He volunteered or served in the Dieppe raid gcross the Channel. The
raiders were shot to pieces, including Danek who was wounded and captured
by the Nazis 18/19 Aug. 1942. his service records show that, eventually,
he was transferred to Stalag 2D, near Stargard (misspsllsd Stangard) -
Stettin district (Polish: Szczecin) - now Poland, where he remained until
Jan. 1945. The next date shown is 2 March when the Soviets informed the
Canadian ambassador that Lance Corporal Danek had reached Odessa Camp with
5 other Canadians. "Unfortunately, there are no details contained in his
file about the circumstances surrounding his arrival at Odessa Camp."

The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw states "that the present name of the
location of Stalag 2D is - Stargard Szczecinski" (the previous name with
the district's indication added). "We have also been informed by the ...
Polish authorities that Stalag 2D was evacuated to Sassnitz Cfipw in German
Democratic Repub1i§), Island of Rugia in February 1945.- No other informatior
about this camp is available." The mighty Red Army offensive threatened
Stargard in Feb., and Sassnitz was much further from the line of attack.
But Tom's service record (as shown in letter of Public Archives Canada)
does not show his evacuation to Sassnitz or elsewhere; nor what happened
to him in Feb. 1945. The Red Army captured Stargard 5 March; on 1 March
it had forced a crossing of the Ihna River and was within 15 miles of
Stargard. The liberation of prisoners around Stargard is not mentioned, as
one might expect if there were British empire or American prisoners.

How did Danek get to Odessa? - "he made a dramatic break from Stalag 2D
and, with others, made his way across Germany to safety behind the Russian
lines ... in Odessa" (Windsor Star, Toronto Telegram, 6 Dec. 1951, interview
with Tom's brothers — but also quotes from his WWII buddies - without
identifying the source).

But there is another story, much closer in time although treated
briefly - a short, inside 25 May 1945 Windsor Star story of 4 Windsor (among
35 Canadian) soldiers arriving in London, simply saying of Tom that he "was
recently liberated from a German prisoner of war camp."

Odessa Camp was set up to receive (at least) British empire and
American prisoners of war liberated from Naai camps by the Red Army (reported
27 Feb. 1945 Tuesday). "The first group is expected to arrive at the Black
Sea port Wednesday. ... Most of the men are en route by train from Poland
and East Prussia." How does one not liberated know where to go? "To aid

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