Gnr. John Braithwaite
British Army 18th Field Regiment Royal Artillery
from:Gateshead
In 1939, John Braithwaite went to France with the British Expeditionary Force, serving in the Royal Artillery. In June 1940 s the Germans pushed the BEF back to the coast, he was one who offered to hold the beachhead during the Dunkirk evacuation. When the last troops had been withdrawn, he dived into the surf and being a strong swimmer, struck out towards England. He was rescued by one of the small boats several miles off the French coast, and landed in Margate in the early hours of his 21st birthday.
In July 1940 John was then accepted for 'hazardous duties' and was posted to 23rd Heavy Training Battalion (later renamed No.3 Special Service Battalion). After 6 months tough training, these men became some of the first Commando. John was posted to No.7 Commando in January 1941 (which merged with 4th Special Service Battalion en route to the Lofoten Islands for the Operation Claymore raid in March 1941, to become No.4 Commando). No.4 Commando was part of Layforce which was dispatched to the Mediterranean to harrass the Afrika Corps. John recalled being offloaded from a submarine for the disastrous raid on Bardia in April 1941. Soon after, the Commandos were sent to defend Crete. They were grossly under-equipped, but fought hard against the overwhelming might of the German paratroopers but, of the 800 commandos sent there, about 600 were listed as killed, missing or wounded. Only 23 officers and 156 ORs escaped. On the 29th of May 1941 John was evacuated aboard HMS Orion, the cruiser was struck by Stuka bombs, with 260 deaths and 280 wounded. After reaching Alexandria, his Commando unit was broken up, and he returned to the guns.
On the 21st of January 1942, he was injured and captured in Tobruk. In late 1942, after recovering in a POW hospital in southern Italy, POW No.258058 John Braithwaite was transferred to the Italian-run Campo 52 near Genoa. Conditions were bad and, as supplies grew shorter, the men caught rats and cats to supplement their food. John and several others made an escape from Campo 52 but were recaptured and sent to Campo 70 Monturano (near Parma) and later to Stalag 339 Trieste in northern Italy. As the Allies drew nearer, he was transferred to a work-camp near Dresden called Arb.Komm.855. Later he was moved to Stalag IVB, 30 miles north of Dresden. From here, he escaped with a New Zealander called Arnold Franklin but was caught near the Czech border. Upon recapture in April 1944, he was put in Stalag IVA at Hohnstein, where he worked in jobs associated with a nearby lignite coalmine. John stayed in this camp until liberation.
He later emigrated to New Zealand, and served for two years with the RNZ Artillery in Korea, but that's another story. I would happy to hear from anyone with more details about any of the above. Feel free to contact me.
