63567 Maj. Alistair Carpendale McEwan SAVAGE, MiD, Queen's Royal Regiment; 7 Commando, LAYFORCE: POW

Army Number: 63567
Rank: Major
Name: Alistair Carpendale McEwan SAVAGE, MiD
Unit: Queen's Royal Regiment ; 7 Commando, "A" Battalion Layforce ; 3rd Hussars, RAC ; North Somerset Yeomanry ; Leicestershire Yeomanry


Date of Birth: 12 Nov 1914
Place of Birth: Calcutta
Date of Enlistment: Aug 1934
Date of Capture: 1 Jun 1941
Place of Capture: Sfakia, Crete


London Gazette : 20 November 1942
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35790/supplement/5023/data.pdf
INFANTRY.
The Queen's R.
Lt. A. C. MacE. Savage (63567) to be Capt., 30th Aug. 1942.

London Gazette : 26 February 1946
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37481/supplement/1125/data.pdf
ROYAL ARMOURED CORPS.
3rd H.
Capt. A. C. MacE. SAVAGE (63567) ifrom The Queen's R., to be Capt. 27th Feb. 1946, with precedence next below Capt. P. iW. M. LANCASTER, retaining his present seniority.

London Gazette : 29 August 1947
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38058/supplement/4081/data.pdf
ROYAL ARMOURED CORPS.
3rd. H.
Capt. A. C. MacE. SAVAGE (63567) to be Maj., 30th Aug. 1947.

London Gazette : 7 January 1949
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38505/supplement/124/data.pdf
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve that the following be Mentioned in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Palestine during the period 27th September, 1945—26th March, 1946:—
ROYAL ARMOURED CORPS.
3 H.
Maj. A. C. McE. SAVAGE (63567).

London Gazette : 4 March 1958
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/41326/supplement/1429/data.pdf
3 H.
REGULAR ARMY.
Maj. A. C. M. SAVAGE (63567) retires on retired pay, 1st Mar. 1958. (Reserve Liability.)

 

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C17570949
Reference: WO 416/320/137
Name: Alistair [C] Savage.
Date of Birth: 12/11/1914.
Place of Birth: Calcutta.
Service: British Army.
Rank: Captain.
Regiment/Unit/Squadron: [Queen's Royal Regiment].
Service Number: 63567.
Date of Capture: [unspecified].
Theatre of Capture: [unspecified].
Camp Name/Number: Oflag VIIIF Mahrische-Trubau.
PoW number: 1613.
Date of Death: [unspecified].
Number of Photographs: 0.
Number of Fingerprints: 0.
Number of X-rays: 0.
Number of Cards: 2.
Date: [1939-1945]

 

View Record via Ancestry

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

1. No. 63567
RANK - CAPTAIN
SURNAME - SAVAGE
CHRISTIAN NAMES - ALISTAIR CARPENDALE McEWAN
DECORATIONS -

2. UNIT (ARMY) - THE QUEEN'S ROYAL REGT. (seconded to No. 7 Commando called 'A' BN LAYFORCE in MIDDLE EAST)

3. DIVISION (ARMY) - G.H.Q. M.E. FORCES

4. DATE OF BIRTH - 12 NOV. 1914

5. DATE OF ENLISTMENT - August 1934

6. CIVILIAN TRADE OR PROFESSION - Regular Army Officer

7. PRIVATE ADDRESS - BLUEBELL WOOD, WEST DRIVE, WENTWORTH, SURREY

8. PLACE AND DATE OF ORIGINAL CAPTURE - SPHAKIA, CRETE, 1 JUNE 1941

9. WERE YOU WOUNDED WHEN CAPTURED? - YES

10. MAIN CAMPS OR HOSPITALS IN WHICH IMPRISONED
Camp No. / Location / From / Till
GERMAN KOKINIA HOSPITAL ATHENS 4 June 41 - 1 July 41
ITALIAN AVEROY PRISON ATHENS 15 SEPT 41 - 20 MAY 42
ITALIAN LARISSA CIVILIAN CON. CAMP 26 MAY 42 - 10 NOV 42
ITALIAN BARI JUDICIARY PRISON 25 DEC 43 - 1 MAR 43
ITALIAN SULMONA PENITENITARY 3 MAR 43 - 9 SEPT 43
GERMAN OFLAG VIII F MARISCH TRUBAU DEC 43 - MAY 44
GERMAN OFLAG 79 BRUNSWICK MAY 1044 - 24 APR 45


11. WERE YOU IN A WORKING CAMP?
Location / From/ Till / Nature of Work
NO

12. DID YOU SUFFER FROM ANY SERIOUS ILLNESSES WHILE A P/W?
Nature of Illness / Cause / Duration
NERVOUS BREAKDOWN BAD TREATMENT & long periods of solitary confinement AUG 1942 - DEC 1942
12 b. DID YOU RECEIVE ADEQUATE MEDICAL TREATMENT?
YES considering the general bad conditions in LARISSA Concentration Camp.
THE GREEK RED CROSS & LATER THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS saved my life by ?[sen]ding food and medicines to LARISSA PRISON HOSPITAL.


GENERAL QUESTIONNAIRE PART II TOP SECRET

1. No. 63567
RANK - CAPTAIN
SURNAME - SAVAGE
CHRISTIAN NAMES - ALISTAIR CARPENDALE McEWAN


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).
YES. AT INVERARY SCOTLAND, in NOV 1940 by an officer sent specially from the W.O.
( b ) Were you lectured on escape and evasion? (State where, when and by whom.
YES. AS ABOVE.

3. INTERROGATION after capture:
Were you specially interrogated by the enemy? (State where, when and methods employed by enemy).
( 1 ) NOT AT ALL BY THE GERMANS !
( 2 ) YES ON RECAPTURE BY THE ITALIANS from 15 SEPT 41 till FEB 1942.
METHOD - STARVATION, SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, COMPLETE NEGLECT AS REGARDS CLOTHES, WASHING FACILITIES & SANITATION, MEDICAL ATTENTION.


4. ESCAPES attempted:
Did you 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?)
( 1 ) ESCAPED FROM TRANSIT CAMP in ATHENS with LIEUT. K. MAXWELL, LT. SINCLAIR NZ FORCES. RECAPTURED BY ITALIAN CONTRA ESPIONAGE IN ATHENS ON SEPT 15 1941. LT. SINCLAIR reached EGYPT.
( 2 ) ATTEMPTED ESCAPE from LARISSA with Pte. P. WINTER, N.Z. FORCES was caught in the second wire entanglement. Both whipped 40 STROKES on bare backs.
( 3 ) ESCAPED from SULMONA PENITENTIARY on 12 SEPT 1943 with CAPT. McNABB & 10 B. ORs. Recaptured 12 NOV 1943 by S.S.
SPACE DOES not permit details & NAMES. REFER Q Form.


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).
Tpr. LEONARD Lawrence 17/21 LANCERS M.O. att'chd to G.H.Q. in ATHENS acted as stool pigeon in AVEROF PRISON for Italians. Informed against me personally and against other British & Greeks whose names I can give if necessary.


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.)



GENERAL QUESTIONNAIRE PART II TOP SECRET
(continued)

8. Have you any other matter of any kind you wish to bring to notice?
-


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 25 April 1945
Signature A C McE Savage, Capt.

 

Sarafand M.E.F.

27 APR 46
MI9/19
War Office

Ref MI9/19(8).1385
MI9/GEN/198418

I am afraid that this reply to your letter is very late. Since I received it I have been unable to find the time to give a full report as required by you.

I will now concentrate on para ( d ) of your letter, as I feel that this is the one you really require from me.

 

John Kazazas
159 Kowndoriotos St
Piraeus
Trade:- Owner of a small General Store

The above named gentleman and his wife and daughter (the latter two now deceased) gave me shelter in Piraeus in July and August 1941 for a period of 3 weeks off and on. This was a particularly difficult time as the Germans were searching for me personally and food was extremely scarce.
One of my former assistants and hosts, Elias Papavasiliou hereafter mentioned separately, had been captured by the Gestapo and was being tortured daily in an endeavour to make him betray my whereabouts which he knew to be with J. Kazazas. In spite of this risk Kazazas steadfastly stood by me until other safe quarters could be found for me. He has never asked for any monetary reward or recognition, but would appreciate a suitable certificate or medal to show for his services to the British.

I had a letter from him the other day, to say that he was in hospital in bad health and that his daughter had been killed in an air raid on Piraeus during the war. His wife had also died as a result of their privations during the war.

I the could be given some recognition of his services to me, it would be a greatly deserved reward.

 

Mrs Margarita Macriani
Odos Lisbon 8
Athens

Gave Lt. K.N. MAXWELL, 5 Bn Q.O. CAMERON HIGHLANDERS and I shelter in her house for a fortnight from Sept 1 - 15th, when we were captured by the Italian Police. As a result she was condemned to 18 months prison which she passed in the Averof Prison Athens in the women's Section, where she suffered much hardship before she was released on the expiry of her punishment.

She was extremely courageous under cross-examination and did not reveal any secrets or make any statements which might have cost me and Lt. MAXWELL our lives.

I consider that she deserves recognition in the form of a medal or certificate which would cost nothing and be very much appreciated.

 

Elias Papavasiliou
Condili 40
Kokkinia Greece

Barber by trade

Helped about a dozen British soldiers to escape from Kokkinia P.O.W. Transit Camp in July and August '41.

He allowed his house to be used as a clearing house for any escapees who were traced in the neighbourhood. Eventually he was betrayed by someone and arrested by the Gestapo who did all they could to persuade him to talk, without success. Finally after a bad beating up he was released by them only to be re-arrested by the Italians on the information of another informer.

He passed two years in prison before being released by the Allies.

He is a firm friend of England and thoroughly deserves recognition in the form of money, a medallion or a certificate.






The three above mentioned Greeks are the most deserving cases that I encountered when an escaped prisoner in Greece. I hope that they will be duly rewarded

A C McE Savage, Major

 

London Gazette : 7 January 1949
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38505/supplement/124/data.pdf

 

See also:

• SAVAGE, Alistair Carpendale Mcewan | ͏
• Major Robin Savage
• Obituary: Maj R. Savage | QRH Museum
• 
  
• "An Original Commando Maj ‘Robin’ Savage, Alistair Carpendale McEwan, died on 3 July aged 85. He had an extraordinary, varied, career, and all that he did, he did well, and with unobtrusive modesty. Those that knew him well, realised that he was an outstanding and brave soldier and a talented sportsman.
• He was accepted by Winchester College without a formal exam, because of his cricket! Once there he excelled at all games. He benefited from much coaching at Lords by Archie Mclaren, then captain of England, and he beat Laddie Lucas in the Boy’s Golf championship. Like ‘Monty’, a cousin of his father, he expected another war with Germany and wanted to be ready for it.
  At Sandhurst, he was captain of golf, and was in the teams for cricket and fencing as well as being in the senior ride.
  He was commissioned into the Queen’s Royal Regiment, (West Surrey), and was soon posted to Quetta, where he arrived in time to help deal with the consequences of a terrible earthquake. In 1935, Sir Maurice Hallett, then Governor of the Central Provinces, and soon to become Governor of Bihar and Orrisa, requested that Robin should join his staff as an ADC. The offer was accepted by Robin against the advice of his Commanding Officer, and the next three years were of exceptional interest.
  Bihar was about to have free democratic elections, the very first in India, followed by the formation of a democratic government. This was an experiment in devolution and a move towards self-rule for India. Sir Maurice had been chosen for Bihar, as the most able senior official in the Indian Civil Service, and the best man to handle this delicate transition. This posting also provided Robin with opportunities for all the sports of British India, and he took the fullest advantage that time allowed.
  On returning to England early in 1939, he was soon posted as an instructor at an officer cadet training unit at Colchester. When the war was declared, he was anxious to get fighting. He volunteered twice for the RAF, but then learned of the creation of the Commandos, so volunteered for these also, and was accepted.
  Armed with a letter from Winston Churchill, no volunteer could be refused permission to join the Commandos, and he selected his 2IC and a troop of ruffians, whom he trained for war. These became ‘F’ troop of 7 Commando and eventually went to the Middle East as a part of ‘Layforce’. Some aspects of this were described, famously, by Evelyn Waugh.
  Robin’s troop distinguished themselves in operations that were not entirely successful. The first was the Bardia raid when they landed in Crete as a base for operations but were immediately employed to cover the evacuation. The commander of 7 Commando panicked, leaving a void. Robin personally helped Brig Laycock to evacuate, in the last ship, before returning to fight, which they did for four days without food, and until ammunition had run out. Then their orders were to surrender.
  In the back of a lorry, they were driven erratically by a drunken German, until he drove off the road on a mountainside. Robin was at the very back preparing to escape, and so was able to jump nearly clear. Most of the others were killed. As soon as possible he escaped from the PoW hospital, joining other escapees. Greek civilians were outstandingly supportive, brave and generous, but after many adventures he was recaptured, and treated as a spy, being held in the MO Averof prison.
  After ten months he was tried by the Italians and condemned to 30 years imprisonment. The main evidence against Robin was provided by a British soldier, who specialised in giving false evidence in return for food and favours.
  He was transferred to Larissa, a concentration camp that became notorious. He soon tried to escape, but when he was halfway through the wire, a thunderstorm over Mount Olympus woke the guards. He and his companion were given 60 lashes with a wire-lined rubber truncheon, placed in solitary confinement next to the cess pits, and starved.
  Marcel Junod, a committee member of the International Red Cross and head of the IRC delegation in Berlin, had been searching Greece for Robin and found him in the camp hospital ward. He bribed the camp commandant with his Dunhill lighter, and that may have saved Robin’s life. Soon he was transferred back to the Averof, and thence to Italy and the penitentiary at Sulmona.
  When Italy surrendered Robin was rescued by his Commando troop 2IC who was in a nearby PoW camp – he knew that the British were in the prison, but was astonished to find his troop leader! Robin and another were too weak and emaciated to move far, but an RAF sergeant, Paddy Doulin, volunteered to nurse them back to strength, and try to rejoin the British, then south of the Sangro river.
  Paddy got across but Robin was recaptured by the Germans. He ended the war in a PoW camp near Hanover being correctly treated.
  Soon after the war, he was recruited by Roy Farran for the 3rd Hussars, from the Centre for Arab Studies, at that time, in Jerusalem. In Palestine, he served as Adjutant and commanded ‘A’ Squadron, which was noticeably independent, efficient and unpopular with the RSM. His next posting was as 2IC at the North Somerset Yeomanry.
  He was recommended for command of the 3rd Hussars but was considered to be too young. He accepted a posting as 2IC of his regiment in Germany. This was a mistake as a career move because at the next opportunity he would be too old! He never regretted this as it enabled him to have four glorious years hunting in Leicestershire, while living in Melton Mowbray, serving as 2IC of the Leicestershire Yeomanry. A brief interlude followed when he tried to control the press during the Suez campaign.
  Soon after this, he left the Army and emigrated to Kenya, where he went to Egerton Agricultural College, before buying a farm. He was well respected as a farmer first near Thompson’s falls, on ‘blood pressure ridge’, and then at Mau Narok, where he became well known in the polo world.
  In 1974 he returned to England and lived in Chobham. Robin never married. During his retirement, his greatest joys were his flyfishing trips around the world, and the families of his brothers, who all adored him. Appreciating his kindness, stories and sense of humour.
  He died in hospital, soon after returning from a happy week camping in Arctic Russia, during which he caught 12 salmon, ending the week at midnight drinking vodka and eating reindeer kebabs with the Russians."