British servicemen assisted through enemy lines in tuscany

Discussion in 'Italy' started by samuele, Mar 18, 2012.

  1. samuele

    samuele Junior Member

    My father (Samuele Danti) was an italian partisan in tuscany, italy under the command of major Anthony Oldham. He helped two british servicemen escape and avoid capture by the enemy. A relative of mine in italy says he thinks the names of the two servicemen sounded like Frank Adonis and Hugo Adoria. Can anyone help find out if this is correct and if they are still alive or have any relatives I can contact?
     
  2. RemeDesertRat

    RemeDesertRat Very Senior Member

    Can't help, but the names don't sound particularly British to me, perhaps from one of the allied nations wearing British uniform?
    Good luck with your research, though, sounds like an interesting story.
     
  3. wowtank

    wowtank Very Senior Member

    Are there Anglo equivalents to the sir names such as Adams or Atkins. If this is 1944 or after could they be Bazillion?? I don't know anything about the Italian campaign (or Bazillion names) so it might be a silly thing to suggest.
     
  4. samuele

    samuele Junior Member

    Could one of the servicemen be Adams (possibly Frank)?
     
  5. vitellino

    vitellino Senior Member

    Hello Samuele,

    I think I've found Frank Adams. His son posted this comment on another website and if you send me a private message I will give you his address:


    I would like to place a notice in your newsletter asking whether anyone (or their relatives) escaped from Campo 49 Fontanellato in Italy with Lt. Frank Adams, 3rd Royal Tank regiment, Personal Number 71620. Frank Adams, my father, left the main group with two others and for a year hid out in the hills, finally crossing American lines in the Florence area in late 1944. He wrote one brief memoir which is now lost and he died 39 years ago. I have tried asking through the San Martino Association without any success.

    Saluti,

    Vitellino

    I've now checked on all the men being held in PG 49 and have come up with Captain Hugh Cruddas who given his post -war lifestyle might well have gone under the nickname of Adonis. There's and Escape and Evasion report for him so I suggest you request it from a researcher at the National Archives. You can contact them on this site.

    Cruddas is mentioned in a book by Sofka Zirovieff entitled, 'The Mad boy, Lord Berners, My Mother and Me'. Here's what she says:

    Hughie, as he was known, was the son of a lieutenant colonel in the Indian Medical Service. He had been wounded in the leg, then captured in North Africa in 1941, then imprisoned in an Italian POW camp near Parma. When Italy surrendered in 1943 he and many others escpaed into the hills before the Nazis arrived to escort the prisoners to Germany. Along with two companions Hughie walked the 500 miles down through German -occupied Italy to reach the Allies in Bari.


    The report will almost certainly name his companions and with a bit of luck the families who helped them.

    In bocca al lupo, (best of luck)

    Vitellino
     
    Tricky Dicky likes this.
  6. samuele

    samuele Junior Member

    Hello Vitellino,

    I have actually spoken to Frank Adams' son Andrew today and received some emails from him. He has indicated that his father and another British serviceman that he thinks is called Lt Hugh Dorrien were escorted by my father Samuele Danti to the allied (Amercan?) forces on the west coast. Do you know anything about Hugh or maybe Hugo Dorrien?

    Regards
    Eric Danti
     
  7. vitellino

    vitellino Senior Member

    Hello Eric,

    It appears that Lt. Hugh Dorrian also escaped from Campo PG 49 at Fontanellato. His service number was 198251 and he belonged to the Durham Light Infantry. I'll do some more research on him,

    Regards,

    Vitellino
     

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