More "allied" pows than you think..... one instance De Gaulle only got the release of ten thousands of Alsatians and Lorrainians . As a matter of coincidence 1949 is the very same year Moscow got the bobmb and did no longe rnedd human shields.....


Who knows about the particular fate of Alsace and Moselle during WWII? Even most of french citizen do not know about the "Malgré-Nous", and are sometimes surprised about the strange sensibilty of Alsacians an Mosellans regarding these terrible years.
1940 : France is occupied by Germany. Alsace and Moselle are annexed to the Reich, and, once again, the inhabitants of these areas become german. The Reich and its conquests need more and more soldiers; soon, the young Alsacians and Mosellans are enlisted by force in the Wehrmacht, and are forced the wear the feldgrau uniform. They will be over 130.000, most of them being sent to the eastfront. 20.000 of them will be killed in action, 20.000 more will be reported as missing in action. From 1942 to 1945, 40.000 of them will be captured and sent to POW camps all over Russia. The last ones will not return home until 1955.
Enlisted in 1943, my father will be captured in June 1944 during the biggest battle of WWII, the Bagration operation, which will be the biggest disaster of the war for the german Army, with the total collapse of Army Group Center. The Soviets organize a huge parade of 57.000 prisoners through the streets of Moscow. My father is then sent to the camp of Cerepovec, where he escapes to death. Sent to the camp of Leningrad end of 1946, he will remain prisoner until May 1949.
These TEN YEARS OF A LIFE have left indelible marks on my father. Even if his profile was somehow different of most of the forcibly enlisted people, I wanted to write these pages to prevent his story and the story of thousands of his comrades to be forgotten.
Beside the story of my father, these pages contain numerous information about the forcible conscription of "Elsass-Lothringer", those now called the "Malgré-Nous": against our will.
Malgré-Nous alsacien et lorrain en Russie, incorporé de force: 1939-1949

If there is interest I will open a special thread to relate their ordeal.

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