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Post by anitarosz1956 on Apr 29, 2012 22:04:13 GMT
Also found out that Witley was the Records Centre and that the Resettlement Corps booklets were processed there so can only assume that it might not be where our soldiers were placed. Has anybody any comments or information on this?
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Post by Stacek on Aug 28, 2012 17:59:13 GMT
I also have a discharge certificate for my father, Donat Tadeusz Hinc, effective date of discharge 20 May 1947 in Witley Camp in Godalming Surrey. I am interested in how my father got from Dzialdowo (Mazury Lake District) in Poland to Witley and then settled and married with my mother in Groningen (The Netherlands). As little boy I could'nt believe the story from his escape from my father as 18 years boy. I'm trying to find some documents whats happened on his journey. He was the first Polish citizen who get a driverlicence with the age from 16 years. He was driver for the major from Dzialdowo. My father brings him to Lwow by car and must go back to Dzialdowo by walk. I trying to imagination how difficult live it was for him and the insults once he try to live in The Netherlands without any nationality.
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Post by jantuczynski on Dec 8, 2012 21:54:45 GMT
My father Tuczynski Antoni was discharged from Witlley Camp 3 July 1948, his military record shows he was with the 14th Lancer regiment. He passed away in 1965. Corps from discharged PRC. He was from Wronki (nr Poznain) Poland. Have many photos, in the UK and Palestine.
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leon
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Post by leon on Jan 10, 2013 17:00:42 GMT
my father, franciszek wolszczak, recently died age 96. i know a fair bit about his history which may help others also. he came from near radom, and was posted to wilno(vilinius) at the outbreak of the war. he along with many others tried to escape to romania in trucks but they were intercepted by russians who said they would help them, put them on cattle wagons and sent them to zaporozhye in the crimea, where they were told they were now russian. they insisted they were polish and were prisoners of war, and so were sent to siberia, to cut wood. he was 'freed' in 1942 when germany attacked russia and joined the polish free forces under general anders. he was sent to iran, syria, and palestine, for building up and training, before taking ship in egypt for italy. he was a sergeant in a mine disposal unit of the 5th kresowa infantry. he travelled up through italy and fought at monte cassino where he was awarded a medal 'polu chwaly' for valour. after this he and his and his battalion went through rome and were based in cattolica, near rimini. he 'chose' to travel to england rather than live under russian rule again, and was consequently sent to england in 1946/7, and was originally based at witley camp, from where he was then sent to reading i believe before being sent to the bedford area where he worked in a brickyard, as a labourer.
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nfp20
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Post by nfp20 on Mar 20, 2013 13:25:42 GMT
Hi I wonder if anyone can help me? I have been sadly given the duty of clearing my fathers home after he passed away on the 8th of March. He often carried out house clearances and I found a historical Driving Licence from the 1948 issued to a polish gentleman which I think (and please forgive me if this is incorrect)
Mieczyslaw Kazimierz Rozum
The entries for his addresses were for MTO HQ, Witley Camp, Nr Godalming, Surrey and 33 Lancaster Road, WII doing a quick internet search I also found an entry for a man of the same name who was working as a Butler working at the Worth Priory in Crawley in the 1960's.
I appreciate this is a long shot but I would very much like to return this item to his family if it is possible and any help to do so would be very much appreciated. In the meantime I shall keep it safe and sound as a very interesting article from history. I can be contacted via tashaphillips at hotmail dot com Tasha
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Post by Half Polish on Sept 17, 2013 8:00:11 GMT
May be a stupid question, but where was the camp in Witley? map reference? Is there anything remaining to see?
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Post by ZosiaB on Nov 6, 2013 17:07:01 GMT
Witley Camp, Godalming, Surrey was one of a number of base camps which were administration centres responsible for PRC Pay and Records. That was the place were demobilisation took place hence the name on discharge papers. I have found no records indicating that Polish families were housed there or that it remained open once the PRC was disbanded.
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mazur
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Post by mazur on Nov 11, 2013 8:29:20 GMT
I, too, have my father's discharge papers showing Witley. How do I go about finding which camp he might have been at? He passed away in 1989. Never talked much about it. He was in the 1st Polish Parachute regiment. Was only 14 when the war started and I understand he finished his schooling (then University) after the war. In camp?
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Post by Half Polish on Nov 11, 2013 10:01:16 GMT
Thanks Zosia, interesting stuff...... I have spent a few hours searching on-line for Witley camp and have seen photographs claiming to be of the camp during the first world war, the pictures show rows of huts....... I have found the location of the camp itself, the site is now owned by the Nation Trust and simply called Witley Common, it is a nature reserve with paths and cycleways, it seems there is nothing remaining of the camp buildings so probably not worth a visit. mazur yes i am now at a similar point, need to study the paperwork more carefully for clues
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Post by browneyes on Jan 26, 2014 11:24:42 GMT
Hi there I am new on this forum, but I am also trying to trace how my late father came to England from Poland. He also served in the PRC and I know he was there from 1946 and discharged in1948.
I would also like to find out how I can trace family back in Poznan Poland (if they are still living around that area)
Thanks for any information.
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Post by Stacek on Apr 9, 2014 20:16:40 GMT
Hello Browneyes,
I would think searching at first on Facebook by your name or name from your father and write this people that you are searching your family? If you have no luck, maby try the town hall from Poznan. Is there correspondendings or letters from your father to family in Poznan in Wartime? So I was finding my family in Lake District of Mazuria. Shame that there is not more information for the family or children who would search family in Poland. In 1997 I visited for the first time Poland and my 'new' family. This was very emotional. But I'm happy to see them now every year! And,....all the time wódka. Good luck.
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Post by sheila on Jan 11, 2016 8:55:53 GMT
Hi anitarosz1956 I recently got in touch with the Sikorski Musemum London looking for info. regarding my fathers infantry regiment-----I found them to be very helpful. Following my enquiry I received a very nice phone call from them. Please find the link below. www.pism.co.uk/index.htmHope this will be useful for you - Best Wishes Arnes
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Post by annieowl on Feb 5, 2016 20:48:06 GMT
Hi Leon My father Bronislaw Sowa was also in the 5th Kresowa Division and had a similar story to your father's. He was taken to Siberia aged 15 and after being liberated travelled to Persia on foot and by raft down the River Kama and Volga with his father and brother to join the Polish Army. He spent time in Iran, Syria and Palestine and also fought at Monte Cassino. He also got a medal. But this is where our stories differ. My dad then went to Egypt to train as a radiotechnician, returning to Italy for the final battles near Florence and Bologna before the Germans surrendered. A friend of my dad was writing a book about his life in Siberia and the Polish Army but unfortunately my Dad died in 2009 and a year later his friend died too. So the book is unfinished and ends with Dad about to journey to England. This is what I am trying to find out...when and how he came here and where he went to. I have a radio mechanic certificate stamped at The Polish Wireless school, Millom Airfield in Cumbria 31.5.1947 and a demob certificate from Witley Camp dated 16 Oct 1948 but have no idea if he was anywhere else previous to that. I have plotted his journey from Barycz nr Rzeszow to a logging camp in southern Siberia ( more than 3200 miles) and then his journey to the Polish Army in Persia but am stuck on the few years he was in England before he met and married my mother in Middlesbrough in 1950. I have seen the posts about the Sikorsky Museum and the Polish Army Records base at Hendon so they will be my next ports of call. Any info on Millom Camp in Cumbria would be most welcome! I have just ordered the book too on Amazon :-D
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Post by annadziewulska on Feb 23, 2017 6:40:40 GMT
My father Zbigniew Dziewulski from Pruzany Poland was discharged from Witley Camp 7th January 1948. He had served with Polish Paratroop Regiment and was with the Polish Resettlement Corps for a total of 244 days according to a few of his records. THERE ARE PHOTOS ON GOOGLE IMAGES .... mainly WW1 but keep looking till the end ..... some links from there to other sites Kresy-Siberia Facebook Page. Attachments:
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scau
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Post by scau on Jan 7, 2020 13:55:14 GMT
Surrey County Archaeological Unit carried out excavations at Witley Camp in 2015 and again in 2019. The camp was used both in the First and Second World War for British and Canadian troops, and then as the headquarters for the Polish Resettlement Corps from 1946. Most of the photos that survive are from the First World War, and Godalming Museum have a huge collection, as well as an exhibition about the site. As yet we have not seen any photos from the Polish Resettlement Camp. The camp was dismantled at the end of the First World War, with a smaller camp being build at the start of the Second World War. During both world wars the camp was split in to 3. The Polish Resettlement Corps were housed at Witley North, which was on the north side of the present day A3, south of Guildford. The site is not open to the public, but the 2 other camps were along the south side of the A3, and the land is owned by the National Trust so can be visited. The site is called Witley and Milford Common, and there are walks and information boards about the site in the First and Second World War. Nothing remains of the camp today, although Godalming Museum do have a selection of artefacts and book about the camp, available from summer 2020. If anyone has any photos of the Polish Resettlement Camp we would be very interested to see them. Please email us at: education.scau@surreycc.gov.uk You can find out more about our 2015 excavations here: www.surreycc.gov.uk/culture-and-leisure/archaeology/community-archaeology/witley-at-war-witley-north-camp And there are photos on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/diggingsurreyspast/ I hope this helps!
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