I am trying to trace Hugh John Dorrian who was a POW in PG 49 - Fontanellato. He was commissioned into the Durham Light Infantry in 1941 . His battalion - I think the 11th, was converted to tanks. By March 1944 he was with my father , Lt Frank Adams , 3rd RTR, in the villages of Magliano and Ponteccio, Sillano-Guincugnano district of the Alta Garfagnana, NW Tuscany. Sometime in August or early Sept 1944 my father and Hugh Dorrian were guided to Careggine by a partisan ( probably Samuele Danti from Magliano) to pick up another POW escaper and then to the US Army lines, probably south of Massa. I have not been able to find the escape reports of either my father or Hugh Dorrian in the National Archives at Kew and so am hoping that if I can trace Lt Dorrian he may have left some memoir of his time on the run and with the partisans. Enquiries of the Durham Light Infantry Association have drawn a blank and the DLI Museum itself has shut due to budget cuts. Another question relevant to this story. When my father and the two other officers crossed the US Army lines they were suspected of being infiltrators and held for two days in very bad conditions before their identities were confirmed by the British. can anyone shed light on the US Fifth Army's procedures for debriefing escaped POWS - were British personnel passed straight on to British Military Intelligence or debriefed by the Americans first ? Could my father's escape report be in US Army archives ? As we do not know exactly when and where he crossed the front lines we cannot be sure which US unit held him.We can find the line of battle for August to September. Can anyone advise on how best to access US Fifth Army archives ? Thanks
Hi, there seems to be quite a few things at findmypast, but for a Hugh James Dorrian. Born South Shields 1912, death 1988 Bexley, Kent. He's in their POW 1715-1945 Collection for Italy and Casualty Lists three times. Keep an eye on their website, there are always offers or free weekends. Also in their newspaper archive section from the 29 Sep 45 Cheshire Observer "Second daughter of Mr and Mrs Wright, 56 Hanington Street, Handbridge and Lt. Hugh James Dorrian, Durham Light Infantry, only son of Mr and Mrs Dorrian 43 Imeary Street, South Shields. The bride is chief clerk at Messrs. H. Churlon and Sons....."
Hello Italy 1944, In WO 392/21 Pows in Italy (National Archives) Dorrien is also listed as DorriAn. Some American E&E reports are available on line - https://catalog.archives.gov/search?q=*:*&f.ancestorNaIds=305270&sort=naIdSort asc I had a quick look but couldn't find either Adams or Dorrien - need to look again for Dorrian. L/Cpl Stanley Simons, Royal Signals, was picked up by the Americans at Venafro, and was interrogated by them. I have a copy of his E & E Report which I believe was held in the National Archives Kew. I don't know how Simons was treated but a submariner I knew was subjected to very rough teatment from them and had to demand to be handed over to the British for interrogation.. Also, Lt. Col. Robert Leslie Dutton Williams kept a 4 part diary in which he mentions your father and Dorrian. This diary may now be in the Imperial War Museum - check their catalogue. I read about them in L'alleanza inattesa - the Italian translation of Roger Absalom' s book 'A Strange Alliance. Aspects of Escape and Survival iin Italy 1943-5 pub. Olschski 1991. Regards, Vitellino
Dear Amberdog 45, Thanks very much. I'll check findmypast. You must be correct about the second name James, I only inferred John from the list of POWS at Fontanellato ("H.J.Dorrian")
Deat Vitellino, Thanks a lot. I tried "Dorrian" on the American archive but that also had no result. Re Williams' diary, thanks for taking the trouble to look and yes I know of it because I have Absalom's book . In fact it was Absalom's footnote which enabled me to identify the villages of Magliano and Ponteccio and to meet the families who helped POWs there. I can confirm that Williams' diary is in the Imperial War Museum though I haven't seen it yet. In case it is of interest - The US Washington Archives hold all the reports of the Allied Screening Commission which after the war investigated claims for compensation from those who had helped Allied personnel and the ASC also awarded certificates of recognition. None of the ASC Archive has been digitised so all searches have to be manual and on the spot. Re US rough treatment of POWs passing the lines ; the story in my family is that my father and his companions were held for two days with barely food and water in conditions which he described as "not fit for a dog" and despite them being badly malnourished ( the Garfagnana villages were in famine conditions at that time). On verification that they were British officers they were made to accompany the unit commander on an exposed tour of his frontline posts to point out what they knew of the German positions. This treatment in the Massa-Lucca sector seems to me strange given that the Fifth Army was receiving refugees and armed partisans through the lines all the time.
Hugh J Dorrian in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 Name: Hugh J Dorrian Mother's Maiden Name: Gilroy Registration Year: 1912 Registration Quarter: Jan-Feb-Mar Registration district: South Shields Parishes for this Registration District: View Ecclesiastical Parishes associated with this Registration District Inferred County: Durham Volume: 10a Page: 1749 Hugh James Dorrian in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 Name: Hugh James Dorrian Birth Date: 21 Jan 1912 Date of Registration: Sep 1988 Age at Death: 76 Registration district: Bexley Inferred County: Kent Volume: 11 Page: 379 Hugh James Dorrian in the Web: UK, Burial and Cremation Index, 1838-2014 Name: Hugh James Dorrian Death Date: 11 Sep 1988 Burial or Cremation Date: 20 Sep 1988 Burial or Cremation Place: Greenwich, London, England Register Type: Cremation There appears to a private family tree that may have his details - all it has is: Hugh J Dorrian Birth: 1912 - Co Durham (Durham) They can be contacted TD
Thanks TD, do you mean that the family tree is on findmypast or somewhere else ? I did a Google search and did not find it. Thanks
The private family tree I found is on Ancestry - contact can only be made between subscribing members TD
* * He may have served with the 11th Bn Durham Light Infantry, but they did not convert to tanks. Indeed, the 11th Bn Durham Light Infantry, only ever saw service in 70th Infantry Brigade, first in the 23rd (Northumbrian) Division, in Flanders/France 1940, before transferring with 70th Infantry Brigade to the 49th (West Riding) Division (the 'Polar Bears') in July 1940, seeing service in Iceland, the UK and then Normandy in 1944 - where it was broken up to provide reinforcments for other Divisions. The only DLI battalion to convert to tanks was the 15th Bn Durham Light Infantry, which became the 155th Regiment, RAC, in November 1941 and was attached to the 35th Army Tank Brigade, later becoming part of the 79th Armoured Division (Hobart's Funnies). However, it was removed from this Division in April 1944 and never saw action. My conclusion is that, due to the locations visited by the 11th and 15th Bns Durham Light Infantry during WWII, Hugh John Dorrian was not serving with either of them when taken PoW (unless temporarily detached). Advise that you obtain his service records, from these ascertain his unit when taken PoW and then see if there is anything in the applicable 'Missing Personnel' files, War Diaries, etc. There is also the International Red Cross records, which may have such PoW records!
I found this on Durham Archives' website: Ref: D/DLI 2/15/1(11) Group photograph of the officers of the 155th Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps, taken at Wolviston, County Durham, November 1941 Back row: Second-Lieutenants T.R. Brown, H. Watkin-Jones, H.J. Dorrian, J.T.C. Downey, L. Burgess, W.P. Parsons, J.H. Keenlyside, H. Morris, and J.H. Phillips, Reverend J.R. Coonan, Second-Lieutenants W. Taylor, R.P.M. Spencer, and E. Miller Second row: Second-Lieutenants P. Read, J. Fairley, S. McGregor, I. Stuart, E.R. Allan, J.D. Rand, and H.C.F. Brewis, Captain P.C. Dunkley, Captain T.L. Megoran, Second-Lieutenants H.G.M. McGinlay, J. Tait, P.B. Dodkins, J.S.S. Talman, and S.A. Austin Front row: Captains G.G. Harris, R.H. Blackett, and J. Walker, Captain and Adjutant W.E. Bush, Major A.W.T. Harwood, Lieutenant-Colonel E.T. Heslop, Major C.D. Bowdery, Captains R.W. Davis, J. Sidney and J.O. Collingwood, Lieutenant and Quartermaster P. Vahey. Vitellino Have had another look and also found this: Battalion Histories and Scrapbooks (Ref: D/DLI 2/15/1-1(182))Ref: D/DLI 2/15/1 Scrapbook of the 155th Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps, formerly 15th Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry, including articles, cuttings and photographs of the regiment, August 1940 - 23 March 1945 Presented to the battalion by Lieutenant-Colonel E.T. Heslop, 1 September 1943
Link to photo - Search the Catalogue Some other interesting photos in the catalogue - http://www.durhamrecordoffice.org.u...1-a0b4-15bf57d32d90&ImageView=List&Display=50
Dear All, I ws leading you up the garden path with the 11th or 15th Batt DLI. From the US Washington Archives I have just received copies of the claim forms made by Italians at the end of the war for reward or compensation for helping Allied escapers. H.J.Dorrian and my father left letters with their Italian helpers which were sent in to the Allied Screening Commission as evidence and were filed with the claims. The letters and the ASC files confirm that H.J.Dorrian was in the 16th Battalion DLI and so was probably captured in the second Battle of Sedjenane in Tunisia in Feb/March 1943. This still leaves me looking for how to find the US Unit Intelligence reports for the units in front of Massa in late August 1944.
Have you looked at this website? Records of Allied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, World War II Vitellino
