Stalag VII-A, Moosburg, Bavaria, 1940-42 and 1945
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Pierre and Gilbert Roughol, POWs
Pierre was taken prisoner at Granges-sur-Vologne (Vosges, Lorraine, eastern France) on 26 June 1940. He was first sent to Stalag VII-A in Moosburg, then transferred to Stalag VII-B in Memmingen on September 6th, and finally returned to Moosburg on November 4th. That's lucky because his brother Gilbert, my grandfather, is there. He was captured on 25 June 1940 in Cornimont, also in the Vosges mountains.
We don't know by what miracle both brothers were allowed to stay in the same camp, but it was a lifeline. Gilbert was released on medical grounds on 24 November 1942 and, second miracle, Pierre was released with him!
US troops liberated the camp on 29 April 1945. Pierre was then an embedded reporter with the First French Army, stationed on the banks of Lake Konstanz. He rushed back to Moosburg the second he heard and was on the road in Bavaria on VE Day. He arrived to find the camp ablaze and witnessed its end. Those photos and his account are at the bottom of the page.
Pierre est fait prisonnier à Granges-sur-Vologne (Vosges) le 26 juin 1940. Il est d'abord envoyé au Stalag VII-A à Moosburg en Bavière, puis transféré au Stalag VII-B à Memmingen le 6 septembre, avant de retourner à Moosburg le 4 novembre. Cela tombe bien car son frère Gilbert, mon grand-père, y est déjà. Il a été fait prisonnier le 25 juin à Cornimont, également dans les Vosges.
Nous ne savons pas par quel miracle les deux frères ont été autorisés à partager leur détention, mais ce fut salvateur. Gilbert bénéficia d'une libération pour cause de maladie le 24 novembre 1942 et, second miracle, Pierre put partir avec lui !
Les Américains libèrent le camp le 29 avril 1945. Pierre est alors correspondant de guerre au sein de la Première armée française, sur les rives du lac Constance. Il se précipite vers Moosburg lorsqu'il apprend la nouvelle et est sur les routes de Bavière quand est signée l'armistice. Il sera témoin des dernières heures de "son" camp en flammes. Ces photos et son témoignage sont en bas de page.
A few portraits of Pierre in his Stalag days. Probably taken by Gilbert, the brothers frequently shared the camera. Quelques portraits de Pierre au Stalag, probablement pris par Gilbert. Les frères se passaient souvent l'appareil.
Pierre in his rudimentary Stalag bunk. Pierre sur sa couchette au Stalag.
Pierre Roughol sits on the right in what appears to be the photo lab. Pierre Roughol, à droite, apparemment dans le labo photo. Pierre plays chess. Pierre joue aux échecs.
Life in Stalag VII-A, June 1940 - November 1942
The liberation of Stalag VII-A, May 1945
Stalag VII-A was captured by the US 14th Armored Division on 29 April 1945. Pierre was there a few days later.
Years after the war, French magazine Radar asked Pierre to share his "most moving photograph". He wrote this recollection of the liberation of Stalag VII-A (published 13 March 1949):
If Radar had asked me for “the picture I’m proudest of,” I wouldn’t have known what to say. Personally, I don’t think you can be proud of a photograph. In the field, a good photo is a gift from God. The only skill is in taking advantage of the few seconds when providence offers it up. Or it’s a planned picture, made to order, and I would almost say staged. You might as well work in cinema.
Choosing my most moving picture is easier. I picked this prisoner limping out of Stalag VII-A, where I spent three years myself, because it was a picture I wanted to take for five years.
On May 5, 1945, as a war correspondent embedded with the 1st French Army, I learned on the radio that the Americans, after taking Munich, had just freed a prisoner camp near Moosburg. I immediately decided to apply for a mission order and jumped into my car to pick up my friends. It took me three days to leave and two to travel from Lindau to Moosburg, across a freshly defeated Germany. Here was that once triumphant country, which used us as forced laborers. Here were those sad landscapes we only saw framed by barbed wire. I was going to drive through the main gate, barrel down the central path, find my friends and keep my promise to come back and take them home.
At first I struggled to get inside the camp. There were no more German officers, but an American provost marshal barred my entry. I found out that barbed wire works both ways. Eventually I learned that French prisoners had been evacuated the day before. Finally I walked in, with a heavy heart. This was where I used to live ! We got used to all that filth, we built something of a social life. I couldn't believe it! The camp was almost empty. American soldiers went through the barracks, piled up the straw beds, boxes, letters, old clothes. Then they doused it all with gasoline and set it on fire.
I went back up the main path to leave. Still I wanted to take one final image of my old life. The first barracks were still occupied by Yugoslavs, Greeks, Poles. Crossing the camp’s first enclosure, I passed a Serbian prisoner leaving on his crutches. At the same time I heard an explosion. The Americans had just set fire to the other end of the camp. Barrack 40 was burning, the one for convicts. [1] I could feel my shot, I jumped out of the car, I laid flat on the pavement. That was it, the picture was taken.
I returned to the 1st Army, picking up along the way a few French prisoners who’d been left back in farm Kommandos. [2] Back at the press camp, I sent “the photo” to my newspaper.
It was never published... POWs had fallen out of fashion.
This moment in our lives was finished, gone, the prisoner off on his crutches and Stalag VII-A up in smoke.
[1] « tôlards » just means prisoners. In this context it could mean convicts, or POWs placed under a stricter regimen as a disciplinary measure.
[2] Kommandos were work details.
All we have now of this moment are four contact sheets.
