SOME OF THE PRISONERS HELD AT
SPECIAL CAMP 11

• 18 July 1907: Entered the Royal Bavarian Army as a Fahnenjunker; later a Leutnant in the Bavarian 18. Infanterie-Regiment Prinz Ludwig Ferdinand.
• World War I: Schmitt was taken prisoner by the British at an unknown date and spent the remainder of the war in captivity.
• 30 September 1920: Separated from the Army and joined the Bavarian Land Police.
• 1 October 1935: Returned to the Army with the rank of Oberst.
• 1 February 1937: Commander of Feldzeug [Armament] Command XI.
• 11 February 1940: Commander of Infantry Regiment 626 of the 555th (Upper Rhine) Infantry Division. [Commanded by Generalmajor Dr. rer. pol. Waldemar Henrici, the 555th Infantry Division served as a component of General der Artillerie Friedrich Dollmann’s 7th Army in Baden-Würrtemberg facing the French Maginot Line in Alsace. Manning the West Wall fortifications (“Siegfried Line”) on the Upper Rhine, the 7th Army remained on the defensive during the first phase of the German invasion of the Low Countries and France. On 15 June 1940, the three corps of the 7th Army finally went over to the offensive with the launch of Operation “Kleiner Bär” (Little Bear). Three infantry divisions of the XXVII Army Corps (General der Infanterie Alfred Wäger) made assault crossings of the Rhine at Schoenau, Markolsheim and Breisach and, after tough fighting, breached the Maginot Line and captured Colmar. Meanwhile, the XXV Army Corps (Generalleutnant Karl Ritter von Prager) also crossed the Rhine south of Strasbourg. Finally, the Higher Command XXXIII (Generalleutnant Georg Brandt) crossed the Rhine north of Mulhouse later capturing the city. Initially remaining on the German side of the Rhine between Kehl and Rastatt, the 555th Infantry Division, a component of the XXV Army Corps, finally crossed to the western bank of the river and captured Strasbourg on 19 June 1940. Operating in conjunction with the adjacent 1st Army (Generaloberst Erwin von Witzleben) and Panzer Group Guderian (General der Panzertruppe Heinz Guderian) sweeping down from the northeast, the 7th Army pushed into the Vosges and helped encircle over 400,000 troops of the French 2nd Army Group in Alsace-Lorraine.]
• September 1940: Deputy Leader of the 555th (Upper Rhine) Infantry Division.
• 25 September 1940: Commander of Feldzeug Command XI.
• 19 February 1941: Higher Feldzeug Staff 2.
• 19 September 1941: Commander of Rear Army Area 556 in North Africa.
• 10 November 1941: Commander of Sector East, later Division “Bardia” in North Africa. [On 18 November 1941, the British Eighth Army launched Operation “Crusader,” a counteroffensive against General der Panzertruppe Erwin Rommel’s Panzer Group Afrika on the Egypt-Libya frontier. After several weeks of see-saw-like thrust and counterthrust actions, Rommel conducted a skillful retreat back to the El Aghelia – Marada strongpoint in Libya. In the wake of his retreat, Rommel directed the Italian “Savona” Division to hold the coastal towns of Bardia and Sollum and the Halfaya Pass, areas now several hundred miles behind British lines. On 30 December 1941, South African troops supported by a heavy air, sea and land bombardment began their attack on the Bardia. Although a local counterattack from the city’s perimeter slowed their advance, the South Africans, supported by tanks, launched their final assault on 2 January 1942.]  
• 2 January 1942-5 October 1947: Prisoner of war in British captivity. [On 2 January 1942, Schmitt was taken prisoner upon the surrender of Bardia to South African troops. Transported to Cairo, he was placed in the POW camp with Generalleutnant Johann von Ravenstein who had been captured near Tobruk two months earlier. Judging from that officer’s diary entries, he did not seem to care for Schmitt too much! Taken by ship to Canada later that year, Schmitt remained a prisoner in that country until January 1946 when he was transferred by sea to Special Camp 11 at Bridgend, South Wales.]
  • 9th January 1946 transferred Island Farm Special Camp 11 from Camp 1
  • 5th October 1947 transferred via Camp 43 to Camp No 2 WC Holding Centre Fishhack
  • 21st December 1947 transferred to Camp No 6 CIC Neuengamme (Civil Internment Camp).