BAB21 Blechhammer was evacuated on the 21st January 1945.   Due to heavy snow the men had to turn back and try again the next day leaving the camp successfully on the 22nd.    When the routes are placed side by side,  the rest days seem to indicate organisation during the march.  Often, when a group took a short rest break during the days march,  another group would pass by to great cheers and cat calls from the resting men. The Five routes are listed below Below is a map from an inmate as yet unidentified. Courtesy. J Crouch.

The detailed compilation of march routes by Dave Lovell and Ian Bowley which was due to be released at the  POW75  event scheduled for the 9th May at RAF Cosford   [cancelled due to the present lockdown]  has now been published and can be seen at.     www.lamsdorflongmarch.com   A few pages from David Hobbs diary about the march.

In early 1944 the the refinery was attacked by a small force of bombers subsequently returning in ever increasing numbers.  With very few bombs landing outside the perimeter the Germans decided to try and obliterate the factory from view by using smoke generators.  Called 'Raucherzeuger'  the smoke did cover the entire refinery area.  when again, few bombs landed outside the perimeter,  it was decided to send up a spotter plane to see the extent of the smoke screen.  The main powerhouse had three chimneys which were 96 metres  tall,  the spotter plane reported that above the white smoke,  30 meters of chimney were still visible making a good central aiming point for the bombers. The top 35 metres of chimney were then removed to solve the problem which it did.  The drawback was that bombs were dropped on the total smoke area including all the camps.  Another danger was unexploded bombs in the vicinity of the camps after each raid. When the sirens were sounded before a raid, a