222345 344 Wallace, Pte R J, 3909178, SWB

222345 same number as above 344 Wood, Gdsm G, 2693606, S G

222349 344 Kendrick, Dvr F J, T/143945, RASC

222350 344 George, L/Cpl J, 4393014, Gn How

222351 344 Sarginson, Sgm W, 2372567, R Sigs

222354 344 Chaplen, Gnr L E H, 963641, RA

222356 344 Hughes, Dvr G, 219343, RASC

222357 344 Cossar, Dvr Robert, T/98571, RASC. At Workcamp E 715 in 1943-45. Cited in this excellent article on E 715: http://www.csub.edu/~mbaker2/white.pdf

222358 344 Cobb, Dvr L W, 230924, RASC

222359 344 Brown, Gnr L G, 775072, RA

222360 344 Moyes, Tpr V P, 7899588, RAC

222363 344 Potter, Gnr W L B, 963203, RA

222364 344 Scales, Spr S G, 1877763, RE

222365 344 Moore, Spr C, 2007898, RE

222370 344 Sharples, Gnr T, 1578171, RA

222372 no camp listed Taggart, Pte D, 2928920, Cam H

222374 8B Edwards, Pte J R, 4132553, Ches

222375 8B Hobson, Spr J W, 2213072, RE

222379 344 Arthur, Gnr J E, 900264, RA

222381 no camp listed Wiltshire, Pte J H, 2040621, RAOC

222382 344 Jones, Spr E, 1940341, RE

222385 344 Levy, Cpl A R, 555175, RAC

222386 344 Gummerson, Gnr D S, 863892, RA

222387 344 Wheeler, L/Cpl W H A, T/211165, RASC

222388 344 Cole, Gnr H H, 842649, RA

222389 344 Coupland, Tpr G M, 4275806, R Nor Fus

222390 344 Bailey, Gnr W, 929512, RA

222391 344 Deakin, Cpl W H, T/163353, RASC

222392 344 Minshull, Dvr G, T/189561, RASC

222393 344 Ardern, L/Cpl L, 7887640, RAC

222394 BAB20 Hughes, Dvr J L, T/164260, RASC

222395 4C Vickery, Dvr D, T/179208, RASC

222396 344 Harries, Dvr R C, T/145119, RASC

222397 344 Francis, Spr H G, 1930332, RE

222398 344 Harvey, Cpl W G, 4687416, RE

As evidenced by the several identity RAF-Army identity swaps and the many RAF personnel listed below, it seems to be at around the 222400 point that a batch of around 500 predominantly Bomber Command RAF aircrew interrupts the flow of Other Ranks Army POWs from Italy in the Stalag 4B number allocations. It's also interesting that some of the RAF aircrew captured by the Axis in the desert or flying from Malta and previously held in Italy are also mixed in with the Army POWs in several of the trainloads of POWs coming up to Stalag 4B from Italy.

POW details on the RAF aircrew listed here are extracted and rearranged from the squadron by squadron listing in W R Chorley's superb book Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War 1943, cross-referenced with the 1945 War Office alphabetical surname listing of RAF and Naval POWs and the RAF-only version of that surname listing extracted and published on this excellent external website:

http://www.rafcommands.com/Air%20Force%20PoWs/RAF%20POWs%20Index.html

Each one of these RAF POWs represents the specific story of how, when and where each of their particular aircraft was downed. Many of these stories will be lost, but others are out there scattered across all manner of print publications and internet sites. There's hardly room in a bare listing such as this to include all these stories, but I will be adding links to published books, other websites and so on within the listing in due course as I find them. It's also interesting to note that unlike Army Other Ranks previously held in Italy whose Stalag numbers were assigned consecutively to whoever was standing randomly next to each other in the camp admin queue, some of the RAF POWs captured in operations over northern Europe seem to have been assigned their German POW numbers, batch by batch of around 100 men, in precise surname alphabetical order: see for example the sequences beginning 222479, 222567 and 222662.

222400 4B Bucklitsch, Flt Sgt J M, 1338143, RAF, 103 Sq. Shot down 25/7/43.

222401 4B George, Pte J, 5191181, AAC

222402 4B Jackson, R V, 1432977, RAF

222404 4B Davidson, F/O E W, J/17733, RCAF, 103 Sq RAF

222405 Luft III Lynch, Flt Sgt E, 49 Sq RAF NEXT PAGE