OFFIZIERLAGER (OFLAG) XVIII C
The Wehrmacht established Oflag XVIII C on October 15, 1939, in Spittal an der Drau, in Defense District (Wehrkreis) XVIII. It was the first prisoner of war camp established in Defense District XVIII. The camp was closed on May 9, 1940, and the prisoners were transferred to Oflag II C in Woldenberg (today Dobiegniew, Poland). Oflag XVIII C was reestablished on July 2, 1940.1 The camp was subordinate to the Commander of Prisoners of War in Defense District XVIII (Kommandeur der Kriegsgefangenen im Wehrkreis XVIII).
The first prisoners in Oflag XVIII C were Polish officers whom the Germans captured during their invasion of Poland in September 1939. As of December 1939, there were 897 Polish officers and 220 Polish orderlies (batmen) in the camp.2 The Polish prisoners were transferred to Oflag II C on May 30, 1940.3 After the camp was reestablished (under the same commandant, Oberstleutnant Bienbacher), 951 French officers and 100 orderlies were brought to the camp in three transports between July 9 and August 3, 1940.4 The camp reached its maximum population of 1,189 French officers and 149 orderlies in September 1940. By January 1941, the population had decreased to 669 French officers and 90 orderlies.5
Oflag XVIII C was closed on March 1, 1941. On May 1, 1941, the campsite was converted into Stalag XVIII B, with a new staff and new prisoners.6
SOURCES
Additional information about Oflag XVIII C 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); and Hubert Speckner, In der Gewalt des Feindes: Kriegsgefangenenlager in der “Ostmark” 1939 bis 1945 (Vienna: R. Oldenbourg, 2003), p. 296.
NOTES
1. Speckner, In der Gewalt des Feindes, p. 296.
2. Mattiello, Prisoners of War, p. 218.
3. Mattiello and Vogt, Deutsche Kriegsgefangenen- und Internierten-Einrichtungen, p. 18.
4. Speckner, In der Gewalt des Feindes, p. 296.
5. Mattiello, Prisoners of War, p. 218.
6. Speckner, In der Gewalt des Feindes, p. 296.
