Repatriated Luftwaffe wounded
 

In September 1943 a Hospital ship left Glasgow and sailed to Gotenburg to exchange wounded personnel. I realise it is a long shot but can anyone tell me the name of the ship please.
Tony K

Re: Repatriated Luftwaffe wounded
 

Hi Tony

Sorry to say I know nothing about the 1943 exchange, but exactly one year later the vessel M/S Gripsholm entered Gothenburg harbour on 7 September 1944 with 550 men from the former Rommel's Army but also included some former Luftwaffe personal. 162 of them were in such bad shape both physically and mentally that they were transferred to hospital for further treatment (many of these were in fact thought fit for assylum). I also believe the vessel returned with British former POW the other way round later in the month.

This exchange was organized by Folke Bernadotte working for the Red Cross at the time. He was also responsible for the 1943 exchange. I don't think Sweden possessed that many large vessels at the time, so the chances are quite good it actually was Gripsholm in 1943 as well...

Cheers
Stig

Re: Repatriated Luftwaffe wounded
 

Thank you Stig, that is something to work on.
Regards
Tony K

Re: Repatriated Luftwaffe wounded
 

Tony is it this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3pPpBkSHSE on checking this ship was probaly only used on the Gotenburg to Germany trip.- Scoll down on this site to Repatriation of Wounded POWs and it mentions some ships used http://www.prisonerofwar.org.uk/winter_2005.htm. This site would indicate the Gripsholm was not used in the Sept. 1943 POW exchange http://www.salship.se/mercy.asp.

Re: Repatriated Luftwaffe wounded
 

Hi Tony,

That ship, a converted liner, was possibly the Empress of Russia. It had arrived in Glasgow c.30 September 1943 from New York. It may have been there for up to two weeks before departing for Sweden.

This information from the excellent 'Footprints on the Sands of Time' by Oliver Clutton-Brock.

Regards,

Martin.

Re: Repatriated Luftwaffe wounded
 

Tony searching under Hospital Ship Atlantis there is a Daily Echo article which says that in Sept.43 cinema audiences were able to watch a newsreel of the first exchange of wounded British and German POWs carried out by the hospital ship Atlantis and its Royal Mail crew,

Regards

Brian Bines

Re: Repatriated Luftwaffe wounded
 

Thank you Brian and Martin as ever helpful.
Brian your posting #4 was most useful I had a good look at the suggestions, reading the Daily Echo article would seem to confirm that it was Atlantis which did the first transfer.
Martin I think the Empress of Russia was a later operation.
All most helpful.
Tony K

Repatriated Luftwaffe wounded
 

Hallo Tony, et al.!

I wonder if you have thought of contacting the International Red Cross, Geneva, Switzerland, to ask if it can assist you? Any POW repatriations, exchanges, and related matters must have been conducted under the auspices of the IRC; it seems conceivable that the organization maintains some kind of archive or file of releaseable information on the questions that you have. I would be very interested in any reply that you may get.

RA

Re: Repatriated Luftwaffe wounded
 

Thanks Rabe for your suggestion if anything comes of it I will post it.
regards
Tony K

Re: Repatriated Luftwaffe wounded
 

A former member of KG2 told me about his aborted repatriation via Newhaven, all had to be disembarked at the last minute, he was never given a reason, I have no date or ships name.
Joe.

Re: Repatriated Luftwaffe wounded
 

While on this subject is the photo in the Len Deighton book 'Fighter' ( repatriated German flyer) opp. page 241 Ltn Hans-Georg Mollenbrok, shot down 16-8-40 with KG2.

Re: Repatriated Luftwaffe wounded
 

Brian,
Just Googled this subject, the date was 06.10.1941, ships, Dinard and St Julien, suggested reason for the hitch was that the Germans had wanted Hess to be included, or that they wanted a one for one exchange, the expression on Möllenbrok's face is a classic.
Joe

Re: Repatriated Luftwaffe wounded
 

Joe,

Thanks for confirming. yes one look worth a thousand words,

Regards

Brian Bines

Re: Repatriated Luftwaffe wounded
 

Tony, you have a PM.

Re: Repatriated Luftwaffe wounded
 

There is a book 'Confronting Captivity' that says the very first POW exchange was the 17th -21st October 1943 one. There had been many previous attempts to arrange exchanges but they all broke down over the German insistance that it be a 1-for-1 deal and the number of POW's held by German was much greater than the number of Germans in British hands. Disputes over making up the number with civilians and the staus of 'protected personel' and the involvemnet of the US all helped make it a nightmare and the deal only went through because the Tunisian surrender gifted the Allies a large pool of German POW's.
There is no mention of the ship used.

http://www.amazon.com/Confronting-Ca.../dp/B004IK8A1Y

and a partialy readable Google version

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=b...ochavi&f=false

The Gripsholm (page 130) was used in the second Barcelona exchange

Re: Repatriated Luftwaffe wounded
 

Oldish thread but I have recently bought some documents to to Ltn Hans-Georg Möllenbrok. Amongst them is a paystatement saying he was repatriated on 23.10.1943 to Gothenburg.

"Austausch 23.Okt. 1943 Göteborg".

Hope that helps?

Regards,
Ian