Hello Piero The information you have about my dad is about as much as we have, but very interestingly we have found a letter from him sent from Stalag VII A, (attached) the copy is a little unclear but it is dated 20th Jan 1944 in it he writes about being being free for about 4 months before being recaptured at midnight on the 23rd Dec 1943 which he just says was a “bit of bad luck” so it would seem he escaped or was freed very likely when Italy surrended and was likely the period of time he was in or around Rosasco being looked after by the villages, I guess within less than a month after being caught by the Germans he had been transported around 600miles directly North to Moosberg and Stalag VII A Albert was recorded as missing at the end 1941 serving in the Western Dessert in the Royal Artillery 65th Anti Tank Regiment, reported as a POW March 1942 then reported as a POW in Camp146 Mortara Pavia 3100 other details are very sketchy, you do have the information we sent earlier if you need it again please let us know, we have applied for his service records but are still waiting , hope this all helps and we look forward to hearing fro you soon Best Wishes Sarita
Dear Sarita , many thanks for the card and the dates will be very helpful to reconstruct the events.Obviously the report if exists would add potentially on the capture . So let s go with a little order . First of all some pictures of Rosasco at the time
Prisoners were in service in 2 Farms : Farm Aie on the road to Robbio .here are some pictures with Google Map location. The last one is an old picture which shows the Farm in the distance
View attachment 227328 View attachment 227328 View attachment 227328 The second Farm they were assigned to was Cascina Cortone which today is divided in 2 .You can see a modern house who is still owned by the Natale Family who had them in custody at the time
On the 8th of September it looks prisoners escaped and some of them were guested at this Farm called Cascina Biana . This is were they staied until a Nazi-Fascist roundup took place and that s probably the one your father ended into After the
Anyway to cut a long story short I am meant to interview the eye witness on some videos soon .There seems to be documents as well , so hopefully we can beef up the story ! All the best and stay tuned
Hello Pierrot All very fascinating! thank you so very much for all the information, I have found a small piece of information and I think when Albert was retaken prisoner Dec 43, he may have been sent to Stalag 4f, Hartmansdorf Chemnitz before being moved on again to Stalag VII A Moosburg. should we learn anymore we will of course let you know, again thank you and wait to hear from you. Best Wishes Sarita
Hello Sarita, Regarding your father in Germany, whilst you are waiting for his service record: Many POWs who had been recaptured in Italy were sent first to Stalag VIIB at Moosburg (hence your father's postcard), as it was mainly a transit camp, and from there they were distributed between other camps. In the POW register dated September 1944 (FIle WO 392/1 Held in the National Archives) your father appears in Stalag IVB Muhlberg: Vitellino
Looks as though he was moved slightly again or its a satelite work camp UK, British Prisoners of War, 1939-1945 Name: A F Myhill Rank: Gunner Army Number: 1557752 Regiment: Royal Artillery POW Number: 275450 Camp Type: Stalag Camp Number: IV-F Camp Location: Hartmannsdorf, Saxony Record Office: Royal Artillery (Field) Record Office, Foots Cray, Sidcup, Kent Record Office Number: 5 From WO 224 205 TD
He probably did move again - the date on the above document is 31 December 1944. When Sarita gets his service record all should become clear.
Hello to all those following this thread, many thanks to your contributions and interest , Vitellino I am interested in how you have sourced this POW information, particularly the National Archives as I have not had a lot of luck with my searches ! are there any links, do I need to register or is there a fee for searches, and TD where was your info sourced ? if anybody can advise this would be most appreciated , Many thanks Sarita
Part V | The National Archives WO 224 - War Office: International Red Cross and Protecting Powers (Geneva): Reports concerning Prisoner of War Camps in Europe and the Far East Reference: WO 224/205 Description: Part V Date: 1945 Jan. - 1945 Apr. Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record(s) Closure status: Open Document, Open Description TD
Hi, Your best bet would be to apply to Red Cross for his POW records - the NA extract posted is from the Red Cross lists. Many ex Italian POW’s passed through Mooseburg and were allocated POW numbers in the 155 series - including my father. Here is the ICRC link. It is a free service and takes about 4 months to get a reply. You need to be quick off the mark and complete the online application from that will pop up on the site on the morning of 17th September as the window closes within 48 to 72 hours of opening. Requests for information about people held during Spanish Civil War or the Second World War: Quarterly limit reached It will give you full chapter and verse on his POW movements in Italy and Germany. You may be lucky and get another POW postcard as I received one from the ICRC file - sent by my father in July 1944. Another NA source are the German POW central register index cards which were seized in 1945 and are in the course of being didgitised at the moment. It used to be a free service but there is now a charge. My father’s Index Card told me no more than I’d gleaned from his POW Liberation Questionnnaire and Red Cross papers and I would have struggled to interpret the “Gothic” German script without the hints from the other documents. I think a member paid over £20 to get her relatives Index Card from NA recently - not money well spent! If you want to go down that route it’s better to ask on the forum as several members offer a look up and copy service at a fraction of NA fees. Steve
Many thanks Have visited the site and seen next available search date Much appreciated Sarita QUOTE="Tullybrone, post: 797427, member: 22556"]Hi, Your best bet would be to apply to Red Cross for his POW records - the NA extract posted is from the Red Cross lists. Many ex Italian POW’s passed through Mooseburg and were allocated POW numbers in the 155 series - including my father. Here is the ICRC link. It is a free service and takes about 4 months to get a reply. You need to be quick off the mark and complete the online application from that will pop up on the site on the morning of 17th September as the window closes within 48 to 72 hours of opening. Requests for information about people held during Spanish Civil War or the Second World War: Quarterly limit reached It will give you full chapter and verse on his POW movements in Italy and Germany. You may be lucky and get another POW postcard as I received one from the ICRC file - sent by my father in July 1944. Another NA source are the German POW central register index cards which were seized in 1945 and are in the course of being didgitised at the moment. It used to be a free service but there is now a charge. My father’s Index Card told me no more than I’d gleaned from his POW Liberation Questionnnaire and Red Cross papers and I would have struggled to interpret the “Gothic” German script without the hints from the other documents. I think a member paid over £20 to get her relatives Index Card from NA recently - not money well spent! If you want to go down that route it’s better to ask on the forum as several members offer a look up and copy service at a fraction of NA fees. Steve[/QUOTE] Ma
Sarita, I have a copy of document WO 392/1 held in the National Archives which I downloaded FREE In the good old days before they got involved with family history search sites Send me a private message and I will send you the document. Vitellino
Dear All , just back from the weekend and quite shocked to see how much activity has been going on . Now thanks to Mr.Valter who is the local policeman and quite an enthusiast on local history he kindly sent me a diary of a prisoner in Rosasco . A New Zelander which I am appealing to you to help me to locate this book .here some detail Laurence J. Reid H Fiji, North Africa and POW the book is quoted in a master degree thesis made in New Zealand by Alisha Tilbury . You can find the thesis at : "A damned dangerous act" : New Zealand prisoners of war on the run in Europe during the Second World War : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in History at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand Despite not a directly written by Albert still it would give a great feedback on what happened there . The few pages I read on the diary are quite funny and interesting giving a glimpse of the Rosasco life . So your help to track down the book is mostly appreciated . Ciao
HI Piero From the bibliography it seems that Laurence J Reid's memoirs are held at the National Army Museum - Waiorou. Ref 1999.1231. Contact Us : National Army Museum, Waiouru, New Zealand So not a published source and you would need to write to the Museum. Good luck Anne
