Description
Object description
British officer served as staff officer with 150th Infantry Bde, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in North Africa, 1942; prisoner of war in Campo PG 29, Veano, Italy, 1942-1943; escaped from Italy to Switzerland, 1943
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of period as staff officer with 150th Infantry Bde, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in North Africa, 1942: posting to brigade; Deutsches Afrika Korps attack on brigade; surrounding of brigade and attempt to walk towards British lines; capture by Germans near Gazala, Libya; contingency plan to withdraw to Mersa Matruh, Egypt. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in North Africa, 1942: German handing over of prisoners of war to Italian Army; question of collective punishments; flight from North Africa to Italy; lack of interrogation; German/Italian relations in North Africa. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Campo PG 29, Veano, Italy, 1942-1943: disinfection of prisoners of war; camp life; relations with Italian captors including baiting guards; prisoner of war morale; news of progress of war; supplementing rations; Red Cross parcels; use of batman; escape attempts from camp.
REEL 2 Continues: communication with GB and use of coded messages; instructions as to what prisoners of war should do on Italian collapse; use of spare-time; state depression amongst prisoners of war; story of Royal Navy captain who was repatriated; attitude of batmen to duties; physical condition of prisoners of war; relations between guards and prisoners of war; Italian attitude towards administration of camps; discouragement of prisoners of war watching air raids on Milan; desertion of Italian guards; role of Carabinieri. Recollections of escape from Italy to Switzerland, 1943: escapes from camp; period spent in village near camp.
REEL 3 Continues: reception given to escapers by Italian civilians; attempt to live in woods; how villagers came to take escapers into homes; prestige of entertaining British officer; members of Italian families who sheltered him; organisation of movement of prisoners of war into Switzerland; role and fate of the 'Gangster'; his period sheltering with 'tall' Italian family; organisation of escape work; his escape outfit; journey to Swiss frontier.
REEL 4 Continues: crossing Swiss frontier. Aspects of period as escaper in Switzerland, 1943-1944: reception from Swiss; difference between 'evades de guerre' and internees; period spent at Wil and Arosa; meeting his future wife; problems of administration of prisoners of war in Switzerland; relations between Turkish Cypriots and Swiss girls; attitude of Swiss towards escaped British prisoners of war; story of how he return to GB, 1944; processing of escapers at Princes Risborough, GB.
REEL 5 Continues: Reflections on period as prisoner of war in Italy, 1942-1943: attitude towards Italians and Germans; fate of Rosianna; reception on return to GB; effect of imprisonment on his attitudes.
