Oflag XXI-B

 ( Oflags ) 

Oflag XXI-B and Stalag XXI-B were World War II Germany prisoner-of-war camps for officers and enlisted men, located at Szubin a few miles southwest of Bydgoszcz, Poland, which at that time was occupied by Nazi Germany.

• September 1939 – The Germans established a camp for arrested Polish civilians, mostly the intelligentsia, arrested as part of the Intelligenzaktion.
• October 1939 – First Polish soldiers captured during the German Invasion of Poland (1939) brought to Szubin, Kriegsgefangenenlager Schubin prisoner-of-war camp for Poles established. The camp was built around a Polish boys' school by adding barracks. Polish POWs were used for the expansion of the camp.
• December 1939 - The Germans formally established the Stalag XXI-B2 POW camp in Szubin, and the Stalag XXI-B1 POW camp in Antoniewo near Skoki, both for Polish POWs.
• March-May 1940 - Polish POWs were transferred to other camps, located in Germany.
• June 1940 - France officers were brought here from the Battle of France.
• August 1940 - Stalag XXI-B2 was renamed to Stalag XXI-B; Stalag XXI-B1 in Antoniewo was renamed to Stalag XXI-B/Z, and made a branch camp of the Stalag XXI-B in Szubin.
• September 1940 - Oflag XXI-B for Allied officers established. Its first prisoners were the French. Stalag XXI-B and Oflag XXI-B co-existed next to each other for three months.
• December 1940 – Stalag XXI-B was relocated to the nearby village of Tur. Polish officers, previously held together with enlisted men in other camps, were moved to Oflag XXI-B.
• 1941/1942 – All French officers had been transferred elsewhere prior to the arrival of British officer POWs.
• September 1942 – British and Commonwealth officers of the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm were transferred from Oflag VI-B at Warburg following its temporary closure. These included airmen from Poland, Czechoslovakia and other occupied countries serving in the RAF, as well as airmen from the Allied Air Forces - RAAF, RNZAF, RCAF, SAAF, USAAF.WO208/3296 Official Camp History Chapter I
• October 1942 – More British RAF officers and NCOs arrive from Stalag Luft III to help relieve overcrowding there.
• November 1942 – A second batch of British RAF officers arrive from Stalag Luft III
• October to March 1943 - Newly captured British, American and Allied Air Force officers arrive in batches transferred from Dulag luft.
• March 1943 – A mass escape through a tunnel occurs - 35 men escape, albeit none are successful in reaching neutral territory.WO208/3296 Official Camp History Chapter II Para 24
• April 1943 – The camp is cleared of all POWs - all being sent to the enlarged Stalag Luft III.
• The camp was later re-opened and re-numbered Oflag 64 for American officers only.

British prisoners-of-war who died in the camp were later buried at a cemetery of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Poznań.

• William Ash – American serving in RCAF, escapee and future author
• Anthony Barber – RAF pilot and future Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Per Bergsland – Norwegian pilot serving in RAF and Great Escape
• Josef Bryks – Czechoslovak RAFVR fighter pilot and serial escaper (1942 – March 1943).
• Jimmy Buckley RN – Fleet Air Arm Pilot and escapee
• Flight Lieutenant CC Cheshire – RAF Pilot and brother of Leonard Cheshire Victoria Cross
• Aidan Crawley – RAF Officer and future author, journalist and MP
• Wing Commander Harry Day, Great Escape survivor, who was Senior British Officer November 1942 – March 1943
• Johnnie Dodge – British Army officer and Great Escape survivor
• Flight Lieutenant Bertram James – RAF Pilot and Great Escape survivor
• Robert Kee – RAF Pilot and future author and journalist
• Oliver Philpot – RAF Pilot and escapee
• Peter Stevens – RAF pilot of German-Jewish birth and serial escapee
• Jorgen Thalbitzer – Danish pilot serving in RAF
• Eric Williams – RAF Officer and escapee
• Albert W Harris - Private. The Buffs Royal East Kent Regiment.
• John Patrick Greenane - Private. Royal Engineers - Worked in Polish coal mines

• List of German WWII POW camps
• Oflag
• Oflag 64
• Stalag Luft III