Not all POW camps were the same, maybe not the fame of Colditz, or the mass escape from Stalag Luft III (the Great Escape), but an interesting account of captivity for those troops who had to endure captivity for as long as 5 years from their capture while with the BEF in 1940. It also considers the effects on those individuals when they are finally able to return home to their families after so long away.

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Military Model Scene

The extraordinary account of a POW camp run by the Germans in Bavaria - reminiscent of Colditz, although it seems that the inmates were treated far more leniently and given plenty of activities to keep their minds and bodies active and fresh.

Books Monthly

Stalag 383 Bavaria is a fascinating and interesting book indeed. A subject, prisoner of war camp, I find quite fascinating and intriguing that gets overlooked by historians and the public in general. Which is surprising when you think about how the Great Escape is on every Christmas. This book is full of great information about a camp that was seen as a bit of a holiday camp including having its own pool. We learn a lot about all the clubs and activities that went on and the usual attempts to cause problems for the guards and various escape attempts. Especially the couple of prisoners that tried to escape to Austria as a married couple but were discovered in an Austrian cafe. A couple of things stand out from the book for me, these are how the camps are different by who the prisoners are, and the huge amount of excellent photographs of the camp supplied in this book. The book is certainly very informative and one I would happily recommend to others.

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UK Historian