Prisoner of war camp

[Supergrit]

Always heard of a prisoner of war camp in Virginia hills. Any one have any info on this or confirm this is true. I heard people talk about it I would like to confirm this and go find it if true

[M.C. Gusto]

Imas far as I know Chisholm was the northern most POW camp in AB

[JohninAB]

Yes it is true. Went to the site back in the mid 90’s. Wish I could remember how to get to it as would not mind going back again.


https://southpeacearchives.org/wp-co...6/Sept2011.pdf

[sailor]

Originally Posted by Supergrit

Always heard of a prisoner of war camp in Virginia hills. Any one have any info on this or confirm this is true. I heard people talk about it I would like to confirm this and go find it if true

Why?

[Grizzly Adams1]

The attached article mentions work camps, my thought, the major camps were in southern Alberta as listed. The prisoners were actually given a fair amount of liberty as time went on and worked in agriculture or logging , escape was impossible and who'd want to get back home ? Still some preserved traces of the camp to be found at Kananaskis, worth a tour, but I doubt you would find anything in the Virginia Hills after all this time, sure wouldn't be the classic Hogan's Heroes scenario

https://albertashistoricplaces.com/2...-alberta-wwii/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fZS-1v-kE8

There is another story out there that there was a camp on Barrier Mountain, at the Ya Ha Tinda. There is a Prisoner Point Lake, but having been there, no way. I suspect some one naming places got it confused with Barrier Lake, which is where the Kananaskis camp was located. Apparently about 10 % of the prisoners who were returned to Germany, came back to Canada, actually met a couple when we first immigrated.


Why?

An interesting and important part of our history,

Grizz

[Supergrit]

I think there was prison work camps before in bush not necessarily a prison war camp

[sailor]

Grizzly Adams are you aware of the user Grizzly Adams1 ?

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by JohninAB

Yes it is true. Went to the site back in the mid 90’s. Wish I could remember how to get to it as would not mind going back again.


https://southpeacearchives.org/wp-co...6/Sept2011.pdf

Thank you for the link! Very cool.

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams1

Apparently about 10 % of the prisoners who were returned to Germany, came back to Canada

Yes, I smile when I tell people that. Many German POW's were so enchanted with this area that they came back here as soon as they could.

In contrast, I knew several who were in the other prison camps (French, Russian etc.) and they certainly didn't want to go back there!

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by sailor

Grizzly Adams are you aware of the user Grizzly Adams1 ?

My E mail address changed, so the simplest solution for this Luddite was to upgrade myself.

Grizz

[-JR-]

There was a airstrip at the end of virgina hills road that i used to go to and it was used back in the day by the army . I thought it was for training .

[Supergrit]

Originally Posted by -JR-

There was a airstrip at the end of virgina hills road that i used to go to and it was used back in the day by the army . I thought it was for training .

Maybe used for lend lease flights to Russia