Lt. James Allgood R.A. and Lt. Jasper Maurice Alexander Ridley K.R.R.C.

Hello everybody,

I am looking for some further information on these two soldiers, who died on 13 December 1943 and are remembered on the Cassino Memorial.

Both were prisoners of war and in WO 392/21 are shown as being held in PG 21 Chieti .

They are mentioned as being held in PG 5 Gavi by prisoner /artist Gordon Horner in his book '28th May 1942. For You the War is Over'. He annotates a drawing saying:

''Jimmy Allgood, killed with 'Chaucer' Ridley after escaping during the Italian Armistice''.

Presumably they were trying to cross the lines rather than escape into Switzerland, given that the month was December. The bodies were never found, or they were found but it was impossible to distinguish one from the other. I have checked the National Archives website and it would seem that either there is no war crimes file on their killing or they were unknown victims of a crime.

Over to you....

Vitellino

 

Casualty List No. 860 Dated 26 June 1942
Expeditionary Forces / Middle East / Western Desert / Prisoner of War
2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps
RIDLEY Lieut JMA 156707

Casualty List No. 1800 Dated 5 July 1945
Presumed Killed in Action
2nd Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps
RIDLEY W/Lt JMA 156707 Date of casualty 13.12.43

 

Thanks.

 

Casualty List No. 1818 Dated 26 July 1945
Expeditionary Forces / Central Mediteranean / Italy / Presumed Killed in Action
Royal Artillery
ALLGOOD W/Lt J, MC 72 Fd Rgt 95136 Date of casualty 13.12.43

Can't find his MC award but there is this with different number:
Recommendation for Award for Allgood, James Rank: Lieutenant Service No: ... | The National Archives

Casualty List No. 788 Dated 3 April 1942
Expeditionary Forces / Middle East / Western Desert / Wounded
Royal Artillery
ALLGOOD W.S./ Lieut J 72 Fd Regt 88190 Date of casualty 21.3.42

Both in same regiment.

 

The man I'm after is James. His MC is recorded by CWGC on his commemoration certificate.

 

I have the following information

ALLGOOD, Lt James 88190 RA (L.G. 12.05.1942) 285 Field Battery RA, 72 Field Regiment RA
"This officer displayed extreme courage and devotion to duty. On the 21st March 1942, he was acting as Command Post Officer to the Battery firing on the Martuba aerodrome and, as such, was the target of enemy heavy counter-battery fire and incessant dive-bombing and machine gun attacks. He displayed a complete disregard for his own safety, carrying on with his work just the same as if it had been a peacetime Artillery practice. He was quite undaunted and, during the very few lulls in these air attacks, continued to engage the enemy. Later on Lt Allgood was wounded, and although unable to stand, continued to give directions for the better control of his battery fire.”

This was a raid mounted by a "Jock Column" to distract attention from a resupply convoy to Malta.

 

Yes, both are called James, strange thing is:
95136, his MC is in the London Gazette but can't find it at TNA.
88190, his MC is in TNA but can't find it in the London Gazette.

 

Jasper Maurice Alexander Ridley

The Shield Evening News, Wednesday, August 2, 1944

The Bystander, June 14, 1939

 

As an extra to my #4 above this is the original entry for 95136 Allgood (wasn't found before as name was transcribed incorrectly)

Casualty List No. 860 Dated 26 June 1942
Expeditionary Forces / Middle East / Prisoner of War
Royal Artillery
ALLGOOD W.S./ Lieut J, MC 72 Fd Regt 95136

Newcastle Journal & North Mail, Monday, July 6, 1942

Newcastle Journal & North Mail, Wednesday, July 8, 1942

 

Thank you for these snippets, Tony. They add to the overall picture.

What I would really like to know is what happened to them after they had escaped following the armistice. Both were killed /died as escapers on 13 December 1943. Almost all the prisoners from Chieti were sent first to PG 78 Sulmona and from there to Germany at the end of September 1943 . At some stage they escaped - possibly from the train.

I have asked CWGC if they have anything on them. The date of death was obtained from somewhere, though their bodies were unidentifiable, hence the commemoration on the Cassino Memorial. Even this is strange, as usually prisoners of war whose bodies were never recovered are remembered on a memorial in the country where they were last in action.

Vitellino

 

CWGC sent me the newspaper cutting as above. That is all they have. I have now asked the question about why the two are remembered on the Cassino Memorial.

 

Agreed, the Bayeux Memorial has the names of men who died as PW in Germany. However, these men weren't PW when they died, but escapees who are free combatants who died in Italy.

 

This rule didn't always apply.

For example, escaper L/Cpl. Dent who was shot by the Germans at Cerignola in Puglia in September 1943 after having escaped from PG 78 Sulmona at the armistice had last been in action in North Africa and is remembered on the Alamein memorial. He too was no longer a POW. Neither were all the escapers who were killed in the Galisia disaster in November 1944 and are remembered at Alamein or on the Medjez - el Bab Memorial. All had been taken prisoner in North Africa. Oddly enough though, three are on the memorial at Cassino.

I will post the CWGC explanation when I get it.

Vitellino

EDITED: From CWGC. The remembrance of Lts. Allgood and Ridley on the Cassino memorial is a mistake. It will be looked into.

 

My son has just drawn my attention to Signora Vitellino’s questions about Lts Allgood and Ridley . I write as Jasper’s Ridley’s son , and have a good deal of information and documentation . Both these soldiers were hiding up , nobly supported by Italian families , in the Campoli Appenino area until early Dec 1943. By that point,it had become all too clear that the dangers both to prisoners and to Italian civilians who helped them were becoming unacceptable; the chances of a swift allied advance , on which everyone was de facto relying , had manifestly become very small; and the weather in winter would make it very hard for escaped POWs to survive in that area and at that height in the lower mountains. In addition my father heard an allied broadcast (perhaps in early Dec)which reported that his brother-in-law, Mark Bonham -Carter, had managed to walk s/e down the Adriatic coast from his camp near Ancona, and to cross the lines to safety. This came as a painful demonstration to my father and Allgood, who had been together for months ever since jumping the train west of Sulmona, that they had made the wrong strategic decision in sitting and waiting for rescue by the advancing allies. They should have risked walking across the lines while they were potentially less complete and perhaps more porous.
Therefore they formed a group with Captain Ricketts The three of them set out from Campoli Appenino on Dec 9th with two friendly Italian soldiers who were trying to get south to their units. On the advice of their hosts , the family of Sr Basilio Conflitti of Campoli Appenino, they probably crossed the Abruzzi ridge due east of Campoli Appenino at the Forca Rasierni, descended to the Sandro plain , and followed either one of the Tratturi and then the the bank of the Sangro itself as it approached Alfedena. While following the bank, the group entered a minefield, in which all but one perished. The survivor , Ricketts, was picked up providentially by a forward British reconnaissance unit, but tragically died of gangrene shortly after, and one presumes was only able to give limited information before losing consciousness.
The subsequent investigations into the fate of the two soldiers’ bodies were drawn out; and inconclusive because no bodies could be found of any members of the party. All of this was com-0klicated by the need to clear the minefield, which did not happen for some time. Ihave never been advised whether my father ‘s death has been commemorated , other than at Monte Cassino.

 

Thanks for this reply.

I cannot access my files until the middle of next week and will comment then

Regards,

Vitellino

 

Hello,

Here is what I have just read on the CWGC website:

''Military casualties buried in a grave are commemorated with a CWGC headstone or pedestal marker. If they have been identified, their military details are engraved in a standard layout. Some may also have a religious emblem and personal inscription chosen by their family.

Those with no known grave are commemorated on one of the Memorials to the Missing, according to where and when they died.''

This is not what happened to many prisoners of war who died in Italy, and as I commented in my early post, the commemoration of Lts. Allgood and Ridley was recognised in being wrong in an email to me in June 2020.

I have not had time to look into this but suggest you do so by visiting CWGC.org.

Please let us know what they say.

Regards,

Vitellino