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RSA REVIEW • AUTUMN 2017
Remembering When my father got together with ex-army and Prisoner-of-War mates, they spoke fondly of their experiences in Italy, either as POWs or on the run, and the Italian people they met. These were asides from the harsh realities of the war going on all around. Names such as Francesca Rossi were repeated often, referring to the assistance in hiding out and the supply of meagre food shared with them. My father went through the greater part of World War 2 , firstly with the 20th Battalion in North Africa and then as a POW through Greece, Italy and Germany. As with most, he spoke little about his experiences, but in the company of ex-Army and POW mates, there was obviously a camaraderie that those of us on the outside didn’t have to appreciate, a time when some recollections would be spoken of. Pte S T Stratton, 14724, joined up for military service in July 1940, embarked in February 1941 with the 4th Reinforcements, disembarked in Egypt on March 16, 1941, having completed most of his training in Burnham Camp, near Christchurch. The 20th Battalion, a proud troop well decorated with three VCs by war’s end, had returned to North Africa from Crete and the harsh outcome of those battles. He joined it there, having been through the camps at Maadi and Haswan. He went through the campaigns to Operation Crusader in Libya in November 1941. In 2000 he commented on a photo in the RSA Review of a woman visiting a cemetery in North Africa: “That’s the sister of my old sergeant, good drinking mate, a Maori fella from Matata, got killed right in front of me.” The conversation sort of died from this rare comment. The 20th Battalion History records that Sgt Hayward was killed as he rose and waved his platoon forward on November 27, 1941 in the attack between Bel Hamed and Sidi Rezegh. About the same time S T Stratton was wounded in the upper leg by a piece of mortar bomb and captured soon after. He was posted as missing on December 13, 1941. In 1990, the family doctor said “About time we took that out, I think” referring to the shrapnel from 1941. Prisoners were marched towards Benghazi suffering some deprivation through lack of water and food and, although captured by the Germans, under an agreement with Italy were handed over to the Italians as POWs. On December 8.
A SON REMEMBERS THE MEN Roger Stratton, an Associate Member of the Te Atatu Memorial & Henderson RSA, reflects on a trip he and his wife, Janita, made to Montelupone, Italy where his father was a Prisoner of War during World War 2. Montelupone and Mascerata (12 kilometres away) are medieval hilltop towns dating back to Roman times; they are surrounded by open, rolling, agricultural country with vineyards, olive groves and crops. This year will be the 75th anniversary of the POWs time there and Roger and Janita would like to revisit the area in May to enjoy the food and wine, the people, the ambience – and to remember those men. Some of the Prisoners of War at Montelupone in June 1943. S T Stratton and two others were in the sick bay with malaria on the day the photo was taken. There were about 70 POWs in the camp.
1941, 2000 British and Commonwealth captured Troops were loaded onto the ship Jason for Italy. On the afternoon of December 9, 1941, the Jason was torpedoed by the British submarine HMS Porpoise through off the Greek coast. My father admitted to one of the worst sights he saw – the devastation in the hold with bodies and planking strewn all over. We believe he was in another hold, although he had tried to sleep
The prisoners marched two kilometres on Sunday to Church at San Firmano Abbey and Church, which remain with Gardens and an adjacent Café/Restaurant.
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on deck whenever possible because of the heat. He and D.Dittmer (front row, third from right, 1943 photo, above) got off the first day, climbing down a wire and swimming ashore. Five hundred POWs. Including 45 New Zealanders, died in the torpedoing and evacuation. This story is well covered in Spence Edge and Jim Henderson’s book. No Honour No Glory. The ship beached near Methoni in Greece, driven astern by a German engineer who was travelling home on leave; most of the crew had evacuated the ship. Once survivors were ashore, they were kept in Camps, initially in empty buildings near Methoni Castle and then in camps such as Pilos, Akhaia (Dysentery Acre) and Patras. Conditions were terrible in all of them, with little or no food. Those in Dysentery Acre, as it was referred to by many POWs, suffered from dysentery and were weak from lack of food. Some slept alongside latrines but were too weak to constantly go there; some had the misfortune to fall into them. The POWs suffered
for two months in Greece before being shipped to Italy, first to transition Camps in Brindisi and Bari, and then to Tuturano or Gravina. By March 1942 most of ex-Jason POWs in Italy were at Campo 85 in Tuturano. Conditions improved a little – some Red Cross parcels were received, and the Camps were better run and organised by the Italian Army. On October 1942 Prisoners were moved to Work Camps, such as Montelupone where they worked on a canal for a run-of-the-river hydro scheme. In September 1943 they were moved to PG 145 Campotosto (Poggio Cancelli) to work on building a dam. Italy capitulated in July 1943 , but it was September before the Camps heard of it. Many Camp Guards walked away from many Camps allowing POWs to escape to the likes of the Gran Sasso Mountains around the villages of Mascioni and Capitiano. The family of Paul Clarkson (back row, third from right, 1943 photo, above) has produced a brief history of his experiences and has covered quite a lot of detail. Some escapees managed to link up eventually with the advancing Allies, others lacked the resolve to do much at all, and others were on the run for up to six or seven months before being rounded up by the Germans through bad luck or careless behaviour. After the Italian armistice, Germany had moved up 10 Divisions to strengthen its hold in Italy. During Some of the old Camp buildings remain on the site.
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