Col d'Arnas

This route is known to have been used in November 1944 and January 1945. 

Three groups came via Viù, Usseglio and Lago della Rossa and one via Balme and Pian della Mussa

                                        Lago della Rossa                                                                                        Col d'Arnas                                                                                                   Pian della Mussa

The men  who crossed into France, arriving on 14th September, of  whom eight British names have been ascertained (see page The Men), were accompanied by  partisan Massimo Biondaro, who wrote to Fulvio Borghetti in June 1945 (See Sources page):

Partisan of the 19 Brigata Garibaldi 'Giambone', I met several allied prisoners in the Lanzo Valleys (Fondovalle). I kept in touch with them to give them information about the round-ups that were in progress. I did my best to get them some general help with procuring food, and I provided them with some clothing and other small items.

In October 1944, when I was informed of a dangerous round-up about to take place in the Fondovalle of Lanzo, that is, in the area where the various prisoners I knew of were in hiding, I warned them of the danger and they expressed the desire to cross over into France. I agreed to take them across the border, equipping them with the necessary to face the mountain, given that the weather at the time was very cold and there was snow.

Towards the beginning of November, after having contacted them to ensure that they were in a condition to make the journey, I accompanied fourteen British and four Russians (the Russians coming from the Susa Valley) through the mountains, the route being Fiano, Viù, Usseglio, Lago Dietro la Torre, Lago della Rossa, and Col d'Arnas to Avérole, where I arrived after about a week. I made contact with French assistants who accompanied us to Grenoble.

In Grenoble the prisoners were accompanied by me to the Allied Command in Grenoble – at the Savoie Hotel. I stayed there for about a month, placing myself at the disposal of the Allied Mission (Ferret) under the orders of American Lt. Anderson, (Henderson) who instructed me to return to Italy together with two other former prisoners of the Italians to look for other prisoners and take them to Grenoble.

Biondaro returned to Italy, and should have accompanied two others, Sgt Thomas J. Powell and  Gnr Henry G. Baxter, R.A.,  to France in January, but he was arrested.  Powell and Baxter managed to find another guide in Usseglio and crossed by this route, arriving in Avérole  on 11 January, from where they proceeded to Bessans and Val d'Isère.

On 14 November Vulpot's brother guided us to the power station near Lago Dietro La Torre; we were marooned for 4-5 days, Vulpot had not turned up...When the storm dropped went on to Lago della Rossa. Here news reached us that Vulpot  and an English captain and party would be crossing on 20 November  and they reached our point on 19 November.  The weather was good on 20 November and we crossed to Bonneval by way of Avérole.

Ptes Norman Evans and Herbert Wood, 2 Cameron Highlanders, submitted the following account in their joint Escape Report:

Arrangements had been made for guides by 25 November 44.  Bad weather had abated somewhat and we, together with Ptes. Cowles and Manning, (who we had met a few days earlier), and three guides – Vulpot (Guido Ferro Famil), Peraccione, Antonio (his son), and a partisan, Saetta, left Ala di Stura and reached Balme at 2000 hrs.  We left the following day (26 November) at 0730 hrs but the weather was such to scare the guide who said that the route would be impassable until next March and wanted to turn back. We argued with him and pointed out he would get L.2000 for each of us if he got us across, and finally we persuaded him to continue. From Balme we took track 38 to Pian della Mussa and then turned SW for P. de Arnas. The snow was deep but although we heard avalanches we experienced none ourselves. We left the refuge huts on our right (one is destroyed, the other is still OK although without food, we gather). At this point a gale sprang up but soon reduced in violence, and we were able to proceed, reaching Avérole at 1930 hrs, and left the following day (28 November) for Bessans, which was reached by 1030 hrs.

Agent 'Leo' (Bruno Leoni) of the Ferret Mission, who had arrived in Piedmont in October 1944 to assist the escaped POWs to reach France, planned to use the route which passed through the Col d' Autaret,  but no escaper mentions haveng used  it in his  Escape and Evasion Report (see Sources page). 

Colle della Losa

                                                                  Col del Nivolet                                                                                                                                                       Colle della Losa

The only  reference to this route found to date (March 2024) is in the Escape Report of Cpl George A. Drew, 6 R.T.R., Royal Armoured Corps, who describes it in detail.  It  is shown on the two  maps below, which also refer to the crossings made by other groups.  Drew and his British companions (see The Men page) had formed a partisan band of their own  - the Union Jack Band - together with five South Africans.  Here is Cpl. Drew's account:

We decided...in late September that we would try to get away..Earlier we had met an Italian alpine guide, who offered to lead our party over the mountains into France.

On 1 October we left and went over the mountains to Ronco. The party consisted of our guide, the Lieutenant, (an Italian named Paventi), 30 Yugoslavs, five Vichy French, South African Sergeant Nell and the 11 English listed above, (there are actually twelve) besides myself. From Ronco we went to Colle di Bardonney then to Cogne where we spent one day in a mine in the mountain then to Pont, west of the Testa di Montcorve, then to the Col del Nivolet. We rested in a mountain refuge hut at Ballotta and prepared to cross the frontier. There was already considerable amount of snow, a blizzard put an end to our first attempt. One Englishman in the party suffered a frostbitten hand. Several of the Yugoslavs wore only carpet slippers on their feet. We were roped together and crossed the frontier,  in six feet of snow, on 10 October.  We made the crossing at point called Colle Losa (altitude 3280 metres)... This region was unguarded as the Germans considered it impassable. We crossed in the daytime.

We went to Val d'Isère. We met a French Commandant who telephoned to the American commander news of our arrival. Transport took us to Bourg San Maurice where we spent the night. We were taken by lorry to Albertville and thence to Grenoble to the Hotel Savoy. Lieutenant Williams, Indian Army, gave us food and clothing, and we were prepared for our train journey. At 1500 hours that day (11 October) we were on the train which was bringing home repatriates from Switzerland.  We arrived in Marseilles on 12 October 1944, and sailed on 14 October for Naples. We left Naples on 24 October and reached Liverpool on 2 November 1944.

Cpl. Drew  was interviewed by I.S.9 (W) on 4 November 1944 after having returned to the United Kingdom.

Colle Galisia

Noasca, Ceresole, Lago Agnel, Colle Galisia and  Val d'Isère

Four groups are known to have used this route.  Three of them arrived safely but the journey of one ended in tragedy

Colle Galisia

Pte  Eric H. V. Morris, 1 East Surrey Regiment, crossed over with seven other British servicemen (for names of the entire group see The Men page). He said:

At the beginning of October we joined a party of about 15 Australians and New Zealanders at Sala (Biellese).  Shortly afterwards we contacted an Italian officer wearing American uniform who told us to move to Perloz where we would be met and conducted across the border into France.   We set out on 26 October with six Italian guides, travelling via Ponte San Martino and thence to Val d'Isère where we crossed over the border.  We made contact with American troops on 1 November at the first small village we came to in France. From here we were sent to Aix (Les Bains) and then Marseilles which we left about 14 November for the U.K. via Naples.

Pte Morris  was interrogated by I.S.9.(W) on 3 December.

On 4 November, a group of twenty-five British and Commonwealth escapers, escorted by thirteen partisans, started out from Ceresole Reale intending to reach France via the Colle Galisia, led by partisan leader Alberto Fattucci  - 'Tenente Vittorio'. All but three met their deaths during a blizzard. The survivors were two partisans – Carlo Diffurville and Giuseppe Mina  – and Tpr Alfred Southon, 50 Recce Regiment, 22nd Armoured Brigade, who had been sent from PG 53 Macerata to work camp PG 112/5. His account, taken from his Escape Report, can be read on the 'Galisia' page.

Dvr John H. Biggs and Dvr Newby J. Allen, both R.A.S.C., were being held in PG112/9 Beinasco at the time of the Armistice. From 15 November 1943 until August 1944 they did spasmodic service with various groups of partisans, but on 15 November 1944 they were captured during a German round-up. They managed to escape from the building in which they were being held, and on learning that they might be able to reach France they went up to Lago Agnel. Although they knew that a previous party had perished while trying to cross the mountains, they were not deterred, and their determination resulted in their being guided to Val d'Isère on 27 November 1944. (Information from Recommendation for Award series WO 373).

A group led by  Sgmn Lister Peace,  Royal Corps of Signals, also followed this route.   This account is taken from Sgmn Peace's Escape Report:

We left Ceresole about 1900 hrs on 18 December ...We had left Ceresole with five guides but two went off en route - we understood to Aosta...our party consisted of Valentino,(presumably a member of the Resistance) 3 guides, and we 7 evaders. We left at 0700 hrs and made the Lago  Agnel refuge by 1000 hrs and the top of the Galisia two hours later, reaching Val d'Isère by about 1730 hrs. Weather had been good - slight snow and no wind.

At Val d'Isère, which was reached on 19 December, we picked up a U.S.A. Lieut. Singer, who accompanied us to Tignes which was reached by 1800hrs...on 20 December we were taken to I.S.9.(W.E.A.) HQ.

The group was interrogated in France on 23 December 1944.

Col Girard

This route was used by South Africans Pte Robert Watson and Dvr Melvyn J.  Brooks (both 3 Transvaal Scottish) and three Britishers - Dvr William G. Purnell, Dvr.  Albert Lines (both R.A.S.C.) and  another British soldier- possibly Pte T. Warren,  Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, or Dvr William D. Lewis,   R.A.S. C., both of whom escaped to France in October 1944.

The group set out from Lities and crossed the Col Girard to reach Bonneval on 2 October 1944.  Pte Watson and Dvr. Brooks had escaped from PG 106 Vercelli on 10 September 1943 and Dvrs  Purnell and Lines from PG112/1 Ponte Stura, Turin.   They met the American forces in Lyon and were interrogated on 13/14 October.

Rocciamelone

An escaped prisoner, Edward (surname lost) is named in a request for recompense made  to the Allied Screening Commission on 28 June 1945  

by Signor Artusio Savino of Condove

 Source:   Fondo Borghetti, Istoreto, Turin,   C FB 1B                                                                                                                                                                              Rocciamelone

Southern Piedmont

Colle della Croce - Val Pellice

NX 46958  Gnr Phillip J. WEIRS, Australian Imperial Force, who had escaped from PG 106, is recorded as having taken this route in ANZAC POW Freemen in Europe 

His POW card (Melbourne Archives)  has the following entries:

  28-8- 44      2nd Ech. adv.  escaped and has reached allied lines in Italy,
  03-9-44      Cas. List No  168 Middle East reports escaped and reached  lines.
 13-9-44        2nd Ech. adv. disembarked in Middle East on 9th Sept.

   (The Allied lines were, however, in France and not in Italy! )

His card also contains the information that his mother had learned via the  Swiss Consulate General in Milan that he was held to be ' in company of Italian partisans', although his records still showed him as being interned in the camp.

                                                        Colle della Croce                                                                                                                                                             Val Pellice

Colle di Tenda

                                   Map showing places named by Ft/Sgt. Hackett                                                                                                                              Bassa di Peirafica 

Evader Ft/ Sgt John A. Hackett, Royal Australian Air Force,  abandoned his stricken aircraft near Tenda in Southern Piedmont on 20 September 1944.  After spending over a month with a group of partisans and meeting an Alpine guide he decided to try to reach France. Here is his acount, taken from his Escape and Evasion Report:

29 Nov- 2 Dec 44.

I kept asking the old guide when he could take me to the Allied lines. He said it was too dangerous...He said we could not get through the mountains for six months because of the snow and general weather, so I promised to way him 10, 000 Lire. He then consented to take me across. His name, and the address to which I am supposed to send the money, is Franceschi Natale, c/o Comando Patrioti Italiani, Hotel Continental, Belvedere.  At 1900 hrs on 30 December Natale and I and four Russians formerly in the  German army left Peirafica. An hour and a half later at Tenda we were joined by eight young Italian partisans coming to fight with the partisan band on the American side of the lines. We walked all that night. We hid during the day in a house near Briga. At 2300 hrs on Friday we started across the mountains and arrived at Belvedere at 0830 hrs on Saturday...

A comment on the interrogation report read as folllows: 

In order to preserve prestige and retain the service of partisan guides (I.S.P. (W.E.A.) is paying the Lire 10,000 promised by the evader.

Ft/Sgt Hackett was interviewed by I.S.9 (W.E.A.) on 4 December 1944.

Val d' Aosta

Little St. Bernard Pass

Little St. Bernard Pass

Fus John Wilson, Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, was a member of the Union Jack Band of partisans,  which he left at the end of August '44 as they were running short of supplies. In September  1944 he was operating with other partisans in the lowland area near Ivrea.

Here is an extract from his Escape Report:

In September I was sent with several other British to take our prisoners to the mountains above Castellamonte to hand them over to the partisans operating in that area as it was too dangerous to keep them with us in the plains. Having reached the partisans and handed over the prisoners to them we set off to return to the plains. We were unable to get through, however, owing to the activities of the Germans and were forced to return to the mountains. A short while later conditions were becoming very difficult so we decided to head for France.

About 3 September I set out in small party including Spellman, Chiltern and Hawke, (see The Men page)  with Italian guides for the frontier. We went via Cogne and crossed into France near the Pt. San Bernardo (Little Saint Bernard Pass) a few days later. As soon as we reached France we contacted the Maquis, who took us to Chambery. From here we went to Grenoble where we contacted American forces.The journey across the mountains took us about a week.

We were sent to Marseilles from where I made own way to Paris on 2 October, where I was interrogated by an American officer. I left Paris for the U.K. on 5 October 1944.

Fus. Wilson was also interrogated  by I.S.9 (W.E.A.) in the UK on 23 /02 /1945