Charles Cleves

Charles Cleves was a Lance Corporal in the Royal Engineers, from Cardiff. He was captured on Crete in June 1941. His German record cards show that he was held at a number of Work Camps, escaping several times, before finally making a successful escape with the help of the Yugoslavian partisans in September 1944.

14.8.41:      10354/L Pliemitsch
17.9.41:      13001/L Glodink
12.3.42:      10903/L Mayerhofen
24.4.42:      11903/L
30.5.42 - 9.11.42: Stalag 18A Lazaret (Hospital)
25.11.42:    959/GW Goss
9.3.43:        1854/L Bodendorf
5.4.42:        1017/GW St Lambrecht
19.6.43:      Escaped, recaptured.
28.6.43:      Landeck Prison
8.7.43:       Stalag 18A/Z
5.11.43:     Escaped, recaptured.
Assumed the identity of 'George Martin', POW 5218.
5.9.44:       Escaped successfully.
8.2.45:       Returned to UK.

In 1970, he returned to Austria. The photo below is of the hut where he was held in St Lambrecht. The lady is Frau Gabbie Bischof, who helped him escape in 1943.

(Details supplied by his son, Cliff)