264953 L/Sgt. Arthur William Ambler British Army Royal Horse Artillery from:Folkestone, Kent I know that my father, Arthur Ambler was posted to Egypt from India at the outbreak of the war and took part in the early actions against the Italian forces in a unit attached to the Australian forces. He subsequently took part in the general retreat when then the Africa Korps arrived and forced the British back to Egypt.
He was captured in 1941 when an attempted ambush of German troops was itself ambushed, and sent to Italy to the Italian POW camp PG53. When the Italians surrendered he was taken by the Germans to Stalag 357 at Thorn in Poland. Late in 1944 he was moved with part of 357 to Stalag XIB and from there to Stalag XIA where he was repatriated by the Americans after the Russian troops moved through the area.
He never told me anything about his experiences in either Italy or Germany until just before his death in 2000, but it was obvious from his withdrawn state that he suffered a serious level of psychological trauma from his experiences - and I do know that he expressed a bitter resentment of Churchill's order that they did not attempt to escape from the camps in Italy after the capitulation.
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