| Sharpshooters Prisoners of War 1939 – 1945 |
| The very nature of tank warfare in WW2 made it difficult to separate the number of prisoners from those listed under the catch-all description “Missing”. It is only comparatively recently that, thanks to the publication by The Imperial War Museum of comprehensive records of British and Commonwealth Prisoners of War held in Germany, that it has become possible to attempt the task of researching this gap in the Sharpshooter archive. |
| No similar record exists of British prisoners held in Italian hands, but the vast majority of these were taken in the Desert and Italian campaigns of 1941-3 and were transported to Germany after the Italian capitulation in October 1943. The identity of the relatively small number of Sharpshooters who were able to make their way into Switzerland at that time is known, as is that of the even fewer who succeeded in getting through to the Allied lines. |
| The Imperial War Museum records not only give the name, rank and Army/Personal Number of prisoners of war, but also their Kgf Nr (German PoW No.) and the Stalag or Oflag in which they were first detained. Armed with this information and by accessing the War Diaries of the three Sharpshooter Regiments and contemporary SYA newsletters, the researcher (who was himself taken prisoner at el Gubi in November 1941) has compiled this record. He does not claim perfection, but he is confident that he has provided the framework for any future researcher to finish the task. Where known, the place of capture has been included. |
| The inclusion of four members of 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars is purely sentimental because they shared every day of captivity with me from el Gubi on19th November 1941 until freedom in April 1945. Sadly one of them, Trooper D.J.Waddell, died on the march from our Stalag 344 in Upper Silesia which was vacated in front of the advancing Russians in the freezing conditions of 26th January 1945. |
| My familiarity with 4th CLY matters and personnel has enabled me to identify members of that regiment. This accounts for the larger proportion of P.o.W. whose actual Sharpshooter regiment I could not identify. However, if any Veteran or relative reading this article can provide any of the missing information the writer will be very happy to receive it and amend the record accordingly. |
| Roy F.H.Cawston |
| Tpr. 7892818 ‘C’ Sqn 4CLY & 3/4CLY 1939 - 1946 (Kgf Nr 28102) |