Today, I received a selection of records and photographs belonging to a former POW, Leutnant Bernhard Brockmeier. With today being the 72nd anniversary of the D-Day landings and knowing little about the contents of the records or Brockmeier’s wartime career, I was quite surprised at what I found.
Seventy-two years ago today, on June 6, 1944, Lt. Brockmeier was among the thousands of German soldiers manning defenses along the Normandy coastline. The thirty-year old lieutenant was likely a member of the 716th Infantry Division stationed in the area around what would soon become the Canadian landing area, Juno Beach.
Sometime after the Canadian landing, Lt. Brockmeier was captured near Courselles (Courseulles-sur-Mer), likely by members of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles or the Regina Rifle Regiment. Sent back to the beachhead, he and fellow PoWs were herded together to await their evacuation from the beachhead. Loaded onto landing craft and then onto a troopship, he was then taken to the United Kingdom.
His time on British soil was short for, sometime in late June, he was transferred to Canada. Brockmeier arrived in Canada in early July and was first interned at Camp 30 (Bowmanville). The following month, he was transferred to Camp 130 (Kananaskis/Seebe) and, in January 1945, transferred to Camp 135 (Wainwright) where he spent the remainder of his time in Canada.
In May-1946, he was shipped back to the United Kingdom where he spent time in a number of different camps and was employed in agricultural work in the Summer of 1947. In September 1947, he returned to Germany.
POWs in Canada 