YMCA wartime logs & POW diaries

[Bob Hudson]

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

 

 

There were several pages like this filled with names and info about fellow POW's:

 

[Bob Hudson]

 

 

This is a Christmas card sent to POW's by the YMCA: it was one of many loose items stuck in the book:

 

 

[KASTAUFFER]

That is one heck of a nice wartime log! That picture of the 2 german officers with " the pilot " is very cool. The man on the left is Hans Scharff who was the Luftwaffe's master interrogator at Dulag Luft. He only interrogated fighter pilots.

 

Kurt

[Bob Hudson]

That is one heck of a nice wartime log! That picture of the 2 german officers with " the pilot " is very cool. The man on the left is Hans Scharff who was the Luftwaffe's master interrogator at Dulag Luft. He only interrogated fighter pilots.

 

Kurt

 

Of course this is just a small portion of the log's contents.

 

 

Thanks for the info about Scharff. Amazon.com has a book about him: The Interrogator, The Story of Hanns Joachim Scharff, Master Interrogator of the Luftwaffe

[KASTAUFFER]

Of course this is just a small portion of the log's contents.

Thanks for the info about Scharff. Amazon.com has a book about him: The Interrogator, The Story of Hanns Joachim Scharff, Master Interrogator of the Luftwaffe

 

Its a great book. I have a copy of the book autographed by him and the author in my collection. Scharff used to go to different AAF and POW reuninions as a guest of honor.

 

Kurt

[Jeffrey Magut]

I just found a Wartime Log, but this one is blank. It is in really good condition, with a pasted in cover letter from the War Prisoners' Aid of the YMCA. This is the instruction sheet for how to use the log. Unfortunately, the envelope of mounting-corners for photos was not in the back pocket of the log.

 

I was wondering if anyone else has a blank copy and if anyone has ever seen a log complete with the envelope.

[Jeffrey Magut]

Sorry about the rough quality on the picture, as I am losing the light for this page.

[KASTAUFFER]

There were 3 different printings of the logbooks. One in 1943, again in June 44, and the last in April 1945. Quite a few from the April 1945 printing have survived unused because the war ended a month later. Some of the ones from April 1945 were given to German POW's in 1946-47. I recently sold one myself. I have a small envelope of the mounting squares in one of my logs, but they are now all stuck together.

 

Kurt

[Bob Hudson]

Of course this is just a small portion of the log's contents.

Thanks for the info about Scharff. Amazon.com has a book about him: The Interrogator, The Story of Hanns Joachim Scharff, Master Interrogator of the Luftwaffe

 

 

I may finally get a chance to post photos of the rest of the grouping that came with this war log: a local estate buyer has had it stashed away for over a year but we talked today about posting it on the forum. It includes medals, uniforms and all sorts of other items from a P-51 ace who escaped from the POW camp, was recaptured and escaped a second time (for good). Amazingly, when the buyer was purchasing the estate he had to retrieve the uniforms and medals from the trash and apparently only knew about them because he saw someone about to throw the war log in the trash too! He was actually going to sell the grouping on ebay but then they put in the restrictions on selling Silver Stars and other such medals, so it's been packed away. It was a real thrill when he let me handle and photograph the war log last year so I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get to see the rest.

 

In the meantime, anyone have any new war logs to post?

[KASTAUFFER]

I may finally get a chance to post photos of the rest of the grouping that came with this war log: a local estate buyer has had it stashed away for over a year but we talked today about posting it on the forum. It includes medals, uniforms and all sorts of other items from a P-51 ace who escaped from the POW camp, was recaptured and escaped a second time (for good). Amazingly, when the buyer was purchasing the estate he had to retrieve the uniforms and medals from the trash and apparently only knew about them because he saw someone about to throw the war log in the trash too! He was actually going to sell the grouping on ebay but then they put in the restrictions on selling Silver Stars and other such medals, so it's been packed away. It was a real thrill when he let me handle and photograph the war log last year so I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get to see the rest.

 

In the meantime, anyone have any new war logs to post?

 

Geez... I wish I had been standing next to that trash can!!!!

 

I do have sone logs I have not posted yet, I just need some time to take pics of them!

 

I did post a thread of a new POW diary from Stalag Luft 1 I recently picked up here:

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...mp;#entry127370

 

 

Kurt

[Bob Hudson]

Here's some more images from the Wartime Log I posted above, one that belonged to the 357th Fighter Squadron CO, a Lt Col nicknamed Jonesy. I have posted some images from his log at http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...showtopic=23762 where I am posting photos from the very extensive documentation (about 100 pounds worth) of his AAF and USAF career.

 

 

This one appears to have been done in watercolors:

 

 

This one alludes to the fact that Jonesy, in addition to being of the four senior officers in the West Compound at Stalag Luft 3 was also the recreation officer:

 

[Bob Hudson]

Stalag Luft 3 was the site of what was called "The Great Escape" when the episode became a movie. In real life some 76 mostly British officers escaped: 73 were captured and on the direct order of Hitler, 50 were executed. This so troubled the camp's German commander that he allowed the prisoners to build a memorial. This Warlog entry includes one American POW's copy of a drawing originally done by a British POW.

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

History Detectives on PBS today (Aug 31, 2009) had great story about a Stalag Luft 17 vet who's had his portrait drawn in his war log by another POW.

 

Check out the video here: http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/video/7_stalag.html

 

[thegreatescape]

(BROKEN LINKS REMOVED)

Here's a few more scans from a Stalag Luft III log to add to this really informative thread. I've also added a scan of a copy of Spotlight on Stalag Luft III which was published in 1946 by original members of Scangriff (the camp news-sheet), including author Paul Brickhill. I've not been able to find much online about this publication, so I was wondering if anyone had gathered any info on it, other than what I've picked up already.

Visit www.the-great-escape.biz for more info and details of prints based on this logbook

[Bob Hudson]

About once a year I get a call from someone around the country who found a WARTIME LOG. This time they guy sent some photos - I think this was his god father:

 

This is text heavy, but I'm sure he spins quite a tell. Here's sampling of what he sent me:

 

 

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

 

 

 

[KASTAUFFER]

About once a year I get a call from someone around the country who found a WARTIME LOG. This time they guy sent some photos - I think this was his god father:

 

This is text heavy, but I'm sure he spins quite a tell. Here's sampling of what he sent me:

 

I bought this log and will post more pics at some point,

 

The book was an incredible read. 100 pages of his experiences .

 

Kurt

[D_Dutch]

Hello all,

 

I just ran into this topic and I was quite surprised to see the variations of the YMCA "A Wartime Log" diaries. The weird part is, were these also used by the Germans? I am in the possession of a YMCA "A Wartime Log" diary of a high ranking German officer and I keep wondering how he could have gotten one of these diaries. Were these handed out to German P.O.W.'s too? He wrote approx. 70 pages about his life and military career (He fought against the 101st Airborne Division during the Ardennes offensive), and also included are photographs, drawings and names of his comrades, most of them died during Kursk and he was one of the only approx. 10/20 men of his company who survived the battle of Berlin. Maybe these diaries were also handed out by Americans to their prisoners? He also wrote quite a bit about the Americans he had spoken to but some things are hard to believe for me.

 

With kind regards,

 

Koen.

[LuftStalg1]

Hello all,

 

I just ran into this topic and I was quite surprised to see the variations of the YMCA "A Wartime Log" diaries. The weird part is, were these also used by the Germans? I am in the possession of a YMCA "A Wartime Log" diary of a high ranking German officer and I keep wondering how he could have gotten one of these diaries. Were these handed out to German P.O.W.'s too? He wrote approx. 70 pages about his life and military career (He fought against the 101st Airborne Division during the Ardennes offensive), and also included are photographs, drawings and names of his comrades, most of them died during Kursk and he was one of the only approx. 10/20 men of his company who survived the battle of Berlin. Maybe these diaries were also handed out by Americans to their prisoners? He also wrote quite a bit about the Americans he had spoken to but some things are hard to believe for me.

 

With kind regards,

 

Koen.

 

Very interesting, did he write anything about being captured or being a POW? If not it could be he confiscated this and just used it as a generic war diary? :think:

[KASTAUFFER]

Hello all,

 

I just ran into this topic and I was quite surprised to see the variations of the YMCA "A Wartime Log" diaries. The weird part is, were these also used by the Germans? I am in the possession of a YMCA "A Wartime Log" diary of a high ranking German officer and I keep wondering how he could have gotten one of these diaries. Were these handed out to German P.O.W.'s too? He wrote approx. 70 pages about his life and military career (He fought against the 101st Airborne Division during the Ardennes offensive), and also included are photographs, drawings and names of his comrades, most of them died during Kursk and he was one of the only approx. 10/20 men of his company who survived the battle of Berlin. Maybe these diaries were also handed out by Americans to their prisoners? He also wrote quite a bit about the Americans he had spoken to but some things are hard to believe for me.

 

With kind regards,

 

Koen.

 

Hi Koen

 

There were a bunch of unused diarys left over at the end of the war that had been printed in 1945. I have one of these that is un-used. They were issued to Germans held in POW camps in the 1946-47 time period based on other examples I have seen and I owned one once too.

 

Kurt

[D_Dutch]

Very interesting, did he write anything about being captured or being a POW? If not it could be he confiscated this and just used it as a generic war diary? :think:

 

Thanks for the reply! He wrote only a little bit about his time as a P.O.W. or about how he was captured. I read a little bit of it in his diary and his neice told me a story about his capture. During the battle of Berlin he commanded a platoon of Hitler's bodyguards. After that his unit became part of Battle Group Mohnke, which tried to break out, also featured in the movie "Der Untergang". However, for some reason he managed to escape from Berlin and arrived in the city where he was born two months later. There he went to his aunt where he was hiding himself on the attic of the house. Eventually, another month later, he was captured by American troops and was held in various P.O.W. camps and internment camps in Germany, where he was held in a special section for war criminals because he was most likely involved with the Warsaw Uprising. In his diary he wrote that the American officers in his camp spoke highly about the men of the Waffen-SS, they admired them for their courage and tactics.

 

Hi Koen

 

There were a bunch of unused diarys left over at the end of the war that had been printed in 1945. I have one of these that is un-used. They were issued to Germans held in POW camps in the 1946-47 time period based on other examples I have seen and I owned one once too.

 

Kurt

 

Thanks! He wrote his diary in 1946/1947 so it might be one of the diaries that were printed in 1945. I'll look if this is the case later today. :thumbsup:

[KASTAUFFER]

Check out this website to see scans of 7 complete Wartime Logs. Its hosted by the National WWII Museum.

 

http://www.guestsoft....org/camp-life/

[KASTAUFFER]

This Wartime Log belonged to a 306th BG POW who evaded for 3 months from April 1943 until July 1943 when the Gestapo picked him up in Paris.

He was also Jewish and had changed his name from Solomon to Sanders before he went into the Army.

 

This is the Canadian version of the log , but was used by an American.

 

 

 

[KASTAUFFER]