| Original caption: “British officers liberated in Brunswick-Oflag Seventy-Nine, the largest British officers’ camp in Germany, are seen behind barbed wire. Among them are some Indians. These officers were taken prisoner in the Near East, Norway, and France.” Offizierslager 79 (Oflag 79 – “Officers Camp Seventy-Nine”) at Brunswick was established in December 1943 at a Luftwaffe Fallschirmjäger school. By April 1945, there were 2,369 Prisoners Of War, 1,957 British and Commonwealth officers, and 412 other ranks from the battles in Norway, France, Greece, Crete, and North Africa; many taken at the fall of Tobruk in June 1942 and some at Arnhem in September 1944. Even some French Officers were present. Some had been in detention since the Fall of France in the summer of 1940. The camp had 2 stages, each with its own theatrical company, which regularly put on entertainment for the men. The “Spectator,” the camp newspaper, was published weekly. The men were stressed by regular bombing raids; by February 1945, the air raid alarms were constant. The Prisoners began to record daily entries, as they knew the war was ending and things would get interesting. By early 1945, the intentions of the Nazi German camp guards made Allied Prisoners of War nervous. Some believed they would be shot “on cessation of hostilities.” The Senior British Officer, Colonel William D. E. Brown (December 8, 1913 – June 2, 1984) clandestinely contacted SHAEF Intelligence on March 5, 1945, and requested either weapons and ammunition or an airborne drop on the camp. But it had to be enough – he didn’t want “penny packets” – the last thing he wanted was outnumbered paratroopers or a handful of rifles. He told SHAEF that, if attacked, he’d order a breakout and attempt to run into the woods. They would mark their position with a “P” on a stolen bedsheet 15 feet (4.5 meters) high. In response to Brown and others, SHAEF stockpiled 20,000 rifles to drop to prisoner-of-war camps. On April 2, the Prisoners were told that Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) had ordered the evacuation of the camp and to force march them to Berlin. The Camp Kommandant, Oberst [????] Strehlo (???? – ????) told Brown that he reported to Berlin that a forced march would be too disruptive to Wehrmacht operations. He stated he would turn over the camp to the Prisoners of War when the Americans arrived. But overnight on April 10-11, 1945, antiaircraft batteries surrounded Oflag 79, opening fire on Allied aircraft making strafing runs on Brunswick. The Prisoners feared they would be targeted by Allied air power, but the batteries were abandoned on the evening of April 10. The United States 9th Army liberated Offizierslager 79 on April 12. Prisoners climbed the wires and cheered and mobbed the Americans. The former Prisoners of War were fed and treated by the American medical staff. Several were severely underweight, and even though Red Cross packages had started to arrive by the end of 1944, rations were severely restricted. Since the camp was next to a Luftwaffe airfield, Royal Air Force Dakota IIIs [American-built Douglas C-47s] arrived starting on April 18 to remove the Prisoners. Some were flown directly to the United Kingdom, while others were processed first in Brussels. Some 200 heavy bombers and Dakotas flew 30,000 British and Commonwealth Prisoners home. As a professional photographer, William G. Vanderson (June 13, 1908 – July 25, 1981) had recorded King George the 6th’s coronation on December 11, 1936. When World War II broke out, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Army and became a war photographer. He made photos of the 8th Army in Libya and Egypt. He was assigned to Cairo by the Number 1 Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit (AFPU) in April 1942. On June 22, 1942, he was 1 of 30,000 Allied soldiers taken prisoner at Tobruk. He was sent to Prisoner of War Camp Number 21, Chieti Old Convent. Vanderson became Prisoner of War Number 1396 at Offizierslager 79 (Oflag 79 – “Officers Camp Seventy-Nine”) in Braunschweig, Germany. He was able to make photos of camp life in Germany. He climbed up to the roof of the camp building to photograph the Prisoners of War climbing over the fence to greet their liberators. Vanderson was photographed shaking hands with war correspondent Fred Ramage (1900 – 1981) upon liberation. He was liberated in April and was discharged on June 6, 1945. After the war, as a professional photographer, Vanderson was selected to photograph Princess Elizabeth’s Royal Wedding in April 1948, constructing a 3-camera rig to accommodate the small space. He worked for TIME-LIFE and Fox Photos. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0884.jpg |
| Image Size | 518.47 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2048 x 1536 |
| Photographer | Fred Ramage |
| Photographer Title | International News Photos |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | April 12, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | Brunswick |
| State or Province | Baden-Württemberg |
| Country | Germany |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
Author of the World War II Multimedia Database