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20-618: The Meiße rises south of Wietzendorf in the nature reserve of Großes Moor (near Becklingen) . Originally the upper course of the upper Wietze (Örtze) was the headstream of the Meiße before the Großes Moor diverted the Wietze into the River Örtze at a point south of the sharp bend in the river near Wietzendorf as a result of headward erosion . The Meiße flows through the villages of Bleckmar , Hasselhorst (in

40-453: A further 250 hectares. Near Gudehausen (in the unincorporated area of Lohheide) the Herrengraben ditch was dug which supplied many of the ponds with water. In 1998 Celle district began to renaturalise parts of the Meiße again. To the northwest of Sunder Manor House the old course of the Meiße has been largely re-established. Wietzendorf Wietzendorf ( Eastphalian : Witzendörp )

60-479: A local forced labour subcamp of the Stalag 366 camp were massacred on 23 July 1944, and Kuźnica Żelichowska where six Italian generals ( Giuseppe Andreoli , Emanuele Balbo Bertone , Ugo Ferrero , Carlo Spatocco , Alberto Trionfi , Alessandro Vaccaneo ) were massacred on 28 January 1945 during a German-perpetrated death march . In 2023, previously unknown graves of 60 Italian prisoners of war who had been buried by

80-470: Is a municipality in the district of Heidekreis , in Lower Saxony , in northern Germany . It is situated approximately 14 km southeast of Soltau , and 50 km southwest of Lüneburg . The population as of 31 December 2012 is 4,071 people. During World War II , a camp for prisoners of war ( Kriegsgefangenenlager ), including a section for officers ( Oflag 83 ), was located near Wietzendorf. The camp

100-669: The Italian Social Republic , as combatants or as auxiliary workers. In total, therefore, between 600,000 and 650,000 soldiers refused to continue the war alongside the Germans. The estimates of losses among the IMI vary between 37,000 and 50,000. The most common estimate is 45,000 victims . The causes of death were: At the end of the war, several thousand former IMI ended up in the hands of French, Soviets or Yugoslavs, and instead of being released, were kept in captivity for some time after

120-518: The Sunder Estate ( Gut Sunder ) to deepen and impound the Meiße in order to create ponds for fish-farming . Over the course of time, fish ponds were established over an area of 250 hectares (620 acres). Today these form part of the Meißendorf Lakes and Bannetze Moor nature reserve. Until the 1970s there was also a watermill and sawmill here. In the surrounding area ponds were created covering

140-588: The unincorporated area of Lohheide on the Bergen-Hohne Training Area ), Belsen , Hörsten, Gudehausen and Hartmannshausen (all three also belonging to Lohheide), as well as Meißendorf , and discharges into the Aller south of Hodenhagen after about 41 kilometres (25 mi). Its left-hand tributary streams are the Berger Bach , which flows through the town of Bergen and joins the Meiße near Belsen, and

160-704: The Balkans), more than 13,000 lost their lives during the transportation from the Greek islands to the mainland and 94,000, including almost all the Blackshirts of the MVSN , decided immediately to accept the offer to fight alongside the Germans. This left a total of approximately 710,000 Italian soldiers deported into German prison camps with the status of IMI. By the spring of 1944, some 103,000 had declared themselves ready to serve in Germany or

180-613: The German army (either in the armed forces of the Italian Social Republic , the German puppet regime in northern Italy led by Mussolini , or in Italian "volunteer" units in the German armed forces) or, otherwise, be sent to detention camps in Germany. Those soldiers and officials who refused to recognize the "republic" led by Mussolini were taken as civilian prisoners too. Only 10 percent agreed to enroll. The others were considered prisoners of war . Later they were re-designated "military internees" by

200-773: The Germans (so as to not recognize the rights granted prisoners of war by the Third Geneva Convention ), and finally, in the autumn of 1944 until the end of the war, "civilian workers", so they could be subjected to hard labor without protection of the Red Cross . The Nazis considered the Italians as traitors and not as prisoners of war. The former Italian soldiers were sent into forced labor in war industries (35.6%), heavy industry (7.1%), mining (28.5%), construction (5.9%) and agriculture (14.3%). The working conditions were very poor. The Italians were inadequately fed or clothed for

220-973: The Germans also carried out mass executions of Italian prisoners in several locations, including the Stalag 319 camp in Chełm with several hundred victims and the Stalag 327 camp in Przemyśl , both in German-occupied Poland . There were cases of Italian prisoners being shot for taking food smuggled in by Polish civilians or even for eating grass, as in the Stalag 366/Z camp in Biała Podlaska in German-occupied Poland. German troops also committed massacres of Italian prisoners either shortly before or during their retreat westward from occupied Poland, as in Międzyrzec Podlaski , where 60 Italian prisoners of

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240-524: The Germans. The death rate of the military internees at 6-7% was second only to that of Soviet prisoners of war although much lower. The Germans disarmed and captured 1,007,000 Italian soldiers, out of a total of approximately 2,000,000 actually in the army. Of these, 196,000 fled during the deportation. Of the remaining approximately 810,000 (of which 58,000 were caught in France, 321,000 in Italy and 430,000 in

260-676: The Meiße reaches the Aller it branches again into the Hudemühlener Meiße . Near the Autobahn services of Ostenholzer Moor (A7, E 45), a canal known as the Esseler Kanal crosses the Meiße. This is made up of the Nordkanal and Südkanal , each of which drains the Ostenholz Moor . The Meiße mainly has water quality of Class II i.e. only moderately polluted. As early as 1881 work began on

280-459: The end of the war while others were liberated by American, British and Canadian soldiers. Some of the Italians died in the weeks or months after their liberation and return to Italy, after exhausting labor in German labor camps like those in Kamienna Góra . Prisoner-of-war camps in which sizeable numbers of Italians were held: In addition to the mass deaths caused by starvation and epidemics,

300-637: The small Geltteichsgraben and Bruchbach , which originate in the Meißendorf Lakes . The right-hand feeder streams of the Meiße are: the little Mühlenbach near Bleckmar and the Liethbach , which arises near Bredebeck (in Lohheide ) from the confluence of the Forellenbach and Schwemmbeck . On the Liethbach is Schloss Bredebeck , a former manor house, once part of the British base of Hohne Station . The building

320-402: The winter in Germany, Poland, etc. Many became sick and died. There were cases of harassment and beatings of Italians who refused to fight on the side of Germany. Some Italians were sent not to POW camps, but to Nazi concentration camps , including Flossenbürg , Gross-Rosen , Mittelbau-Dora and their subcamps. Italians were also victims of mass executions and massacres, perpetrated by

340-615: Was Giovannino Guareschi , who would later become world-renowned as the author of Don Camillo and Alessandro Natta , later General Secretary of the PCI . The present day district of Lührsbockel was the location of a forced labour subcamp of the prison in Celle . In 1968 also Polish POWs from World War II were buried there. Italian Military Internees " Italian Military Internees " (German: Italienische Militärinternierte , Italian: Internati Militari Italiani , abbreviated as IMI )

360-516: Was initially used for Soviet prisoners from the Eastern Front; later it was partially evacuated because of the poor sanitary conditions and used to house other prisoners, including many Italian Military Internees which Nazi Germany considered to have lost their military status, as they had declined to follow Mussolini's orders after the armistice between Italy and the Allies. Among the Italian prisoners

380-554: Was the official name given by Germany to the Italian soldiers captured, rounded up and deported in the territories of Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe in Operation Achse in the days immediately following the World War II armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces (September 8, 1943). After disarmament by the Germans, the Italian soldiers and officers were confronted with the choice to continue fighting as allies of

400-583: Was used as an officers' mess and has been used as lodgings for the British Royal Family in the past. The Meierbach , which emerges in the Bergen-Hohne Training Area , flows through the Meiersee and discharges into the Meiße shortly before Hodenhagen. The Hohe Bach also starts in the military training area, flows past the Sieben Steinhäuser and also joins the Meiße shortly before Hodenhagen. Before

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