Timeline for Is it true that there were American POWs in Soviet captivity after the Second World War?
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24 events
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| Sep 4, 2023 at 14:34 | comment | added | Moishe Kohan | @Evargalo: I have no idea. Perhaps, it is an interesting new question, which also applies to other German POWs who survived the Russian imprisonment after WWWII. | |
| Sep 4, 2023 at 11:17 | comment | added | Evargalo | Nice research. About the 119 US citizens who fought on the German side, mainly of German nationality, so IIUC they are (mainly) dual citizens, I wonder which "homeland" is referred to (Eastern or Western Germany or USA or ?) when the document states that The remainder was sent to their homeland.. | |
| Mar 27, 2021 at 11:21 | comment | added | R Leonard | I suppose one could make such a leap, but a quick look at a couple of maps shows any air route from Myitkyina to Kunming, roughly 335 miles west to east, lay well outside any Chinese territory occupied by Japan, which raises the question of just how the Japanese could perform the feat of snatching him, hustling him off to somewhere they had control then move him, essentially all the way north across China, to get him to a POW enclosure in Manchuria. That's an awful lot of effort for a just one guy. Doesn't say much for Japanese practicality. | |
| Mar 27, 2021 at 8:00 | comment | added | rs.29 | @RLeonard Thank you for your information. We are entertaining a possibility that some of them were captured by Japanese, transported to Manchuria, then captured by Soviets and then instead of being released as Allied POWs held in Soviet camps. Although it does not make much sense, because at that time Soviets did declare war on Japan, and US personnel was no longer being interned. Also, from documents we could see that Soviet actually repatriated Allied POWs form Manchuria camps, and I don't see any particular reason to held Major Thompson, being just a transport pilot. | |
| Mar 27, 2021 at 0:35 | comment | added | R Leonard | @rs.29 re Wirt crew. From USAAF MACR #10394 - C-47A #43-15821. 2d Air Commando, 317 Troop Carrier Squadron. Lost on 5 December 1944. Pilot - MAJ Wirt E Thompson, Copilot - 2LT Dorsey W R Beauchamp, Engineer - T/Sgt William Weil, Crew – S/Sgt William S Weaver. Mission was Myitkyina to Kunming, “East over Hump”, failed to arrive. None of their bodies were recovered; still listed as unrecovered in the dpaa.mil site. FWIW, the "Hump," that is, over the Himalayas, is/was no where near Manchuria, completely on the other side of China and was notorious for transports littering the landscape. | |
| Mar 27, 2021 at 0:04 | comment | added | R Leonard | William George Baumeister, 1LT USAAF, was a P-39 pilot lost over Burma on an escort mission 19 Nov 1944. Originally declared MIA, his remains were eventually recovered & he is buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Were I cynical, I might wonder if someone, pre-internet days, got their hands on a CBI theater AAF missing roster & plucked out names figuring no one would ever check. I found a Rand report on this subject from 1994. Listed 5 specific individuals & their birth years. Searching, none of whom show up in US Army enlistment records, 1930 Census, or 1940 census . . go figure. | |
| Mar 26, 2021 at 22:15 | comment | added | rs.29 | @MoisheKohan Looking at the pdf you linked, it looks like US government inquires were much more concentrated on another person ( William G. Baumeister) . Thompson was reported in Soviet hands already in 1944, before they captured Manchuria, and probably even before he was shoot down . They have declared him dead in 1945, therefore most likely even his parents didn't believe much in a story that he was somehow alive. Returning (German) POWs talked about certain William Thompson, not Wirt (fairly uncommon name) . | |
| Mar 26, 2021 at 21:43 | comment | added | Moishe Kohan | @rs.29 I did not say he was. The theory about him is that he was captured by Japanese, was kept captive in Manchuria until he was "liberated" by RKKA in August of 1945. Is it true? I do not know but US government thought that it was plausible enough to pester Soviets by questions about him for years. As I said, from the beginning, "we do not know." | |
| Mar 26, 2021 at 21:01 | comment | added | rs.29 | @MoisheKohan One thing in particular about him is that he was flying in 317th Troop Carrier Squadron, "armed" with transport planes like C-47 . Probably hauling supplies for allied Chinese troops. But C-47 and similar planes usually have crew of 4 or more people. What did happen to them ? | |
| Mar 26, 2021 at 20:43 | comment | added | rs.29 | @MoisheKohan Problem with Major Wirt Elizabeth Thompson is that he was not flying anywhere near Soviet airspace. Supposedly shoot down over China, it is unclear how would he end up in Soviet hands. Officially, he is MIA , declared dead in December of 1945 abmc.gov/decedent-search/thompson%3Dwirt | |
| Mar 26, 2021 at 9:53 | comment | added | Moishe Kohan | @rs.29: See the edit. | |
| Mar 26, 2021 at 9:53 | history | edited | Moishe Kohan | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Mar 25, 2021 at 19:20 | comment | added | rs.29 | Well, if you have name and rank, with few other details it would be fairly straightforward to compare with US military records. | |
| Mar 25, 2021 at 19:04 | history | edited | Moishe Kohan | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Mar 25, 2021 at 17:28 | vote | accept | MKN | ||
| Mar 25, 2021 at 17:28 | vote | accept | MKN | ||
| Mar 25, 2021 at 17:28 | |||||
| Mar 25, 2021 at 15:42 | comment | added | Moishe Kohan | @rs.29: In a day or so, I will give examples (name+rank) along the lines you asked me about. All are based on the Tzouliadis's book and what I do not know if they match US military records. IMHO, this is what the Commission should have determined and made public. | |
| Mar 25, 2021 at 14:21 | comment | added | Moishe Kohan | @rs.29 Of course: His case is given for comparison purposes. | |
| Mar 25, 2021 at 14:18 | comment | added | Moishe Kohan | @LаngLаngС And yet, these archives are the best sources available. To imitate Ramsfeld, "You do research with the materials you have, not with ones you wish to have." | |
| Mar 25, 2021 at 14:14 | comment | added | Moishe Kohan | @rs.29 Yes, and the places to look would be in the links I gave. | |
| Mar 25, 2021 at 13:03 | comment | added | LаngLаngС | Agreed to be cautious. Yet there are numerous srcs claiming that archives are as corrupted as the officials running them. "23,500 Americans & 30,000 Brits" (The Sanders et al book…, only had reviews to go on, 'status: undecided') | |
| Mar 25, 2021 at 9:47 | comment | added | rs.29 | To simplify things, I would like to hear story like this :" Private John Doe is MIA. We believe that Germans captured him, and at the end of the war Soviets got him and held him, possibly killed him. " So far there is no such or similar story. | |
| Mar 25, 2021 at 9:40 | comment | added | rs.29 | To repeat once again, Wallenberg was not US serviceman, as far as I know he was not even US citizen despite supposed links with OSS. On the other hand, his name is known, and created lot of diplomatic trouble for USSR. Again, as far as I know, there is no name and rank of US serviceman from WW2 , suspected to be captured/killed by Soviets . | |
| Mar 25, 2021 at 9:18 | history | answered | Moishe Kohan | CC BY-SA 4.0 |