C F Knight's Great War Memoirs

This Website is dedicated to my Grandfather, Cecil Frances Knight, who fought in the trenches in Belgium during the Great War

...now scroll down.

PoW Records

The Germans kept very detailed Prisoner of War records, so it is surprising that CFK's family didn't get to hear of his capture. They make quite interesting reading.

Below is the record of his capture (note recorded first name of Cissel), together with his friend Harry Jenkins (Haray Jenkens), recorded at Limberg.
Limberg was primarily an administrative centre, recording captured prisoners at all the local hospitals and PoW camps.

See the foot of the page for a translation of the German page-headings.

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The next two records are both dated at the top 1 Oct!. The first has had the heading at the top of Column 5 altered to 'Krankheit' (Hospital), and the second shows his move to Dendermonde (also known as Termonde). The first one shows him as Knight, Cissel, and the second one records his injury (in English), and spells his name right! This is presumably his release from hospital

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This one shows the move to Bayreuth. His injury is now shown in German.

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We have yet to discover any further PoW records. Presumably the German war machine needed all its manpower to fight.

Translation of the column headings of the German PoW forms:

Column 1: Lfd. Nr. [Laufende Nummer] = Entry number
 
Column 2: a) Familienname = Family name
                  b) Vorname (nur der Rufname) = First name (only the first name)
                  c) Nur bei Russen Vorname des Vaters = (only for Russians) - First name of the father
 
Column 3: Dienstgrad = Rank
 
Column 4: a) Truppen- = Troop
                  b) Teil             = Unit
                  c) Kompanie = Company
 
Column 5: a) Gefangennahme = Capture -
                  b) Ort und Tag = Place and date
                  c) Vorhergehender Aufenthaltsort = Previous place of residence
 
Column 6: a) Geburtstag und -Ort = Birthdate and Birthplace