212880 Pte John Cardwell British Army Durham Light Infantry from:Newcastle My Grandad, John Cardwell, got detached somehow from his Battalion and was hidden (I think with 3 others) for a long period by Italians in a village in the mountains before they were betrayed by one young guy.
The villagers had dug out caves in the mountains where they hid food from the Germans and my grandad was often hidden there when the Germans came to the village. I also remember him telling a story of being hidden under the floor of a barn where German soldiers were walking around on the floor above them and they could see them through the gaps in the floor boards. One day, this young villager told them that the British Army was in the next village and two of the people he was with walked down there but my grandad didn't trust this guy. A couple of days later; the Germans arrived in the village on motorbikes and caught him.
I was always under the impression that he was in a POW Camp in Italy but having found the information above, it seems I was mistaken. He talked of working in a cement factory during his incarceration and that seems to fit with what I have read about XI-A.
We only learned the above information as he would tell funny stories related to them but he gave very little away and never explained a scar he had on his shoulder. I am trying to find out his movements during the war.
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