Private George Bernard Stanley Keene
National Archives catalogue reference - WO 208/3325/26
Name: 4975699 Pte. Keene, George Bernard Stanley.
Unit: 1st Battalion The Sherwood Foresters, 1st Armoured Division.
Captured: Tobruk, 21st June 1942.
Escaped: Campo 70 (Fermo), 17th September 1943.
Date of Birth: 2nd April 1921.
Army Service: 17th April 1939.
Peacetime Profession: Farm Labourer.
Private Address: Lodge Cottage, Ollerton Road, Caunton, near Newark, Notts.
1. CAPTURE.
I was captured at TOBRUK on 21 Jun 42.
2. CAMPS IN WHICH IMPRISONED.
BENGHAZI 23 Jun - 14 Aug 42.
Campo 75 (BARI) 14 days, till Sep 42.
Campo 70 (FERMO) Sep 41 - 11 Sep 43.
3. ATTEMPTED ESCAPES.
Nil.
4. JOURNEY FROM CAMPO 70 (FERMO).
On 11 Sep 43 about 12 of us broke out of Campo 70 (FERMO) by climbing the wire and the outside wall. We made for ANCONA, but about 25 km from that town I was captured by Italian Fascists on 14 Sep along with Pte. FINDLAY, Cameron Hrs (S./P.G.(It) 2775), who had left the camp with me. The Fascists took us back to Campo 70, where we were put in a cell in the camp hospital with four others. On 17 Sep we left the cell when an Italian guard left the door open. We moved into a stable outside the wire and remained for three hours on top of the hay. After dark we left the stable and went to the village of RAPAGNANO (ITALY, 1:250,000, Sheet 25, X69). FINDLAY and I found shelter in the same house at CONTRADA CAMPIGLIONE, near RAPAGNANO, for the next three months, till after Christmas.
At the end of Dec we left CONTRADA CAMPIGLIONE because of Fascist searches in the neighbourhood. We moved to TORRE S. PATRIZIO (X 69), where we were sheltered in different houses for the next six weeks, till Feb 44. Because the Fascists were becoming active again, FINDLAY and I set out for PESCARA. After 8 days' walk we reached the river SANGRO, but turned back to CONTRADA CAMPIGLIONE, as we met groups of escaped P/W who said it was impossible to get through the lines. About two weeks later there were further Fascist searches, and our hosts said we could not continue to live in the house. FINDLAY went to live elsewhere, while a South African soldier and I dug a shelter at the bottom of a field. After we had been living for about three days in this shelter we met an English and a South African Lieutenant who gave us 200 lire apiece and directions for getting through the lines.
FINDLAY and I now made two attempts to reach the British lines. On the first occasion our route was as follows:- MONTERUBBIANO (X 78) - MONTEFIORE (X 78) - RIPATRANSONE (B 88) - OFFIDA (B 78) - S. EGIDIA (B 75) - TERAMO (B 74). On the second occasion we went by much the same route, and got as far as POCCIA, near OFFIDA. Here we heard that the guide whom we had expected to meet had been captured by the Fascists. We went North again. Our route after BELMONTE (X 6289) was:- MONTAPPONE (X 59) - MOGLIANO (X 59) - CORRIDONIA (S 60) - MONTE S. GUISTO (S 60) - MONTE URANO (S 70) - TORRE S. PATRIZIO (X 69) - RAPAGNANO (X 69).
We returned to CONTRADA CAMPIGLIONE, near RAPAGNANO, and were again sheltered at the houses where we had previously stayed. The South African was still where I had left him, but our dug-out had fallen in two days before my return. We dug another shelter about 10 yards away. About three nights later a party of Fascists arrived at the farm, asking where the British soldiers were. The people denied we were there. The Fascists said we were in the dug-out. They searched the old dug-out, not knowing we had dug a new one, and did not find us. We believed we had been betrayed by two British soldiers who were collaborating with the Fascists in the district.
Next day our hosts asked us to leave. The South African went off on his own, while I went to stay with another family in CONTRADA CAMPIGLIONE. Two or three days later some equipment was dropped nearby, and an Italian Colonel started a Partisan Group. I was among the twelve ex-P/W who joined this group. FINDLAY did not join, but I kept in touch with him and returned several times to CONTRADA CAMPIGLIONE to visit him. The Partisan band was doing sabotage and rounding up Fascists. I remained with the band till Jun 44.
FINDLAY and I left the FERMO district together on 10 Jun with the intention of getting through the lines. We went South to MONTERUBBIANO, but turned North again to RAPAGNANO. We were on our way to MONTE URANO for ammunition for the Partisans, when we saw German field guns on the road and concluded that a British offensive had opened. We hung around for two days and then started South again. We went via GROTTOZZOLINA (X 69), where there was considered fighting to MONTETTONE (X 6686), where we made contact with Polish forces.