Driver David James Mackintosh
National Archives catalogue reference - WO 208/3325/5
Name: T/76996 Dvr. Mackintosh, David James.
Unit: 289th Company, Royal Army Service Corps.
Left: Geneva, 11th January 1945.
Arrived: Bovingdon, 15th January 1945.
Date of Birth: 3rd April 1920.
Army Service: Since 26th April 1939 (T.A.)
Peacetime Profession: Grocer's Assistant.
Private Address: The Gardens, Cleland, by Motherwell, Lanarkshire.
1. Capture:
I was captured at TOBRUK with my platoon on 21 Jun 42.
2. Camps in which imprisoned:
CAMPO 60 (LUCCA) 5 Aug - 15 Oct 42.
Military hospital (LUCCA) 15 Oct 42 - 28 Feb 43.
CAMPO 70 (FERMO) 28 Feb - 21 Apr 43.
Campo 62 (BERGAMO) 21 Apr - 4 Jun 43.
Working Camp (CREMA) Attached to Campo 62 4 Jun - 9 Sep 43
3. Attempted Escapes:
From BERGAMO I was sent to a working camp at CREMA (ITALY, 1:250,000, Sheet 11, K 65), attached to Campo 62. There were about 50 of us in the party, living in barracks with Italian soldiers and working on the land. I escaped alone on 13 Jul 43 from a field on the farm where I was working. I went to a village for food, and an Italian, noticing my British uniform, informed the police. I was sent back to the working party.
4. Journey from CREMA:
On 9 Sep 43, the day after the Italian Armistice, we all left the working camp at CREMA. With Pte. James McLELLAN, Gordon Hrs, I was sheltered for four days in CREMA by an Italian family. We were then taken to a farm at MADIGNANO (K 6548). I was sheltered here till I left ITALY. McLELLAN was at the farm for about seven months, and then moved to another farm at VERGONZANA (K 6650), where he was when I left in Dec 44. The only time we left the district was in Aug 44 when we went south with an Italian guide to try to reach the British lines. We went across country, reaching PARMA district, but were held up because the Germans were building defences south of the river PO. We returned to the farms where we had been staying.
My journey to SWITZERLAND was arranged by Communists, whom I contacted about a month before I left, through a girl working on the land. I was supplied with identity cards, and a guide from MILAN took me to that city on 24 Dec 44. There was no-one else in the party. From MILAN the guide took me by train to COMO (Sheet 3, E10), and by boat up the lake to DONGO (E 3536). Outside DONGO I was handed over to Partisans who guided two Russians and me into SWITZERLAND. We reached BELLINZONA (E 14) on 26 Dec 44.
I left GENEVA by train for LYONS on 11 Jan 45, accompanied by another soldier. In LYONS we reported to a British Liaison officer with the U.S. Army, who gave us permission to fly to the U.K. in an American aircraft, the pilot of which we had met in a cafe. We left LYONS on 13 Jan 45, arriving the same day at WARRINGTON. We flew to BOVINGDON on 14 Jan 45.