224210 Gnr. Peter Bailey British Army 107th (South Notts Hussars) Regt. Royal Artillery from:Bingley, West Yorks My father, Peter Bailey, was conscripted into the Royal Artilery in 1939 aged 21. He was sent to Catterick Garrison for basic training. After this he was posted to Ipswich where he was involved with anti aircraft gunnery. Sometime later he was re-posted to Woolwich to await a troop ship bound for Egypt.
I think it was around this time he learned he would be attached to the South Notts Hussars, a TA unit. After six or seven weeks at sea they arrived in Egypt and were sent on to somewhere near Tobruk where the whole regiment was overrun by Field Marshal Rommel's Africa Corps.
Some time later he found himself in POW camp 53 at Sforza Costa near a larger town called Macerata in Italy. When Italy surrendered my father and many others, although not all, escaped to the hills and managed to survive by foraging and stealing until they came across a farmer who took them in and kept them hidden whenever any Germans were about. I think there were only three or four people in my father's party and they helped out on the farm in exchange for food until they were found by US troops.
After this it's pretty much blank as I don't know how he got back to the UK, nor do I know any names of his companions or indeed if all of them survived whilst on the run.
The last six months of my father's service were spent in hospital in Sheffield with PTSD, and then medically discharged just as the war ended. I am pleased to say he completely recovered and lived to be 78 years old.He rarely talked about the war but one thing he did mention was the harsh conditions in camp 53 and the brutality of some of the guards, his biggest complaint though was the fact that his army boots fell to pieces and it left him barefooted for around two years.
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