Captain McLean

Has anyone come across a Captain McLean operating behind the lines in Italy in any capacity - either SAS or more likely SOE?

Reputedly he was a South African, captured at Tobruk, but he doesn't appear in POW register WO 392/21. This could mean that he escaped from a camp in Italy but there is no record in Italian sources of an escaper with his rank and name. He was supposed to have been with the 'Nembo' partisans at one period - they came into operation on the Gothic Line.

The son of one of his 'men', an escaper following the Italian armistice, has mentioned him in the thread Italian partisans. The escaper joined our lines on 7 July 1944.

Vitellino

 

I have just looked on TNA's search engine and can find no reference to a McLean in the HS9 series, there are however two possibilities with a slightly different spelling of the surname Maclean - Fitzroy Douglas MacLEAN - born 25.10.1895 | The National Archives and Norman Mewburn MacLEAN - born 21.10.1914 | The National Archives
Hope this helps

Andy

 

Seaforth.
Norman Mewburn MACLEAN (113654).
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34772/supplement/291/data.pdf


Fitzroy MacLean worked with Titos Partisans from Sept 1943 in Yugoslavia ?
obituary here
Sir Fitzroy Maclean Bt: Obituary

Neil Loudon Desmond McLean, DSO (28 November 1918 – 17 November 1986), known as Billy McLean

Billy McLean (politician) - Wikipedia

Kyle

 

Thanks. He wasn't any of these, unfortunately.

It might be a case of getting his records from Pretoria. I've already suggested that to the person who was looking for him in the first place,

Vitellino