Assistance!

[penderel]

Here is a clipping of a South African Newspaper, The Natal Mercury showing men on Active Service, my Grandfather is shown. Harold Davidson.

[ADM199]

Originally Posted by Scaramooch

ADM199, thank you for the quick response. I was wondering if th 133958 number was his P.O.W. number. I must say his military record here is very sctechy if I must say so. They first had him in camp 66 on the 15/04/1942 then camp 52 on the 24/04/1942. Now you confirm he was in PG52 in August 1943. This is great news. Yes, according to his military record he was reverted to the rank of gnr in 1940. It seems asif you can give me a lot more of info. There is a bit of a delicate situation that I would not like to discuss on a open forum. Would you mind if I send you a private mail with the incident.
Yes I can confirm the time it took the P.O.W. to get back to SA. It looks like from the time he was released Italy, bit confusing here, till he reached Durban it was Jan 1946. His military record shows he was released in April 1945.

The number 133958 was one given when Registered as a P.O.W. in Germany.
Just send me a P.M. or Email if there is something you wish to discuss off Forum.

Brian

[Trojan]

Hi all, cant believe I found this thread, it has so much that is relevant to my own searches.

Both my gandfathers were from Durban (originally English and Scottish but had been living in SA since the early 1930s and volunteered for the SA forces) and were taken prisoner at Sidi Rezegh and Gazala respectively.

My paternal grandfather, Allister Frederick Cripps (Fred), was captured on 23rd Nov 1941 at Sidi Rezegh and I have managed to get a load of info from the International Red Cross on what camps he was in and when. There is a family story that I was named after the ship he was on when he was torpedoed (my name is Jason) and that the ship was blown ashore and he survived although others who abandoned the ship died in the storm. By piecing various dates and things together I am pretty sure that he was on the Jason/Jantzen/Sebastiano Venier, but I'm really after conclusive proof. I was hoping that I could prevail upon ADM199 if you have any info that may be of help. He was in the SA signals corps and I think was part of the 1st SA Inf Div. His service number was 3371. I have lots of pics and docs to share if they are of interest to anyone. have linked a picture of him below.




He was in Camps 85, 65, 70, 75 in Italy and then in Stalag VIIB / 344 in Poland for the rest of the war. I have also been able to prove another family story about him marching through the winter in terrible conditions on the 'Long Marches'. He was aparently carried for some of the way by a good friend called Jack Scadgell, but I have not been able to find any trace of him.

My maternal grandfather, Thomas Leith, was taken prisoner on 16 June 1942 at Gazala. He was part of the 1st SA Anti-Tank Reg. He also ended up in Stalag VIIIB /344 after time in various Italian camps. I would love to know if they knew eachother, but since Fred died in 1958, before my mum and dad had even met, I don't hold much hope of finding out.

Sorry for the lengthy first post, but my account setings don't appear to let me PM anyone or get access to public profiles to ask for help via mail.

Thanks in advance for any info any of you may be able to provide.

[penderel]

HI Jason, and welcome to the forum. I don't think you can send PM's or get any info until you have posted for a while?

Not sure you saw a previous thread I started where I posted up a magazine I had scanned. Try this link http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/prisone...tml#post132996

Would be glad to share info with you. I am also in contact with a researcher in Pretoria who has access to South African records from WWI and WWII. For a fee he will copy the records and mail them to you. I am waiting to receive info in the mail and can let you know how it goes.

Here is another link to a post I put up with POW cards from Campo 52 and Stalag 344b. http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/general...tml#post131713

I will also be scanning letters from before Sidi that have quite a bit of interesting info in them.

You can e mail me if you want my addy is my username at hotmail.com

My whole family is from Durban, I am the only one from Cape Town. My Grandfather was from Scotland and had moved to Durban.
Cheers for now.
Graham

[Scaramooch]

Hi Graham,
I see you are in contact with the researcher in Pretoria. Is it the same gentleman that I had contacted? I have been flooded with work, yech - stopping me from more research, at my company. Please keep me informed if you do get any other info or links. I will also keep you guys posted as I gather more info.

Till later
Peter

[Owen]

Welcome Trojan,

I have lots of pics and docs to share if they are of interest to anyone.

Too right we're interested!!!
The South Africans up until have been sadly neglected on this site.
Cheers.

[Scaramooch]

Gents,
I have just been scanning through my mails, I knew I had some info floating around there. I tried to get hold of the following gent, he is seen as an expert in the area of the Sidi Rezegh battle. I have not been able to chat to him. If somebody needs to talk to him ie. Trojan. He is from Durban, I am trying to get a mail address for him. His contact details is Phil Everitt, Department of Civil Engineering at the University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban.
I will keep all informed.

Peter

[Trojan]

Cheers for the responses guys.

I've managed to get a good response from the SA army records people who supplied full copies of all docs held on both grandfathers for free. They even posted it all to the UK and never asked for a penny.

The guy who is a specialist in Sidi Rezegh sounds interesting so will look forward to getting his details, Scaramooch.

Will also make a start on scanning what I have. All of the records stuff is photocopied so not sure how well they'll turn out but the photos should be ok.

In response to penderel's earlier post on how POWs made their way back, I have a photo of my grandfather taken in Brighton, England in 1945 on his way home to Durban. There are several other SA soldiers in the photo but I don't know their names. Here it is, grandfather is far right

[ADM199]

Hi,
all I can confirm is that your Grandfather was in PG 75 in August 1943. Stalag V111B in early 1945,which at this time was called Teschen. With the Rank of Sgmn. he could have been in one of the many work camps attached to V111B . 76571 was the P.O.W. No. given by the Germans.
My earlier Post on the Jason regarding the S/African Museum of Military History would probably be the way to move forward. Although I have created a casualty list for the ship,the Italians didn't seem to have listed those who boarded. Probably a rough idea of who was on the ship would have come from Liberation questionaires made by P.O.W. on their return home.

Brian

[ADM199]

Originally Posted by penderel

Here is a clipping of a South African Newspaper, The Natal Mercury showing men on Active Service, my Grandfather is shown. Harold Davidson.

Hi,
one of the men shown is a casualty of the "Jason" Dvr.W.G.Hill 72434 of the 5th. S/African Infantry Bde.


Brian