Stalag Luft 6 (L6)
Hydekrug (Silute)
Stalag Luft 6 was the northernmost POW camp within the German Reich. It was located near the town of Hydekrug, Memelland (now Šilute in Lithuania) only a few kilometres from the Baltic Sea.
Matzicken is now called Macikai
The meander in the river clearly indicates the camp's location
The opening of the camp was forced upon the Luftwaffe by the large number of PoWs captured during the first half of 1943. Although Stalag Luft 6 opened its gates for PoW business in June 1943 the
camp was actually much older. It was built in 1939 as Stalag 1C and the first prisoners were of Polish nationality. In 1940 French and Belgian prisoners were brought to the camp and in 1941 Russian prisoners were also kept here.
In October 1943 1,200 NCO PoWs arrived from Stalag 1 (Barth).
With this intake, the population of Hydekrug was effectively doubled.
The camp was now overcrowded and the conditions were poor with the guards having the reputation for being trigger happy.
On July 14th 1944 they were advised that due to the advance of the Red Army, the camp was to be closed and the PoWs were to march to Hydekrug Station for onward transportation to other camps (mostly Stalag Luft 4)
Today, one of the old camp buildings (the former sweatbox) houses a small memorial
There are various memorials in the area commemorating
the range of prisoners who were kept here
The following 49Sqn aircrew were PoWs here at some point during WW2
Arnold J F
Atkinson J C
Baird W J
Baker J
Barclay G
Black A W
Boulton G
Bradfield LF
Bryan J A D
Bryceson A L
Butcher C H
Cachart E B
Cartwright R
Cole H J E
Corry K C
Critchley G T
Dunphy D C
Eastwood R I
Evans W L
Farrow K N
Fisher H E
Frost R
Fyffe D W
Goodall J J
Grant J
Green C T
Grimley D
Hawkes T R H
Heyworth W P
Hibbert F R
Hills D J
Hind S N
Hitchcock N C
Hitchins S J
Homard L W
Kirton B W
Link R C
Marshall A
McCracken E R
McInnes A G
McPhee D W
Nolan C D
O'Leary W K
Payne W A
Phillips F
Prinn R
Probert E
Ralph W
Randall D E
Scarfe M E
Shannon R C
Singleton E J
Stevens W T
Stretton M G P
Torpey E B
Turnbull L C
Turner J W
Valentine J R
Watson L E
Webb M G
Webster F
Wood R A
Woodrow F E
Wright J F
Young D
The following websites have additional information
(each website opens in a new window)