searching for the truth

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#1

searching for the truth!
hi everyone. best introduce my self. my name is paul holder and i am looking,and hoping, to try and get some information about ww2.

well here goes…My grandfather was in ww2 in the tank corps although i dont know what section/regiment if thats the right terminology. Unfortunately he passed away when i was only 7 and i never got to ask him about his time in the army.

After talking to various family members i have managed to obtain some sketchy details about his service. They are as follows:-

served in tank corps
was apparently stationed, at some point, in BURMA
was captured and held as a pow in a japanese camp(don’t know which one!)
He was missing for some 3 years
and was allegedly rescued/or escaped and hidden by an italian family before managing
to get back to the uk.

I have searched the internet but can not varify any of this or understand how he would have managed to get back to uk?

I have recently contacted Army Disclosures and am awaiting information from them about his history but was wondering if anything that i have been told is feasable?

His name was Victor Walter Dodwell and the only pow list i can find with that name on it is from germany, stalag 4b in mahlberg.

As you can see it seems all a bit mixed up.

can anyone help

#2

Sorry, but there’s something that doesn’t add up in those elements. If your father was captured in Burma by Japaneses, what does it have to do with a German prisoners camp?
And what a German camp with an Italian family?

#3

you tell me? this is just what other members of the family have said. i have recently found evidence that he was with 6th rtr in india during 1936-38 and the pow list for stalag 4b shows him being their as the reg number matches. i can only assume that there has been a mix up over the years with him being in india/burma and him being a pow.
at the moment i am only going by hearsay from family and i came to the same conclusion as you have…how can someone be captured in burma and end up a pow in germany?

he must have been moved with his regiment to europe. according to paperwork i have been emailed he was recon when he was captured in germany.

#4

You have to match the elements you got. He served in India in that unit, ok. But I think he probably fought elsewhere, being captured by Germans. Where? Look at the story of the unit and you can find some possibilities. Strange the story of Italian family: possibly the prisoners camp was in southern Germany or in Austria, but then why escaping in Italy? Better the Switzerland, sure! If you’re g.father was captured in Africa, possibily he went in an Italian prisoners camp, and after the Italian armistice escaped (like many other former prisoners) finding help by an Italian family. But this reconstruction doesn’t match with the German prisoners camp. So I think you need clearer information.

#5

all i can assume is that he never did get captured in india. he was in the unit i know all i can think is that his unit was moved to europe and thats when he was captured. this is what i have now.

Name:V. W. Dodwell
Rank:Trooper
Army Number:7884508
Regiment:Reconnaissance Corps
POW Number:77241
Camp Type:StalagCamp Number:IV-B
Camp Location:Mühlberg/Elbe, Brandenburg
Record Office:Royal Armoured Corps and Reconnaissance Corps Record Office, The Drill Hall, Barnet, HertfordshireRecord Office Number:3

Which I assume is what you already have.

Also on Ancestry, in the UK, Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1949, database I found;

Name: V W Dodwell
Campaign or Service: India - NW Frontier
Service Date: 1936-1937
Service Location: India
Regiment or Unit Name: 6th Light Tank Company RTC
Regimental Number: 7884508

#6

I might suggest that you try the ancestry.com website. It contains many records even military, and civil government records, gathered from many countries. It may be that what you seek can be found there. It is a fee for service site, but there is another that is free, and may also contain what you seek. the Mormon church has a genealogical site, they gather records from every country that will allow it. Should be easy enough to find the site with a google search.

#7

Here is my search for information on my grandad.
At the bottom is a list of authorities I addressed.
ITS searches missing person, give them a try.
The German archives shoud be no problem, especially the Federal archive in Berlin and the Landeshauptarchive in Brandenburg could be usefull for information on the POW camps.

http://www.ww2-landmarkscout.com/201...tseinzats.html

Good luck

Panz

#8

Bit of thread necromancy here but for UK WW2 service records see http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/WhatWeDo/Personnel/ServiceRecords/