216562 S/Sgt. Joseph Barratt British Army 6th Btn. Cheshire Regiment from:30 Garrett Street, Stockport Staff/Sergeant Joseph Barratt was an employee of the hat manufacturers Christy & Co. Ltd. when he joined the Army in May 1939. Joseph left Britain in 1942 and ended up as a POW in Italy. He was on a POW train en-route from Italy to Germany when the Allerona tragedy took place.
On 28th January 1944 at the Orvieto North railway bridge at Allerona, Italy, a train full of Allied prisoners, most of whom had come from Camp P.G. 54, Fara in Sabina, north of Rome, was hit by friendly fire from the American 320th Bombardment Group. U.S. Army member Richard Morris was on the train and wrote that the journey was stopped on the bridge over the river, and that the German guards fled as soon as the bombs struck. The prisoners were left locked inside the carriages. Many, including Joseph Barratt, managed to escape through holes in the boxcars caused by the bombing, and jumped into the river below. It was a great tragedy of the war resulting in the deaths of hundreds of men.
Joseph suffered bruising to his chest whilst escaping from the train, and was admitted to hospital at Orvieto. From there he was sent on to Stalag 344 in Lamsdorf, Poland. His wife received notification of his detention on 21st February 1944. Tony Barratt, their son, reports that during the action in which his father was taken prisoner in Garigliano, the commanding officer was killed and so his father took command. He was debating the best course of action (to wave the white flag or run) when the Germans captured them.
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