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((more citations needed|date=March 2008 ))
((Infobox military installation
|name = Stalag Luft IV
|partof =
|location = Groß Tychow ([[Tychowo]]), [[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|Pomerania]]
|image = Stalag Luft IV..JPG
|caption =  Stalag Luft IV monument
|map_type = Germany 1937#Poland
|coordinates = ((coord|53.9425|16.1761|type:landmark_region:PL-ZP|display=inline))
|map_size =
|map_alt = Groß Tychow, Germany (pre-war borders, 1937)
|map_caption = Groß Tychow, Germany (pre-war borders, 1937)
|type = [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|Prisoner-of-war camp]]
|code =
|built =
|builder =
|materials =
|height =
|used = 1944–1945
|demolished =
|condition =
|ownership =
|open_to_public =
|controlledby = ((flag|Nazi Germany))
|garrison =
|current_commander =
|commanders =
|occupants = mainly American Air Force NCOs, and also British, Canadian, Polish, Australian, New Zealand and other Allied POWs
|battles = [[World War II]]
|events =
))
'''Stalag Luft IV''' was a German [[World War II]] [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|prisoner-of-war camp]] in Gross Tychow, [[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|Pomerania]] (now [[Tychowo]], [[Poland]]). It housed mostly American POWs, but also Britons, Canadians, Poles, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Czechs, Frenchmen and a Norwegian.

==Camp history==
The camp was opened in May 1944. In July of that year a military report was released which described such problems as inadequate shower facilities, unfit distribution of [[Red Cross parcel]]s, and that prisoners complained about the food situation often. Two letters and four postcards were permitted per month. These letters were harshly censored, with prisoners forced to tell families that they were being treated well and that there were no problems whatsoever.<ref>((cite web |url= http://www.stalagluft4.org/luft%204%20reports.html |title= American prisoners of war in Germany : Stalag Luft IV |work= stalagluft4.org |year= 2008 |access-date= 30 November 2011 |archive-date= 28 June 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170628010826/http://stalagluft4.org/luft%204%20reports.html |url-status= dead ))</ref>

A report by the [[International Red Cross]] in October 1944 described camp conditions as generally bad. The camp was divided into five compounds (A-E) separated by barbed wire fences, with the POWs housed in 40 wooden barrack huts, each containing 200 men. Prisoners in compounds A and B had triple-tiered bunks, but there were no bunks at all in compounds C and D, and POWs slept on the floor. None of the huts were heated, with only five small iron stoves in the whole camp. Latrines were open-air, and there were no proper washing facilities. Medical facilities and supplies of food and clothing were also inadequate. At this point there were 7,089 American and 886 British POWs (of these 606 were from the British Isles, and included 147 [[Canadians]], 37 [[Australians]], 58 [[Polish people|Poles]], 22 [[New Zealanders]], 8 [[South Africa]]ns, 5 [[Czechs]], 2 [[French prisoners of war in World War II|French]] and 1 [[Norwegians|Norwegian]]).<ref>((cite web |url=http://www.stalagluft4.org/luft%204%20reports.html |title=Report of the International Committee of the Red Cross, October 5 & 6, 1944 : Stalag Luft IV |work=stalagluft4.org |year=2008 |access-date=30 November 2011 |archive-date=28 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628010826/http://stalagluft4.org/luft%204%20reports.html |url-status=dead ))</ref>

Another [[International Red Cross]] inspection in January 1945,<ref>((cite web |url=http://www.stalagluft4.org/Paules%20and%20Lunsford.html |title=International Red Cross report on Camp Status, January 31, 1945 : Stalag Luft IV, Gross Tychow |work=stalagluft4.org |year=2008 |access-date=30 November 2011 |archive-date=24 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171124115147/http://www.stalagluft4.org/Paules%20and%20Lunsford.html |url-status=dead ))</ref> reported that the camp held:
* 8,033 Americans 
* 820 British
* 60 Polish
* 5 Czech
* 2 French
* 1 Norwegian

===The Death March===
On February 6, 1945 some 8,000 men of the camp set out on a march that would be called the "[[Death March]]". The prisoners were given remaining Red Cross parcels and were allowed to carry as much as they could. The march from Gross Tychow lasted approximately 86 days.  They were forced to march under guard about ((Convert|15|-|20|mi)) per day.  There was much zigzagging, to escape the encroaching Soviet [[Red Army]] from the east. The death march passed through the towns of [[Białogard]] and [[Świnoujście]].<ref>((cite web|url=https://bialogard.info/7,4412,stalag-luft-iv-marsz-smierci|title=Stalag Luft IV. Marsz Śmierci|website=Miasto Białogard|accessdate=26 June 2021|language=pl))</ref>

The treatment was deplorable. The sick were shot or bayoneted when they fell out of formation.<ref> ((cite book |last=Lindsay |first=Arthur L. |title=The Diary: Escape from the Black March |date= 27 October 2010 |publisher=[[iUniverse]] |location=Bloomington, Indiana |isbn=978-1450265331 )) page 67 </ref> [[Dysentery]] and [[diarrhea]] were commonplace as water sources and latrines were inadvertently mixed. Shelter might be a barn or under the stars, in the rain, snow, or whatever was available.  Food remained scarce and the best one could hope for was a portion to replenish the calories from a full day’s march (a bushel or two of steamed potatoes for a barn full of men was the best ever received at the end of a day).  Often, the food was placed in the barn in the dark of night for the men to get what they could. The German government provided no clothing.  They carried two blankets, and an overcoat for bedding.

The average POW lost a third of his body weight after capture.  They drank water, often contaminated, from ditches beside the road, or ate snow when available. They used cigarettes, watches, rings or whatever they had to trade with the farmers along the way, for food. However, in doing so risking the farmers and the POWs' lives. The POWs ate charcoal to help stop dysentery, and they all became infested with lice. [[Pneumonia]], [[diphtheria]], [[pellagra]], [[typhus]], [[trench foot]], [[tuberculosis]] and other diseases ran rampant among the POWs.

Acts of heroism were virtually universal. The stronger helped the weaker. Those fortunate enough to have a coat shared it with others. The Germans sometimes provided a wagon for the sick. However, there seldom were horses available, so teams of POWs pulled the wagons through the snow.  When a wagon was not available and a POW fell out along the road, a German guard would drop back and a shot would be heard.<ref> ibid. </ref>  The guard would then come back into formation alone. However, not all Germans were hated - the guard Shorty was carried by several prisoners after he couldn't go on.((citation needed|date=November 2017))

They reached ([[Stalag XI-A]]), near [[Dörnitz]] on March 30, 1945.<ref>((cite book |last=Lindsay |first=Arthur L. |title=The Diary: Escape from the Black March |date= 27 October 2010 |publisher=[[iUniverse]] |location=Bloomington, Indiana |isbn=978-1450265331 )) page 80</ref>  Many camps on the eastern edge of Germany were combined into one large camp there. The treatment was a repetition of that at previous camps, with the exception of food, of which there was virtually none.((citation needed|date=December 2022)) There were no beds or bedding in the buildings.((citation needed|date=December 2022)) The prisoners, and the Germans as well, knew liberation was close at hand.  The sounds of the encroaching [[United States|American]] artillery could be heard getting louder and louder at this camp. When the sound of Allied artillery grew closer, the German guards were less harsh in their treatment of POWs, because the prisoner roles might soon be reversed.((citation needed|date=November 2017))

The POWs were only in this camp for about a week, when lagers A and B from Stalag Luft IV were taken out on their final march on April 8, 1945,<ref>diary of Sgt.Lee Maulding, POW</ref> this time marching to the east.  This last march lasted 25 days,<ref>diary of Sgt.Lee Maulding, POW</ref> but was just as harsh as the previous march except for the treatment by the Germans, which was somewhat better. There was still little or no food available, and the pace was much slower, advancing 4–5 miles a day. With the Russian and Western Allied forces closing in rapidly, the POWs of Stalag Luft IV crossed the [[River Elbe]] on April 21, 1945 near [[Dahlenburg]]. On the morning of May 2, 1945 the POWs were all sitting in a ditch next to the River Elbe near [[Lauenburg]], Germany, when the [[United Kingdom|British]] arrived and liberated the camp. Soldiers were given virtually nothing and told to march west. Thus Stalag Luft IV ended.((citation needed|date=November 2017))

Some POWs managed to escape before the liberation of the rest of the camp. According to an interview with Sgt. James B. Lindsay 15081658, he and two fellow POWs, Dewitt and Lockenny, armed with a hatchet taken from a woodpile of a nearby barn, captured a guard and fled on April 24, 1945; they found the body of a second decapitated German officer while making their escape.<ref> ((cite book |last=Lindsay |first=Arthur L. |title=The Diary: Escape from the Black March |date= 27 October 2010 |publisher=[[iUniverse]] |location=Bloomington, Indiana |isbn=978-1450265331 )) pages 92-93 </ref> Two days later they reached an American outpost while heading South towards [[Düben]].<ref>ibid.</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of prisoner-of-war camps in Germany]]

==References==
((Reflist))

==Further reading==
* ((cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=James E. |date=20 November 2000 |title=A Glimpse of Hell: The World War II Years |publisher=1st Books Library |isbn=1-58820-204-6))
* ((cite book |last=Davis |first=Robert D. |title=Before I Forget |date=July 2011 |publisher=[[AuthorHouse]] |location=Bloomington, Indiana |isbn=978-1463425685 ))
* ((cite book |last=Dorfmeier |first=David D. |title=C-Lager: Stalag Luft IV and the 86-day Hunger March |date= 4 November 2016 |publisher=[[Amazon (company)|Amazon]] |isbn=978-0692211137 ))
* ((cite book |last=Lindsay |first=Arthur L. |title=The Diary: Escape from the Black March |date= 27 October 2010 |publisher=[[iUniverse]] |location=Bloomington, Indiana |isbn=978-1450265331 ))
* ((cite book |last1=Nichol |first1=John |last2=Rennell |first2=Tony |title=The Last Escape : The Untold Story of Allied Prisoners of War in Germany 1944-1945 |url=http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141003887,00.html |date=4 September 2003 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |isbn=978-0-14-100388-7 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220065054/http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141003887,00.html |archive-date=20 February 2014 ))

==External links==
* [http://www.stalagluft4.org Stalag Luft VI and IV]
* [http://content.library.ccsu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/VHP&CISOPTR=2757 Oral history interview with Steven Stupak, a POW in Stalag IV during WWII] from the Veterans History Project at Central Connecticut State University (video)
* [http://www.stalagluft4.org/Paules%20and%20Lunsford.html The Black March: Accounts by T/Sgts. Frank Paules and Carter Lunsford] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171124115147/http://www.stalagluft4.org/Paules%20and%20Lunsford.html |date=2017-11-24 ))

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