Soviet POWs in Britain: A Forgotten Chapter

During the Second World War, a significant number of Soviet citizens ended up in the United Kingdom through various circumstances. Some were prisoners of war captured by the Germans and subsequently liberated by Allied forces. Others escaped from POW camps on the Continent and made their way to Britain. A number were merchant seamen whose ships had been sunk in British waters. The Soviet POWs in Britain were housed in several camps and transit facilities. Their legal status was complex — they were allies but subject to the terms of agreements between the Soviet and British governments regarding repatriation. The Yalta Agreement of February 1945 stipulated that all Soviet citizens were to be returned to the USSR, a decision that would have tragic consequences for many. Records in ЦАМО (Central Archive of the Ministry of Defence) and ГАРФ (State Archive of the Russian Federation) contain individual files on many of these individuals. Cross-referencing these with CWGC burial records has allowed our researchers to identify Soviet citizens who died in Britain and locate their graves. The burial records we have compiled represent only a fraction of the Soviet presence in wartime Britain. Continued archival research, particularly in newly declassified British National Archives files, promises to shed further light on this under-studied aspect of the Allied relationship.