Contained deep in the Archives of the Monte San Martino Trust is a very interesting description of the escape from PG 49 at Fontanellato written by John Langrishe, a Lieutenant with the 25/26 Battery of 7th Medium Regiment Royal Artillery, entitled “The Long Walk Out” which describes in his own words the events that took place after the Italian Armistice from September to November 1943.
A few days after leaving the comfort of the Orphanage, he describes life on the outside.
But, in the book edited by Ian English entitled “Home by Christmas?” John Langrishe is confusingly referred to as Peter who, in Chapter 4 of that book: The March Out – First days of Freedom, he quoted as saying “We exchanged our relatively comfortable and ordered existence for a rough and uncertain way of life.”
So, after the Armistice and their release into the Italian countryside, they later “set off in files by platoons and companies southward (from ‘The Bund1‘ just northwest of Fontanellato) along the course of the river“, where John and his platoon later “moved off in single file through the bushes and thickets beside the river and past Italian farmhouses sleeping under a brilliant starry sky.”
Soon after, they split up once again into smaller parties and John, Mac and Jerry, all from the same Regiment, stop with a farmer and his wife for about a week just 3 miles from Fontanellato while they awaited reliable news that “would enable them to form useful plans for the future.“
John then separates to stay on his own with a farmer called Maestri and his family before finally, on 30th September, he joins up with ‘Buck’, John and ‘Bunny’ and they head southwest across the Via Emilia, first skirting Fidenza and on to Vigoleno, Trinita, Pozzolo and Villora before continuing on to Bardi and beyond.
And, interestingly for me, this story parallels a similar start to my own father’s ‘Long Walk from Fontanellato’ as the route passes through much of the same countryside that he must have negotiated heading south west after crossing the main road between Parma and Milan and passing close by the villages of Villora and Varsi, both destinations my Mum and Dad visited in 1952.
And so they “came to the village of Villora”…. and now I’m wondering if my Dad had already settled into this village as John and his team, now made up of himself together with Capt. D.V.G. (‘Buck’) Buchanan R.A., Lt. J.M. (John) Eadie, R.A., and Lt. V.A. (‘Bunny’) Buist, R.A.C., who came up against strong opposition for assistance. And what are the chances of this group of four strong ex-prisoners being my Dad, Mike Goldingham, John Meares and Paddy Bruen?
“We sat on a wall in the afternoon sun until it became evident that the reception committee had either lost interest, reached an impasse or forgotten what it was supposed to be doing.
The position became further complicated by the arrival of another party of ex-prisoners, four strong, which was almost too much for the village.”
But John’s story also provides a few hints as to how PG 49 at Fontanellato was populated. And it starts off by providing details of his capture on the “Gazala Line” about 20 miles west of Tobruk on 1st June 1942, exactly one month before Dad’s capture at Deir el Shein on 1st July 1942!
And so for John the war is over and he finds himself transported from North Africa to Italy, ending up at his first ‘permanent’ POW camp at PG 41 at Montalbo.
His story continues indicating that, in the Spring of 1943 he along with some 100 others was moved out to Piacenza by coach and then to Fontanellato by train –
And later on in his story he describes the building and even goes on to talk about the “Great Escape” from the playing fields in which he seems to indicate that as many as 20 officers used the route to escape into the Italian countryside.
- “The Bund” at Fontanellato refers to a dried-up stream bed or raised embankment near the hamlet of Paroletta, located a few kilometers from the former POW Camp (PG 49) in Fontanellato, Italy. It served as a hiding spot for over 600 British prisoners who escaped in September 1943, following the Italian armistice.
Key Details About “The Bund” Location:
Location: Situated near the hamlet of Paroletta, close to the Rovacchia stream.
Context: It is a raised bank (a bund) above a large irrigation ditch.
Significance: This area was used as a “lying-up” area where escapees initially hid to avoid detection before breaking into smaller groups.
Distance: Located in the immediate vicinity of Fontanellato (Province of Parma) ↩︎
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 