Letitia Blake
The National Army Museum, in Chelsea, was an appropriate setting for an illuminating and moving evening on May 27th 2026, with Karen Farrington launching her latest book: The Great Italian Breakout – The Most Audacious Escapes of the Second World War, published by Icon.
Karen, a social and military historian, and a former journalist, came across a plaque in San Ginesio, in the Italian region of Le Marche, that was installed by MSMT in 2009. It was to commemorate Alberico Gentile, the sixteenth century jurist, who was the first person to codify laws of war and to advocate humane treatment of prisoners of war. This piqued her interest in the Trust and the stories of Allied escaping PoWs in Italy which led to the extensive research forming the basis of her gripping book.
She was amazed to find so many stories of “resilience, resourcefulness and kindness”, exhibited by the PoWs and their Italian helpers, and confessed at times to finding it a challenge to believe some of the escapes, so incredible did they seem. However, she also became increasingly determined to pay tribute to those who didn’t make it, who died escaping, including some whose bodies have never been found.
The book begins with a section entitled “Dramatis Personae”, with brief biographies of 12 escaping PoWs including Keith Killby, founder of MSMT. The ensuing nine chapters cover each month from September 1943 to May 1944 showing what happened to each escaper. I knew a number of these stories and names (Stuart Hood, David Robillard, Dan Billaney) but others were new to me. This chronological approach makes it a page-turning experience as we get to know the soldiers and their individual challenges and circumstances, against the backdrop of a fast-changing political and military situation.
Killby’s size 12 boots
The wealth of small but telling detail in the book makes it a very absorbing read and I was happy to see a reference to Keith’s difficulty in getting size 12 army boots, a fact he liked to bring up regularly in conversation. Inevitably there is much that is shocking, gruelling, sad and moving – the horror of war is gut-wrenching to witness. Karen spoke about her intention to bring a “truthful and emotional approach” to her writing and this is exactly what she has done. She told us about many of the successful escapers who listed the names of their Italian helpers, hoping they would get financial recompense which often did not come or was shamefully inadequate, and how upsetting this was.
Present at the book launch were two long-term supporters of the Trust who were interviewed by Karen about their fathers’ experiences. It was a great pleasure to see Michael Nathanson OBE, Cav Uff, a former trustee, whose father Leslie “Nat” Nathanson escaped via a treacherous mountain hike into Switzerland, despite wearing brogues rather than mountain boots! Another of the Dramatis Personae was the late Mick Wagner, a regular attender of the MSMT lunch, and it was delightful to see his daughter Margie Richardson again.
Karen expressed her gratitude to the MSMT for the resources in our archives which helped her with her research. I was pleased to be able to thank her publicly for writing this book, which will bring awareness of this extraordinary period, and in particular the life-saving, courageous actions of the Italian helpers, to a wider audience.