10 Captives

p. 177 Numbers calculated from TNA WO 417, British Army Casualty Lists, available on www/findmypast.com. Two more Foresters in the lists are probably from the 2/5th Battalion but cannot be assigned with certainty. The numbers include officers of other regiments, including MOs and Chaplains, serving with the unit.

pp. 177-78 For treatment of prisoners after Dunkirk see David Rolf, Prisoners of the Reich (1989), pp. 20–22, pp.27–32 and pp.49–50 and Anthony Richards, Guests of the Third Reich (2019), pp. 3–4.

p. 178 WO 416/ 416/360/37, Prisoners of War record for George Thompson.

p. 178 Figures given for the total numbers of prisoners taken in 1940 vary greatly, even in official documents. It is complicated by a large proportion of men declared missing but never officially identified as POWs and later accounted for as presumed dead, plus whether figures are net of repatriations later in the war. WO 32/10810 ‘Battle casualties for all theatres’, Part 3B, 'Casualties (all Ranks) – 3 Sep 39 to 30 Sep 41' gives 39,953 confirmed Army POWs of all ranks taken in France. To this needs to be added about 1,000 from Norway and other theatres.

p. 178-79 Locations of PoWs derived from WO 416 Prisoner of War records; personal information obtained from records on www.ancestry.com.

p. 179 The full arrangements and entitlements to pay were complex, for example Officers were paid in part by the holding power, with any balance being paid by the British government. This arrangement also applied to Other Ranks held by the Italians, but not those in German camps.

pp. 179-80 Rolf, Prisoners of the Reich, pp. 191–194; Casualty records from TNA WO 417, POW records from TNA WO 416 including 416/1/514 and 416/192/109.

p. 180 Eric Deall anecdote told to author by Major John Cotterill, confirmed by Deall’s PoW record WO 416/92/249. Deall died in May 1975, aged 78.

p. 180-82 Treatment of prisoners in North Africa by from Alan Orme, ‘Experiences of War’, pp. 15–17; Fred Hirst, ‘A Sherwood Forester’s Story of World War II’ (1997), p. 31–32; NCA DDSF/3/23, Cyril Pearson POW Diary, entry dated 8 March 1943; IWM Sound Archive #15591, Lewis Booker interview with Peter Hart, (1995), Reel 3 and Offiler IWM tape #16352, Reel 6.

p. 182 Hirst, ‘A Forester’s Story’, p. 32-34

p. 182 For official view of food rations in Italian camps, WO 224/120 (PG53), WO 224/70 (PG70), WO 224/134 (PG78), WO 224/139 (PG106), and WO 224/146 (PG133).

p. 182 Cowen, IWM tape #19628, Reel 2.

p. 183 The ‘walking skeleton’s quote is from Pearson’s diary, an undated note, see also the entry for 29 Mar. and IWM Sound Archive #20789, Patrick O'Sullivan interview with Tom Tunney, (2001), Reel 16.

p. 183 The story of the Comandante’s dog is related by both Orme ‘Experiences of War’, p. 18, and O'Sullivan, IWM tape #20789, Reel 15. There are such significant discrepancies between the two accounts that one or both may be based on hearsay rather than actual experience, but it is probably based upon a real event.

pp. 183-84 Uses of Red Cross parcels in Hirst, ‘A Forester’s Story’, p. 35; Orme ‘Experiences of War’, p. 20; NCA DDSF 3/6, Enser, ‘Story’ p. 24; Offiler, IWM tape #16352, Reel 6; Higton, IWM tape #18618, Reels 9–10; Orme, IWM tape #21600, Reel 15; IWM #16596, Harry Higton Papers, Journal entries 24–27 March 1943; Pearson Diary, note dated 14 April 1943.

pp. 184-85 Enser, ‘Story’, pp. 5–6; see also Higton, IWM tape #18618, Reel 11 and Orme, IWM tape #21600, Reel 14.

p. 185 For religion in PoW camps, Enser, ‘Story’, p. 6 and p. 15; Pearson Diary, passim; Offiler, IWM tape #16352, Reel 6; Hirst ‘A Forester’s Story’ p. 41–42; NCA DD_SF_3_24, G. F. Warsop, ‘In God’s Pocket: A Personal Diary of Events During the Second World War’, pp. 184–85.

p. 185 Cowen, IWM tape #19628, Reel 2.

p. 186 TNA WO 224/152, IRCC Report on H206 dated 16 March 1943.

p. 186 For PoW views of medical treatment, Hirst, ‘A Forester’s Story’, pp. 95, Enser, ‘Story’, p. 23, More generically, see Sean Longden, Hitler’s British Slaves (2005) pp. 184–91.

p. 186 For medical staff in camps, Pearson Diary, 7 Oct 1943; Offiler, IWM tape #16352, Reel 6.

p. 186 O’Sullivan, IWM tape #20789, Reel 15.

p. 186 The sewer incident from Orme, ‘Experiences of War’, p. 20; also Orme, IWM Tape #21600, Reel 15. Orme was uncertain if the story was true, but the escape took place on 26/1/43 and the reprisals were the subject of war crime investigations postwar. They are documented in WO 311/1221 ‘Unlawful Wounding of Escaping PoW at P.G.66 Capua’ (1945–46) and WO311/1203 ‘General Charge: Ill treatment of PoW at P.G.66 (Capua) (1945–46). The camp song with the verse about the sewer can be found here.

pp. 186-87 Education and entertainment from Enser, ‘Story’, p. 7, Orme, ‘Experiences of War’, p. 21; Stanley Storey, in More Sherwood Forester Memories, p. 13; Higton Papers, passim.

p. 187 Summers, Lure of the Falcon, pp. 131–134; O’Sullivan, IWM tape #20789, Reel 9.

pp. 188-89 Summers, Lure of the Falcon, pp. 142–160; WO 208/ 3344, Cosgrave escape report; Orme, ‘Experiences of War’, pp. 17–18 and IWM Tape #21600, Reels 14–15; Cosgrave’s original note is in NCA DDSF/2/8 and a copy is in Orme’s memoir. Summers gives different names for the Americans involved, but he also calls Cosgrave ‘Costang’ so this may be deliberate; he gives the planned date of the escape as his birthday (14 May). Orme and Cosgrave agree on the date of the escape attempt as being 25 April, though Orme makes no mention of Americans being involved; it is possible he in turn has exaggerated his and Wainwright’s involvement. Cosgrave says he was on the run for six days, Orme’s accounts say three to five days.

p. 189 Summers, Lure of the Falcon, pp. 161–67 and pp 182–83. The camp near Bologna is unnamed, but probably PG136. WO 416/350/73, supported by WO 391/1 and WO 391/11, shows Summers was processed by the Germans as a 2nd Lieutenant. Other elements of Summers’ story are unverified.