244236 Tpr. Arthur Henry "Mick" Sullivan British Army 3rd Btn. Royal Tank Regiment from:Walthamstow  Arthur Sullivan is my father, he died in 1965 when I was a young girl. I know from items that I have, that he was a regular solider and was with his regiment the 9th Lancers in Sialkot which was then in India now Pakistan in 1930 and then for some reason which I have yet to find out he was transferred to 13th/18th Hussars and served with this regiment between 1931 and 1935. After this date I have not be able to ascertain were he was posted. I have only recently found out about him being a POW. He was captured at Tobruk. I think the date was 27th May 194.2 I do not know whether it was the Germans or the Italians who captured him but he ended up in a POW Camp in Italy. From information on record this was POW Camp 65. He escaped from the camp, but I do not know the date when this happened although I have questioned some of my older relations about this and they have told me that when the Italians thought that the Americans were coming they released the prisoners in POW Camp 65 Cressina (Gravina Altamura) thinking that this may help protect the women and children in the area.
Unfortunately it was not the Americans but the Germans who arrived. Apparently my father escaped and ran into a local resistance group and stayed with them until 1944 when he rejoined his regiment. The regiment was then sent to Germany to help clear a POW camp, I do not know which one, but I have been told that he had to sign a document not to say anything about the conditions in the camp and that there was a very infectious disease which someone said was Cholera. My Father never spoke about the war but he used to have terrible nightmares up until the day he died.    |