Russian POW`s at Tidworth.

Please bear with me on this one. Alderney ,one of the Channel Is, May 1942.
The Germans had occupied it,and decided to bring in POW`s and slave labour to build fortifications. The Schutzstaffel SS Baulbrigade shipped around 6000 ,mostly East Europeans,to the forced labour camps they had built on the island.
About 1600 were Russian soldiers captured during the later part of `41. During their time on the island they were brutally treated,starved and forced to work long hours in all conditions. Many were executed because they become too ill to work.
In all around 700 died on the island.Just before the end of 1944,the Germans,to avoid War Crimes trials,shipped what was left of the forced labour back to Germany. When the British re -took the island on 16th May 1945, they found three Russian POW`s hiding in a derelict house. They were close to starvation and had many wounds from their treatment by the SS. The three were put on a Red Cross boat and taken to Weymouth. From there they were taken to Tidworth Military Hospital, but they could not be saved. All three,S. Suleimanow, A.Noyokres and N. Horiacyk are now buried in the Military Cemetry at Tidworth Garrison.

On or about Motherland Day, 23rd February, an official from the London Russian Embassy comes to the cemetery and lays flowers on each of the graves.
The three Russian graves continue to be meticulously looked after by the MOD garden staff.