Nicholas - ESCAPING WITH HIS LIFE: from dunkirk to germany via norway, north africa and italian pow camps

From Dunkirk to D-Day and Beyond

Nicholas Young

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by

Pen & Sword Military

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire Philadelphia

Copyright Nicholas Young 2019

ISBN 978 1 52674 663 4

eISBN 978 1 52674 664 1

MobiISBN 978 1 52674 665 8

The right of Nicholas Young to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book

is available from the British Library.

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This book is dedicated to my three sons,
Edward, Alexander and Thomas, and my nieces, Catherine and
Natasha and to the brave people in Italy who saved
my fathers life

From Fontanellato to Corvaro

Along mountain pathways

In dark autumn nights

Their stealthy footsteps.

They speak foreign languages,

They wear hostile uniforms

But they find shelter and living.

Ordinary peasants fearless

And courageous people

Hide them in houses and barns.

Any day a common meal,

Then on the track again

Towards a faraway horizon.

Years later, the return

Along those mountain pathways,

Feeling the scent of memory.

Lungo sentieri montani

In buie notti di autunno

Calano i loro passi furtivi.

Parlano lungue straniere

Indosso divise nemiche

Eppure accolti e sfamati.

Gente comune dei campi

Senza timore e per nulla

Li cela tra stalle e fienili.

Per giorni lo stesso desco

Dopo di nuovo in cammino

Veso una linea lontana.

A distanza di anni il ritorno

Lungo quei sentieri montani

Con il profumo della memoria.

Pierluigi Felli

M y father, Leslie Young, hardly ever spoke about what he did in the war, what he saw, what he felt; never mentioned the escapes he had, the friends who died or the memories that haunted him; never talked about his two mentions in despatches. Many of them, the old soldiers, were like that. Was this reticence caused by modesty, a determination to focus on the future, the deep desire to forget a nightmare? Who knows? Maybe all those things, or none of them. For that generation, it was just what you did. My father, like so many, was driven by the deepest sense of duty.

All my sister Vanessa and I can recall from my childhood is the occasional reference to Dunkirk, or to his time on the run in Italy not much else. But even those infrequent reminiscences were sketchy, quite superficial and certainly not an encouragement to ask further questions.

How I regret that now. Suddenly, one grey Sunday morning in 1986, my father was gone, and with him a mind that must have teemed with memories and stories that are now beyond recall or imagining.

And yet, not quite. Amongst his papers, tucked in a drawer, I found a small, tattered notebook, its dog-eared pages crammed with his instantly recognizable, almost completely illegible, pencil scrawl. Clearly, a diary of some sort. I put it to one side and got on with the legal stuff, and with looking after my mother. Only a couple of years later did I take it out and start to read.

What I found set me off on what has become almost a lifes work, to trace the story of my fathers war. Long days at Kew in the National Archives; trips around Europe and North Africa, retracing his footsteps, feeling him there beside me; talking to people who knew him, or fought with him, people who admired him, for qualities that I barely knew he possessed, that decent, quiet, kind man I called Dad.

Now I have researched enough, and its time to write. To write the story of his war, of how he escaped with his life from a dozen difficult and sometimes tragic situations, and of my own search for him in the fragments of memory and history that are left. And then to pass the story on to my own family and others lest we forget.

Nick Young
Lords Waste,
Bredfield,
Suffolk
December 2018

T hanks are due to a host of people, without whose support this book could never have been written.

First and foremost is my darling wife Helen, who came with me on all my journeys of discovery and whose constant encouragement, and willingness to allow me to shut myself away for long periods to write, made all the difference.

My boys allowed me to read them great chunks of the book as I went along and, since it was written primarily for them, I have taken their willingness to listen at least as some kind of approval!

Henry Wilson and several others at Pen & Sword have been brilliant throughout the process and have given me constant good advice and help, as has my editor, George Chamier.

My friend Mik Sparrow read and checked the text and found many errors that I had missed any that remain are mine alone. I am not by profession an historian and if, despite years of careful research, I have misrepresented historical facts in any way, I hope I may be forgiven.

Numerous former colleagues and comrades of my father gave me their time and shared their memories, and to each of them, now mostly sadly deceased, and to their families, I offer my gratitude and affection.

Finally, I would like particularly to thank the families de Michelis, Elfer, Tevini and Gatenby who, as it will be seen, all played a fundamentally important in my fathers eventual escape with his life. They have shown me as much friendship, care and love as they showed him long ago, and my family and I will remain forever in their debt.

I have quoted from the following published and unpublished works, with kind permission from the publishers, or the families of the author, as follows:

Absalom, Roger, A Strange Alliance Aspects of Escape and Survival Italy 193545 , Accademia Toscana

Davies, Tony, When the Moon Rises , Leo Cooper

Delaforce, Patrick, Churchills Desert Rats in North-West Europe , Pen & Sword

Dunning, James, I t had to be Tough the Origins and Training of the Commandos in World War II , Frontline Books

English, Ian, Home by Christmas ? (privately published)

Foot, M.R.D. and Langley J.M., MI9 Escape and Evasion 193945 , Biteback Publishing

Graham, Dominick, The Escapes and Evasions of an Obstinate Bastard , Wilton 65

Langrishe, Peter, The Long Walk Out (privately published)