Bowmanville POW camp The Bowmanville POW camp " Camp 30 " was a Canadian - run POW camp for German soldiers during World War II located in the community of Bowmanville , Ontario in Clarington , Ontario , Canada . In 2013 , the camp was designated a National Historic Site of Canada . Prisoners Otto Kretschmer and Wolfgang Heyda were the subject of an elaborate escape attempt named Operation Kiebitz . Early history . In the year 1922 , Mr . John H . H . Jury Donated his farm of 300 acres to the government to build a " School for unadjusted boys who were not inherently delinquent " . Two of the early buildings were compleated in 1927 . The property taught boys until 1941 , 29 years after it first opened as a school , when the government told the school to move to a new location so the area could be quickly turned into a prisoner of war ( P . O . W ) camp . The boys were relocated within bowmanville to " Rathskamoray " ( Currently the Lion ' s Center ) , even though most boys returned home . Canadian Officials had barely seven months to turn the boys school into a P . O . W camp . The school was built to hold many people , but the Officials had many tasks to complete before prisoners could be moved in , such as : Building barb - wire fences 15 feet apart , guard towers ( exactly nine ) , as well as gates and barracks for the Canadian guards . These tasks were completed in late 1941 , just as the prisoners were arriving . After the war ended , the P . O . Ws were shipped back to Europe , and the site resumed its use as a school . Battle of Bowmanville . In October 1942 , between 1 , 500 to 4 , 000 prisoners revolted against the POW guards after they were shackled as retribution as part of the escalation of Germany ' s new Commando Order . Lt . Col . James Taylor had asked German senior officer Georg Friemel to supply 100 prisoners to volunteer to be shackled as part of the ongoing international dispute . When he refused , Otto Kretschmer and Hans Hefele were also asked to provide volunteers , but refused . Taylor ordered the guards to find 100 officers to be shackled by force , and Horst Elfe , Kretschmer and others barricaded themselves in the mess hall , arming themselves with sticks , iron bars and other makeshift weapons . Approximately 100 Canadian soldiers requisitioned from another base arrived , and together stormed the mess hall using only baseball bat s , so the two sides remained evenly matched . After several hours of brawling , the Canadians brought high pressure water hoses and soaked the cabin thoroughly until the prisoners agreed to come out peacefully . During later incidents in the battle which spanned several days , Volkmar König was wounded by gunfire and another prisoner was bayoneted , and a Canadian soldier suffered a skull fracture from a thrown jar of jam . After calm had returned , 126 of the prisoners were transferred to other camps . Escape attempts . During the years the site was used as a prisoner of war camp , there were many escape attempts ; even though it was said the prisoners were treated better than most citizens of Bomanville and the surrounding area . Present day . In present times , the P . O . W Camp 30 is greatly neglected . Buildings are boarded up , doors are blocked by dirt , or are also boarded up . All windows are broken , and interiors of the buildings are badly damaged with graffiti covering the walls . Most are also considered dangerous or a fire hazard ( There is fire damage within the biggest buildings ) , but some remain in fairly good condition . In 2013 , Camp 30 received a spot on Heritage Canada ' s list for ' The top 10 endangered places of 2013 ' mainly because it was planned to be demolished , due to neglect of the buildings . This demolition was cancelled later in 2013 , after it was named a National Historic Site of Canada . Most agree that the site should be saved , but at the moment it is undecided what will be done with the property " All we want to see is reuse of the buildings . . . some people want a big , beautiful museum , we understand the finances aren ' t there . We just want to see adaptive reuse " the president of ACO Clarington , Tracey Ali , said to the Clarington Newspaper . The estimated amount to restore all buildings could go as high as $ 15 , 000 , 000 . The Clarington Newspaper also reports of how a committee was created Sep . 9 , 2013 to look at how the buildings can be saved , and how they will be preserved . A heritage plaque is expected to be put up in the fall of 2013 .