2696856 Guardsman David Grugan HANNAH, Scots Guards & LRDG: POW

Army Number: 2696856
Rank: Guardsman
Name: David Grumman HANNAH
Unit: 2 Scots Guards attached Long Range Desert Group



See full Casualty list, posted in link
2695669 Guardsman Thomas Charles TRISTAIN, Scots Guards & LRDG: Escaper & Evader
Middle East, Missing 25/11/42

 

Via Ancestry:

WO 392/1
Name D. Hannah
Rank Gdsm.
Military Date 1939-1945
Regiment S.g.
Service Number 2696856
Description 1: Imperial Prisoners of War Held in Germany or German-Occupied Territory: British Army

WO 392/11
Name D. Hannah
Rank Gdsm.
Military Date 1939-1945
Regiment S.g.
Service Number 2696856
Description 11: Imperial Prisoners of War Held in Germany or German-Occupied Territory: British Army

WO 392/21
Name D. Hannah
Rank Gdsm.
Military Date 1939-1945
Regiment S.g.
Service Number 2696856
Description 21: Imperial Prisoners of War Held in Italy, Italian-Occupied Territory: British & Commonwealth Army


Prisoner of War Collections. Sussex, England: The Naval and Military Press.
Name D Hannah
Rank Guardsman
Army Number 2696856
Regiment Scots Guards
Camp Number 339
Record Office Scots Guards Record Office, 25/28, Buckingham Gate, London, SW1
Record Office Number 13

 

PART I.
GENERAL QUESTIONNAIRE FOR BRITISH/AMERICAN EX-PRISONERS OF WAR.

1. No. 2696856
RANK - Guardsman
SURNAME - HANNAH
CHRISTIAN NAMES - David Grugan
DECORATIONS -

2. UNIT (ARMY) - Long Range Desert Group (2nd Scots Guards)

3. DIVISION (ARMY) - 8 Army

4. DATE OF BIRTH - 2/6/19

5. DATE OF ENLISTMENT - 28/10/39

6. CIVILIAN TRADE OR PROFESSION - Labourer

7. PRIVATE ADDRESS - 25 Park St., Blackwood, Lanark, Scotland

8. PLACE AND DATE OF ORIGINAL CAPTURE - 25/11/1942

9. WERE YOU WOUNDED WHEN CAPTURED? - No

10. MAIN CAMPS OR HOSPITALS IN WHICH IMPRISONED
Camp No. / Location / From / Till
66 / Capua / 8/1/42 / 8/2/43
70 / Monturano, Fermo / 11/2/43 / 26/9/43
Padua, Trieste / 28/2/44 / 16/3/44

See p.3 explaining gaps in time.

11. WERE YOU IN A WORKING CAMP?
Location / From/ Till / Nature of Work
-

12. DID YOU SUFFER FROM ANY SERIOUS ILLNESSES WHILE A P/W?
Nature of Illness / Cause / Duration
-

12 b. DID YOU RECEIVE ADEQUATE MEDICAL TREATMENT?
-


GENERAL QUESTIONNAIRE PART II TOP SECRET

1. No. 2696856
RANK - Guardsman
SURNAME - HANNAH
CHRISTIAN NAMES - David Grugan


2. LECTURES before Capture:
( a ) Were you lectured in your unit on how to behave the event of capture? (State where, when and by whom).
No
( b ) Were you lectured on escape and evasion? (State where, when and by whom.
No

3. INTERROGATION after capture:
Were you specially interrogated by the enemy? (State where, when and methods employed by enemy).
No

4. ESCAPES attempted:
Did yo make any attempted or partly successful escapes? (Give details of each attempt accurately, stating where, when, method employed, names of your companions, wherein when recaptured and by whom. Were you physically fit? What happened to your companions?)
I made two escapes, one on the 28/9/1943 and one on the 17/3/44. The first one I was in transit for GERMANY and I heard of a carriage where a hole had been made on the floor. I got out with two other chaps. John LORIMER, A&SH and Donald WRIGHT HAC, See page 3.

5. SABOTAGE
Did you do any sabotage or destruction of enemy factory plant, war material, communications, etc, when employed on working-parties or during escape? (Give details, places and dates.)
No

6. COLLABORATION with enemy:
Do you know of any British or American personnel who collaborated with the enemy or in any way helped the enemy agains other Allied Prisoners of War? (Give details, names of persons concerned, camps, dates and nature of collaboration or help given to enemy).
No

7. WAR CRIMES
If you have any information or evidence of bad treatment by the enemy to yourself or to others, or knowledge of any enemy violation of Geneva Convention you should ask for a copy of "Form Q" on which to make your statement.
(NOTE: Form Q is a separate form inviting information on "War Crimes" and describes the kind of offences coning under this title.)
No


GENERAL QUESTIONNAIRE PART II TOP SECRET
(continued)

8. Have you any other matter of any kind you wish to bring to notice?
-
No

SECURITY UNDERTAKING
I fully realise that all information relating the matters covered by the questions in Part II. are of a highly secret and official nature.

I have had explained to me and fully understand that under Defence Regulations or U.S.A.R. 380-5 I am forbidden to publish or communicate any information concerning these matters.

Date 11/5/45
Signature David Hannah


We walked for a bit after escaping till we met in with an Italian family who took us in. We stay there fora month then a organisation tried to get us away but failed. I lost my companions then and don't know about them.
The second time I escaped we were in a wagon without knifes or anything to make a whole but there was an iron bar running across the roof so we broke it off by pulling it up and down. So we got to work making a hole in the floor which we soon accomplished. I got out first lying on the track till the train passed over us. Then I got up and walked back to where I had been staying previous. (in my bare feet however because the Germans had took away my boots along with all my personnel papers).

 

Many thanks to you dbf for posting these details up. It is very much appreciated.

Guardsman David Hannah was another captured from G1 Patrol that departed from Kufra on 20th November 1942 under the command of Captain Alastair Timpson.

Short extracts from Alastair Timpson's memoir "In Rommel's Backyard":

"On 20th November G1 Patrol under my command left Kufra, ten days after G2 to relieve the latter on road-watch in the Nofilia-Merduma area".

"We had nearly all the new recruits, Scots Guards and Grenadiers, besides a fair sprinkling of old hands" (n.b. David Hannah was one of the new recruits).

On coming under attack "The firing went on for about fifteen minutes with the enemy growing closer, particularly on the right. The enemy fire was directed chiefly at the right of our line where the trucks presented the best target. Some mortar fire and heavy calibre weapons also were giving our men here some trouble. Our Breda gun truck appeared to be hit fairly heavily and most machine guns had been dismounted from the exposed gun mountings and were being fired from the ground. Guardsman Hannah on No. 4 truck, a new member, was doing good work firing his Vickers "K" from the top of his truck. When it jammed he took over another 0.5" water cooled Vickers behind the driver's seat. The truck was then seen to have a bad knock from a round of the larger enemy gun."

Unfortunately for Guardsman Hannah, when an attempt was made to break from contact and get away from the enemy he was captured. It was in this action that 2695669 Guardsman Thomas Charles TRISTAIN, Scots Guards & LRDG: Escaper & Evader was captured too.

Always remember, never forget,

Jim.