Which Italian POW camp David Beech 876011 was held in

Torre dei Passeri. He would have crossed the lines near here. You need to check the position of the front at that time.

Lensi or Lenzi rather than Lensie. Most important. This is a surname and I will check to see if they putting in a claim for compensation.

 

Apologies, error in #19:
2/6/1944: Diary states a town call Torro D. Parreri, but I think this is Torre De' Passeri.

I note your correction Vitellino to Torre dei Passeri.

Is there a way to check the position of the allied line on a specific date?

 

Correction. Torre de' Passeri. Will look for info on Allied advance later.

 

Hello Wayne,

Torre de' Passeri was liberated by the allies on 12 June. Map attached. Briefly, the front was along the Gustav Line from the end of December 1943 until the liberation of Rome (4 June). So your grandfather would have been held up behind this line for a considerable time and some families would have looked after him. What places does he name in his diary for the period January-May? Please list them and I will see if any claims for compensation were put in.

Back to Sorbolo. No Lenzi, Lensi or Lenzini family put in a claim for compensation for assistance given to escaped POWs, though some families from Sorbolo did. Incidentally, sugar cane has never been grown in Italy. The boy Lensie would have told them to hide in the 'canne', which are reeds that grow along drainage ditches and water courses in general.

We might get there in the end!

Vitellino

 

Amazing effort Vitellino, this seems to align exactly with the diary:

8th June
My birthday today, are alright for food all day. Jerry fast machine guns near here and boys are getting close, later on he put some more machine guns in. If we can hold out for a few days we’ll be ok.
11th June
Today our boys are right close, the Italians have started rebelling, caught 5 Jerry’s and 2 Russians. 2 French escaped last night from Jerry. Frank has gone to fetch Tony, hit 2 railways.
12th June
Today Taff and I left for Torro D Parreri [Torre De' Passeri], had a fine welcome the people gave us flowers and shaking hands, we changed all our clothes. Seen one Pole, I took his revolver off him, left him in prison.

Regarding where they were Jan-May 1944.....

There are two diaries:

1. One larger diary spanning 9/9/1943 through to 31/10/1943. There are daily entries and sometimes up to three entries per day. The diary is completely full.
2. The second diary is tiny book and it covers 2/5/1944 through to 7/7/1944.

Therefore I have a gap from 1/11/1943 through to 1/5/1944. I am unsure whether a diary has been lost [my family only believe there was ever two diaries] or whether my Grandfather didn't write for that period - which would be strange based on the other detail I have. Clearly he must have had help to survive for 6 months.

The villages mentioned at the end of the first diary and the start of the second are as follows:

26/10/1943
Stops at Abooa - I think this is Aboca

30/10/1943
One of the group called “Rob’s”birthday.
They hear news that no one is allowed past Ancona as the allies are advancing.

31/10/1943
travels through Lamoli
Travels through Montedalle - I think Montedale
Stops at Scolocio - I have not been able to locate this, they say that it was only a few houses.

This is the end of the larger diary

2/5/1944
They have left for the front, a week later they cross the Pescara river. Bridge has been destroyed and the Germans are trying to repair it. They wait it out.

12th June
Today Taff and I left for Torro D Parreri [Torre De' Passeri], had a fine welcome the people gave us flowers and shaking hands, we changed all our clothes. Seen one Pole, I took his revolver off him, left him in prison.

The distance between Montedale and Torre De' Passeri is ~300km, so he must have stayed somewhere for a considerable amount of the missing 6 months.

For the families in Sorbolo that did help my Grandfather there are a lot of what I assume are first names - would this help? e.g. "Brenno”, “Lina”, Franko and “Liviea”

 

Wayne,

You are right about Aboca, Lamoli and Montedale.

I can't find Scolocio either, not even on my large scale map. If you can give me the diary date I would have a fair chance of guessing its whereabouts, that is, I would be able judge the distance from Montedale.

Your grandfather and his companion(s) had arrived in the Appenines of the Marche region where quite a few partisan bands were forming in that period, usually youngsters avoiding the call-up but sometimes regular soldiers who had deserted to avoid being rounded up and sent to Germany. EVen if they joined a partisan band, thoughm they would have relied on the locals for food. Let's try and locate Scolocio first of all.

Now, the helpers' claims at Sorbolo. They are held in a card index the American National Archives and are on their website - there's a lot about it on this forum. I visited the site and put Sorbolo in the search box. That only throws up those whose surnames begin with A,B,C and D at the moment, though other surnames will be searchable sometime in the future. None of the first names listed by your grandfather appeared on the eleven cards the search produced - they would be Bruno, Lina, Franco and Livia . However, I might have a scroll through the other cards and see what I can find. Here's the link if you decide to do the same. I have attached one of the Sorbolo cards for you to see what they look like.

 

31/10/1943
The men leave an unknown town at 9am and pass through Lamoli.
They reach Montedale at 11.30 and stop for food.
They reach Scolocio by 4pm, they don’t stop as it’s only a few houses.
They followed the river down for about 2 miles then went to a house were fed and housed.

This the text I am trying to interpret the name from:



It must be close to Montedale but I can’t find it on the maps.

I’ll have a look at the cards also.

 

Full list of Italian locals who helped in the Sorbolo area:

1. Romayo
2. Lensie
3. Rossini
4. Brenno - occurs frequently
5. Lina - occurs frequently
6. Liviea - occurs frequently
7. Franko - occurs frequently
8. Armile
9. Mella
10. Mira
11. Aldelino - occurs frequently, they stay Aldelino’s barn for several nights.
12. Arieti
13. Nora

 

Hello Wayne,
How about Scalocchio? There doesn’t appear to be much there today, no houses, just a former abbey, a church, ruins of a castle and a cemetery.

 

Scalocchio seems to fit the timeline. Great pick up.
Thanks

 

I have checked all the names in the Sorbolo list which appear to be or could be surnames and no one has put in a claim.

Other than obtaining Rogers' escape report there is another way forward. I have a hunch that the farm on which the 50-man camp was based was the large agricultural estate at Frassinara just outside Sorbolo - photo attached. This was posted very recently on Facebook on the page 'Sei di Sorbolo se...'

If you are on Facebook you could make a request on that page asking if anyone's family helped the escaped POWs. (If they did they will be proud possessors of an Alexander Certificate.) I will translate your request into Italian if you draft something out and send it to me in a private message. Another possibility is nearby at Ramoscello.

(By the way, a 50-man workforce was quite normal for agricultural work camps.)

 

Thanks,
I have requested Samuel Robert ROGERS escape report, ~25 day turn around.

I also looked through some of the cards held in the American national archives, many of them do not mention a town or camp so are difficult to confirm. I did find a few mentions of LANZI [compared to Lensie in the diary], but nothing in Sorbolo.

vitellino, I will contact you directly over FB and another lead that has surfaced today.

 

Some great progress.

I posted on a Facebook group in the Sorbolo area asking if anyone knew of a WW2 prisoner labour camp in the region. It generated a fair amount of discussion, but someone has responded following a discussion with their father and uncle confirming that there were POWs working at the Marasini company during the war.

With a fair amount of support from vitellino it looks almost certain that this is where my grandfather was held and then "escaped" following the Armistice. Importantly my Grandfather's diary details a lot of hiding in sugar cane and corn fields during the first 20 days after his escape. Sugar cane was not a common crop at that time, but the Marasini company were pioneers in developing a fuel derived from sugar cane - therefore there was lots of sugar cane in the area at that time.

I'm still waiting on a few artefacts to arrive so will continue the investigation.

This is the current satellite imagery of the Corte Marasini