Talk:The March (1945)

message: I am moving this article from the title "The March" to "Lamsdorf Death March". At writing, none of the links to the title "The March" actually refers to this event, so I think the title "The March" is better made into a disambiguation. -- Infrogmation 02:20, 25 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I tend to disagree -  Lamsdorf was only one of the many PoW camps involved. Most survivors I have spoken with have called it "The March" or "The Trek". -- Regards Oldfarm 21:58, 25 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  I am completely open to other titles, but as "The March" has often been used to refer to other notable things as well, I think we need some way to disambiguate this one. Suggestions? -- Infrogmation 01:21, 26 December 2005 (UTC)

text: I repeat -- I have spoken to many survivors (including my father), and they always referred to the event as "The March". I take exception to the "Lamsdorf Death March" since this is pov from only one PoW camp (Stalag VIII-B). The problem is that "The March" involved: PoWs from many camps; many nationalities (Britain, Poland, France, Holland, United States, etc); civillians from the concentration camps; as well as German civillian refugees. The only book I have seen that describes the event in detail is "The Last Escape" by Nichol and Rennell (), and there is no overall descriptive name used. In Sam Kydds book, "For You The War Is Over" (), he calls the event "The Great Trek". Suggestions: "The Winter Retreat From the Russian Advance 1945" is a bit of a mouthfull. How about "The Death March of 1945" or "The Great Trek West of 1945". Oldfarm 15:26, 26 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  Either of those seem reasonable. As far as I'm concerned, feel free to move the article to whichever of those you think better, perhaps "The Death March of 1945" seems more evocative. If I can be of assistance in the move just ask on my user talk page. I moved the article to "Lamsdorf Death March" as the article said that was alternative name for the event and I thought "The March" should be a disambiguation page. I don't doubt that most involved simply called it "The March"-- the problem with entitling the article that way is that other things have also been called "The March". I think this is the type of eventuality for which disambiguation pages are intended. Cheers, -- Infrogmation 19:06, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

text: There is a tag for Stalag VIII-B Lamsdorf at List of German WWII POW camps (under Military District VIII) -- Regards Oldfarm 21:58, 25 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: I am moving this article from the title "Lamsdorf Death March" to "The Forced March from the Eastern Front", since Lamsdorf was only one of scores of PoW camps involved. Oldfarm 00:24, 31 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Since most POWs call it "The March" then it should be called "The March", anything else is original research. How about simply The March (1945). This is how things are normally done when an event has the same name across multiple dates. See for example Siege of Jerusalem which contains 7 separate sieges and articles under the same name. --Stbalbach 06:10, 31 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Sounds good to me, answers all my reservations regarding other names Oldfarm 13:07, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

text:  Fine by me. -- Infrogmation 14:58, 31 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Move to new name 

message: The text says:
:"January and February 1945 were among the coldest winter months of the twentieth century, with blizzards and temperatures as low as -25, even until the middle of March temperatures were well below zero."
Is that Celsius or Fahrenheit? Whichever it is, it would be nice to provide a "translation" into the other system, since Wikipedia is read by people familiar with both. So please either "–25°C (–13°F) ... well below freezing" or "–25°F (–32°C) ... well below 0°F (–18°C)". Thanks! Angr/talk 19:09, 3 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  –25 ... well below zero 

message: The article uses the word "Prominente" freely, without explanation or link. I am not a native English speaker but I am fluent, have lived in the US, and I bet 99.99% of our readers don't know what that word means. A quick search for definitions on the Web was fruitless. After more research I surmise that it is a German word and was a jargon term for POWs related to Allied VIPs. I don't consider myself an authority on the subject to explain the term, but it needs an explanation.
--Ramalho (talk) 20:57, 17 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Prominente??? 

message: I am mystified by the medical problems discussed in this article, particularly diphtheria and pellagra and, notable by its absence, dysentery. My understanding from various books on this subject and my father's accounts of his experience on the march from Stalag XXB, is that dysentery was the major problem. This was because most of the eastern part of Greater Germany was on the move (away from the Russians). Different groups camped in the same places on different nights; with no sanitation, cross-infection was inevitable. I understand that many afflicted POWs soiled themselves as they marched - there was no alternative as the guards at the tail of the column were shooting those who would not or could not go on. (Even if this rumour was not true, which weakened POW would risk finding out by getting nearer the back of the column?) Whoever contributed this unreferenced part of the article has surely got confused with POWs under the Japanese, where Pellagra did occur - but since the bulk of the meager calorie intake of a German POW was potatoes, which have a reasonable Niacin content, I would have to see some very good research to be convinced that this is not erroneous.
In short, the medical problems of the POWs on this march were, in approximate order of importance: poor condition as a result of a long period on a calorie deficient diet, dysentery, freezing to death overnight, and any slight disability resulting from wounds suffered in combat or otherwise. Whilst some suffered from frostbite, I don't think this killed large numbers, though many (my father included) survived with some frostbitten tissue.
There are a few other problems with this article, but the absence of mention of dysentery is a massive error. Given time, I might get to make some edits on this, but they may be rather major - so comments from others interested in this subject would be welcome. (I have tracked down some records at the Imperial War Museum that may be useful, but can't get away from home at present to examine them.)
ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 20:29, 12 November 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Medical Problems on March 

message: The "Timeline of POW Evacuations" section is lacking any citations. I assume it is relatively accurate, but those facts need to be cited somewhere. 
The paragraphs after the "April 8, 1945 bullet" are particularly confusing. I can't tell if it is misplaced from somewhere else or if it is supposed to be describing events stemming from the evacuation of Stalag XVII-B , or.... what? The last line in all caps (that just states the name and age of a man who marched and survived) makes me wonder if this entire block of text was maybe entered by someone relaying a soldier's account or maybe getting the account from somewhere else. Either way, it is really confusing and completely lacking in citation. AnalogWeapon (talk) 21:52, 29 July 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Timeline section 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: User:Nick-D, I note the reason for the deletion of Auschwitz from the timeline - but if I recollect correctly, there was a prisoner of war camp associated with Auschwitz which housed, among others, British POWs. Does this need rephrasing with a bit of additional information, rather than deletion? I do not have an appropriate source available to identify the POW camp concerned.ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 09:11, 10 August 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: I wasn't aware of that - please reinsert, but I'd suggest tweaking the wording to note that it's the POW camp which is being referred to here (as while the POWs suffered, it was obviously not comparable to the mass murder at Auschwitz). Nick-D (talk) 09:42, 10 August 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: I'll see if I can find the correct name of the POW camp before I change anything - and I also need to check that my memory is correct. No problem if you get that point sorted before I do.ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 11:34, 10 August 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  deletion of Auschwitz from timeline