March 20, 1945 - Dulag Luft Evacuations Begin

With the Allied and Russian forces advancing into Germany, camps around the perimeter of the country were being evacuated towards the centre, notably to Stalag Luft XIIID and Stalag Luft VIIA. Two groups of POWs were evacuated from Dulag Luft, the first on March 20, 1945.  The second group, including Kelleher and Yemen, would follow a week later on March 27, 1945.

On March 20, 1945, the first group of POWs was evacuated from the camp and marched to Stalag Luft XIIID near Nuremburg.  For the prisoners in this group, the march would be a particularly harried one.  Strafed by US P-47 Thunderbolts who mistook the group for German forces then marched by delighted guards through the centre of Nuremburg the morning after it had been bombed by the RAF, the group arrived (having travelled over 350 km from Dulag Luft) at Stalag XIIID April 6 to find it had been closed the day before.  The group continued through Donauworth, Augsburg and finally onto Moosburg, arriving at Stalag XIIA outside of Munich three weeks after they set out.