A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush
The Last Grain Race
Slowly Down the Ganges
A Small Place in Italy
He served in the Black Watch and the Special Boat Section during World War Two, and was captured during an operation against the coast of Sicily in August 1942. He was later awarded the Military Cross for his part in the raid. Newby was sent to a camp at Chieti a few miles inland from Pescara on the Adriatic coast, and later to Fontanellato, near Parma.
Captured in Mersah Matruh, on the Egyptian coast, at a roadblock guarded by German troops on the 7 November 1942, during the advance following the battle of El-Alamein. He was immediately transferred to Sidi Barrani, Libya, and then to Tobruk, where he spent the night. The following day, he was transferred again, this time to Brindisi, Italy. Then to transit camp 75 in Torre Tresca (Bari), where he was kept until the 30 November, when, together with another 33 officers, he was moved to camp 38 in Villa Ascensione (Poppi, Florence), where he spent the following six months before being transferred to Camp 49 in Fontanellato (Parma) on the 30 May 1943.
Marco Minardi
Bugle Call to Freedom
“It was midday on September 9 1943, the day following the announcement of Italy’s surrender to the Allies. At PG 49, a prison camp at Fontanellato, in the Po valley, a bugle sounded three short blasts, the signal for the biggest mass escape by Allied PoWs in Italy during the Second World War.”
Home by Christmas?
Assisted Passage
Privately published unique survey of the remarkable adventures experienced by some of the prisoners of war who marched out of Camp PG49 at Fontanellato after the Italian Armistice on 8th September 1943.
Richard was captured 7th November 1942 during the advance from El Alamein. He was flown to Italy, and spent time in PG75 (Bari) transit camp, PG 38 (Poppi), and PG 49 (Fontanellato). At the Armistice he set off south with Lt. Col. Tony Macdonnell and ten others.
William John Frank (“Jack”) Clarke
This is a very brief account of an action packed period in my father’s war, following the two and a half years of relative inaction in POW camps.
Malcolm Tudor
Beyond the Wire covers the experiences of the escapers from PG 49 and other camps.
Dan Billany
Lieut. Billany was captured in Africa in June 1942, and shortly afterwards transferred to a P.O.W. Camp in southern Italy, and later to Campo P.G. 49
SWIFT
Article published on September 19, 2018
Prisoners of War in Italy
This camp for 500 Allied officers and 100 other ranks was based at an Orphanage near Parma
Major George Girling
Angus Henderson is retracing the route taken by Major George Girling when he walked out of Camp PG49 in Fontanellato on 9 September 1943
PG 49 at Fontanellato in Italy - The Story of allied servicemen who were held prisoner of war in this town in Italy in World War II 