Cultybraggan Camp

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Cultybraggan Camp
Comrie
Entrance to Cultybraggan Camp - geograph.org.uk - 1451876.jpg
Entrance to Cultybraggan Camp
Perth and Kinross UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Cultybraggan Camp
Location within Perth and Kinross
Coordinates 56°21′20″N03°59′39″W / 56.35556°N 3.99417°W / 56.35556; -3.99417
TypePrisoner of War Camp
Site information
OwnerComrie Development Trust
OperatorComrie Development Trust
Site history
Built1941
Built for War Office
In use1941–2004

Cultybraggan Camp, also known as Camp 21 and the Black Camp of the North, lies close to the village of Comrie, in west Perthshire, Scotland. It was one of two high-security prisoner of war (PoW) camps in Britain during World War II, later housing a Royal Observer Corps nuclear monitoring post and a Regional Government Headquarters during the Cold War. Control of Cultybraggan has since been transferred from the Ministry of Defence to the Comrie Development Trust, who have overseen the sale and subsequent conversion of some Nissen huts into business ventures and accommodation. The site is considered to be one of the three best preserved PoW camps in Britain, with many huts having category A or B listings from Historic Scotland.

Contents

History

James V of Scotland came to Cultybraggan in September 1532 to hunt deer. Records survive of the food he consumed including bread, ale, and fish sent from Stirling. [1]

Second World War

Nissen huts at Cultybraggan Nissen Huts, Cultybraggan Camp.jpg
Nissen huts at Cultybraggan

Land for Cultybraggan Camp was acquired by the British Army from Cultybraggan Farm in 1941. [2] The camp was built in September 1941 [3] by the refugee members of 249 Company Pioneer Corps. [4] [5] Initially, Cultybraggan was used as a labour camp for Italian prisoners of war, before later being designated a transit and then base camp for German PoWs. The camp had a maximum capacity of 4,500 prisoners. [3] A nearby camp was located in Cowden, Comrie. [6]

Cultybraggan was one of two maximum-security PoW camps in Britain, having a large quantity of "black" or "category C" prisoners - those who were considered to be the most committed Nazis and likely to cause trouble. [3] [7] Prisoners were brought to Comrie on special railway trains, and were subsequently marched through the village towards Cultybraggan. [2] [8] The camp was divided into four sections of approximately 100 Nissen huts each, designated with the letters A to D. [9] Initially prisoners were accommodated with disregard to categorization, however this was changed after a murder on site. [5] Compounds A and B subsequently housed "black" category prisoners, whereas compounds C and D housed "grey" and "white" category prisoners, who were considered less ardent Nazis and allowed to leave the camp to undertake work in the local community. [9] Compounds had access to facilities including shower blocks, classrooms, a library and a place of worship. [5]

British guards were originally responsible for the security of the camp, however had been replaced with Polish guards of the Free Polish Forces by 1944. [5] [9] It was believed that the Polish would be less lenient towards the German prisoners as a result of the German occupation of Poland, and would be an effective deterrent to misbehaviour. [2] [5] [9] In one incident, a guard shot a prisoner in the head for allegedly getting too close to the camp's perimeter fence. [9]

Cultybraggan gained notoriety after the death of Feldwebel Wolfgang Rosterg on its premises. [4] [7] Rostberg was a PoW with known anti-Nazi views who openly spoke against Hitler and Nazism. [10] He was sent to Cultybraggan by accident along with conspirators of the failed Devizes plot, an attempt at staging the mass escape of PoWs from Le Marchant Camp to attack London, stalling the Allied invasion of Germany and turning the tide of the war. [10] [11] The conspirators incorrectly believed that Rosterg had been an informant of their plot to the British and had been taken to Cultybraggan to spy on them. [10] Rosterg was accused by a group of PoWs of treason and tried in a kangaroo court, he was subsequently beaten and lynched [10] in Hut 4 of Compound B. [12] Six PoWs were later convicted in a military court for his murder, one of which was sentenced to life imprisonment and the other five hanged at Pentonville Prison, the last such mass-execution in Britain. [11]

Due to the large amount of "black" prisoners housed in Cultybraggan, some areas of the camp contained groups of hardline Nazis who were openly hostile towards guards and "white" category prisoners. These groups continually monitored others for disloyalty to the Nazi regime - in one instance announcing that those who volunteered to go to a new camp of anti-Nazi prisoners would be considered traitors and punished as such. Compound B was identified as especially problematic. [5] Cultybraggan correspondingly earned the nicknames "Nazi 2" and the "Black Camp of the North". [2] [7] Following the murder of Rosterg many "black" prisoners were transferred to other camps such as Watten in Caithness. [5] This initiative successfully reduced tension within the camp. [4] [5]

Post-Second World War

Hut 65, which was converted to a mess hall Former Officers' Mess, Cultybraggan Camp.jpg
Hut 65, which was converted to a mess hall

The last prisoners left Cultybraggan by May 1947 to be repatriated and the site was disbanded as a PoW camp. [3] Some prisoners opted to stay Comrie as a result of relationships with local women developed during the war. [4] [13] By 1948, Cultybraggan was being used as a training camp by the Territorial Army, [3] [4] with a capacity of 650-700 people. [14] The camp hosted numerous units from across Britain including the 4th Royal Norfolk Regiment (for training in "Winter warfare") [15] and Army Cadets. [5] Troops often took part in activities on hills to the south of the camp. [14] The Ministry of Defence took ownership of Cultybraggan in 1950, [2] under its leadership a large proportion of the original Nissen huts on the western side of the camp were demolished in the 1970s to make way for a 25 metre firing range and assault course. [7] [14] Many huts were repurposed to serve the needs of the training camp, including the conversions of Hut 19 to an armoury, Hut 21 to a chapel and Hut 65 to a mess hall. [14] By 2004, approximately 80 Nissen huts remained in Cultybraggan. [14]

Entrance to the RGHQ bunker within the camp Cultybraggan nuclear bunker - geograph.org.uk - 1483182.jpg
Entrance to the RGHQ bunker within the camp

As part of Britain's response to the Cold War, new structures were built at Cultybraggan. Construction of an underground Royal Observer Corps (ROC) monitoring post began in August 1960. [4] Cultybraggan was selected as the location for an subterranean Regional Government Headquarters (RGHQ) bunker in the late 1980s. [16] Construction of the bunker was completed in 1990 in the north-east of the camp, at a cost of £30 million. [17] [18] The structure was built over two floors. The upper floor hosted an operations room and communication facilities; the lower floor consisted of accommodation, catering facilities and air filtration units. [17] Upon the bunker's completion, it replaced an older RGHQ bunker at RAF Troywood. [19] In the event of a nuclear war, the bunker would have been used by the Scottish Office as a command and control centre. [17] The threat from the Cold War receded soon after the completion of the bunker, rendering these structures obsolete. The monitoring post was closed by 1992 following the disbandment of the ROC. [4] The bunker remained largely unused [4] and was eventually sold to the Ministry of Defence at a loss. [20]

Post-Military use

The camp ceased to be used by the military in 2004, and was sold to the Comrie Development Trust in 2007 through a community right-to-buy option for £350,000. [21] [22] Since taking ownership of the 90-acre (36 ha) site on 20 September 2007, the Comrie Development Trust's Cultybraggan Working Group have been working towards the sustainable development of this asset. Major infrastructure works (drainage, electricity, water and telecoms), the conversion of nine Nissen huts to make 12 units for local businesses and the refurbishment of the central mess are included in the first phase. In 2012 it was reported that a communications firm had purchased the underground bunker at Cultybraggan for use as a "digital safe house". [23] However, the bid failed and the bunker was put back on the market. [24] In April 2014, the bunker was sold at auction to a service provider who are looking to use it for long term data and media storage. [18]

The surviving huts, together with an assault course and modern Officers' Mess facility, make Cultybraggan "one of the three best preserved purpose-built WWII prisoner of war camps in Britain". [7] In 2006, a number of structures at the camp were listed by Historic Scotland. Huts 19, 20, and 44–46 are category A listed as being of national significance, [7] while huts 1–3, 21, 29–39, and 47–57 are category B listed. [25]

Amongst the Second World War PoWs was Heinrich Steinmeyer, soldier in the Waffen SS since 1942, who was captured in Normandy in August 1944. He died in 2014 and left a bequest of £384,000 to the village due to the “kindness and generosity” from the camp and from the people of the Comrie area, which has been put into the Comrie Development Trust. [26] [27]

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References

  1. ↑ Excerpta e libris domicilii Domini Jacobi Quinti regis Scotorum (Edinburgh, 1836), pp. 230-231, appendix p. 32, citing National Records of Scotland E32 series.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "A history of Cultybraggan: Scotland's POW camp". The Scotsman . 11 May 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Cultybraggan Prisoner Of War Camp, Guard's Block". Canmore . 11 December 2008. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Thomas, Suzie; Banks, Iain (2 January 2019). "Asset, burden, Cultybraggan. Community site ownership in a Scottish village". Journal of Community Archaeology & Heritage. 6 (1): 51–68. doi:10.1080/20518196.2018.1548223. ISSN   2051-8196.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Banks, Iain (2 January 2020). "'For you, the war is over? Not a chance!' Captivity and escape at Cultybraggan prisoner of war camp, Comrie, Perthshire". Journal of Conflict Archaeology. 15 (1): 32–64. doi:10.1080/15740773.2020.1853365. ISSN   1574-0773.
  6. ↑ "PRISONER OF WAR CAMPS (1939 – 1948)". Historic England . 2003. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Historic Environment Scotland. "Comrie, Cultybraggan Former Cadet Camp, Huts 19 and 20 (Guard's Block) and 44, 45, 46 (Category A Listed Building) (LB50471)" . Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  8. ↑ "Cultybraggan prisoner of war camp march to be re-enacted". BBC News . 30 May 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 McEachern, Megan (27 October 2018). "WATCH: Cultybraggan: The story of Scotland's prisoners of war". The Sunday Post . Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  10. 1 2 3 4 McKie, David (23 December 2004). "A grisly Christmas tale". The Guardian . Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  11. 1 2 Cowen, Lewis (10 July 2008). "Grisly tale of revenge". The Gazette and Herald . Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  12. ↑ Bryce, Tracey (21 October 2018). "Writer unravels mystery of Nazi's death behind the wire in little known Scottish prisoner of war camp". The Sunday Post . Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  13. ↑ "Cultybraggan prisoner of war camp march to be re-enacted". BBC News . 30 May 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 "Cultybraggan Training Camp". Canmore . Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  15. ↑ "The 4th Royal Norfolk at Winter Warfare Camp in Scotland" (PDF). Castle: The Journal of the Royal Anglian Regiment. 1 (4): 59. May 1996.
  16. ↑ "Cold War Scotland | NCAP - National Collection of Aerial Photography". National Collection of Aerial Photography . Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  17. 1 2 3 "Cultybraggan Camp, Scottish Office, National Civil And Military Command And Control Centre". Canmore . Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  18. 1 2 "Tech firm Bogons buys Cultybraggan nuclear bunker". BBC News. 21 May 2014.
  19. ↑ "Scotland's hidden wonders: Scotland's Secret Bunker". The Scotsman . 13 January 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  20. ↑ "Former Government Nuclear Bunker, Cultybraggan Camp, Comrie, Perthshire" (PDF). Comrie Development Trust. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  21. ↑ Rymajdo, Kamila (7 February 2018). "PHOTOS: This Bakery Used to House Prisoners-of-War". Vice Media . Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  22. ↑ Peck, Tom (29 September 2009). "Nazi PoW leaves his fortune to villagers". The Independent . Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  23. ↑ "Lincoln firm buys Cultybraggan nuclear bunker". BBC News. 31 January 2012.
  24. ↑ "Home – The Courier". The Courier. 29 August 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  25. ↑ Historic Environment Scotland. "Comrie, Cultybraggan Former Cadet Camp, Huts 1–3, 21, 29–39, 47–57 (all nos inclusive) (Category B Listed Building) (LB50472)" . Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  26. ↑ Cramb, Auslan (2 December 2016). "Former Nazi storm trooper donates life savings to Scottish village where he was held captive". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  27. ↑ "The Steinmeyer Legacy". comriedevelopmenttrust.org.uk. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
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