Former Camp 59 internee Don Robinson’s daughter, Georgina Stewart, sent me the heartwarming news story featured in this post, which appeared in the Hereford Time (Herefordshire, England) in 1984.

See also “Sergeant Don Robinson—Captive and Escapee.”

PoW has been 40 years on the farm

Hereford Times
May 11, 1984

Caption: Hop grower Don Robinson (right) and George Iannotto at Munsley Court, near Ledbury. During the war Don was a prisoner in Italy and George a prisoner in England.

HOP growers Don Robinson, and his general farm hand “George” Iannotto, never knew each other during the Second World War.

That’s not surprising considering Don, of Munsley Court, near Ledbury, ended up a Prisoner-of-War in Italy and Italian George suffered a similar fate in England.

George, real name Michele Iannotto, who has worked at Munsley Court for the past 40 years, will be one of the stars of next month’s Three Counties Show at Malvern when he will receive a special bronze medal in recognition of his long and loyal land service.

After being taken prisoner along with countless thousands of other Italian conscript soldiers at Tobruk in North Africa, George first of all spent four years as a PoW in India. Afterwards, he came to England and Ledbury after short spells in Blackpool and Birmingham.

“As a prisoner-of-war I was sent out to work on local farms,” George said this week. “I came to Munsley Court and remained after my internment ended.

“I have enjoyed working here,” he added.

Now a widower, George still “goes home” as often as he can to see his three surviving sisters and their families at their homes near Naples.

“I went last year and I [am] hoping to go again next year.” He said.

Now just a year away from his retirement George Iannotto is a real all-rounder at Munsley Court and can turn his hand to stock, hops and tractor duties, as well as general farm work.

His boss, Don Robinson, a signaler in the 6th Armoured Division was taken prisoner in North Africa as well and was held prisoner in central Italy.

“After the Italians ended their conflict we were befriended by many Italians,” he said.

“If the Germans had found out about this, those families would almost certainly have been executed.”

But after the war all thoughts of conflict were forgotten as Don Robinson, George and a former German PoW all worked at Munsley Court together.

“We left our weapons behind when the war ended,” added Don Robinson. “We got on quite well really.”

Georgina Stewart, daughter of Don Robinson, who was a prisoner in P.G. 59, shared a letter with me that was written by Reverend Nathaniel “Neil” Nye to her mother during the war.

The letter offered reassurance as to the likely current situation of Don Robinson, then missing in Italy after the breakout from P.G. 59 in September 1943. It also offers us insight into the character of Neil Nye, and it provides details about the breakout.

Nathaniel “Neil” Kemp Nye was an Anglican chaplain in the British Royal Air Force.

The London Gazette of February 6, 1940 indicates Neil (service number 77267) was granted a commission “for the duration of hostilities with the relative rank of Squadron Leader” on January 18, 1940.

After his capture, Neil was interned in Camp 59.

Here is the text of the letter:

c/o Mrs Villis
Lungecombe Farm
Ashburton
S. Devon.

7/12/43. [December 7, 1943]

Dear Mrs Robinson

I was delighted to receive your letter as you would have been one of the first I should have written to were it not that I lost my most valuable book of addresses on the trek down to our lines.

I am presuming that your son is the tall Sgt. Robinson in Camp with whom I spent many most enjoyable hours walking and talking about everything under the sun — mostly “When do you think it will all be over”!! He is one whom I very much hope I shall see again soon—in fact he has promised to let me and my wife visit your farm.

However! On the night of the 13th Sept. we (six officers — 3 Padres, 3 Doctors) managed to force the Italians to give us our freedom. So that as I was one of the last five to leave the camp I know your son got away with the rest. We had given them all rough maps, rough directions and 2 Red + [Red Cross] Parcels each and advised them to move in small groups, living on the land and keeping out of towns and large villages (where there are always fascist spies.) The points of news I can assure you are — 1) Your son was in Excellent health 2) The Italian peasants are only too willing to house clothe and feed you (in my own experience) so long as the Germans are not too close. 3) Obviously no communication is possible so long as he is on the march so that no news is good news 4) If the Germans should recapture him by bad luck, then you will hear very soon from Germany, and they are treating us very reasonably.

More I do not know — but if you do hear anything please let me know: I cannot tell you how much it cheered me to talk of farming etc to your son as we walked round and round and round the camp at night You must be a very proud mother!!

Yours very sincerely
Neil Nye
S/C Rev. R.A.F. [Squadron Chaplain, Reverend, Royal Air Force]

P.S. After Xmas I maybe in Leominster & should hope to visit you if I may!

P.P.S. All information I’ve given you is strictly unofficial and private—and for security must NOT be made public.

In The Memoirs of J. H. D. Millar (published by Quaderni della Memoria, 2008), Captain Millar, the British officer in change of the P.G. 59 at the time of the breakout and the camp’s chief medical officer, writes of the arrival (presumably in spring 1942) of two “padres.”

He says, “One was Neil Nye, very hearty and not very academic, but a very keen R.A.F. [Royal Air Force] chap. The other was Jim Mathieson, who had been a Free Church minister brought up on Skye. He had a rather dour, but pleasant sense of humour, a charming character. Neil and he got on increasingly well, again totally different characters.”

According to his obituary from heraldscotland.com, Jim Mathieson died in 2007 at the age of 95.

Giuseppe Millozzi, in his dissection Allied Prisoners of War in the Region of the Marche and Prison Camp at Servigliano, mentions Neil Nye several times.

In addition to the chaplains mentioned above, Giuseppe mentions another clergyman—Italian Catholic priest Don Antonio Borghi, who spoke English.

In his paper, Giuseppe shares details from reports on periodic Red Cross visits to the camp and from the proceedings of the postwar trial of P.G. 59 commandant Colonel Enrico Bacci.

In the September 1942 Red Cross Report, it is recorded that Neil Nye asked permission of the Italian authorities to invite the Anglican bishop Gerard, who was interned at CPG 52 (Chiavari), to celebrate 50 confirmations.

I cannot say whether that request was honored.

In accessing the same report, Giuseppe explains, “Besides the walks and football as mentioned before, Chaplain Nye was organising for the end of September a ‘carnival’ with a jury to award prizes to the best costumes improvised by POWs. These kinds of events were organised regularly; in fact they had a double function: to boost POWs’ morale and, even more important, to divert the POWs thought from the obsession of food. In Sforzacosta’s camp POWs organised wrestling tournaments while in Monturano’s POWs published a magazine for the camp.

“In addition to the already mentioned activities, POWs in Servigliano made a collection for buying musical instruments and managed to set up a band which became very popular. On top of that, in September books—approximately 700—arrived. Chaplain Nye made a request to the Red Cross inspectors for 15 bibles.”

See “Carnival Time.”

In November 1942, Giuseppe explains, “The camp library had 1,000 books. For his religious functions, Chaplain Nye made a request for 400 books of Psalms or alternatively 400 books of prayer.”

In March 1943, it was reported “Besides carrying out his usual pastoral work, Chaplain Nye had obtained permission to go and visit patients who were in Ascoli Piceno’s hospital.”

Regarding testimony at Colonel Bacci’s trial, Giuseppe explains that English officers who were responsible for the POWs—Captain Millar, Regimental Sergeant Major T. W. Hegarty, and Chaplain Nye—had been interned in the camp for one and a half years, and the time had given opportunity for them and Bacci to get to know each other “and clearly to detest each other.”

Giuseppe acknowledges the role that Neil Nye played in the decision to break out of the camp in 1943:

“On 11 and 12 September Capt. Millar carefully thought on what was the best action to take. He consulted his colleague [Aiden] Duff and with father Nye and together they discussed the implications of the stay put order. Furthermore, they asked themselves if the news coming from the camp was from reliable sources—was it true that the Allies were landing on Italian coasts and could arrive in two or three days?”

Then, on September 14, “Capt. Millar met the interpreter Giorgio Cusani in the morning and confided his intention—decided with Duff and Nye—to give the order to evacuate the camp. Cusani agreed with him and thought it that was the right decision.”

British researcher and author Phil Froom recently told me about his new book, Evasion and Escape Devices Produced by MI9, MIS-X, and SOE in World War II.

The book concerns the profusion of covert E & E devices produced during WW II by the British intelligence agency M.I.9 (Military Intelligence–Section 9, the parent organization of I.S.9, or Intelligence School 9), its mirror U.S. agency MIS-X (Military Intelligence Service–X), and SOE (British Special Operations Executive).

These organizations were responsible for the invention, production, and distribution of a huge variety of these ingenious devices issued to Allied air crew and Special Forces, which would enable them to evade capture after being forced down, or cut off behind enemy lines in occupied Europe.

Published by Schiffer Publishing, Ltd, the book was released in the UK in January of this year.

Phil writes, “The book concentrates not specifically on MI9 or MIS-X—although their histories are well covered—but on the innovative and rare devices themselves.

“These items were widely issued to air crews (British, Commonwealth, U.S. and Allied), to Special Forces, and also to many members of SOE, SIS and other covert agencies. So the subject matter also fits very nicely into the increasingly popular ‘secret agent/007’ genre, adding further interest to the book.

“The escape items featured include pens, pencils, razors, shaving brushes, tooth brushes, combs, cigarette lighters, books, mirrors, games, sporting goods, dart boards, and numerous other everyday items—all constructed with escape devices concealed inside, for recovery when required.”

The book is currently available directly from three sources. Click to access links for: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd; Amazon; and Gazelle Books.

Two spreads from this lavishly-illustrated book show tiny compasses hidden in collar studs and buttons, and items such as compasses, maps, counterfeit German civilian ID papers, and escape maps hidden in chess and draughts (checkers) pieces and boards.

The following description of the book is from a press release from Schiffer Publishing, Ltd:

Evasion and Escape Devices Produced by MI9, MIS-X, and SOE in World War II
Phil Froom, author

“This book describes the design, manufacture, covert shipment and use of the many ingenious evasion and escape devices provided to Allied troops during WWII. Following the fall of mainland Europe, hostile Allied actions against land-based Axis forces were generally limited to air attacks. However, as the numbers of those attacks increased, the number of aircraft and crews failing to return grew alarmingly: something needed to be done to provide these air crews with aids to enable them to evade to safe territory or escape captivity, or losses of irreplaceable crews would become critical. Britain’s MI-9 and U.S. MIS-X organizations were formed solely to support evaders and prisoners of war in occupied territories. They developed a wide variety of evasion and escape devices that were given to Allied Forces prior to operations in hostile territory or delivered clandestinely to POWs. It worked: the aids facilitated the return of thousands of men to their units.

“Phil Froom served nine years in the British Army working globally in Signals Intelligence, before taking up a role in the defence industry. A medal and militaria collector and military historian, Phil lives in England, is married, and has two children.”

Oversize (8.5 x 11 inches)
650 color and over 50 period illustrations
Hardcover, 320 pages
$69.99

A hale and hearty Thomas Penman in 1946, after medical treatment for malnourishment in Chepstow, Wales— a “fattening up” gradually on small amounts of food, chocolate, and milk

I received a note from Helen McGregor, who lives just outside Glasgow, Scotland, last month.

She wrote, “My father was one who escaped from the camp at Servigliano and lived with an Italian family for at least one year.

“He is dead now, but I know he was mentioned in dispatches and given a hero’s welcome home. His name was Thomas Penman and he was from Glasgow, Scotland.”

Thomas Penman, Highland Light Infantry, was captured in North Africa between El Alamein and Tobruk and shipped to Italy. He escaped capture twice.

The following accounts are among those Helen’s father shared with her older siblings over different periods of time. Although the details are sketchy, the stories are nonetheless compelling.

“Chronologically and geographically, we have no idea of the order of most events,” Helen explained.

Here are the accounts, as shared by Helen:

“On September 1943, dad escaped through a hole in the wall [of P.G. 59] along with numerous others. He, Jimmy Feehan of the Australian army, and an unknown soldier were together.

“The third soldier was shot in the back whilst escaping.

“Dad spotted the guards jumping into trucks to chase the escapees, and he told Jimmy to hide only about 300 yards from the camp, believing no one would look for them so near to the scene. They watched prisoners being rounded up, so they made their move and ran into the Italian countryside.

“Dad said he had nothing to eat but tomatoes for about six days, hiding in the fields and moving at night when it was dark. He and Jimmy took shelter in a barn, and there they were found and helped by the Italian family who owned it.

“Dad and Jimmy kept moving as much as possible. Eventually they were captured and put onto a truck with other prisoners. As the truck passed through the countryside, dad threw Jimmy out of it and jumped out himself. They ran as fast as they could across the fields. A few minutes later, they heard gunshots and realised the truck had stopped. All the soldiers in the back of the truck had been shot dead where they sat or lay.

“At some point, an Allied plane came down and two men parachuted out near a river. Dad watched as both men were picked up by soldiers and taken up onto a bridge. Two soldiers put their thumbs into the eyes of these men, gouged their eyes out and then threw them into the river.

“No wonder he rarely spoke about the war.

“At one point dad and Jimmy were found dressed in ‘civies,’—civilian clothing—by the Canadian army. When Jimmy told them which unit he was from, he was released and sent to the relevant base, but dad was imprisoned for six weeks—possibly in Milan—until they could verify his details. Apparently, they were suspicious of him, especially as he spoke Italian. I suppose they had to verify he was a missing soldier and had been a prisoner of war.

“We do not know when dad and Jimmy separated, but dad spent possibly a year or more living with a family who hid him in Italy. He learned to speak basic Italian. Due to his dark hair, brown eyes and tanned skin, he passed himself off as a local.

“On one occasion he went into a shop where a group of Germans soldiers were drinking coffee. Dad had to hope that they wouldn’t speak to him, and he was able to leave. He said he passed German soldiers on a few occasions and it was only luck they never stopped him to see his papers—although he had obtained some!

“Dad met up with a group of partisans. I do not know if Jimmy was still with him. He made his way to Yugoslavia and fought with Tito’s men for a period. Apparently, he was awarded a medal, but never claimed it. I need to try to verify the details. I believe it may have been the Tito Star.

“I do not yet know how dad made it back to the UK, but when he did he was so badly malnourished that he had to be hospitalised. His family were told he was alive, but they didn’t see him till many months later. We understand from army papers that he was in Camp 197, Mount Stuart, Chepstow. We have a photo that shows him after having been ‘fattened up’—dad was never that size. He was fed very small amounts of food, chocolate, and milk until he recovered.

“At one point after recovery, he was sent to guard German POW’s in Liverpool! He said he wasn’t sure if he wanted to open the doors and let them go or shoot them all, after all he had seen during the war.

“I am in the process of tracing my dad’s army service records, which I hope will help put the pieces together. A certificate we have states that he recounted his experiences to intelligence officers at army headquarters. So hopefully we can learn more from that.

We are still trying to determine who the Italian family was who sheltered dad—and where they lived—by sourcing family letters.

This certificate indicates Thomas Penman (service number 3321620) rendered a statement regarding his experiences while captured and behind enemy lines to the British Section, C.S.D.I.C., C.M.F. (Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre, Central Mediterranean Force). The form is dated July 4, 1944.

A fragment of a health form indicates Thomas Penman’s service record and apparent current medical condition:

…BEF [British Expeditionary Force] then N. Africa…Mersa Matruh. Escaped…with. NI Absinil. Improved eating.

Thomas Penman Pte [Private]

The document is rubber-stamped: “Cmdg. [Commanding] 197 P.W. Camp [prisoner of war camp]” and “MILITARY DISPERSAL UNIT No. 2 – 13 JUN 1946 – YORK”

A partially discernable stamp reads: “ORDERLY ROOM – June 19…MOUNT, …STOW”

A list of POW camps in the UK during WW II published in The Guardian, (“Every prisoner of war camp in the UK mapped and listed”—November 8, 2010), includes Camp 197 known as “The Mount,” located in Chepstow, Monmouthshire (Gwent), Wales.

The document also bears a written date of 14/11/47 (November 14, 1947).

Dewey L. Gossett, a World War II soldier whose A-36A Apache fighter/bomber crashed in Italy 72 years ago, was laid to rest with full military honors six days ago at Fort Prince Memorial Gardens in Wellford, South Carolina.

A fighter jet flyover shook the ground before Dewey Gossett’s burial service.

Photos courtesy of TIM KIMZEY, photographer/Spartanburg Herald-Journal/GoUpstate.com

Read the Spartanburg Herald-Journal coverage of Dewey Gossett’s service at http://www.goupstate.com/article/20160411/articles/160419945.

On September 27, 1943, Dewey Gossett, a member of the 86th Fighter Group, U.S. Army Air Force, was the pilot of a single-seat A-36A Apache aircraft accompanied by three other pilots on a strafing mission in Italy. The planes encountered bad weather and poor visibility after take-off, and Dewey’s plane crashed into Mount Accellica, near the village of Acerno in southern Italy.

Human remains were discovered by avian archaeologists of the Italian Salerno 1943 organization (the “Salerno Air Finders”) in 2014 during their excavation at the crash site. Through extensive DNA testing by members of the United States Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and other organizations, the remains were identified as belonging to Dewey.

Dewey was laid to rest with full military honors in his home state of South Carolina this past Monday, April 11, 2016.

Dewey’s great niece Nora Messick wrote to me this evening that—in addition to the newspaper coverage—CBS affiliate WSPA Channel 7 did a news story on Dewey’s return. You can watch a video of their coverage, “Remains of WWII pilot returned to Upstate after 72 years,” at WSPA.com.

Nora asked me to share this comment:

“On behalf of the family, we are truly grateful to everyone involved in bringing Dewey home. We especially would like to thank DPAA and the Association Salerno Air Finders for their work in finding Dewey. He’s finally back home and the memorial service was a beautiful, fitting tribute to our hero.”

For further details on the crash and the effort to identify the pilot’s remains, read “Lost Airman Dewey Gossett.”

A full account of the case, from the plane’s discovery by the Salerno 1943 team to the return and burial of Dewey’s remains is posted—partly in Italian and partly in English—on the Salerno 1943 website, “IL CACCIABOMBARDIERE NORTH AMERICAN A-36A APACHE 42-83976.”

You can also read the entire page in English by means of Google Translate.

Dewey L. Gossett

Escaped P.O.W.s arrive at Royal Park, Victoria, Australia, 1944. From left: Private J. W. Feehan from W.A. (Western Australia), Sergeant E. J. Brough from Victoria, Lance Corporal L. Worthington from W.A., Mrs. T. G. McClounan from the Red Cross, Private H. A. Lockie from Queensland, and Private J. A. Allen from W.A. (Argus Newspaper Collection of Photographs, State Library of Victoria)

Helen McGregor directed me to the above photo, which she found among the digitalized images of the State Library of Victoria. She had been searching for information on Jimmy Feehan, a friend whom her father, Scottish soldier Thomas Penman, spent time with after the men escaped from Camp 59.

I was pleased to see other P.G. 59 escapees in this photo: Leslie Worthington (see “Les Worthington—an Australian’s Adventure” and “A Timeline of Les Worthington’s Service“, and John Albert Allen (see “Conversations with Vaughan Laurence Carter and “Simmons’ Address Book—the Lone Australian.”

Les Worthington’s son, Ray Worthington, wrote to tell me he has been able to narrow the date of the photo: “I can tie the date of it down fairly closely from my record of Dad’s service which shows:

10/9/1944 – Disembarked at Melbourne (report of 25/9/1944)
14/9/1944 – Entrained at Victoria. Vic L of C Area (report of 25/9/1944).

“So it was between the 10th and 14th of September 1944.

“And Dad then arrived back in Perth on the 17th of September, so the first time 7 years old me had seen him in nearly 4 years!”

American readers should note the day precedes the month in the above dates. For example, 10/9/1944 is September 10, 1944.

Thomas Penman’s Service Record

The following dates and locations for Thomas Penman are from a British military record for Thomas that Helen McGregor shared with me.

This information is in the left column of the form:

Deemed to have been enlisted March 19, 1940.

DSR. – September 8, 1940

Posted I.T.C. [Infantry Training Centre] Royal Scots – Private – March 19, 1940

Posted June 28, 1942 – Pte [Private]

Missing – Pte – June 28, 1942

Prisoner of War (Italian)
Escaped (Now in Allied Hands, S/Italy)

In another area, “Service at Home and Abroad” indicates:

Home – March 19, 1940 to June 25, 1940
Egypt – June 26, 1940 to December 15, 1940
Sudan – December 16, 1940 to July 9, 1941
Egypt – July 10, 1941 to June 27, 1942
ITALY (P.W.) [prisoner of war] – June 28, 1942 to August 10, 1944
NS. Y/167/44 HOME – August 11, 1944 to September 26, 1946

I assume the span of June 28, 1942 to August 10, 1944 is inclusive of Thomas’ time “on the run” after escape from Camp 59—and his involvement with the Yugoslavian partisans that Helen mentions in “Scottish Escapee Thomas Penman.”

The last entry apparently covers the period from his return to the UK in August 1944 through his lengthy recovery at Camp 197 (“The Mount”) in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales.

A new memorial plaque

In the Italian village of Comunanza last Sunday, May 15, a plaque was installed to commemorate the killing of escaped Allied prisoners of war in 1944.

See “An Execution at Comunanza” on this site.

The men killed were English, American, and Scottish (Private Charles Gordon was from Gartochorn, Dunbartonshire, and Driver James Didcock was from Bridgend, Linlithgow—both in Scotland, although the official military inquiry into the case referred to them simply as “British soldiers.”

To the best of my knowledge, some of the dead to this day remain unidentified.

Attendants at the memorial ceremony

For other photos of the dedication, visit the La Casa della Memoria Facebook post regarding the ceremony.

This event was on the final day of the Freedom Trails 2016 walk (May 11–15)—sponsored by Monte San Martino Trust, WW2 Escape Lines Memorial Society, and La Casa della Memoria di Servigliano.

Front and back of a Christmas postcard Eric Sanderson sent to his nieces in Doncaster, Yorkshire (England) from P.G. 59 on November 11, 1942

Yesterday I received a note from David Sanderson, who lives in Esher, Surrey (England).

David wrote, “I recently visited Campo 59 with the Escape Lines Memorial Society (ELMS) on their Tenna Valley Trail for 2016.

“My dad, Eric Rockliff Sanderson, was at Campo 59 during WW2.

“Dad was a tank driver with the Fourth Hussars, and was captured in Greece on 28th October 1941. Like many others, he had been left behind in Greece in April 1941 during the evacuation to Crete. Dad escaped into the Taygetos Mountains (for six months), until finally being captured by the Italians in October. He was transferred via Bari to Campo 59, where he was imprisoned from—I think—November 1941 until July 1943.

“In July 43 he was moved to Bolzano in northern Italy. When the Italians surrendered in September 1943, he was captured by the Germans and taken to Germany. In Germany he was in Stalag IV B at Lamsdorf for around six weeks, and then sent to Stalag IV F (near Chemnitz) where he remained until the end of the war.”

Eric’s details are as follows:

Army Number – 320875
Rank – Trooper
Enlisted on June 20, 1938 in the Cavalry of the Line (4th Hussars)
Medals received – Africa Star, 1939–45 Star, and War Medal 1939–45

The postcard pictured above reads:

“Breezy greetings send this ship
On a pleasant Christmas trip,
Bringing you kind thoughts sincere
With its cargo of good cheer,
And of lucky wishes true.
Joy and health and peace to you.
Love Eric”

I directed David to a post on this site with a holiday postcard featuring a full-rigged ship drawn Robert Dickinson (see “The Christmas Ship.”) Robert’s postcard was also sent in November 1942.

David wrote, “It does seem likely that the same person drew/penned the two cards. Certainly my dad’s handwriting was not so neat, so his card would I’m pretty sure have been drawn and written for him. Perhaps by Bob or maybe a third party?”

I noticed that the art is initialed—a further suggestion his dad was the artist.

“You may be right, he replied. “I still think it likely that someone other than my dad drew it. However, I’ll keep an open mind.”

Eric Rockliff Sanderson

U.S. Navy Musician 2nd Class Lucas Swanson salutes after playing taps at the Sicily–Rome American Cemetery and Memorial in Nettuno, Italy, on Memorial Day 2013. Each year U.S. and Italian service members participate in a Memorial Day ceremony at the cemetery, which honors the 7,861 service members buried there. Photo—Christopher B. Stoltz, U.S. Navy (Wikimedia Commons)

It is Memorial Day weekend in the United States—a time set aside each year to remember men and women who died while serving in the country’s armed forces. This is an appropriate time to review records of American prisoners of war who did not return from the Second World War.

Records of American World War II Prisoners of War on the United States National Archives website cover a total of 143,374 individual prisoners in all theatres of war.

Within this listing, 9,310 records indicate a prisoner “Died as Prisoner of War.”

Many individuals are reported to have died in an unspecified “dressing station” (first aid station near a combat area established for treating the wounded) or an unspecified “lazarett” (military hospital). For some a camp is listed. Occasionally, the “camp” category is blank (no designation of dressing station, lazarett, or camp).

The American Battle Monuments Commission oversees American commemorative cemeteries and memorials. Records for soldiers buried in these cemeteries or listed on the memorials are available on their searchable database.

Nineteen of those who died as prisoners had specific Italian camps or Italian hospital designations. See the list below. These soldiers might have died while interned, or after escape and while still in enemy-occupied territory (as was the case of Robert Newton and Martin Majeski).

Of the 19, nine are buried in American military cemeteries overseas. Six are buried in the Sicily–Rome American Cemetery and two in the Florence American Cemetery. P.G. 59 prisoner Frank Powers is buried in Ardennes American Cemetery, Belgium. Thomas Smith is listed as missing in action; he is memorialized on the “Tablets of the Missing” in Florence American Cemetery.

AHERN, THOMAS C.
Serial Number—15304499
Private
U.S. Army, Infantry
State of Residence—Indiana
POW Camp—Stalag #339 (FORMERLY #337) Mantua Italy 45-10
No listing on the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) website

BAEHR, CONRAD F.
Serial Number—35914647
Private
U.S. Army, Infantry
State of Residence—Ohio
POW Camp—Stalag #339 (FORMERLY #337) Mantua Italy 45-10
No listing on the ABMC website

BARTMANN, JACK
Serial Number—32883370
Corporal
U.S. Army, Air Corps
State of Residence—New York
POW Camp—Stalag #339 (FORMERLY #337) Mantua Italy 45-10
No listing on the ABMC website

BOSTON, JOSEPH W., Jr
Serial Number—0-667927
First Lieutenant
U.S. Army, Air Corps
487th Bomber Squadron, 340th Bomber Group, Medium
State of Residence—Texas
POW Camp—Vecchio Hospital Verona Italy 45-11
Date of Death—February 13, 1944
Buried—Sicily–Rome American Cemetery (Plot C, Row 11, Grave 17)
Awards—Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster

CALKINS, ROBERT H.
Serial Number—0-729603
Second Lieutenant
U.S. Army, Air Corps
341st Bomber Squadron, 97th Bomber Group, Heavy
State of Residence—District of Columbia
POW Camp—CC 202 Lucca Italy 44-10
Date of Death—May 24, 1943
Buried—Florence American Cemetery (Plot B, Row 8, Grave 7)
Awards—Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart

CLEMITSON, ARTHUR P.
Serial Number—37042661
Corporal
U.S. Army, Infantry
State of Residence—Iowa
POW Camp—CC 204 Altamura Italy 41-16
No listing on the ABMC website

COONEY, ANDREW J.
Serial Number—0-927864
First Lieutenant
U.S. Army, Air Corps
State of Residence—New York
POW Camp—Stalag #339 (FORMERLY #337) Mantua Italy 45-10
No listing on the ABMC website

DUNHAM, RICHARD
Serial Number—37139370
Corporal
U.S. Army, Infantry
State of Residence—no state listed
POW Camp—Stalag #339 (FORMERLY #337) Mantua Italy 45-10
No listing on the ABMC website

EVANS, KENNETH B.
Serial Number—33246270
Private
U.S. Army, Infantry
State of Residence—Pennsylvania
POW Camp—CC 65 Gravina Italy 40-16
No listing on the ABMC website

HULL, RAYMOND H.
Serial Number—39204569
Private
U.S. Army, Infantry
157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division
State of Residence—Washington
POW Camp—Air Corps Transit Camp Verona Italy 45-11
Date of Death—March 1, 1944
Buried—Sicily–Rome American Cemetery (Plot D, Row 14, Grave 46)
Awards: Purple Heart

KURTZ, NOBLE
Serial Number—37402838
Private
U.S. Army, Field Artillery
State of Residence—Missouri
POW Camp—Hospital Caserta Caserta Italy 41-14
No listing on the ABMC website

MAJESKI, EDWIN M.
Serial Number—14037579
Corporal
U.S. Army, Field Artillery
17th Field Artillery Battalion
State of Residence—South Carolina
POW camp—59 Ascoli Picenzo Italy 43-13
Date of Death—March 9, 1944
Buried—Sicily–Rome American Cemetery (Plot E, Row 15, Grave 18)
Award—Purple Heart

NEWTON, ROBERT A.
Serial Number—35166007
Corporal
U.S. Army, Infantry—Armored Division
State of Residence—Indiana
POW camp—59 Ascoli Picenzo Italy 43-13
No listing on the ABMC website
For details on Robert’s death and burial, see “The Story of Robert Alvey Newton.”

PERRY, FRANK
Serial Number—06552294
Sergeant
U.S. Army, Infantry
18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division
State of Residence—New Jersey
POW Camp—Hospital Caserta Caserta Italy 41-14
Date of Death—January 24, 1943
Buried—Sicily–Rome American Cemetery (Plot J, Row 14, Grave 16)
Awards—Silver Star, Purple Heart

PINEAU, AUSTIN J.
Serial Number—6126685
Sergeant
U.S. Army, Infantry
State of Residence—New Hampshire
POW Camp—CC 66 Capua Italy 41-14
No listing on the ABMC website

POWELL, MERLE J.
Serial Number—13048558
Private
U.S. Army, Infantry
16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division
State of Residence—Pennsylvania
POW Camp—Military Hospital #75 Bari Italy 41-17
Date of Death—April 9, 1943
Buried—Sicily–Rome American Cemetery (Plot E, Row 10, Grave 40)
Award—Purple Heart

POWERS, FRANK E., Jr
Serial Number—31069525
Private
U.S. Army, Infantry
26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division
State of Residence—Massachusetts
POW Camp—59 Ascoli Picenzo Italy 43-13
Date of Death—November 1, 1945
Buried—Ardennes American Cemetery, Belgium (Plot D, Row 9, Grave 58)
Awards—Bronze Star, Purple Heart
Notes from the memorials site—”Initially listed as missing in action, PVT Powers’ remains were later recovered and permanently interred at the Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial. PVT Powers’ name is permanently inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing at the North Africa American Cemetery at Carthage, Tunisia.”

ROSS, CHARLES D.
Serial Number—0-676654
First Lieutenant
U.S. Army, Infantry
486th Bomber Squadron, 340th Bomber Group, Medium
State of Residence—Colorado
POW Camp—Air Corps Transit Camp Verona Italy 45-11
Date of Death—February 12, 1945
Buried—Sicily–Rome American Cemetery (Plot B, Row 1, Grave 23)
Awards: Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart

SMITH, THOMAS J., Jr
(The American Battle Monuments website and his enlistment record record Thomas Smith as Sr., whereas the National Archives POW datebase lists him as Jr.)
Serial Number—34826747
Private First Class
U.S. Army, Infantry
133rd Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division
State of Residence—Georgia
POW Camp—Air Corps Transit Camp Verona Italy 45-11
Date of Death—September 19, 1944
Status—Missing in Action
Memorialized on the “Tablets of the Missing” in Florence American Cemetery
Awards: Bronze Star, Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster

SPENCE, WESLEY G.
Serial Number—34689536
Private
U.S. Army, Infantry
State of Residence—Georgia
POW Camp—Bagno A Ripoli Florence (Firense) Italy 43-11
No listing on the ABMC website

Navy Junior Reserve Officers Corps cadets from Naples American High School prepare to lay flowered wreathes at the Tablets of the Missing in the Florence American Cemetery as part of Veterans Day ceremonies in Florence, November 2011.

The tablets are inscribed with 1,409 names of U.S. soldiers, sailors and airmen that have been missing in action since World War II. The cemetery is the final resting place for 4,402 American service members killed during the Italian Campaign. Photo—John Queen, U.S. Army (Wikimedia Commons)

Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial in Neuville-en-Condroz, near the southeast edge of Neupré, Wallonia, Belgium, June 2011. Along the outside of the memorial, 463 names are inscribed on the granite Tablets of the Missing. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified. Photo—Jean Housen (Wikimedia Commons)

Letters dating back to the war are arranged on Coenraad Stoltz’s open “war-box”

Earlier this month, Frank Vaccarezza and I received a note from Conradt Stoltz, who lives in South Africa, concerning the March 2015 post on this site entitled “Vaccarezza Family—P.G. 52 Escapees Protected.”

Conradt wrote, “Regarding the escapees sheltered in your family’s barn, it seems quite possible that it could have been my grandfather Coenraad Stoltz and two of his compatriots‎, Migiel van der Schyff and Hennie de Bruyn.

“I have not been able to track down any of the two’s family or war records, as I do not have their service numbers. However, I have attached some photographs.

“Hope you can add something more, ‎as it would seem I have reached a dead end.

“It would be really amazing if it is verified these three South Africans were indeed amongst those sheltered by the Vaccarezza family between September 1943 and April 1944.”

Conradt sent several photos.

He continued, “The photographs are from my grandfathers ‘war-box,’ as we call it. There are several letters dated between February and August 1941 written by my grandfather to my grandmother.

“There is also a letter from a certain Mr. van Rooyen in Pretoria which seems to be an answer to an inquiry made to him regarding the whereabouts of Hennie de Bruin and Magiel vd Schyff. The letter is dated May 1957 and includes the passage ‘I was unfortunately not able to establish the whereabouts of the two gentleman, with regret I can inform you that the last that was seen or heard from them was the train tickets they where issued after discharge’ (my translation from Afrikaans).”

Photo of Hennie de Bruyn from the war-box. Written across the face of the image is “H. F. J. de Bruin – 11/9/43 [September 11, 1943] – Italy”

Photo of Magiel van der Schyff from the war-box. Written across the face of the image is “I. M. vd. Schyff – 11/9/43 – Italia”

Regarding this photo, Conradt wrote, “The man in the garden is unknown, I assume he is a person of interest of that period as he was in the war-box. Hopefully someone somewhere will recognise him and thus supply another piece of the puzzle.”

“The enclosure photo with the soccer match going on has ‘K52’ in pencil on the back, which I presume stands for Kamp 52,” Conradt wrote. “Again, perhaps someone can ID the photo one way or another.”

Another unidentified photo from the war-box

“The escape is mostly tied to a stubborn family legend and the water stained stamp collection.

“The stamp album and Italian concertina somehow also made it through the whole ordeal. I also have what seems to be a moneybag made from soft white leather, canvas puttees, and his medals and certificate of issue.

Stamp album turned to a page featuring a 1929 Vatican stamp series (Poste Vaticane)

Italian Bastari concertina and storage case

I wrote back to Conradt, “You may have noticed on my site several posts with names for prisoners from P.G. 59 drawn from the “alphabetical list.” (See The Alphabetical List—British Soldiers A–B.”)

“This list of British POWs in Italy that was compiled during the war was sent to me by friend the late British researcher Brian Sims. Brian also sent me an alphabetical list for South African prisoners.”

I found that the South African Army list contained the following names:

Van Der Schyff, I. M. – Pte. [private] – Force Number 39953 – Camp 52
De Bruyn, H. F. J. – Pte. [private] – Force Number 77198 – Camp 52

These names correspond to the names and initials on the two photos and both are identified with P.G. 52, the camp where Coenraad was interned.

Conradt replied, “Thank you for providing this info, which basically proved they [Coenraad Stoltz and the two comrades] were detained together. This further strengthens the ‎‘legend.’

“[With Hennie and Magiel’s force numbers] I will now be able to locate their military record in the archives in Pretoria. Unfortunately here in South Africa that means you have to physically go and search for the files, a process that can take a couple of days. That said, I can’t wait for some time off to go‎ digging!

“I will shortly send you some excerpts from grandfather’s records proving he was in PG 52. He, Hennie, and Magiel were definitely close friends, maybe even in same troop and I know they sailed together, disembarked in Suez together, and were captured on same day.

“The concertina has been identified as a late 1890’s model Bastari with its original box. The hand straps had been changed in the 1980’s.”

I asked Conradt if his grandfather could play the concertina.

“Yes, Oupa‎ could play that concertina very well,” he said.

“If you look closely you’ll notice his nail marks on the wood at buttons that was used a lot. He would lift the mood with a fast mazurka or polka. I have a few photos from when the family would come together and dance the night away. My dad played harmonica and guitar, my uncle guitar and bass, Oom Boet could play anything that made a noise but is mostly remembered for his skill on the violin and (wood) saw. As a child these where wonderful times and are still amongst some of my fondest memories.

“Oom Boet was actually my grandma’s brother,” Conradt explained, “He was called Boetie (little brother) by his parents. When he got older he become Boet (brother), and now as children we call elder people ‘oom’ (uncle) as a sign of respect. Thus Oom Boet.

“Other times he’d sit under the old wild fig alone and silence even the birds with his almost sad waltzes. Whilst he never talked to anyone, besides grandma I suppose, about the war, I think in a sense he did his talking with the concertina under that tree.

“A little nostalgic, but I hope it helps.”

See also “Coenraad Stoltz—Escapee from Camp 52.”

Coenraad Willem Frederik Stoltz

As mentioned in the previous post, I heard from Conradt Stoltz, Coenraad’s grandson, earlier this month. (Read “Coenraad Stoltz—the ‘War-Box.’”)

Concerning the photo above, Conradt wrote, “This is photo the oldest photo I have of grandfather. It was taken around 1963 when he was in his late 40’s.”

Here is a short history of Coenraad Stoltz’s military service that Conradt sent me:

Pte. Coenraad Willem Frederik Stoltz
Private, 1st Regiment Botha, South African Army
Force Number 40011

27 February 1941: On strength – 1st Regiment Botha, Alfa Company (Basic Training)

9 October 1941: Embark HMS Mauritania in convoy with HMAS Australia

21 October 1941: Disembark Suez, Egypt, North Africa

26 October 1941: On strength – Mersa Matruth, Egypt / 2nd Regiment Botha, Charlie Company

19 November 1941: First Action. Small forces of Italian Scouts are engaged in Eastern Libya. Later the Regiment comes under fire from Italian fighter planes

20 November 1941: Second Action. Meet the Germans! Forward elements of 7th Panzer Division launch testing attacks over a wide front causing some disorder before retreating

21 November 1941: 3rd Action. At Point 175, overlooking Sidi Rezegh. 2nd Regiment Botha is under intense attack from German armored divisions and accurate artillery fire

23 November 1941: “Missing in Action” The 5th Brigade take the brunt of an all out assault by the 7th and 21st Panzer Divisions. The 5th Brigade force of 5,800 men suffer 3,600 casualties with 1,300 captured

27 November 1941: Tobruk. Part of the infamous ‘Thirst March’

5 December 1941: Bengazi, Libya. ‘The Palms’ POW camp

11 December 1941: Pilos, Greece. Shipwrecked / POW

19 January 1942: Confirmed POW by Red Cross. POW number 274171

14 April 1942: Confirmed inmate of POW Camp 52, near Chiavari, Genoa, Italy

8 September 1943: Italy capitulates. Escape into Italian rural area

9 April 1944: Brussels, Belgium. On strength R.B G/L (C POW Pers)

28 April 1945: Horsham, West Sussex, UK Assembly camp for South African POW’s from Europe

25 May 1945: Arrive on RMS Straitbaird – On strength Cape Fortress Garrison

22 October 1945: Honourable Discharge, Dispersal Depot, Show Grounds Camp, Pretoria, South Africa

“I have recently discovered that my grandfather also turned in Greece, a place called Pilos,” Conradt wrote. “It would seem he was held here for a short period after a ship they were on ran aground in the area.

“I am unsure if this is connected to the POW ship Jason that was torpedoed by the British submarine Porpoise at that time.‎

“In addition, another unconfirmed story placed in the same battle a certain Hans Jansen—who had lost a leg at Sidi Rezech and returned to South Africa in 1946—and Hendrik Stoltz—who some family members claim is a cousin of grandfather, but who went MIA and was never seen or heard from again.”

I had asked Conradt if he could help to decipher this sentence in his grandfather’s timeline:

“On strength R.B G/L (C POW Pers).”

He answered, “Regarding the R.B G/L (C POW Pers) abbreviation. R.B. definitely r‎efers to ‘Regiment Botha’. The G/L is unclear, it being used to describe ‘Group Leader’ or ‘General Ledger’, which doesn’t make sense in the context—yet it was suggested that it could be an Afrikaans abbreviation for ‘geelkoors/luis’, meaning treated or inoculation for yellow fever and lice. As discussed before, the general agreement is that ‘C POW Pers’ refer to Charlie Company and ex-pow personnel.”

Charlie’s brother Fred Standing (left) and Charlie in the doorway of their family’s home at 54 Lincoln Street, Brighton.

This month I received a note from Simon Hasler of Brighton, UK, addressed to Gillian Pink.

Gill’s father, Tom Ager, was a prisoner-of-war in Italian camp P.G. 82. Tom’s story is recounted on this site in several posts (read “Thomas Ager—Escapee from Italian Camp 82,” “On the Sheltering of Tom Ager,” “Unexpected Letter—News of Tom Ager,” and “Greetings Sent Via the Vatican.”)

Simon wrote, “your post really resonates with our family. My wife’s granddad was in the same POW camp as your father and left at the same time. His name was Charlie Standing. He was a private from Brighton, but in the Hampshire regiment.

“His story is almost identical, other than he stayed uncaptured.

“He lived in caves and was helped by locals near Viterbo. He even learnt Italian whilst on the run and mingled with locals whilst German soldiers were around.

“We also have a Vatican note and other similar things. Charlie was captured in Sidi Nsir, Tunisia, imprisoned in Capua initially, before being moved to your father’s camp.

“We know he went [from Camp 82] with a P.O.W. from Devon area (which could have been Bristol potentially).

“I’m pretty sure it took the Germans two days to arrive after the Armistice, and the POWs that remained, which was most, were sent to a Stalag camp.

“When Charlie got back to Brighton he was interviewed for a local paper, the Brighton Gazette. We still have the article. [See below.]

“We would love to hear from you, please, as Tom and Charlie may well have known each other and perhaps left together.”

Simon sent scans of several items, which are posted here. On the back of an old postcard are penciled three names: Settimio Galloni, Madalena Lido, and Madaleina Adelfa.

I suggested these might be Italians who helped Charlie in Viterbo.

Simon replied, “The three Italian names we don’t know, but we, like you, feel they are likely to be Italian helpers. He may well have been looked after by these.

“My father-in-law, Terry Standing, said he remembers seeing a letter Charlie received from someone in the Bristol area in the 50’s. The person wanted to meet with Charlie and return to Italy but this did not happen. He does not think he even met up with the Bristol guy.

“Terry seems to think the letter mentioned different people they knew in Italy, and had a mention of Viterbo, but as it’s so long ago that’s all the info he remembers.

“Charlie never told anyone much about his time in the war, although he did always say Italy was a beautiful country.”

“After escaping and then going it alone, he made his way south towards Rome, as he was told/thought the Allied forces were there. He eventually met up with Mark Clark’s U.S. army unit near Rome.”

I put Simon in touch with Gill and the two exchanged emails.

“I would love to think your grandfather-in-law and Charlie knew each other and maybe even escaped together, but I guess we’ll never know,” Gill wrote.

If the two knew each other—and perhaps even left the camp together—we can be sure they soon parted ways. From Arezzo, Tom Ager traveled northward and was sheltered in Premilcuore, nearly 100 kilometers north of P.G. 82. Charlie Standing moved in the opposite direction and found help in Viterbo, about 160 kilometers south of the camp.

This family photo shows Charlie, his wife Tup, their son Terry, and the family dog Spot. It was taken at Roedean Pitch & Putt. Simon writes of the location, “You could get an identical picture today of exactly the same spot—it’s unchanged.”

“Charlie got put on a ship to Scotland and then, after a week or two with Tup & Terry in their flat in Brighton, Milner Flats, he was stationed at Fullwood Barracks, Preston,” Simon explained.

“Terry was 3 or 4 when Charlie finally got back to UK. Terry said he still remembers meeting him the day he got back, which would have been his first actual memory of his dad.

“Because he was an escaped POW, Charlie was not allowed to return to Italy.

“He then worked for British Rail before retiring. The family remained in Brighton all of their lives—as has Terry and his wife Victoria, and my wife Kelly (Charlie’s granddaughter) and myself.

“Charlie chose not to apply for any of his medals.

“Charlie died of old age in November 1999, and Tup died in January 2013. They were both lovely, kind people—family focused.

“Charlie had four brothers in total, all dead now. The photo [of Charlie with his brother Fred, above] was taken at 54 Lincoln Street, Brighton. The house is still there and we have driven past it, though never knocked on the door.

“Terry thinks there is a buried motorbike in the back garden, as the brothers buried it before the war or as the war started, so it was not taken away. It may still be there, it would be nice to know that.”

Simon added, “My son Elliott is a budding moviemaker and is in the middle of making a film about Charlie. As part of his research he picked up your post.

“He actually did this work when he was 14 and we have stopped him doing it this year because of GCSE’s [General Certificate of Secondary Education examinations). It should be worthy of a film festival when it is finished, so that’s the plan.”

Simon directed me to a trailer for the film, Charlie’s Letters, on YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3wJ9HXNaZE).

“Please feel free to pass the trailer on to any contacts you feel would like to know about young film making talent. Elliott would appreciate it.”

Here is the Brighton Gazette article Simon referred to:

Escaping P.O.W. Walked Undetected Among Germans

Brighton Gazette, circa spring 1944

MILNER FLATS, Brighton, were flag-bedecked and chalk-captioned “Welcome Home,” this week, in honour of 30-years-old Pte. Charles Standing, who has spent months evading capture by the Germans, while making his way to the Allied lines in Southern Italy.

A member of the Hampshire Regiment, Pte. Standing joined up at the beginning of the war and in 1942 was sent to take part in the North African campaign.

After capture in February, 1943, he found himself in the Italian Campo 62, and later 82. When Italy capitulated, Campo 82 was taken over by the Germans, but Pte. Standing and a friend, who were attached to a working party, began immediately to make their way southwards to freedom.

His journey, he told a Gazette reporter yesterday, was made mainly on foot. He managed to obtain a suit of civilian clothes and to get food when he was lucky. He spent three months in the town of Viterbo, when he walked about among the Germans undetected, and learnt to speak Italian fluently.

“The poor people were very good to us,” he says, “and certainly want nothing to do with Mussolini. The people we had to avoid were the Fascists.”

Eventually Pte. Standing was rewarded for his nerve-racking adventures when, during a break in the German line at Cassino, he got through to an American Field Battery and soon found himself on his way to Britain.

Following a wonderful welcome which was given his ship in Scotland, he came home to his wife and little son, Terry, of 21 Milner Flats, who had no news of him for 10 months.

Pte. Standing is the son of Mrs. S. Standing, of 54 Lincoln-street, Brighton.

Postcard of a North African group. In French, it reads “COLLECTION SAHARIENNE / 25 – Un peu de repos en musique. On the back of the card are written the Italian names Settimio Galloni, Madalena Lido, and Madaleina Adelfa.

Photograph taken in the North African desert, probably by Charlie or a comrade.

You can see archival photos of P.G. 82 on the valdarnopost.it website.

Recently, Luigi Donfrancesco—nephew of I.S.9 Italian agent Andrea Scattini—and I have been in touch with Nancy Lewis, the wife of Captain Richard W. B. Lewis, an American officer with I.S.9 POW rescue operations in Italy during the war.

Richard Lewis served his role during the war admirably, and was discharged from service in 1946 with the rank of major.

After the war, he had a long, distinguished career in teaching at Smith College, and Princeton, Rutgers, and Yale Universities. A profic writer, recognition for his work included a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for Edith Wharton: A Biography. He retired from Yale in 1988. He died in 2002.

Richard Lewis is mentioned in a number of posts on this site, including I.S.9 diaries, situation reports, and other documents.

Mrs. Lewis has kindly given permission for us to share a section of her husband’s book The City of Florence: Historical Vistas and Personal Sightings (1995, pp. 64-68), in which he recounts his experiences with the I.S.9 rescues.

We are very grateful to Mrs. Lewis.

Notes in brackets were written by Luigi Donfrancesco.

“My own knowledge of the Casentino [province of Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy] began in the autumn of 1944. The first stay in Florence had, after all, been a short one, and during it I housed our little headquarters – two American officers, two British sergeants, and half a dozen Italian agents – in a luxurious apartment on Lungarno [Riverside] Vespucci (it had belonged to the former Fascist mayor of Florence, who had fled with the Germans and was later brought back and tried). It was a time of curious contrast, for while the German shells whistled about the Bailey bridge being thrown up below our windows, we inside, having for the moment nothing to do, indulged in a mild and continuous orgy.

“In early September, the front line had sufficiently established itself across the Apennines to permit us to go back to work, and we moved to a farmhouse just beyond the village of Rufina, about fifteen miles northeast of Florence and a few miles into the hills above Pontassieve. From here we could dispatch agents through the relatively unguarded mountain areas north toward Imola and Forlì and east into the Casentino.

“We were part of an Anglo-American intelligence outfit known in Washington as MIS-X [Military Intelligence Service X] and in London as MI-9 [Military Intelligence 9]; in Italy, we had various cover titles.

“Our section of it [IS-9: Intelligence School 9, called “A” Force in Italy] had to do with was known as ‘escape and evasion’: that is with prisoners of war who had escaped from enemy camps and were roaming the countryside; or with individuals – members of air crews, for example – who were at large behind the lines but had evaded being taken prisoner.

“The principal operation prior to Italy had been the exclusively British raid to collect escapees on the Island of Crete.

“The mission in Italy had begun in September 1943, when in the wake of the Italian surrender a great many POW [Prisoners of War] camps were abandoned and scores of thousands of prisoners – mostly English, who had been captured in the Western Desert and, especially, at Tobruk – were wandering the peninsula, a hundred miles and more north of the hastily re-formed German front line.

“Shifting our advance Headquarters periodically up the Adriatic coast, we dispatched small, careful briefed missions daily and nightly. Our agents were for the most part Italian, themselves former prisoners of war recruited from Allied camps; they were accompanied by a British or American officer or NCO [Non-Commissioned Officer]. Agents went in by parachute, or were taken in by boat, at night, and dropped off at strategic points. An obvious early requirement was to establish radio contact with these agents, once they had found the best place from which to operate.

“It was in one of our efforts to do so that, on November 1, the night of my twenty-sixth birthday [IS-9/“A” Force reports say the date was November 2, 1943], I went along on a coastal expedition and ran into trouble.

“We were aboard an Italian version [MAS: “Motoscafo Armato Silurante” or “Motoscafo Anti Sommergibile”] of an American PT [Patrol Torpedo] boat: a British officer [Captain Raymond ‘Lee’ Couraud, French, naturalized British, Commander of the ‘French Squad’ of 2nd SAS – Special Air Service] and myself, and about a dozen Italians, sailors and radio men. We had reached the rendezvous point [at Silvi, north of Pescara], and were lying quietly in the darkness, flashing out signals and looking for a response. I was sitting below, talking with an Italian youth [18 year old Augusto Ruffo ‘di Calabria,’ elder brother of Paula, future Queen of Belgium] who was developing into one of our most quick-witted agents, when there came an abrupt but continuing crackle of sound. Peering up the gangway, I could see tracer bullets flying and could hear shouts of consternation and rapid orders from above. My young Italian friend, in the midst of a sentence, fell forward from the bunk to lie dead on the floor; a bullet had penetrated the side of the boat end entered his back.

“When all sounds had ceased, I made my way cautiously up on deck, where I found half a dozen bodies strewn around, the boat otherwise deserted. Flames were licking along the railing; from out in the blackness I could hear the desperate appeal of the Italian sailors who had jumped overboard with their life belts and were floating about crying for help: ‘Aiuto! Aiuto.’ Stowing my spectacles in the pocket of my battle jacket, wrapping my trousers around my waist, and tying the laces of my boots together so I could hold the boots by my teeth, I slipped into the water and began to swim ashore. The distance may not have been more than half a mile, but I kept losing direction and swimming unnecessary hundreds of yards before I made it to the beach and sat, spent and shivering, with my back against a little sand hill. As I watched, exhaustedly, the fire on board reached the torpedo and the boat blew up.

“A mobile German patrol, it appears, driving along the coast road, had spotted us and opened fire, putting the boat out of commission with the first round. The patrol had then captured all the surviving Italians and had departed. The British officer, I learned eventually, had swum to the beach safely, walked adroitly south along the shore, and passed the lines two evenings later. [IS-9 reports and Uguccione Ranieri “di Sorbello”, in his October, 1944 letter to Princess Ruffo di Calabria, Augusto’s mother, state that Capt. Lee-Couraud was wounded, with two bullets retained in his arm and shoulder, and, despite that, he was able to reach the Allied lines 10 days later, on November 12, 1944]. He reported me dead, and my family was so informed.

“I was about seventy miles north of the British Eighth Army, I discovered, and within forty-eight hours had reduced the gap to less than fifteen, being sheltered and fed along the way by a series of kind and unquestioning Italian peasants (my Italian was still very skimpy). One of these gave me a usefully shabby suit to wear. Technically, this meant that I was now in disguise and, if seized by the Germans, could have been treated as a spy; but it seemed to be safer than marching along in uniform, even if my regulation boots could give me away. I was almost within sight of the British lookout posts when I got stuck: the long, drawn-out battle of the Sangro River had begun, and the front lines were far too lively for me to attempt to cross. For nearly six weeks, I lay up in the little stone house of a peasant family headed by a shrewd and gutsy man named Sciotti Bernardino near the tiny village of Crecchio [province of Chieti] while both armies surged forward and fell back in what, from my fretful vantage point, seemed sheer tactical messiness. I made useless little forays toward making my way to safety, only to retreat each time to the welcoming Sciotti household; during these efforts, I had a series of adventures and misadventures with which, decades afterwards, I would regale our young children (in one of them I was taking prisoner by a German soldier on foot patrol, deposited inside a barn, and told to stay there; I slid out a back window and scurried away).

“Finally, around mid-December, I took off impatiently and huddled for two nights with a horde of refugees in a barn just this side of the lines; then, having swallowed enough raw red wine to give me the requisite courage, I stumbled through the vineyards, passing within a few feet of a German sentry in the darkness, and fell into a foxhole commanded by a Sikh, a member of the British First Indian Division. His immediate response – until quelled by his elegantly English-speaking, turbaned commanding officer, who was mercifully nearby – was to cut off my head.

“Shortly before Christmas, I met up with my brother, who was head of CIC in the American II corps on the other side of the peninsula. It was he who told me that our parents had received a cable saying that I was ‘missing and believed killed over Italy,’ the authorities having evidently assumed that, since I belonged to the Army Air Corps, I must have been shot down during a bombing raid. My message home, that I was alive and well, arrived as the family was sitting down, not very cheerfully, to Christmas dinner.

“After an interval, I was given my own command [it seems he took over to New Zealand Captain Andrew Robb as Head of the No. 5 Field Section (of the ‘A’ Force), that operating along the Adriatic coast] and for the next six months we operated out of a small Abruzzese village called Lanciano [province of Chieti] (this was the time when I came upon the the work of the Abruzzese novelist Ignazio Silone). After the fall of Rome to the Allies in June 1944, we moved base into Umbria, taking a villa in the valley below the “open city” of Assisi; and after a few weeks there, we again took to the road, driving north into Tuscany and through the hills to Arezzo (reaching a farmhouse outside of town just after a German patrol had made off with some chickens). So it was, in July, that I entered Florence, leading two other jeeps and a British lorry.

“Before the month was over, as I have said, we were established in Rufina, above Pontassieve. Though the summer and autumn we dispatched agents to the north and east, the operations becoming easygoing and almost routine as the days went by. Our targets were mostly in the direction of Forlì, but we had considerable business as well in the rugged area beyond the Consuma Pass – the Casentino, which was a spacious no-man’s land, rendered useless by its topography for large scale military maneuvering. Air crew ‘evaders’ made their way down into it and got word to us; several times, I drove up the Consuma Pass to spy out the valley and the mountainscape with binoculars. We were also asked by the American OSS (with whom we had no formal relation) and the local British Corps headquarters to send intelligence-collecting missions into the area. It was from the reports of our returning agents, and by close scrutiny of the maps, that I become acquainted with the Casentino, and the names of Poppi, Bibbiena, and La Verna.”

The City of Florence is available through Amazon.com.

1st Lt. Robert McIntosh (right), U.S. Army Air Force
Photo—Young-Nichols Funeral Home/family photo

Eddy Arnold’s Back Home Again in Indiana, one of the state’s most beloved songs, is an expression of sweet, sad longing for a return to the past—to youth and the comfort of a loving rural home.

The song has had a special resonance for me and many others here in Indiana this week, as the state welcomed home a native son, U.S. Army Air Forces’ 1st Lieutenant Robert McIntosh. Robert was killed in Italy during the Second World War.

The 21 year old pilot was on his way back to base from a strafing mission against an enemy airfield in Piacenza, Italy, on May 12, 1944 when his aircraft went missing.

Sixty-nine years later, during a crash site excavation in Santa Cristina, Italy, Robert’s remains were discovered by Archeologi dell’Aria, a group of Italian avian archaeology volunteers. U.S. government DNA testing confirmed the plane’s pilot was Robert McIntosh.

Robert’s remains were flown to Indiana on Tuesday.

A public funeral will be held today at the Tipton High School auditorium, and burial with full military honors will follow.

You can watch a memorial video that aired Tuesday on 13 WTHR Indianapolis on the channel’s website, wthr.com.

Also, read a story about Robert’s life and the return to Indiana by the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.

Robert McIntosh was flying a single-seat P-38 Lightning aircraft, as shown here, before he was reported missing in action. Photo—United States Air Force

Listen to an arrangement of Back Home Again In Indiana by Straight No Chaser. The professional a cappella group began at Indiana University, where Robert was a student before enlisting in the Army.

See also “After 72 Years—Dewey Gossett Home at Last.”

Scotsman Tom Kelly

I hear this week from Linda Veness, daughter of R. J. “Jimmy” McMahon. Her father’s story is covered in two posts on this site, “R. J. McMahon, Part 1—Battle and Captivity” and “R. J. McMahon, Part 2—Escape and Beyond.”

Jimmy McMahon said in describing his escape from P.G. 59, “I suggested to my mates, one Scot and five other Aussies, that instead of digging our way out we should try going over the top. We nutted this plan out and thought there would be enough time while the guards, patrolling the wall, were having their halfway talk and smoke, giving us about five minutes.”

Linda wrote to me that the Scot was Tom “Jock” Kelly. According to Linda, four other Australians who made this break were Tom Alman (from Kalgoorlie) Jack Allen (Kalgoorlie), Les Worthington (Wiluna) and J. Feehan (Geraldton). The men went over the wall on a ladder constructed with nails smuggled into the camp by a visiting priest.

It seems most likely this escape occurred in early September 1943.

This week Linda sent me a photo of Tom that she found. She wrote, “It looks to me as though it has been taken at ‘home.’” Whether it was taken before or after the war is unclear.

On the reverse side of this photo is written: “Trooper T Kelly / 7904262 / Camp 59 (?) 8th 3300 / section 48 hut 14 / Italia.”

Tom Kelly is among the men recorded in the “Alphabetical List” (“The Alphabetical List—British Soldiers K–M“). His service number in the booklet matches the number on the back of the photo. He is identified as a trooper in the Royal Armoured Corps.

I received an email recently from Adam Rolloff. He sent me photographs of a Bronze Star Medal awarded to William Kornrumph, as well as the American serviceman’s separation papers.

He wrote, “I enjoyed reviewing your site while researching William J. Kornrumph. The attached discharge papers should answer your questions about his escape and recapture.

“Unfortunately his military service file was destroyed in a fire at the records center in 1973 and I’ve been unable to find any additional information on his military service.”

I asked Adam is he is related to William Kornrumph.

“I’m not related to Kornrumph,” he answered. “I collect U.S. military medals and I’ve had his Bronze Star Medal in my collection for about 25 years. Unfortunately I’ve been unable to locate the citation with the specifics of what he did to earn the award. Based on the brief information in his discharge papers, he must have had some amazing stories about his service.

“Feel free to post details from the paperwork and how I contacted you. The discharge papers came from Kornrumph’s VA claim file. I was able to get a copy under the Freedom of Information Act.”

I have a particular interest in William Kornrumph because I know that my father, Sgt. Armie Hill, knew him in P.G. 59. Bill was assigned to my father’s section of the camp—Hut 4–Section 11—and his name and address are recorded in my dad’s address book:

Bill Kornrumph
33-40 150 Place
Flushing, Long Island
New York

Bill Kornrumph’s separation record states he entered service on October 30, 1940, at the age of 18.

His military occupational assignments were:

Basic training–infantry (private) – one month
Machine gunner (private first class) – 25 months
Prisoner of war (Germany and Italy) – 25 months

The “summary of military occupations” reads:

MACHINE GUNNER: Fired heavy .30 Cal [caliber] Machine Gun in ground combat against the enemy. Acted part time as squad leader. Was wounded and captured on 27 January 1943 by the Germans at Medgis-al-bab, Tunesia. Was interned in Italy until 14 Sept 1943 at which time escaped to hills and remained there until recaptured 31 December 1943. Escaped from Germany 15 February 1945 and joined Russians 26 February 1945. Fought with Russians for two days, then left to rejoin American Army.

[The U.S. National Archives World War II POW database indicates Bill Kornrumph was returned to military control, liberated, or repatriated from Stalag 2B Hammerstein.]

Bill is described on his discharge paper as a blue-eyed blond, five feet–11 1/2 inches tall, and weighing 155 pounds. His civilian occupation was truck driver. He was single and had no dependents.

He was born in Woodside, New York (in the borough of Queens, New York City).

He departed from the U.S. for England on August 2, 1942 and arrived back in the States on May 15, 1945.

He served in Company H, 18th Infantry, and was shot in the left arm during action in Tunisia on January 27, 1943.

He was a private at the time of his separation on November 7, 1945. The highest military grade he achieved during service was corporal.

Decorations and citations listed for him were the American Defense Service Medal, the European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Purple Heart, and the Combat Infantryman Badge. The Bronze Star, not referred to on his discharge paper, presumably was awarded later.

Read also, “Men of Hut 4–Section 11.”

In 2013, researcher Brian Sims gave me access to his photographs of the complete contents of a booklet entitled Italy: Imperial Prisoners of War Alphabetical List, Section 1, British Army, which is archived at the British National Archives.

The Alphabetical List contains the names of thousands of British prisoners of war interned in Italian camps, apparently compiled in 1942 or the spring of 1943.

This post, which contains Alphabetical List soldiers N–Z who were documented as P.G. 59 internees, is the completion of the list, which I have been posting in installments on this site.

See also “The Alphabetical List—British Soldiers A–B,” “The Alphabetical List—British Soldiers C–F,” “The Alphabetical List—British Soldiers G–J,” and “The Alphabetical List—British Soldiers K–M.”

A key to acronyms and abbreviations follows the list.

Page 91
Nalty, T. – Cpl. – 56457 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Natt, A. E. – Pte. – 5509810 – Hamp. – R.O. No. 23
Neale, L. W. – Tpr. – 7879821 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Nelson, R. D. – Pte. – S/153793 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Nelson, A. E. – Gnr. – 1070139 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5

Page 92
Newman, C. E. – Pte. – 6285518 – Buffs – R.O. No. 23
Newman, C. W. – L/Sjt. – 6968938 – R. Bde. – R.O. No. 24
Nicholls, J. W. – Bdr. – 6100128 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Nichols, W. H. – L/Sgt. – 6842964 – K.R.R.C. – R.O. No. 24
Noble, A. P. – Gnr. – 1430659 – R.A. – R.O. No. 43

Page 93
Norton, A. V. – Pte. – 6292484 – Buffs – R.O. No. 23
Nunn, C. – Pte. – 6021901 – A.A.C. – R.O. No. 44
Nye, J. P. – L/Cpl. – 6826899 – Buffs – R.O. No. 23

Oakley, J. – Gnr. – 872053 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Oakley, C. S. – Gnr. – 4914255 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
O’Brien, W. – Pte. – T/265237 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
O’Brien, T. – Pte. – 2937006 – Cam. H. – R.O. No. 16

Page 94
O’Loughlin, L. – Dvr. – 116757 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Olson, A. E. – Pte. – 6464315 – Hamp. – R.O. No. 23
O’Neill, F. – Spr. – 2116448 – R.E. – R.O. No. 9
O’Neill, J. – Pte. – 3778332 – Kings – R.O. No. 18
Orton, A. – Pte. – 6097193 – Buffs – R.O. No. 23
O’Shea, M. – Pte. – 6205894 – Buffs – R.O. No. 23
O’Sullivan, M. – Pte. – 7360893 – R.A.M.C – R.O. No. 30

Page 95
Page, A. E. – Dvr. – 853372 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Palmer, A. F. – Dvr/i/c – 951052 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Pantry, J. W. – Sgt. – 6136989 – E. Surr. – R.O. No. 23
Parfett, A. G. – Gnr. – 969948 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5

Page 96
Parker, L. J. – Pte. – 6097195 – Buffs – R.O. No. 23
Parker, E. L. – L/Cpl. – 7888356 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Parkes, H. F. – Drv. – 163917 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Parkinson, W. – Gnr. – 880537 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Parry, T. B. – Tpr. – 7916225 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Partridge, L. E. – Sjt. – 6913831 – R. Bde. – R.O. No. 24
Patterson, A. E. – Cpl. – 3957424 – S. Staff – R.O. No. 19

Page 97
Pawley, F. L. – Sgt. – 6284187 – Buffs – R.O. No. 23
Payne, R. – Pte. – 7519658 – R.A.M.C. – R.O. No. 30
Peaker, W. F. – Gnr. – 1090557 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Peaple, S. C. – R.S.M. – 1042109 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Pearce, N. C. – Sjt. – 5497147 – Hamp. – R.O. No. 23
Pearson, P. – Sgm. – 2592536 – R. Sigs. – R.O. No. 10

Page 98
Peck, C. – Gnr. – 1486161 – R.A. – R.O. No. 6
Peckham, T. H. – Tpr. – 319047 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Pemberton, F. – Gnr. – 1487821 – R.A. – R.O. No. 6
Penman, T. – Pte. – 3321620 – H.L.I. – R.O. No. 16
Percy, S. – Tpr. – 7918160 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Perkins, W. L. – Tpr. – 551912 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Perkins, R. C. – Cpl. – 6969231 – R. Bde. – R.O. No. 24
Peters, J. G. W. – Pte. – 7372180 – R.A.M.C. – R.O. No. 30
Petre J. – Gdsm. – 2693440 – S.G. – R.O. No. 13

Page 99
Phimister, J. A. – Pte. – 2934126 – Cam. H. – R.O. No. 16
Pickup, R. – Gnr. – 1086511 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Pidgeon, S. W. – Rfn. – 6914924 – R. Bde. – R.O. No. 24
Pilkington, R. H. – Tpr. – 7906381 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3

Page 100
Plumb, E. A. – Dvr. – 180776 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Pollock, E. L. – Bdr. – 891647 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Poole, W. – Spr. – 1889863 – R.E. – R.O. No. 9
Potts, A. – Gnr. – 1090831 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Potts, J. G. – Tpr. – 7908951 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Poulter, G. – Pte. – 6016256 – Essex – R.O. No. 21
Powell, J. L. – Dvr. – T/203138 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29

Page 101
Precious, S. J. – Sjt. – 4269035 – N’d. F. – R.O. No. 20
Priestman, A. J. – Rfn. – 6844359 – K.R.R.C. – R.O. No. 24
Pritchard, W. H. – Dvr. – T/199420 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29

Page 102
Proctor, A. – Tpr. – 7909615 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Pumfrey, R. F. – L/Cpl. – 7915887 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Purnell, H. H. – Gnr. – 988550 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5

Radcliffe, A. E. – Cpl. – T/129873 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Radford, E. K. – Rfn. – 6845604 K.R.R.C. – R.O. No. 24

Page 103
Ramsey, D. E. – Bdr. – 871930 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Randell, W. J. – Tpr. – 7907689 –R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Ransome, E. E. – Drv/i/c – 863637 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Rae, E. F. – Rfn. – 70207304 – R.U. Rif. – R.O. No. 17

Page 104
Reeves, R. G. – Sgt. – 555875 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Reid, J. S. – Pte. – 2937013 – Cam H. – R.O. No. 16
Reynolds, A. –C.Q.M.S. – 2692155 – S.G. – R.O. No. 13
Reynolds, Mc. – Pte. – 4749035 – Y. & L. – R.O. No. 20
Rice, A. G. – L/Cpl. – 321227 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3

Page 105
Richardson, E. W. S. – Cpl. – 6915555 – R. Bde. – R.O. No. 24
Riley, J. E. – Dvr. – T/194346 –R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29

Page 106
Robbins, E. G. – Pte. – 5495632 – Hamp. – R.O. No. 23
Roberts, W. – Gdsm. – 2657805 – C.G. – R.O. No. 12
Robinson, D. G. – Sjt. – 318797 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5

Page 107
Robinson, T. H. – L/Cpl. 7879673 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Rodgers, C. G. H. – L/Cpl. – 6898464 – K.R.R.C. – R.O. No. 24
Roocroft, K. – L/Bdr. – 1504976 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5

Page 108
Rowbottom, L. – Bdr. – 1065671 – R.A. – R.O. No.5
Ruby, E. F. – Tpr. – 7925618 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3

Page 109
Russell, W. J. – Pte. – 6287243 – Buffs – R.O. No. 23

Sadd P. – Pte. – 1574305 – R.A.O.C. – R.O. No. 32
Salt, R. J. – Spr. – 2013658 – R.E. – R.O. No. 9

Page 110
Saunders, J. A. – Gnr. – 920183 – R.A. – R.O. No. 6
Saville, L. C. A. – Drv. – T/137884 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Sawyer, S. – Pte. – 3605187 – Bord. – R.O. No. 18

Page 111
none

Page 112
Shaw, J. R. – Tpr. – 7889463 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Shearsby, W. H. – L./Sjt. – 799491 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Shearsmith, G. J. – Tpr. – 7909806 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Shelton, J. H. – Gnr. – 1142308 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Shevill, P. – Gnr. – 888737 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Shilton, R. W. – Gnr. – 1086039 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Shirley, T. A. C. – L/Cpl. – 6969240 – R. Bde. – R.O. No. 24

Page 113
Shrimpton, A. J. – Sjt. – 3949453 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Shuttleworth, J. – Pte. – 7518569 – R.A.M.C. – R.O. No. 30
Silcock, E. Pte. – 2937263 – Cam. H. – R.O. No. 16
Simonds, P. – L/Cpl. – T/92555 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Simpson, A. H. – Dvr. – 189980 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Sinclair, N. S. D. – Tpr. – 2036881 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Singleton, J. A. – Tpr. – 4688000 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Sirett, F. A. – Pte. – 7630295 – R.A.O.C. – R.O. No. 32
Sizer, E. W. – Bdr. – 1432267 – R.A. – R.O. No. 6

Page 114
Slaney, L. – Gnr. – 4389541 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Smerdon, R. C. – Gnr. – 1531613 – R.A. – R.O. No. 6
Smith, J. – Drv. – T/106558 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Smith, S. J. – Dvr. 165026 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Smith, J. D. – Gnr. – 846842 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5

Page 115
Smith, T. C. – Gnr. – 913717 – R.A. – R.O. No. 6
Smith, J. E. – Gnr. – 964138 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Smith, C. L. – Bdr. – 1095675 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Smith, A. S. – Dvr. – 1893751 – R.E. – R.O. No. 9
Smith, R. L. – L/Cpl. – 2325426 – R. Sigs. – R.O. No. 10
Smith, R. M. – Pte. – 2937603 – Cam H. – R.O. No. 16

Page 116
Smith, P. G. – Pte. – 6288644 – Buffs – R.O. No. 23
Smith, R. – Tpr. 7915035 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Smitheman, G. H. – Dvr. – 165126 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Snelling, B. – Gnr. – 899638 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Snoddon, W. – Gnr. – 1566870 – R.A. – R.O. No. 6
Snudden, I. – Cpl. – S/125097 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Soulsby, A. R. – Gnr. – 1142257 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5

Page 117
Slovico, L. E. – C.S.M. – 6281634 – Buffs – R.O. No. 23
Spargo, T. S. – Pte. – 4393088 – Gn. How. – R.O. No. 20
Spencer, A. – Tpr. – 320880 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Spencer, E. K. – L/Bdr. – 1460175 – R.A. – R.O. No. 43
Spencer, F. E. – Gnr. – 4969463 – R.A. – R.O. No. 43
Spencer, T. W. – Trp. – 6141628 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Spoor, C. – Pte. – 6023795 – Buffs – R.O. No. 23
Sprake, K. R. S. – Sgm. – 2330361 – R. Sigs. – R.O. No. 10
Stacey, L. – Gdsm. 2656988 – C.G. – R.O. No. 12

Page 118
Stanley, H. J. – Gnr. – 936572 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Stead, A. – Pte. – 2930109 – Cam. H. – R.O. No. 16
Stelling, L. J. – Tpr. – 7884543 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Stephenson, N. – Gnr. – 1480327 – R.A. – R.O. No. 6
Stephenson, J. – Pte. – 4450085 – K.O.R.R. – R.O. No. 18
Stevens, W. A. – Tpr. – 319102 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Stevens, S. H. W. – Cpl. – 2657321 – C.G. – R.O. No.12
Stevens, T. G. – L/Cpl. – 4912515 – S. Staff. – R.O. No. 19
Stevens, B. I. G. – Tpr. – 7899124 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Stevenson, H. – Sgt. – 1082238 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Stewart, T. H. – Dvr. – 2121561 – R.E. – R.O. No. 9

Page 119
Stewart, W. – Pte. – 2928932 – Cam. H. – R.O. No. 16
Stewart, H. – Pte. – 7517381 – R.A.M.C. – R.O. No. 30
Stewart, J. M. – L/Cpl. – 7688927 – C.M.P. – R.O. No. 26
Stocking, C. G. – L/Cpl. – C7888808 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Stretton, A. – Tpr. – 7904184 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3

Page 120
Summerfield, G. – S/Sgt. – 7260492 – R.A.M.C. – R.O. No. 30
Summersett, R. W. – Pte. – 6353798 – R.W.K. – R.O. No. 23
Sunderland, J. – Tpr. – 7910326 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Swann, R. T. – Rfn. – 6914731 – R. Bde. – R.O. No. 24
Sweet, C. – Dvr. – T/156591 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29

Page 121
Swinnerton, C. W. – Drv. – 165129 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Symns, R. J. – Gdsm. – 2617564 – G.G. – R.O. No. 11

Tasker, W. – Tpr. – 7934946 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Taylor, W. – Sgm. – 2586601 – R. Sigs. – R.O. No. 10

Page 122
Taylor, H. – L/Cpl. – 7882867 – Essex – R.O. No. 21
Taylor, E. G. – Tpr. – 7904834 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Teasdale, R. – Sgt. – 890158 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Terrey, M. S. C. – L/Cpl. – 6916260 – R. Bde. – R.O. No. 24

Page 123
Thomas, L. L. – Tpr. – 7890052 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Thompson, E. – Drv. – T/118307 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Thomson, W. E. S. – Fus. – 7016955 – Innis. F. – R.O. No. 17

Page 124
Tinsdale, E. – L/Sjt. – 4740906 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Todd, F. L. – Pte. – 6286138 – Buffs – R.O. No. 23
Todd, H. – Tpr. – 7888957 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Tomlinson, A. T. – Gnr. – 1566874 – R.A. – R.O. No. 6

Page 125
Townsend, D. – L/Sjt. – 1479176 – R.A. – R.O. No. 6
Toye, R. – Sgt. – T/6973313 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Travis, C. – Tpr. – 7896919 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Troughear, I. – Gnr. – 789398 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Tudor, G. – Sgm. – 2591183 – R. Sigs. – R.O. No. 10
Tunstall, S. – Gnr. – 884599 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Turmaine, F. A. – P. S. M. – 6283629 – Buffs – R.O. No. 23

Page 126
Turner, R. – Rfn. – 6845381 – K.R.R.C. – R.O. No. 24
Tybjerg, P. – Pte. – 165594 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Tysall, T. – Drv. – T/189571 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29

Umney, R. – Sgm. – 2571997 – R. Sigs. – R.O. No. 10

Page 127
Vernall, C. A. – L/Sgt. – 6285536 – Buffs – R.O. No. 23
Vernon, R. – Tpr. – 406987 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Viliesid, A. T. – Sgm. – 2576823 – R. Sigs. – R.O. No. 10
Vincent, E. F. – Tpr. – 7906755 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3

Waite, B. F. – Rfn. – 846342 – R. Bde. – R.O. No. 24
Walford, N. M. – Pte. – 6095357 – Buffs – R.O. No. 23
Walker, G. A. – L/Cpl. – T/114877 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Walker, J. T. – Drv. – T/231370 – R.A.S. C. – R.O. No. 29

Page 128
Wall, L. J. – Rfn. – 6848753 – K.R.R.C. – R.O. No. 24
Walton, A. – Pte. – 4460726 – D.L.I. – R.O. No. 20
Wanless, G. – Dvr. – 4260467 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Ward, C. – Tpr. – 807800 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3

Page 129
Watkins, W. H. – Dvr, – T/172505 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Watkins, H. G. – Pte. – 2937047 – Cam. H. – R.O. No. 16

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Watt, R. – Dvr. – T/150458 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Weaver, L. F. – Pte. – 6344837 – R.A.M.C. – R.O. No. 30

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Wells, G. A. – Cpl. – 175626 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Wells, L. J. J. – Tpr. – 319748 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Wells, L. F. – Rfn. – 6913249 – R. Bde. – R.O. No. 24
Warton, T. E. – Gnr. – 1137223 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5

Page 132
White, A. A. – Rfn. – 6915579 – R. Bde. – R.O. No. 24

Page 133
Whyte, R. – Gnr. – 851305 – R.A. – R.O. No. 7
Wilder, G. S. – Gnr. – 1102239 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Wilkinson, F. J. – 6914434 – R. Bde. – R.O. No. 24
Wilkinson, G. – Tpr. – 7889238 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Willats, H. J. – Tpr. – 7904164 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Williams, A. H. – Gnr. – 903062 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5

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Williams, S. G. – Gnr. – 1137634 – R. A. – R.O. No. 5
Williams, F. – Gnr. – 5827048 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Williams, J. – Pte. – 7359709 – R.A.M.C. – R.O. No. 30
Williams, S. – Trp. – 7895557 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Williamson, W. J. – Dvr. – T/121648 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Willis, D. – Pte. – 6028100 – Essex – R.O. No. 21
Wilson, E. – Dvr. – 165137 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Wilson, A. – Dvr. – T/190000 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Wilson, J. – S.S.M. – 546682 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3
Wilson, J. – Gnr. – 805187 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5

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Wilson, J. M. – Pte. – 3318860 – Cam. H. – R.O. No. 16
Winstanley, F. W. E. – Gnr. – 1102240 – R. Sigs. – R.O. No. 10
Winter, E. A. – Cpl. – 176181 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29

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Wood, J. E. Pte. – Pte. 4971126 – North’n. R. – R.O. No. 21
Woodcock, T. H. – Gnr. – 1137217 – R.A. – R.O. No. 5
Woodcock, J. – Dmr. – 3770350 – S.G. – R.O. No. 13
Woodhouse, J. J. – Dvr. – 173991 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Woodhouse, H. C. – Pte. – 5502752 – Hamp. – R.O. No. 23
Woollas, C. H. – Cfn. – 7627115 – R.E.M.E. – R.O. No. 44

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Wright, G. – Dvr. – T/146598 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Wright, S. W. – Pte. – 6023063 – R.W.K. – R.O. No. 23

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Young, A. R. – Dvr. – T/141707 – R.A.S.C. – R.O. No. 29
Young, L. J. – Tpr. – 7901430 – R.A.C. – R.O. No. 3

Acronyms and Abbreviations

A. & S.H. – Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
A.A.C. – Army Air Corps
A.A.A.C. – Australian Army Aviation Corps
A.C.C. – Army Catering Corps
A.D.C. – This is an acronym for a unit name, possibly the Royal Army Dental Corps (R.A.D.C.)

B. & H. – Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment
B.S.M. – Battery Sergeant Major
Bdr. – Bombardier
Bk. Watch – Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment)
Bord. – Border Regiment
Brig. – Brigadier
Buffs – Royal East Kent Regiment (“The Buffs”)

C.G. – Coldstream Guards
C.Q.M.S. – Company Quartermaster Sergeant
C.S.M. – Company Sergeant Major
Cam. H. – Cameron Highlanders
Camns. – Cameron Highlanders
Capt. – Captain
Cfn./Cfm. – Craftsman
Cpl. – Corporal

Devon. – Devonshire Regiment
D.L.I. – Durham Light Infantry
Dorset – Dorset Regiment
Dmr. – Drummer
Drv. – Driver
Dvr/i/c – Driver (meaning of i/c unknown)

E. Surr. – East Surrey Regiment
Essex – Essex Brigade

Fus. – Fusilier

G.G. – Grenadier Guards
Gdsm. – Guardsman
Gn. How. – Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own Yorkshire Regiment)
Gnr. – Gunner

Hamp. – Hampshire Regiment
H.L.I. – Highland Light Infantry

Innis. F. – Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers

K.O.R.R. – King’s Own Royal Regiment
K.R.R.C. – King’s Royal Rifle Corps

L/Bdr. – Lance Bombardier
L/Cpl. – Lance Corporal

Manch. – Manchester Regiment

N’d. F. – Royal Northumberland Fusiliers
North’n. R. – Northamptonshire Regiment

P.S.M. – Platoon Sergeant Major
Pte. – Private

Q.M.S. – Quarter Master Sergeant

R. Bde. – Rifle Brigade
R. Sigs. – Royal Signals
R.A. – Royal Artillery
R.A.C. – Royal Armoured Corps
R.A.M.C. – Royal Army Medical Corps
R.A.O.C. – Royal Army Ordnance Corps
R.A.S.C. – Royal Army Service Corps
R.E. – Royal Engineers
R.E.M.E. – Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
R. Ir. R. – Royal Irish Regiment
R.O. – Radiotelephone Operator
R.U. Rif. – Royal Ulster Rifles
R.W.F. – Royal Welch Fusiliers
R.W.K. – Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment

Rfn. – Rifleman

S.G. – Scots Guards
S.S.M. – unit name unknown
S.W.B.– South Wales Borders
S. Staff – South Staffordshire Regiment
Sgm./Sgmn. – Signalman
Sgt. – Sergeant
Sjt. – Serjeant (a variant of sergeant)
Spr. – Sapper

Tpr. – Trooper

W.G. – Welsh Guards
Welsh/Welch –Welsh Guards
Worc. – Worcestershire Regiment

Y. & L. – York and Lancaster Regiment

Trooper Harold George Knibbs

I heard earlier this fall from Don Knibbs, who lives in the village of Sheet, which is in Hampshire, in the south of England. He wrote:

“I came across the Camp 59 Survivors web site today. What a great shame my dad isn’t still here to have seen it. He was Trooper Harold George Knibbs of the Royal Armoured Corps (RAC).

“He was captured in June 1941 in the desert, close to Tobruk. He was transported to Italy where he spent time at Campo Concentramento Prigionieri di Guerra N.73, and Campo Concentramento PG.59.

“I’m afraid I don’t know the dates for when he was at each of the camps. I know from his records that he was still in Italy in 1943, but be was transferred to Stalag IVB at some time before Christmas 1944. I’m guessing that will have been after the Italians capitulated in September 1943.

“He had very few mementoes of the times, but amongst his many treasures was a currency note from Camp 59 (above).

“Harold did tell me of a few of his lighter experiences when he was a prisoner of war. He was extremely proud of the fact that when he and his colleagues were captured he was the last amongst them to be de-loused. He managed to avoid it for several days but eventually they got to him and gave him the full treatment, which I believe was a good dusting with de-lousing powder and a complete head shave.

“He never spoke to me about life in the prison camps, other than to say that quite often they were very hungry. But during the bad times, he said all they had to do was to look at the conditions that the Russian troops were being kept in and realize how bad things could be, and that life as a British prisoner-of-war wasn’t so bad.

“He also told me of several escape attempts, but from which of the three prisons, I’m not sure.

“For one, he was partially successful and escaped from the camp. They were traveling by night and on one dark night they could see a patrol coming along the road towards them. Quick as a flash they all took to their heels to hide in a field. Harold dived over a hedge, ran to what he assumed was a haystack, and dived in—only to find that the haystack was in fact a manure heap. That was one occasion when he was glad to be recaptured.

“At a second attempt, they tried to tunnel out. They had been tunneling for several weeks when they suddenly came across something quite solid. They found it was a brick construction, managed to break through, only to find that they were off course and the tunnel led them into the cellar of a nearby building which had been abandoned.

“The cellar was stocked with bottles of wine and boxes of various household goods. They helped themselves to the wine, got pretty drunk, looted all the goods in the cellar and went back to the camp. Harold came away with a couple of silver knives, forks, and spoons, and a hand embroidered linen tablecloth—and a hangover, no doubt.

“After another escape, he and his colleagues managed to avoid capture by hiding in a pig sty quite some distance from the prison camp, where they remained for 13 weeks, living at the back of the sty and relying on the farmer to deliver food scraps to the pigs which they managed to steal from the pigs in order to survive.

“After reading much of your web site on the day I found it, I was able to fill in many of the gaps in my own mind about my father’s experiences during his time in captivity. He didn’t speak much at all of his wartime experiences, and for my own part, from a very young age I had it drummed into me by dad’s older sister that I must never, ever mention the war to my dad. As a consequence, I never did. As I grew older, it seemed inappropriate to suddenly mention it, and then, before you know it, it’s too late.”

I wrote back to Don with some comments and a few questions, to which he replied,

“The information on your site made me recognise that my dad was probably at Camp 59 first and then moved on to Camp 73. He didn’t ever elaborate on his escape attempts, but I assume that the 13-week spell in the pig sty was immediately following the September ’43 armistice. From what he told me, I imagined it was just him and one other who hid there.

“I suspect that the pig owner knew they were there. I remember dad saying there might be an apple or something good, and they’d have to fight to grab it before the pigs got it. I remember thinking at the time how strange to throw an apple to the pigs. Dad always kept a pig after the war, and I remember they just got the left over scraps—never the luxury of a whole apple.

“I imagine the length of time they were actually free—13 weeks—would sort of fit in with the circumstances of around that time.

“I’ve always imagined his story of tunnelling out of a camp was related to Stalag IVB in Germany, rather than the Italian camps. He did actually bring home the silver cutlery he’d looted (just a knife, fork, and spoon) and a very simple hand-embroidered tablecloth. It was just plain white with a green pattern embroidered onto it. He was conned out of the cutlery several years before he died by one of these people who knock the doors of elderly people seeing what they can talk them out of. He told dad there’s no value in German silver and the guy paid him £1 for each of the items. My sister still has the tablecloth.

“I still have dad’s Army Pay Book, a few maps of North Africa showing routes that I assume he took in his tank. There are no letters, but several photographs that he received whilst a prisoner. He used to record on them when they were posted from England and when he received them.

“Prior to the war, dad was a baker—or at least, a baker’s assistant. After the war, he tried for a job as a welder at a factory called Thorneycroft, famous for it’s production of military vehicles, in his home town of Basingstoke, Hampshire. He didn’t get it, but instead got a job as a field engineer for an agricultural engineering company called Fred Smith’s. He had a van full of tools, and travelled around the south of England repairing farm machinery. He worked up through the organisation, ending up as the service manager when he retired.

“I have family history as one of my interests, and have pages dedicated to my dad: a little of his history prior to the war, and more specific information about his time in the army.”

Trooper Victor Kensett Styles

I received a note recently from Vic Styles, a nephew of Victor Kensett Styles. Trooper Victor Styles, Royal Armoured Corps (RAC), was captured in North Africa and interned at P.G. 52 Pian de Coreglia (Chiavari).

“Like a lot of servicemen, he did not talk about his activities in Italy—we only got snippets of information,” Vic wrote.

“He was offered a commission, and later he resigned and went into teaching.

“He did not trust any politicians or whizz kid bosses. He was a very good manager in the flats where he lived in West Hampstead London NW6. He coached the tenants to buy their flats through the legal jargon. He was extremely clever in administration and with his hands.

“In the 1950’s my father fell out with him about a car deal, and they broke contact with each other. So I got info—but not much—second hand.

“Victor complained that when working with the S.O.E. [Special Operations Executive] he was never paid because he officially had been in a POW camp.

“He married twice and was divorced. He had no children.”

Victor was recommended for a British Empire Medal (BEM) for his acts, but he never got it because his file was kept secret for 85 years under the Official Secrets Act.

Victor was honored with an Italian Star in 2007, and Vic feels he should also be recognized with an Italian Garibaldi Medal for his work with the Italian partisans.

“In 2001, I applied to open his file,” Vic wrote. “They agreed, and that’s what you see on this report.”

Trooper Victor Kensett Styles

Unit: 4th County of London Yeomanry, Royal Armoured Corps, attached Headquarters 2nd Armoured Division.
Served: North Africa (captured).
Army No.: 7906218
Camps: P.G. 52

Trooper Styles was taken prisoner in North Africa, 1941. He was sent to P.G. 52 at Chiavari, but, following Italy’s capitulation in September 1943, he was aboard a train bound for Germany when he escaped. Until the end of 1944, Styles fought with several Partisan groups in Italy.

The following is a copy of his subsequent debriefing by the Special Operations Executive (SOE):

26.11.44 [November 26, 1944] – Dear McIntosh, The bearer of this note, Trooper V. Styles, 7906218, RAC, has been i/c [in charge] of a mixed British and Italian patrol for about 3 months; beforehand he fought with a Russian detachment in the Modena Area. Whilst in charge of his patrol, he took part in fifteen attacks against German motor vehicles; destroying over 10 trucks; his leadership and courage inspired the rest of his men and all partisans in our area. Trooper V. Styles has worked directly under the orders of the British Missions in the field; he has always been chosen for most difficult jobs and has always carried them out in spite of opposition and adverse weather conditions.

Trooper V. Styles, after going through a well earned leave, wants to volunteer either in a Paratroop Division or in a service like ours; could you please give him the maximum assistance. Signed: – R. JOHNSTON, Major, 188142.

Victor’s Movements in Italy during WW2

13th Sept 1943. On 13th September, once having escaped from the train, he made for the Allied lines.

Dec 1943. In early December he reached the neighbourhood of Castel di Sangro where he ran into a German trap and was recaptured. He was taken to CC.RR [Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali] barracks at Frosinone which had been taken over by the Germans. Four days later he again succeeded in escaping through a window.

March 1944. He then decided to try to reach France, so made off northwards, and hid for three months at the village of Tughacozzo [Tagliacozzo] near Avezzano.

April 1944. At Easter time he again struck off northwards, and at Gubbic [Gubbio] met his first band of Partisans. It was an international band of mixed Poles, Yugoslavs, etc. led by Sam PANICHE, an Italo-American, with an American wife. PANICHE was a small fat man who came from Caglia [possibly Caglio]. In April the Germans attacked the band and they all disappeared and decided to lie low, which did not suit source so he continued northwards to Modena.

May 1944. In May he contacted ARMANDO’s formation of Partisans, a large and well-organised formation. Here he also met Capt. NARDI, who was acting as Chief-of-Staff to the Partisan Army Corps of the Modena-Emilia area. He spent 2 weeks with the Italians, and then attached himself to a Russian band which was part of the above mentioned Army Corps. The Russians were led by a very capable Russian Captain, whose name source does not remember. He believes the Captain has since been sent to London.

June 1944. The Headquarters of the band was near Montefiorino. Here he met Major JOHNSTON, and from that time was more or less under Major JOHNSTON’s orders.

31st July 1944. When the big German offensive started, source was with a detachment of the Russian band at Monte Cantieri (map reference 3186). The only Englishman with him was A/C [Air Commodore] MACCORRY, R.A.F. They were all forced to disperse and source made for Major JOHNSTON.

2nd Sept 1944. Whom he met on 2 September with Captain DAVIES, WILKOCKSON, HOLLAND and LLOYD-ROBERTS at Montefiorino. By that time Villa Minozzo had been occupied by the Germans. Source was ordered to accompany Capt. DAVIES to Zeri to meet Major LETT. On their journey they met a priest who told them that the German offensive had also cleared Major LETT’s area, so they returned to Monte Tondo (Major JOHNSTON’s H.Q.)

August 1944. From mid-August onwards source was engaged on various small operations under Major JOHNSTON’s orders.

Sept ’44. In early September he was sent to Captain WILKCOCKSON at Lama di Monchio for 14 days, where he was put in charge of a squad of 8 men and attacked German traffic on the roads. He then returned to Major JOHNSTON, who sent him to Capt. DAVIES at Musiara (9553). During September he operated with a squad of 10 men along the Pontremoli road destroying 5 or 6 enemy trucks and engaging various enemy patrols. Source states that Capt. HOLLAND can give a full report on these activities.

October 1944. During October he continued operating under Capt. HOLLAND.

23rd Nov 1944. On 23rd November, owing to the impossibility under prevailing conditions of successfully operating throughout the winter, source asked Major JOHNSTON for permission to cross the lines, which was granted.

26th Nov 1944. He made his way south via Ligonehio [Ligonchio], Ospitaletto, Sillano, Cureggia [Careggine], Colli, where he met Major OLDHAM and stayed for two days.

30th Nov 1944. From there, with the help of a local guide, he crossed the lines about the 30th November by way of Pania Della Croce. He was taken to Pietrasanta, Vis Reggio [Viareggio], Leghorn [Livorno, traditionally known in English as Leghorn], from where he managed to get to Florence, where he contacted Special Force, who sent him down to Rome. He is now staying at P/W [prisoner of war] Collecting Post on Highway 7 just outside Rome.

Personalities

Just before source was captured in December 1943 he had been in the company of Capt. Alfred Ralph NOYES, Adjutant to 21 R.H.A. [Royal Horse Artillery], captured at El Alamein. He escaped from Moden [Modena] P/W camp on 8 Sept 43. Source met him near Pistois [perhaps Pistoia], and they came south together. Source left him at Capistrello, but heard later from other British Ps/W [prisoners or war] that Capt. NOYES had been shot by a German patrol early in December, and had been buried at Civitella Roveto near Avezzano.

ARMANDO. Source described him as 45 years of age approximately, height 5 ft. 9 ins. Grey hair, well built. Source considers him lacking in personality and not a good leader.

DAVIDE. ARMANDO’s commissar in July. Communist. A lawyer of Bologna and believed to be quite a rich man. His attitude tended to be anti-British, especially before the arrival of the B.L.Os, after which he refrained from anti-Allied speeches.

Interrogator’s Impressions

Source has served under Major JOHNSTON in the Field for some months. In view of the copy of a reference from Major JOHNSTON (attached) a personal impression by the interrogator on a snap judgment would be superfluous. Source has been mentioned in the Field traffic by Major JOHNSTON (26th July and 1st Nov. 1944). The latter message reads:-

“STYLES would certainly have been commissioned had he not been captured so early with the 2nd Armoured Div.”

ENVELOPE BLUE (28 Oct) reports:- “STYLES’ leadership, courage and keenness are an example to all and most unusual in P.O.W. We recommend him for B.E.M. [British Empire Medal]. Please refer to JOHNSTON.”

Source is keen to return to Major JOHNSTON’s area with picked, trained squad of 8–10 men to harry German road communications in the area throughout the winter. He would prefer to take trained men with him rather than pick up and train individuals in the Field, where ammunition is so precious. I told him I would present his application to the appropriate authorities, without expressing any opinions on its likelihood of acceptance.

There are no security problems arising from this interrogation. END.

Following his return to the UK in January 1945, Lance-Corporal Styles was mentioned in Despatches for his conduct in Italy, and attached to 161 Reconnaissance Regiment. In September of that year he was posted to 100 Officer Cadet Training Unit. He was released to the Army Reserve in June 1946. His military conduct was recorded as exemplary; “A very capable man of excellent appearance and character. He is meticulous in his work and thoroughly honest and sober.”

7906218 Lance Corporal William Kensett STYLES Royal Armoured Corps

Deemed to have been enlisted into the Royal Armoured Corps embodied Territorial

Army and posted to 4th County of London Yeomanry – 12.12.39 [December 12, 1939]
Posted to Headquarters 2nd Armoured Division – 14.06.40 [June 14, 1940]
Reported missing – 08.04.41 [April 8, 1941]
Confirmed Prisoner of War – 08.04.41 [April 8, 1941]
In allied hands reached South Italy – 12.12.44 [December 12, 1944]
Repatriated to United Kingdom and attached to 161 Reconnaissance Regiment – 09.01.45 [January 9, 1945]
Posted to 161 Reconnaissance Regiment – 12.04.45 [April 12, 1945]
Posted to 100 Officer Cadet Training Unit – 30.09.45 [September 30, 1945]
Released to Army Reserve – 01.06.46 [June 1, 1946]
Discharged from Reserve Liability – 30 June 1959.
Auth: Navy, Army and Air Forces Reserve Act 1959.

Service with the Colours – 12.12.39 – 01.06.46 [December 12, 1939 – June 1, 1946]

Overseas Service: Middle East – 13.11.40 – 07.04.41 [November 13, 1940 – April 7, 1941]
Italy (Prisoner of War) – 08.04.41 – 11.12.44 [April 8, 1941 – December 11, 1944]
Allied Army Italy – 12.12.44 – 08.01.45 [December 12, 1944 – January 8, 1945]

Military Conduct: Exemplary

Testimonial: “A very capable man of excellent appearance and character. He is meticulous in his work and thoroughly honest and sober.”

Medals issued etc:
Mentioned in Despatches London Gazette 20.09.45 [September 20, 1945]
1939–45 Star, Africa Star and War Medal 1939–45

OF 14a

Gino Beer, with some girls at Farneta, near Montefiorino, 1944

I corresponded this week with Italian Michele Becchi concerning Gino Beer, who as a young man served in the fighting group headed by escaped POW Victor Styles. (See “Trooper Victor Styles—P.G. 52 Prisoner.”)

Michele Becchi researches WWII British Liaison Officers in Italy, ex-POWs, and downed pilots trying to reach the Allied lines. He is particularly interested in partisan warfare in his area of Italy, as well as Special Operations Executive (SOE) and Office of Strategic Services (OSS) missions.

Michele knows and has interviewed Gino.

Michele wrote, “Victor Styles was leader of a special ex-POW fighting group working for the ‘TOFFEE’ mission. I’m trying to find the names of other POWs and Italian partisan members of that group. Gino served in the group.

“I meet Gino Beer years ago, when I was researching ‘Operation Tombola,’ an SAS [Special Air Service] operation against a German headquarters not far from my town.

“Gino was an Italian Jew from Genoa; he and his family was persecuted by the Nazis and fascists due to his origin. After a brief spell with the Ligurian partisans, Gino and his family transferred to Modena, in 1944, to avoid death. But the situation worsened, and Gino was forced to join the partisans of the Reggio-Modena mountains.

“A brief flashback: In summer 1944, the partisans of Reggio and Modena freed a large (more than 40 square kilometers) area around Montefiorino, where they established a ‘free republic.’ The Allies, hoping to break the German lines, organized the so-called “Operation Batepits,’ the drop of an Italian parachute battalion which, with the help of the partisans, would have stormed the rear of the German front in order to help the Allied effort. To do so, they first dropped a large amount of stores, and a strong SOE party. But, in the last days of July 1944, the Jerries anticipated the operation and in a few days destroyed the partisan republic. The SOE party was forced to split: Majors Wilcockson and Johnston remained in the Modena area, where they formed the first bulk of the SOE ‘ENVELOPE BLUE’ mission; Captain Holland and Sergeant Hayhurst went to the Parma mountains and started the ‘TOFFEE’ mission. Major Jim Davies became the commander for all the SOE of the area, included those formed by ex-POWs like Oldham (‘TURDUS’ mission) and Gordon Lett (‘BLUNDELL’ mission).

“Gino was picked up by Davies and Wilcockson, and he learned fast how to stay alive, with all the dirty tricks included. He told me that on two occasions he evaded German control simply by cutting the throats of sentries with a razor blade hidden between his fingers.

“Later, Gino joined assorted groups of ex-POWs, working for Davies and the other BLOs as a courier, and also in a special unit of harassers—ambushing German traffic, and killing sentries and German officers.

“Gino did this work for some months, walking up and down the Appennines in the provinces of Reggio, Modena, Parma, Massa and Lucca, before ending up at the British Mission of Major Davies and Captain Michael Lees in the Farneta area, between Reggio and Modena.

“Mr. Bruno Gimpel, who worked as cipher officer for Johnston and Lees, knew Gino very well, and he told me Gino was 17 years old when he met him in the winter of 1944–1945.

“After the war Gino became an engineer for the Ansaldo company. He lives in Chiavari.”

Gino Beer, while traveling for the SOE at Secchio, in February 1945

Michele Becchi with Gino Beer, at Gino’s home in Chiavari, 2011