Frank Sturgess . South African Signals

My grandfather Frank Sturgess was a member of the South African Signals during the siege of Tobruk, he had also served in both battles of Allemagne but he was captured at the Siege of Tobruk and escaped while being transferred between POW camps. He was held in Italy and all I know is that he escaped through the Italian caves and locals helped him get a ship to England. If anyone can give me a bit more information about my Grandfather it would be so useful and valuable to me.

Thank you.

 

Fouind a 22433, F Sturgess, Union Defence Force (South African) held in campo 65 Italy, no further entries on Find my past.

 

Welcome aboard. There is plenty of knowledge and expertise here.

We always recommend applying for the Service Record. It is the definitive account of his service. Yes, it can take time and regularly has good and disappointing responses. There is a researcher who visits the SA Archives in Pretoria, who can assist for US$$ and two of us here would recommend him. See: Researcher in the South African Archives

It is vital you add his full name, Date of Birth, Service Number and if known their unit. Members can check their resources and do some online research. Others may be looking now and in the future for them; we regularly have people join who have found a post or thread about a relative.

On your current information he has not appeared here before today.

It helps to add a ‘tag’ when you create a thread, only you can do this. It is for the formation / corps involved or a theme like intelligence. Searching tags can identify threads, otherwise it takes a bit longer.

There is an abundance of knowledge here on Italian POW Camps and escaping - hopefully they will be along.

Likewise on the North African campaign, although possibly not much on the South African Signals Corps aspects.

Some research tips, now a four pg. PDF available on: WW2 Soldier Research - Tips and Links for New Researchers (update) Plus: How to Start a new Thread / Edit Post / Upload Image

 

Hello Thomas,

You really do need to send for his records. When you have them get back to us as there's a big gap to fill in between escaping from the train and being sent by boat to England.

However, from that snippet of information we can deduce that he probably met up with the Allied forces in Italy and was sent to Transit Camp no. 2 in Naples from where he would have embarked for England.

Regards,

Vitellino

 

Thank you very much, I will reach out to you soon, since I need to find more information about his service number etc. A lot of the information is from my Uncle who has all his war-time stuff in South Africa so once I gain more information, I will reach out again.

Thank you.

 

Thank you, again I will try and find as much information as possible.

 

Here is some more information while I get his service ID:

Frank Sturgess
B. 7 Oct 1920 (Clocolan, Free State, South Africa)
D. 21 Apr 1997 (Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
Person ID: I57137

 

He was in Camp 65 Gravina in Puglia at some time: This camp was nearer to Altamura.

See this thread: Campo 65 Gravina Report

It was emptied in the summer of 1943, just before the invasion of Sicily in July.



This snippet is from WO 392/21 the National Archives. It shows the last camp in Italy in which the named serviceman's presence was registed by the International Red Cross, not the last camp he was actually in.

 

Hello, I am a South African studying in the UK and I don't have the money to conduct my own research so I have come here for additional support. I need to find more information about POW camps or any information relating to his service within the South African army. The information provided is currently all I have but I am in the mix of getting more unit information as well as more photographs.

From what I know he conducted his training at Robert Heights in Pretoria in 1939. Then he travelled to Cairo in 1941. Then in 1941 he also travelled to El Dabaa, now the dates get a bit mixed up from here but I know he travels to Bardiyah and then to Fort Capuzzo. I've read about Fort Capuzzo and how it was captured by the British and then captured back by the Germans and Italians. I don't know whether he was captured at Fort Capuzzo or at Tobruk but hopefully the photos can help. I'm getting more photos but its hard to juggle between my family back in South Africa. From Fort Capuzzo/Tobruk I believe he was taken to Campo 69 in Gravina where he was a P.O.W as shown by one of the pictures and then transported up to northern Italy where they were taking him to Germany. It's unclear what happened next but from what I know their train was intercepted by British planes near Brenner Pass where he escaped. Hopefully the photos can be of help and I will provide as much information as soon as I get it.

Frank Sturgess
B. 7 Oct 1920 (Clocolan, Free State, South Africa)
D. 21 Apr 1997 (Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
Person ID: I57137


This snippet is from WO 392/21 the National Archives. It shows the last camp in Italy in which the named serviceman's presence was registed by the International Red Cross, not the last camp he was actually in. (from another forum posted by vitelinno).

Thank you to anyone that can try and help find more information about my grandfather.

Here are some pictures that could be of use:

 

Hi,


Welcome to the forum.


You ought to apply to Swiss Red Cross for a copy of the information held in their files via this link -


Requests for information about people held during Spanish Civil War or Second World War: Quarterly limit reached


Check the site promptly at the given opening time 20th January (last window was last Monday) and a pop up online application form will be visible. Complete and submit the form speedily as the application window can close within 90 minutes due to the limit being reached.


It’s a free service and you can expect a reply by email within 3 months. You may be lucky and get a copy of the capture card postcard he completed on arrival at his first camp.

Good Luck

Steve

 

Thank you.

 

Can anyone find me any more information before I submit my application on the 20th of January?

 

The lists of SA POW in German Hands held at UK National Archives are in WO392/10 and are available on Findmypast site. Some libraries allow free access.

Steve

 

Baeie dankie my boet

 

I’ve also searched the German POW Index cards in WO416 at UK National Archives for a Sturgess. 8 are listed but no F Sturgess.

Search results: %22WO416" "Sturgess%22 | The National Archives

 

That's because he didn't get put into a German camp, he escaped at Brenner Pass just before Germany. He was at Gravina and then worked his way up Italy.

 

The danger of large paragraphs is that readers miss some detail

From memory I think that forum member tedfromscrubs has an interest in POW’s interned & repatriated from Switzerland. He may be able to give you some advice.

You could always use the forum search engine. “Switzerland POW Internment” phrase may turn up some clues for you.

Steve

 

Welcome aboard, on what could be a long journey.

If you use an online search with "Switzerland POW Internment" site:ww2talk.com it reveals approx. sixty threads. A good number offer information and a few pointers to sources - at a glance.

(Update - thanks to a Moderator (Owen, on his hols) has merged two threads created by the author).

 

I've applied for his service records from SANDF and hopefully out of that I can narrow down his camps, thank you for all the help.

 

I'm unsure if he made it to Switzerland, the only camp I know he was at was Gravina Campo 65 and then went north and escaped near Brenner Pass.