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[Header]: The National Archives’ reference WO 208/3315/3
MOST SECRET
M.I.9/S/P.G. (-) 1474
EVADED CAPTURE IN ITALY AFTER RELEASE FROM CAMPO 49.

The information contained in this report is to be treated as MOST SECRET
STATEMENT BY
30735 Lieut.-Colonel (war subs) Hugh Salusbury Kynaston MAINWARING, D.S.O., Royal Artillery, H.Q. 8^th Army

Captured: MERSAH MATRUH, 7 Nov 42.
Left: ALGIERS, 18 Oct 43.
Date of Birth: 22 Jan 06
Army Service Sinco Apr 27.

Arrived: WHITCHURCH, 19 Oct 43
Peacetime Profession: 10^th Hussers: later stockbroker.
Private Address: LLANFYLLIN, Montgomeryshire

1942. Captured Mersah Matruh
I was captured at MERSAH MATRUH on 7 Nov 42 while out on a reconnaissance party with Major R. CARVER, R.E., from 8^th Army H.Q. We ran into a road block and were captured by the 90 German Light Division. After capture we were taken to “CHARING CROSS”. After about four hours here we were sent to H.Q. Afrika Korps, which were midway between MERSAH MATRUH and SIDI BARRANT. We were here for two hours and were then passed on to Panzar Army H.Q. just South of Landing Ground 122, near SIDI BARRANI. I was here for the night (7-8 Nov) and next day was flown from Landing Ground 122 in a JU 52 to GAMBUT between SOLLUM and TOBRUK. Here I was transferred to another JU 52 and taken to TOBRUK. From TOBRUK I was flown in an Italian aircraft to an unknown landing ground 30 miles South of BRINDISI.
8 Nov BARI, 30 Nov POPPI
On 8 Nov I was sent to Campo 75, the Transit Camp at BARI. I was at BARI till 30 Nov, when I was moved with 33 senior officers to Campo 38 at POPPI near FLORENCE. I was here till 30 May 43, when I was transferred to Campo 49, between PARIV and PIACENZA.
1943 30 May Campo 49 (near PARMA)
I was in charge of the organisation of this camp for any emergency – invasion or the probability of transfer to GERMANY. We ran the camp with two different staffs – on under the S.B.O. and Adjutant for normal organisation, and the emergency staff run by myself and the G.2 [General Staff Officer Grade 2]. For an emergency the camp was organised into a H.Q. company consisting of all the specialists, four ordinary Companies, and a batmen’s company. The Companies were also organised into Platoons and Sections.
8 Sep [1943] News of Armistice
News of the Armistice reached the camp about 2000 hours on 8 Sep. About 2200 hrs the Italian Commandant came in and had a frank discussion with the S.B.O. [Switchboard Operator?] (Lt.-Col. DE BURG, R.A. [Royal Artillery]), at which I was present. He said that the situation was most obscure. He had heard that fighting was taking place between the Italians and the Germans in PARMA and PLACENZA, and that the headquarters to which he was responsible at PARMA had been attached and communications out.
/His latest…

[Footnote]: Catalogue Reference WO/208/3315  Crown Copyright. Image Reference:96

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His latest orders were to resist the Germans should they approach the camp, and he said that, although he had not had specific instructions, he presumed this resistance was also to prevent the P/W [Prisoner of Wars] being taken over and moved to GERMANY. He asked if the camp was organised and ready to act in an emergency. He was told it was. He therefore said that should the camp be approached by the Germans in numbers too large for his small camp garrison and the weapons at their disposal, he had it in mind to allow the camp to escape, and that he would recall us to the camp if he considered this action would be in our interests. He further said that he had a patrol out on the roads to PARMA and PLACENZA, which he reckoned would give an hour’s warning of the German approach. He guaranteed to keep the S.B.O.[Switchboard Officer?] in touch with the situation throughout the night.
9 Sep [1943] All P/W [Prisoners of War] leave the Camp
Nothing occurred till 0730 hrs, 9 Sep, when the Italian Commendent again came in. He said that the situation had deteriorated, and asked that I should be allowed to go alone on a reconnaissance to find an area in which the P/W could be hidden. He gave me a map, and indicated the direction he considered the best. I left the camp at 0800 hrs, and found a most suitable place along the banks of a small river, where there was a very thick undergrowth. This was about six miles from the camp. I returned at about 1200 hrs, and within ten minutes the alarm was sounded, the wire cut, and all P/W, organised as I have already indicated, left the camp for the river. They numbers about 420 officers and 120 batman. Everyone got out, including the sick and people with broken legs. Those who could not walk rode on ponies.
Arrival of Germans
Within half an hour of our departure the Germans arrives – strength reputed to be 80- and after little to no fighting, the Italian garrison, including the Commandant and four of his officers, were taken prisoner and removed.
Captain CAMINO, the senior Italian interpreter, accompanied the P/W [Prisoners of War], and was of enormous assistance during the next 48 hours.
The Germans were reputed to have been very angry on finding the camp empty. It is reputed that the Commandant told the Germans that there had been a mass breakout and that P/W [Prisoners of War] had scattered over the country beyond his control. The Germans ransacked the building, sold the food to the inhabitants of the village, and removed anything they required. They then left, leaving about 12 men in the building. No search for P/W [Prisoners of War] was made that day/

10-11 Sep [1943]
All the P/W lay concealed throughout 9 Sep, the night of 9-10 Sep [1943], and 10 Sep. During the night of 10-11 [1943] Sep Companies were further dispersed along the river bank, and two companies moved some six miles South preparatory to crossing the main MILAN-BOLOGNA road into the hills overlooking SPEZIA on the following night.
11-12 Sep [1943] All P/W [Prisoner of War] dispersed
By the night of 11-12 Sep all P/W had been dispersed, in the first instance by Companies, then into Platoons, then into Sections, then into small parties or individuals. About 20 remained in the camp area, considering that lying low was safer than moving out at that time. When the whole camp was dispersed Captain CAMINO offered to take Lt. -Col DF BURG, Lt.-Col. WHEELER, and Capt. PHILLIPS with him to his home in TURIN area, leaving me with Lieut. LASCARIS (a Greek who had been serving at C.S.D.I.C. [Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre], Middle East) and Lieut BLANCHARD (a Belgian, who had enlisted in the British forces in EGYPT and had been doing a special job with the “Arab Legion”.
13 Oct [1943] Contact with K.O.Y.L.I. [King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry]
Lieuts. LASCARIS and BLANCHARD and I obtained civilian clothing from farms in the area. We had with us emergency rations – one tin of bully beef, one tin of meat roll, and one tin of biscuits among the three of us. We then proceeded to walk South to rejoin the 8^th Army in the FOGGIA area. Our route was: S.E. across the VIA AEMILIA and about ten miles South of it to beyond BOLOGNA – across to the North of the VIA AEMILIA direct to the coast at CESENATICO – along the coast approximately 25 miles inland to CASA CALENDRA, where we passed through the German line and made contact with the K.O.Y.L.I. [King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry] at 0900 hrs, 13 Oct.
/We had walked….
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We had walked all the time except for 36 hours at CESENATICO, where we were trying to get a boat. Except at CESENATICO we never disclosed that we were British P/W [Prisoners of War], but came all the way as returning Italian soldiers. We were faced with the danger of capture by the Germans and of apprehension by the Italian authorities. The Germans had offered a reward of 2600 liren (or £20) for notification of the whereabouts of any British P/W. [Prisoner of War] We therefore decided that, as far as possible, we must not disclose our British identity.
Lieut. LASCARIS is a fluent Italian speaker. Lieut. BLANCHARD is a good Italian speaker. I am a bad Italian speaker, and anything I said would at once disclose my identity and probably that of the others. We therefore decided to pose throughout the journey as Italian soldiers endeavouring to return to their homes in Southern ITALY.
The story we used was always the same, but as we moved towards the coast our point of origin had to be changed. The story in the later stages as follows. We were three Italian soldiers (myself in the Labour Corps) who had been conscripted and absent from home for four years. When the Armistice was declared we were in ZAGRES (YUGOSLAVIA). We got on a train and went to TRIESTE, where the train was searched by the German for Italian personnel. Shooting took place and we among others were taken P/W with a view to our removal to GERMANY. This had been too much for me and I had a nervous breakdown, the symptoms of which were complete silence except for muttering a few words about my family to my friends: I would not talk to strangers. After two days captivity in TRIESTE we had managed to escape and had decided to do the remainder of the journey on foot.
This story explained why we had not taken advantage of the very disorganised railway service in ITALY after the Armistice, when everyone had travelled free and there had been no supervision by Germans or Italians. It also explained in the later stages why we had taken so long in getting South. The story about my silence was seldom necessary in the daytime, but had to be pulled out on occasion when sleeping at farms or getting an evening meal.
Be careful acting and the position of myself on the outside of any circle and the continual talking of two others, who made a good story in which the Italians appeared to sympathise, my silence in many cases passed unnoticed.

Lieut. BLANCHARD’s accent in the later stages was not considered to be that of Southern ITLAY. This was explained away by his own story of having been resident in EGYPT and elsewhere for the last 20 years and of having been employed as a waiter. As such he had cultivated an Egyptian-Italian accent.
Passing thus as Italians, we had no difficulty in obtaining the food and shelter which the Italian peasant was prepared to give to his own kind in the circumstances outlined in out story. The food consisted of bread, an occasional egg, a small piece of cheese, and permission to take fruit and tomatoes growing in the fields. When we asked for it we were given shelter at night time in outhouses, barns, cattle sheds, etc.
We appreciated that, provided we did not use roads and always kept on the move, we would run little risk of being picked up by the Germans or Italians. We therefore never went to a farm at night time till it was dusk. We always left before sunrise. We moved all day, never resting for more than about half an hour in any one place. The only exception to this was at CERSENATICO, where we contacted the priest, hoping to be put in touch with a boat for Southern ITALY. We told the priest the truth and he have us shelter for 36 hours, at the end of which he was very much afraid that the carabinieri had got wind of our presence. We left his house at 0400 hrs the next day.
We had with us a rice-paper escape map, and obtained from the priest three sheets of a motor map covering Southern ITALY. These
/were of great….
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were of great assistance in the later stages. We had no compass.
We had with us one razor, a shaving brush, soap, a comb, one needle and a reel of cotton. These were absolutely essential. Besides this we had nothing. We carried no packs or socks.
I was dressed as an Italian peasant and could pass as such. This was particularly useful when a reconnaissance had to be made in presence of the Germans, as I could “join on” to the countryside and pass unnoticed. The other two were in ordinary civilian clothes in not very good repair.
11 Bde.[Brigade] H.Q.
H.Q. 13 Corps
H.Q. 8^th Army
I contacted the K.O.Y.L.I [King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry] at 0930 hrs, 13 Oct. I subsequently obtained transport and reported to 11 Brigade H.Q., where I found Major DE BUTTS the Brigade Major, whom I know well. He arranged transport to H.Q. 13 Corps, where I left Lieuts. LASCARIS and BLANCHARD, who were despatched down L. of C. [Lines of Communications] to the P/W [Prisoner of War] Collecting Centre in TARANTO area. I went straight to General MONTGOMERY, on whose staff I had previously served, arriving at H.Q., 8^TH Army at 1800 hrs, 13 Oct [1943].
ALGIERS
General MONTGOMERY despatched me to Allied Force H.Q., ALGIERS by air (first priority) to report to General WHITELEY with a request that he would despatch me as soon as practicable to the War Office with a letter to D.M.O.[Director of Military Operations] I arrived at WHITCHURCH by air at 0500 hrs, 19 Oct.