36468 Major Charles Attfield BROOKS, OBE, MiD, 2/5 Essex Regiment: POW

Army Number: 36468
Rank: Major
Name: Charles Attfield BROOKS, OBE, MiD
Unit: Essex Regiment


London Gazette : 14 February 1946
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37466/supplement/948/data.pdf
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve that the following be Mentioned in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the field : —
Essex R.
Maj. C. A. BROOKS (36468).

London Gazette : 13 June 1959
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/41727/supplement/3708/data.pdf
The QUEEN has been graciously pleased, on the occasion of the Celebration of Her Majesty's Birthday, to give orders for the following promotions in, and appointments to, the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire:
To be Ordinary Officers of the Civil Division of the said Most Excellent Order :
Charles Attfield BROOKS, Esq., T.D., J.P., D.L., Member of Wheat Deficiency Payments Advisory Committee, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

 

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

1. No. - 36468
RANK - Major
SURNAME - BROOKS
CHRISTIAN NAMES - CHARLES ATTFIELD
DECORATIONS -

2. UNIT (ARMY) - 2/5th Bn. the Essex Regiment

3. DIVISION (ARMY) - 18th Indian Inf. Brigade

4. DATE OF BIRTH - 8 April 05

5. DATE OF ENLISTMENT - 11 Dec 1926

6. CIVILIAN TRADE OR PROFESSION - Farmer & Agricultural Merchant

7. PRIVATE ADDRESS - The Lecture House, Dedham, Near Colchester, Essex

8. PLACE AND DATE OF ORIGINAL CAPTURE - 1 July 1942 Deir el Shein, near El Alamein, Egypt

9. WERE YOU WOUNDED WHEN CAPTURED? NO


10. MAIN CAMPS OR HOSPITALS IN WHICH IMPRISONED
Camp No. / Location / From / Till
PG 75 Bari, Italy 10 July - 21 Aug 42
PG 21 Chieti, Italy 22 Aug - 21 Dec 42
PG 38 Poppi, Italy 22 Dec 42 - 31 May 42 [43]
PG 49 Fontanellato, Italy 1 Jun - 9 Sep 43
STALAG VII A Moosburg Nov 10 - Dec 8 43
OFLAG VIII F Mahrisch Trubau Dec 10 '43 - April 29 44
OFLAG 79 Brunswick May 1 '43 - April 23 '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
NO

12 b. DID YOU RECEIVE ADEQUATE MEDICAL TREATMENT?
YES


GENERAL QUESTIONNAIRE PART II TOP SECRET

1. No. - 36468
RANK - Major
SURNAME - BROOKS
CHRISTIAN NAMES - CHARLES ATTFIELD


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. ENGLAND 1940, UNIT INTELLIGENCE OFFR
( b ) Were you lectured on escape and evasion? (State where, when and by whom).
INCLUDED IN LECTURES AS ABOVE

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

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?)
No but whole camp (PG 49) escaped after Italian Armistice on 9 Sep 43. Accompanied by Lt. Col. E.N. EVERETT, King's On Royal Regiment. I walked southwards in attempt to rejoin our forces. After covering over 350 miles we were spotted by a fascist spy who handed us over to a German unit at FARA near GUARDIAGRELE south of CHIETI, Italy.


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 coming 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?
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 23 April 45
Signature CA Brooks, Major

 

London Gazette : 14 February 1946
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37466/supplement/948/data.pdf

 

See also:

• http://www.familytree.john-attfield.com/Professor_John_Attfield.pdf
• 

 

@

davidbfpo may be interested in taking a look at these books he published.

Chris has been a Dedham boy all of his life. He was born in 1949 at the Anglesea Road hospital in Ipswich rather than at home because he was 1 month early, the youngest in a family of four and the only one born after the second world war. Before the second world war his father Robert (Bob) worked at Brooks (Mistley) and was a member of the Manningtree Territorial Army. He joined up at the outbreak of war, leaving his wife, Chris’mother Dulcie (Dell) at home with three children under five. Bob was taken prisoner in the desert along with Attfield Brooks from the Mistley firm. Bob was a Cook Sergeant with responsibility for the troops’ rations and told his family how he and his colleagues were captured as the German Panzer tanks appeared over the sand dunes and of the bravery of a teenage cockney soldier called ‘Jonny’ Johnson, armed only with a 303 rifle, who wanted to shoot at the approaching tanks. Bob was in a PoW camp for four and a half years and left when the Germans abandoned the camp in the face of the approaching Russian army. He and two other local lads walked for miles across Germany and Chris tells one of the few stories shared by his father about stealing some shoes from outside a church which turned out to belong to the local priest. His own shoes were worn through. In common with many families, the experiences of the men on the front line were rarely spoken about. Two other vignettes from a past generation echo down the years: the prisoners in the camp said that they never heard birdsong because the Russians erected nets to trap the birds to eat as their rations were more meagre than those of other nationalities. The other was the tragic story of a Dutch traitor who gave away to the Germans the location of a diverted sewer destined to become an escape trench. He was found out because he always had plenty of cigarettes as a reward for his duplicity and was subsequently shot by his own people.

Source:
https://www.dedhamparishcouncil.co....parish-magazine-FEBRUARY-2020-without-ads.pdf

 

I do have Major C.A. Brooks was ‘B’ Echelon C.O.@ Deir el Shein on 1/7/1942; he did not win any medal that day and was a POW. By 1961 he was a Lt. Col. at a 2/5 Essex formal dinner. Now I have, thanks Charley, his full name and more.

See: Deir el Shein sources - July 1942

Checking out his books for value; nowt id'd.