4079066 Morgan FRANCIS, 1/SWB: 08/02/1944

A POW in Italy , died 8/2/44. I know nothing about army POW research . Can’t find anything . Any kind , more knowledgeable soul have anything please

 

From the file WO392/21 British National Archive he is listed as being held at Camp 68 (Vetralla) as of August 1943. It must always be stated that these listings have been known to contain errors. See below:

 

Thank you kindly . It looks like
He died after an escape ?

 

Hello Jonheyworth,

I am pleased to be able to help out.

Morgan Francis was held in PG 68 Vetralla until the camp closed in December 1942. It appears that he was one of the 500 Pows sent from there to PG 70 Monte Urano (Fermo) in the Marche region of Italy.

After the Italian armistice of 8 September 1943 the prisoners dispersed into the countryside. Many were sheltered by local families. On 8 February 1944 two POWs were shot at a place not far from the camp called Penna San Giovanni. They were buried there and taken from the local cemetery to Coriano Ridge. The information about the initial burial comes from Morgan's concentration form (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) which I have downloaded from their site and attached below. Sheet 125 (Fermo) and grid square 5385 are given as the original burial place. The Reference S.I.B. refers to the Special Investigations Branch which carried out the investigations into these two deaths.

This is a link to Google maps which shows Penna San Giovanni and Fermo.

At the end of the war a War Crimes Investigation was carried out into the shootings and the report is in The National Archives at Kew:

WO 311/1214 Shooting of two British escaped prisoners of war at Penna San Giovanni Italy 8 February 1944. Note: With photographs.

If you can get hold of a copy without going to Kew - there are some people on this site who will obtain it for you at a reasonable price- you will get all the information you need.

Best wishes,

Vitellino

Edited to say that the sheet number is wrong - it is Sheet 124 - the portion showing Penna San Giovanni is below. This is from the 1:100.000 Series, McMaster maps

 

I should have asked where the bit of information you do have came from.

 

Casualty lists report him:
List No. 879 - Missing 21.6.42
List No. 902 - Previously reported missing now POW
List No. 1726 - Died 8.2.44
List No. 1758 - Corrected to KIA

 

Thank you all very much indeed . I assume the other POW shot was Sgt Holmes RAF who was buried with him

 

That's what I understand, though I haven't read the report.

 

A militia patrol had just arrived in the town on the afternoon of the 8th. Holmes and Francis were alerted to this and hid near the river Salino, just north of Penna San Giovanni. They were discovered by a member of the militia who initially apprehended them but a struggle ensued in which Francis was shot in the head. Holmes tried to run, but was shot twice in the back. The local farmers recovered the bodies and they were burried in the local cemetary.

The militia were already transporting another POW who overheard the shooter describing the events to his colleagues. Three local farmers witnessed the shooting, and other people around the village witnessed the events before and after the shooting. The British investigation into the murder in 1945 identified a suspect, but the suspect had been killed on the 23rd February 1944 in a partisan ambush.