My grandfather, Noel Chandler Crossman, spoke about the battle of Tobruk and being a POW in Italy, he escaped and, if my memory serves correct, crossed the alps into Switzerland meeting a young girl with the name Moonyean-any information at all would be appreciated. He was from Durban was born 25/12/1913.
Hi, There is an Escape & Evasion report completed by him at the National Archives. Here's his battalion and number: Crossman, N C, Private, 2nd Btn South African Military Police, 197016 Lee
Lee, how can I thank you!! I am sitting in total awe of your feedback, this has opened such a door for me!! How on earth can I view this report that he completed? Thank you so so much!!!
This report doesn't appear to have been digitisted yet so it is a case of visiting the archives at Kew to copy it yourself, requesting the Archives to copy it for you (expensive) or getting someone like myself to grab you a photographic copy of it. I can digitally photograph it for about £3.24 depending on number of pages. The reports are typically 3 pages long and should give details about prison camps he was in and details of his escape/evasion. In may not go into too much detail but it is the best source for a contemporary account.
So considering I won't be in Kew in the near future I'd definitely appreciate the assistance. So where to from here?
I'll send you a PM but here are details about what I do: Arcre - ARCRE - Frequently Asked Questions Lee
Hi TLW - I can recommend Lee's work, I engaged his services to look up a few things for me and it was money well-spent. For a few dollars I finalised a couple of mini research projects I had been otherwise struggling with. To get some background on conditions that your GF experienced in Italy & Switzerland I would recommend browsing through this site: ANZAC POW Free Men in Europe - B. Rationale It focusses on Aussie & NZ escapers but will give an insight into the sort of life they lived. cheers Dave
Thanks Dave, I am registering now on ARCRE and hope to obtain some sort of documentation so I can start getting information about my Grandfather, I am so exited to be able to track what he did. Now I can put the stories he told me into a written document for my children.
