Grandfather Essex Regt POW Italy

Hello All !

I am hoping to gain a little help researching my grandfather Lance Corpral Jack Walter Busby who served in the Essex regiment. I have found out he was a POW captured in the Middle East and sent to Italy. I have come to the conclusion ( hopefully this can be confirmed ) he served in the essex 2/5 and was captured in the Deir el Shein battle??? I believe he was a POW for 3 years (till end of war) ?

I have a few newspapper clippings i will attach and the dates these were published range from July 42 to Jan 43.

Any input or futher research suggestions would be very much appreciated

Thanks

 

Hi Reedy

Many others with far greater expertise will be able to point you to specific research sources (eg the National Archives at kew). Meanwhile to get a flavour of things I recommend this site: http://camp59survivors.wordpress.com/

This mainly refers to the camp at Servigliano. Do you know which camp your grandad was in??

 

Thanks guys,

I now live in NZ so any trips to Kew will be a little expensive ! I will be applying for his records soon - if I wait two years, it will be 25 years since he passed and I believe it's a little easier to obtain the records.

The Walter Busby POW records look very interesting !

Thanks again for your help - I will start looking at the links you sent now.......

 

Hi,
No grandmother passed and next of kin family are in UK and Australia......i will be asking mother and aunts to help.

 

Thanks Owen,

Appreciate the help......

 

Hi Again,

I am just trying to find which essex regiments were in the middle east around the date of his capture - July 1942 ?

 

Reedyspur

the only Essex Battalion I can find is the 4th- which I think was in 4th Indian Div - BUT - at that time of July '42

the whole 8th Army was in a mess after the big retreat from the Gazala Gallop to end up at the first battle of El Alamein- where he
might have been taken POW...

 

Tom canning

Thanks for the info.......i have to say it's been fascinating researching a part of ww2 I never knew much about and so many POWs taken makes it difficult to pin point where my grandad may have been captured.

Thanks again

 

His Liberation Questionnaire with give you his unit and place and date of capture as well as the camps he was in, together with other details.

Regards,

Nick
KenFentonsWar.com

 

Hello Reedyspur,

Your grandfather was being held in Camp 53 (Sforzacosta) Italy in August 1943. (WO 392/21 National Archives, London)

He appears as W. Busby L/Cpl 6014368 Essex Regiment

He doesn't appear on the list of men being held in Germany so it is likely that he escaped after the Italian Armistice on 8 September 1943 and was not recaptured and sent there as were many others. IN that case there won't be a liberation report for him but you could try looking on Find My Past to see if there is an Evasion and Escape report - if there is it would clarify his regiment and where he was initially captured.

Regards,

Vitellino

 

Hi Reedyspur
My gt uncle Eric Goodwin was with the 2/5 Essex Reg and was captured at Deir El Shein and was also in Camp 53, he escaped and was at large until Nov 1944 when he was shot by a group of Fascists. I have the war crime file although interesting is grim reading.
If you can get hold of a copy of the regimental book about the Essex Regiment it has some very interesting information about the 2/5th Essex and Deir El Shein.

 

Thanks guys,
I will be purchasing the Essex regiment 1929 - 1950 for sure!

Vitellino thank you for finding the record showing my grandad held in camp 53 (Sforzacosta) Italy.
I have just found he was held in Germany as well. I am hoping a liberation questionnaire can be found - (Drew helping me with this)

I wonder why he used his middle name Walter instead of Jack on all the POW records?

A big thank you again for all your help!

 

Reedy

If you want to know more about Sfozacosta here is an interview from Ray Ellis who escaped from there
It's mostly about his life with italians after his escape, but it might help to put a face to a place (so to speak)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSFAWxPZC4o

Also I have a picture of a painting of the interior of one of the barracks (Sforzacosta wasn't tailor-made as a camp, it was a sugar-beet plant before the War and consisted of huge warehouses), but can't see how to attach a file to this reply at the moment

Anne

 

Worrals - I'd be interested to know where your gt uncle hid out. See this link for info on research I did on a Sidney Seymour Smith who escaped from Sforzacosta and was shot in March 44

http://www.msmtrust.org.uk/news/a-mystery-solved/

Anne

 

Anne,

Thanks loads! great interview

 

Hi,
If Vitellino is correct and I would not doubt it, and he actually escaped into Switzerland, if you send his details as is stated they will confirm if they hold any information on him and it should include a photograph

I have found them very efficient in all my correspondence with them

Trevor

http://www.sta.be.ch/sta/en/index/staatsarchiv/staatsarchiv.html

 

Dear worrals, I have informations about Eric Goodwin from Essex. I have reference on one soldier name Eric Goodwin Essex Rgt. matr. 6016185, that came out from PG 120/XVII camp Ponte San Nicolò (Padova) and was hidden by a local family name Cellini from 13.09.1943 to 09.11.1943. On 20.11.1943 he had been taken by Fascist police. Best regards