Italian Partisans Information

I've been through the extracts from European Q forms files and cannot find a trace, but will send you and Diane with unrelated photos you both may find of interest.

 

My Father late John Grasby 4798694 The 4th Bn East Yorks /Green Howards/Prince of Wales Yorkshire Reg was one of the witnesses in a War crime it happened in Forno Cse (Canavese) a small town in the foothills of the Alps. During WW2

He gave evidence to the Judge Advocate General's Office in London in January 1946. He states that he was sent from PG 53 Macerata POW camp to a work camp in the north - PG 112 Turin and managed to escaped and joined with an Italian Partisan Group

My late Father made Friends with a few of the Partisan and I have a letter written in Italian which language my Father spoke fluently he also sent Photos of his family in Italy and on the letter was his full address

I passed the letter and Photos onto Vitellino from the WW2 Talk site who with those extra details Translated the letter and managed to uncover new Information about my Father WW2 escapades, Vitellino conferred the POW escape and Joining an Italian Partisan group which he stayed with for 2 years or so

My Father only spoke Vagally about his War time Experiences so all this Information Gathered by Vitellino is new to me Vitellino is also looking into the Ex-Partisan who wrote the letter to find possible Family connections who posable still live in the Area and can shed more light on my Fathers time with the Partisan hopefully fingers crossed that is possible I would like to thank Vitellino for all the hard work in discovering these pressurise facts about my Father who sadly died in1975


Attach is the 1946 war crime testimony of my Late Father John Grasby

 

Here are 2 more War Crime Document /witness statements from my Father that he gave to the Judge Advocate General's Office in London in January 1946 they tell of Appalling War crimes the people who committed these crimes are evil and inhuman to say the least my father never spoke of these crimes to me or my family understandable and most likely he wanted to forget about these horrendous War time events, but alas I bet he never did.
Again I would like to thank Vitellino from the WW2 Talk for sending me these 2 War Crime Documents

 

The catalyst for this post was a photo on LinkedIn by Alan Malcher:

The photo was not taken in December! It was from July or August 1944, in Pistoia and its liberation.

A "ding dong" ensued with lots of Italian help. Including two references, to an Italian website (in Italian): Il ruolo rimosso delle donne nella resistenza and to a 2014 book review in the Spectator (Australia), headlined:

Link: The woman who invented the Italian resistance | The Spectator Australia

The city Pistoia does appear in a couple of threads, it was liberated by ad hoc task force of Brazilians, Americans and South Africans.