OFFIZIERLAGER (OFLAG) XVIII B
The Wehrmacht established Oflag XVIII B on October 19, 1939, in Wolfsberg (map 4f), in Defense District (Wehrkreis) XVIII. On April 25, 1940, the camp’s staff was transferred to Woldenberg, in Pomerania, and redesignated as Oflag II C. However, Oflag XVIII B was reestablished on May 31, 1940.1 Both iterations of the camp were subordinate to the Commander of Prisoners of War in Defense District XVIII (Kommandeur der Kriegsgefangenen im Wehrkreis XVIII).
Oflag XVIII B was located in the former barracks of the III Bataillon, Gebirgsjägerregiment 139 in the Priel district of Wolfsberg.2 It initially held Polish officers captured during the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. As of December 1939, there were 506 Polish officers and 117 orderlies (batmen) in the camp.3 In April 1940, the Polish prisoners were transferred to Woldenberg along with the original camp staff.4 After the camp was reestablished in May 1940, it held Belgian officers as well as small numbers of French officers on an intermittent basis. As of September 1940, there were 636 [End Page 276] Belgian officers and 131 orderlies in the camp. By January 1941, the population had decreased to 549 Belgian officers and 107 orderlies.5
On March 1, 1941, Oflag XVIII B was converted into Stalag XVIII A. The Belgian officers were transferred to Oflag XVIII A in Lienz.6 The headquarters of Oflag XVIII B was officially dissolved on March 10, 1941.
SOURCES
Additional information about Oflag XVIII B can be found in the following publications: G. Mattiello and W. Vogt, Deutsche Kriegsgefangenen- und Internierten-Einrichtungen. Handbuch und Katalog: Lagergeschichte und Lagerzensurstempel, vol. 2 (Koblenz: self-published, 1987), p. 18; Gianfranco Mattiello, Prisoners of War in Germany 1939–1945 (Camps, Nationalities, Monthly Population) (Lodi: self-published, 2003), p. 218; Edith Petschnigg, Von der Front aufs Feld: Britische Kriegsgefangene in der Steiermark 1941–1945 (Graz: Selbstverlag der Vereins zur Förderung der Forschung von Folgen nach Konflikten und Kriegen, 2003); Hubert Speckner, In der Gewalt des Feindes: Kriegsgefangenenlager in der “Ostmark” 1939 bis 1945 (Vienna: R. Oldenbourg, 2003), pp. 275–277; and Barbara Stelzl-Marx, “Das Oflag XVIII B/Stalag XVIII A Wolfsberg 1939–1945,” in Wolfsberg, ed. Robert Gratzer (Wolfsberg, 2001), pp. 182–206.
