Description
Object description
Important collection of papers regarding his Second World War service with 2nd Battalion 4th (Prince of Wales' Own) Gurkha Rifles in North Africa and as a prisoner of war, comprising: 4 volumes of transcriptions of a diary written during September 1943 - December 1944, with a historical preface outlining the circumstances of his capture by the Germans on the Gazala Line, Libya, in April 1942 and his confinement as a POW in Italy - PG66 (Capua), PG17 (Rezzanello) and PG49 (Fontanellato) - the diary giving a very detailed and lively account of the events at Fontanellato at the time of the Italian armistice in September 1943, his escape from the camp with fellow POWs, and his journey southwards through Emilia and the Apennines in order to cross Allied lines, his encounters with other escaped Allied POWs and relations with the Italians by whom he was sheltered, his involvement with partisan bands at Comano and Sassalbo, acting as liaison between the partisans and the local SOE officers, before finally meeting up with the US 92nd Division at Barga in December 1944 (the volumes contain numerous wartime documents, newspaper cuttings, photographs of the locations described which he took during a visit to the area after the war, sketches and other ephemera); also 6 notebooks containing his original diary notes (the first two volumes were destroyed), letters and postcards written by him to his parents from Capua, Rezzanello and Fontanellato (August 1942 - August 1943), letters written to his mother by Gurkhas who had served with him and were also taken POW, postwar correspondence with Italians with whom he had been involved after his escape from PG49, miscellaneous postwar correspondence and documents, and a map showing his movements during September 1943 - December 1944.
Content description
Important collection of papers regarding his Second World War service with 2nd Battalion 4th (Prince of Wales' Own) Gurkha Rifles in North Africa and as a prisoner of war, comprising: 4 volumes of transcriptions of a diary written during September 1943 - December 1944, with a historical preface outlining the circumstances of his capture by the Germans on the Gazala Line, Libya, in April 1942 and his confinement as a POW in Italy - PG66 (Capua), PG17 (Rezzanello) and PG49 (Fontanellato) - the diary giving a very detailed and lively account of the events at Fontanellato at the time of the Italian armistice in September 1943, his escape from the camp with fellow POWs, and his journey southwards through Emilia and the Apennines in order to cross Allied lines, his encounters with other escaped Allied POWs and relations with the Italians by whom he was sheltered, his involvement with partisan bands at Comano and Sassalbo, acting as liaison between the partisans and the local SOE officers, before finally meeting up with the US 92nd Division at Barga in December 1944 (the volumes contain numerous wartime documents, newspaper cuttings, photographs of the locations described which he took during a visit to the area after the war, sketches and other ephemera); also 6 notebooks containing his original diary notes (the first two volumes were destroyed), letters and postcards written by him to his parents from Capua, Rezzanello and Fontanellato (August 1942 - August 1943), letters written to his mother by Gurkhas who had served with him and were also taken POW, postwar correspondence with Italians with whom he had been involved after his escape from PG49, miscellaneous postwar correspondence and documents, and a map showing his movements during September 1943 - December 1944.
History note
Cataloguer SWW