Before Colditz where was Sterling held?

wadeMitcham

New Member
I'd like to find out where David Sterling was held in Italy, before he was transferred to Colditz.

Encyclopedia Britannica online and Wikipedia both say he was captured in Italy in 1943 and then escaped four times before being sent to Colditz. Neither say what camp or camps he escaped from.

I'm looking for this info to check a relative's history as I believe they met after capture.

Thanks in advance for any info or where to look further.

Wade
 
From what I can gather he was in a variety of camps prior to Oflag IV-C (Colditz), one being an Italian POW Camp called Fortress Gavi in Piedmont (Designated Camp P.G. 5) which apparently was the Italian version of Colditz another being in Czechoslovakia at Mahrisch Trubau (Oflag VIII-F) which was one he tried to escape from at least twice before being moved to the new camp Oflag-79 at Braunschweig Germany and was subsequently moved to Colditz Castle.

He also claims to have attempted an escape from a temporary stop at a camp for Russian POW's near Markt Pongau which would have been Stalag XVIII-C but British and Commonwealth POW's were held there as well.

My suggestion would be to get a copy of:
The Originals: The Secret History of the Birth of the SAS - In Their Own Words By Gordon Stevens

As chapter 20 deals with Stirlings time as a POW the problem is that it doesn't give camp designations but it does give locations.

Sorry my response is not very concise but it is a surprisingly difficult question.
:)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for your reply.

From ancestry.com I only have IV-B Muehlberg, Elbe, Brandenburg for my relative's PoW camp, which doesn't seem to fit. I'll try and get his army records from the MoD to see where else he was held to see if there's a match.

Wade
 
If you were just looking at Italian POW camps Stirling did spend some time at an interrogation centre in Rome at the cavalry barracks because he gave a statement at the court-martial tof Theodore Schurch who he met there.
 
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