war at Colditz.

Lieutenant Ivan Ewart RNVR, captured in January 1942 after his MTB was sunk off Boulogne. After two escape attempts from Milag-Marlag, he was transferred to Colditz.

Captain Micky Burn, No. 2 Commando, captured in March 1942 after the St Nazaire Raid.

Able Seaman Bjørn Egge, later a major general of the Norwegian Army, captured in April 1942 after an attempt by Norwegian merchant vessels at Gothenburg, Sweden, to reach Britain. ("Operation Performance").

Lieutenants Donald Cameron RNR, and Godfrey Place RN, commanders of the X class submarines X-6 and X-7, captured in September 1943 after the attack on the Tirpitz.

Lieutenant John Worsley RN, captured in November 1943 during a landing on Lussinpiccolo. Also an official war artist, Worsley painted several portraits of his fellow POW, and made sketches of the camp, as well as creating "Albert R.N." a life-sized dummy, that ensured that any escaper would not be missed in the daily head-counts.

Captain Peter J. Ortiz USMC, serving with the OSS, he was captured in France in August 1944.

2nd Lieutenant Walter W. Taylor USMCR, another member of the OSS, also captured in France in August 1944.

SS-Hauptsturmführer Alexander Piorkowski, Commandant of Dachau concentration camp, 1939-42, held by the British in 1945.

Victor George Marks, 1941-1945, Engineer on the Triadic, captured December 1940 off Nauru. Captained Australia in a series of cricket "tests" held at the camp.

Pat Landy, ML306, Royal Australian Navy.

Leslie McDermott-Brown (1925-1993), a merchant marine cadet, was the UK's youngest POW in 1940, captured age 15 after his ship the SS Kemmendine, which had sailed from the Clyde, was sunk by the German surface raider the Atlantis in the Bay of Biscay. Leslie spent the next five years in captivity in Germany, aged 15-20, finally being liberated from Milag Nord in 1945. Despite this set-back in life, Leslie went on to be a managing director of hotel company in Plymouth Devon during the 1950s to 1980s and is survived by his three sons.

Cricket Match: Milag Nord v Marlag 'O' at Marlag 'O' by John Worsley (1944). Figures stand around in different fielding positions on a bare piece of ground. The wicket-keeper and stumps can be seen on the left of the composition. There is a copse of trees in the background, and fields beyond.

The Carpenter's Shop and Model Room: Marlag 'O' by John Worsley (1944). A carpenter's workshop with the walls lined with boxes. In the foreground there is a small worktable. At the back of the room a man stands next to a second worktable on which a large model yacht is standing. A second man crouches in front of the table. They are surrounded by wood and tools.

Naval Officers Filling in a Discovered Escape Tunnel, 1945 by John Worsley (1945). Across the background runs a high double fence of posts and barbed wire beyond which two armed German guards are patrolling. A waist-high ditch runs from the left of the picture, beneath a single stretch of barbed wire, towards the high perimeter fence. A party of seven men, most stripped to the waist, are working in the trench with shovels, watched from the left by two more workmen and a uniformed guard. The nearest workman, in a British Naval cap, stares back towards the viewer, shovel in hand. In front of the barbed wire fence there is a warning notice in English 'DANGER! WARNING WIRE. There will be shooting without challenge'.

Prisoners Loading Wood for Winter Fuel by John Worsley (1945). A group of four prisoners-of-war loading logs onto a horse-drawn cart with two German guards with rifles chatting to each other on the right. A pile of logs sits in the foreground to the right. In the background to the left is a small wood where there is another group of prisoners engaged in the same task. The prison camp is visible in the background to the right.

Naval and Marine Prisoners of War on the March ahead of the Allied Advance in Germany between Bremen and Lubeck, 1945 by John Worsley (oil on canvas, 1945). A muddy track in the countryside crowded with Allied soldiers and German guards. In the foreground a guard with a dog on a lead walks along the verge of the track. To his right are men in different naval and khaki uniforms. They all carry belongings; some in rucksacks, others in prams, and one figure has a bicycle. Several of the prisoners are looking up at the sky as they walk along.

Decorating the Christmas Tree, December 1944 by John Worsley (December 1, 1944). Lieutenant William Houston-Rogers, who has a white beard and is facing the viewer, sits on a chair playing a penny whistle. Behind him, Lieutenant Mewes is standing on a stool decorating the top of a Christmas tree, towards the right. On the right is a crate with a Red Cross symbol painted on it. In the foreground is a table with a naval cap, a pipe, a mug and various other items on top of it. Immediately behind and to the left of Houston-Rogers is a kettle upon a stove, a large pipe running from the stove to the ceiling.

The Contents of a Red Cross Parcel, 1944 by John Worsley (oil on linen, 1944). an open cardboard box with a red cross marked on it is positioned on a wooden stool. Some of the contents of the box, including a tin of Klim powdered milk, cartons of Players cigarettes, a tin of Maple Leaf Butter and a chocolate bar, are placed on the stool in front of the box. A tin of Bovril Corned Beef, a packet of raisins and another tin are placed on top of the box.

Lieutenant Woods RNR who supervised the distribution of Red Cross parcels and food in Marlag 'O' by John Worsley (1 February 1944). A portrait of Lieutenant Woods sitting at a table with a pen his hand. Behind him are shelves full of small boxes and parcels marked with the Red Cross logo. There are similar boxes on the floor, around the table.

Sitting round the Stove at Marlag 'O' by John Worsley (1944). Three sailors in uniform sit around a stove on which there is a coffee pot. The sailor facing the viewer is smoking a pipe.

Photo in the YMCA Wartime Log used as a scrap album recording facets of imprisonment of C.W.G. Allen in Marlag-Milag Nord following his capture while serving as 4th Officer on the Holt Line steamer RHEXENOR which was sunk by U 219 in the Atlantic in mid-passage from Trinidad to Brest (February 1943). The log contains short pieces about aspects of prisoner of war life: medical facilities, entertainments (with photographs and programs) and mail; lists of rations, of ships represented in the camp and photographs taken secretly in camp during the war and some of scenes there after the German surrender.

Liberated naval and merchant seaman POWs at Marlag und Milag Nord at Westertimke, 29 April 1945. Prisoners collected and awaiting transport to take them away. April 29, 1945.

Inside a POW Escape Tunnel by John Worsley (pencil on  paper, 1944). A sketch of a prisoner-of-war at work inside an underground escape tunnel seen from above, with only his head and shoulders visible in the confines of the tunnel.

Inside a POW Escape Tunnel by John Worsley (pencil on  paper, 1944). A sketch of a prisoner-of-war lying within an underground escape tunnel, which he is digging. His feet are closest to the viewer. The scene is illuminated by a light in the top right.

Loading Earth in a POW Tunnel by John Worsley (pencil on paper, 1944). A POW leans over in a low tunnel, partially obstructed by a wooden pillar supporting the ceiling. In front of him there is a large pile of sacks, in the foreground a small, empty trolley car.

Tunnel-head: Hauling the earth back by John Worsley (pencil on paper, 1944). A figure sitting cross-legged on the ground in a narrow tunnel opening. He is leaning back, straining to pull a rope from the tunnel.

Making a Model Boat by John Worsley (chalk on paper, 1944). A sailor leans over a workbench. On the bench the hull of a model boat stands surrounded by fragments of wood and bottles of glue.

The Passing of Harry Hill, British Merchant Seaman

by Huc Hauser

Most folks in our Vermont town remember Harry Hill as the elderly, somewhat slight and frail volunteer at the hospital who would drive people home from appointments or on other necessary errands. If needed, he would drive a patient to the major regional medical centers in New England or New York state. He was always cheerful, with a soft spoken heavy British accent which forced listeners to pay close attention if they wanted to get all the information that he conveyed.

He and his wife, Betty, lived in a small village several miles north of town in a small, snug house reminiscent of an English cottage. Both were retired and she, too, worked as a volunteer Gray Lady at the hospital. But there was much more to both than the quiet couple gave as first impressions. Both were modest, completely devoted to each other, and generous in serving in the local community.

The term “survivor” is almost inadequate to describe having three ships bombed or torpedoed out from under one, plus a month’s ride in a German submarine followed by three years in a German prisoner of war camp. At age eighteen in 1941 Harry was too frail to qualify for duty in the British Navy so the Liverpool working class kid sought service in the merchant marine. He was accepted, attended radio schools, and became a radio operator on a merchant ship in the Atlantic service. On what was to be his second round trip voyage to the U.S. his ship was one day out from Liverpool when attacked by German bombers and sunk. Harry managed to be picked up by one of the lifeboats, then found by a Naval patrol boat and returned to Liverpool. His next assignment was on a gasoline tanker, again voyaging between Britain and the USA. Several round trips were completed without incident, the major complaints being a) the inability to smoke cigarettes and b) the constant awareness that any mishap, for whatever reason, meant disaster when riding on a gasoline tanker in wartime conditions. Eventually fate caught up with him and a German bomb caused the explosion and fire he feared. By some miracle he managed to climb aboard a lifeboat with a few other crewmen and get far enough away to avoid the flames spreading out on the water. He was picked up two days later by another merchant ship and returned to Britain. Even many years later he confirmed that tanker duty was his worst experience. In the summer of 1942 Harry signed on a passenger carrying freighter bound for South America with refugees from England and other European countries, with expectation of bringing a cargo of food home on the return. The trip out was in convoy with attacks by German submarines, but his ship was not hit. The convoy was large, some 46 ships plus Navy escorts, averaging 10 knots speed. Most vessels were bound for U.S. ports, so in mid ocean three vessels bound for Buenos Aires split off and proceeded without escort at maximum speed. They arrived safely and discharged passengers, proceeded to Montevideo and took on cargo and nearly thirty passengers.

In early August 1942 they left port and headed out into the South Atlantic, again at full speed, without escort. Two days out, on the evening watch, as Harry was at ease in the radio room just off the bridge, a torpedo struck the starboard side and the ship lurched. A few seconds later another explosion at the stern marked the arrival of a second torpedo and the ship began to settle quickly. Once again Harry was to taste salt water, this time mixed with fuel oil that soaked his clothing as he tried to swim away. In the quiet darkness that settled over the tropical ocean after the ship had disappeared there were a few shouts and even they stopped eventually. Then somewhere in the dark he spotted a light. After swimming toward it for a while and resting, treading water, he realized it was the searchlight of a ship which gradually came closer. The ship turned out to be the German submarine, surveying the scene of her kill. In the graying of the dawn the Germans spotted the lone swimmer and pulled him aboard. As far as could be determined, he was the only survivor. The Germans brought him below, cleaned him up, put lotion in his eyes as they were burned with fuel oil, and gave him clean, dry clothes.

Thus began a month-long journey to Lorient in France, the boat’s home port. The trip was not without incident, though, since the boat attacked and sank two more vessels and took the captain of one aboard as fellow prisoner with Harry. In turn, the U-boat was attacked by air and surface ships, but Harry could not tell if they were British or American. Upon arrival in Lorient the prisoners, along with others taken by other U-boats, were transferred by train to Wilhemshaven in Germany and marched to a prison barracks in a pouring rain. A final transfer a few days later landed them at a large prison camp in Tarmstedt. There he remained until April 1945 when the camp was liberated by a unit of the British Royal Scots Guards.

Liverpool did not offer much opportunity for Harry. He began to drink. At a low point he determined to emigrate to the USA and, like so many thousands before him, bought a steamship ticket for New York. After a series of odd jobs he found steady employment as a bus driver in the city, then as a taxi driver. One day in lower Manhattan his taxi fare was a young English girl, a clerk at the British Embassy. A conversation was followed by dates and a romance; they were married within a year. Eventually Harry learned that his wife, the “clerk” was actually well placed in British Intelligence. The couple had one child, a daughter, who grew up somewhat estranged from her British heritage, not unlike other second generation immigrant children. Harry genuinely enjoyed his life as a driver, even working part time for a limousine company.

On weekends the couple would rent a car and drive into the surrounding regions of New England, upstate New York and Pennsylvania. Vermont became their favorite destination and they explored the Green Mountains extensively. As retirement neared, they found and purchased a small house in the Southern area of the state. When Betty retired from her government service the couple settled in at the little house. Their daughter remained in the metropolitan area with a family of her own and seldom visited. Both Betty and Harry volunteered at the hospital and were active in several other community affairs. Old age brought illnesses and Betty was the first to suffer. Harry nursed his beloved wife as best he could, but then came a major stroke requiring hospital, then nursing home care. It was a terrible blow, but Harry was at her bedside every day. A slow recuperation was followed by another stroke and this time, complete loss of speech and partial paralysis. Under the stress of coping and caring, Harry also suffered, eventually coming down with serious double pneumonia. This landed him in the hospital and then in the same nursing home as Betty, in fact, the staff put him in the same room as his wife. There he could talk to Betty even if she could not respond with words. A look, a squeeze of the hand, it was enough. Harry would read magazine articles to her to while the hours away, but his own strength was not coming back. He, too, was failing and the staff and doctors realized that the end was near for both. One evening he took a turn for the worse. The night duty nurses moved the two beds closer together, and then, together, unbidden and in violation of house rules, tenderly picked Harry up and put him into the other bed with Betty. Somehow, both realized what had happened and struggled to turn to each other. Each, arms wrapped around the other, simply lay quietly, the strength ebbing from Harry. Other staff came quietly into the room, lights low, only the labored breathing being heard. Then they left the couple in peace. Two hours later, on a routine check, a nurse found Harry had passed on. Quietly and secretly, two nurses moved him back into his own bed and returned the room to its proper condition. Even though accustomed to the facts of passing in a nursing home environment, there were no dry staff eyes on the floor that night.

Betty lived for a few more weeks, and then she, too, quietly joined Harry in the peace of the beyond.

Harry Hill was kept in Marelag-Milag Nord prison camp (red dot on map) which was near Tarmstedt (just above the red dot). The camp had been used to hold captured Merchant Navy seamen. In early February 1945 the Merchant Navy seamen were to be evacuated and they assumed that the camp was to be used to house German troops.  Consequently in order to deny the Germans any comfort in the camp the Merchant Navy men went on a wave of destruction and wrecked the camp. The camp had previously been declared as unfit and unsanitary by representatives of the Red Cross, and was even more so after the vandalizing of the camp by the departing Merchant Navy seamen.