‘The Great March West’, ‘The Long March’, ‘The Long Walk’, ‘The Long Trek’, ‘The Black March’, ‘The Bread March’, and ‘Death March Across Germany’ are a variety of terms used to describe the marches.
From a total of 257,000 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) held in German POW camps, over 80,000 were forced to march westward, away from the advancing Soviet Army, across Poland, Czechoslovakia and Germany in extreme winter conditions, over about four months between January and April 1945.
Dire circumstances
Many POWs began their marches in awful conditions: some had malnutrition and most were simply too weak to endure such a strenuous journey. A lot of the marches became notorious, such as the one from Stalag Luft IV in Pomerania, where the POWs faced an 800 km (500 mile) trek in blizzard conditions across Germany, during which hundreds died.
The winter of 1944–45 was especially harsh, and during January and February 1945 those on the march had to endure heavy snowfall, ice and sub-zero temperatures day and night.
Red Cross parcels, which had been issued to men before the march, soon ran out, leaving them with meagre rations distributed by the Germans. Contaminated water led to instances of dysentery and diarrhoea and many men soon became physically unable to march. Coupled with this was the problem of Allied fighter aircraft roaming German occupied territory and mistaking long rows of marching POWs as enemy military personnel.
My uncle was made to work in a Polish salt mine when he came home think it was the red cross he was given a large block of chocolate,he didnt it Chocolate ,Can see it now in the pantry ,and Gran cutting little,bits of for use kids, chocolate on on ration them,
He never got over his time as a prisoner,He live with his Mother till she died 1952, then my Mum after him he had all meal at are house,he would be sitting in the dinning room,sounded like he was having a conversation with someone,But he was on his own
One lady i knew in Cardiff her husband was a pensioner of the Japanese, years after the war she went out to see the area were he had been held,she had remarried and only went after her second husband died ,I learnt more about the war from people I looked after in Cardiff
And unfortunately some were killed in the so called Friendly Fire because our aircraft thought that the marching troops were the Germans on the march. Tough times indeed
on 20/12/2025, 8:54:17
