Oflag XIII-A
Encyclopedia
Oflag XIII-A, Oflag XIII-B and Oflag XIII-D Nürnberg Langwasser were all German Army
prisoner-of-war camp
s in World War II
for officer
s. They were all located on the old Nazi party parade grounds in Nürnberg, northern Bavaria
. They were adjacent to the Stalag XIII-D
.
German Army
The German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Following the disbanding of the Wehrmacht after World War II, it was re-established in 1955 as the Bundesheer, part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr along with the Navy and the Air Force...
prisoner-of-war camp
Prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of combatants captured by their enemy in time of war, and is similar to an internment camp which is used for civilian populations. A prisoner of war is generally a soldier, sailor, or airman who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or...
s in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
for officer
Officer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
s. They were all located on the old Nazi party parade grounds in Nürnberg, northern Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
. They were adjacent to the Stalag XIII-D
Stalag XIII-D
Stalag XIII-D Nürnberg Langwasser was a German Army World War II prisoner-of-war camp built on what had been the Nazi parade grounds in Nürnberg, northern Bavaria.-Timeline:...
.
Timeline
- May 1940 Oflag XIII-A was set up to accommodate mainly FrenchFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
officers captured during the Battle of FranceBattle of FranceIn the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
. They were transferred to other camps and the camp was closed 29 October 1941. - May 1941 Oflag XIII-B was created in a separate compound for SerbiaSerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n officers captured during the Balkans Campaign. This camp was moved to Oflag XIII-BOFLAG XIII-BOflag XIII-B was a German Army World War II Prisoner-of-war camp camp for officers, originally in Langwasser near Nuremberg. In 1943 it was moved to 3 km south of Hammelburg, Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Germany....
at HammelburgHammelburgHammelburg is a town in the district of Bad Kissingen, in Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Franconian Saale, 25 km west of Schweinfurt...
in April 1943. - July 1941 a new compound Oflag XIII-D was set up for higher ranking Soviet officers captured during Operation BarbarossaOperation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
. It was closed April 1942. The surviving officers (many had died during the winter due to an epidemic) were transferred to other camps. - December 1944 to March 1945 the camp was designated Oflag 73 to accommodate officers of various nationalities evacuated hastily from camps in the east that were threatened by the rapid advance of the Red ArmyRed ArmyThe Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
. - Early April 1943
- April 16 1945 the United States ArmyUnited States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
liberated the camp finding only Serbian officers and those too sick to have been marched out, including some Americans that had been wounded by strafing American planes while being marched from Hammelburg.