From Ron Green and Tony Millatt, Mersea Museum

Anniversary events this month have concentrated our minds on VE day - the end of the War in Europe. Many men from this area went off to War. Some never came back and we remember them every year. Some ended up in Prisoner of War camps, where a few had unimaginably bad experiences, but most just survived. Others had what turned out to be the biggest adventure of their lives, and then returned to their normal work and said very little about the War.

Research into some local people found a group of men who all joined the 2/5th Battalion of the Essex Regiment - a Territorial Army battalion that would have been based in Colchester and became part of the 161st Infantry Brigade. By January 1941 the Battalion was on its way to Sierra Leone, and then later in the year to the Middle East. Late June 1942 found them in North Africa.

Rommel's Africa Korps had been advancing rapidly eastwards across North Africa, and were getting very close to Egypt. The Allied commander decided that El Alamein was the place to stop and try to hold them. This became the first Battle of El Alamein, 1st July 1942. The 2/5th Battalion were there and put up stout resistance against overwhelming odds at Deir-E l-Shein. The whole Brigade was overrun - but the line was held and Rommel was stopped. It was said to be the most decisive battle of the desert war.

The remnants of the Battalion were mostly captured. John Nesmyth who lived in the Lane, West Mersea was killed, and some names we know who were captured are John Dixon, Geoff Green, Stanley Neville from Langenhoe, Clem Smith and William Chapman. After several weeks, they went to Italian Prisoner of War camps - except for Stanley Neville who was not so fortunate. He went to a German Prisoner of War Camp and was killed when working in a factory that was bombed on 25 December 1944.

The Mersea men were taken on ships to Italy and then were sent to various camps. They would often be working at local farms or factories. 8th September 1943 Italy surrendered to the Allies. For a while the guarding of the camps was poor. John Dixon and Geoff Green were both at Grignasco. They escaped and made their way northwards through land still occupied by the Germans, to Switzerland. By October 1944 they were back in England.
William Chapman escaped from his camp in Italy, but then 16 April 1944 was captured by the Germans and spent the rest of the war in German camps.

Clem Smith escaped with a mate, and spent the next 10 months on the run. The Italians were often helpful, though it was dangerous for them. Clem spent a few weeks on a farm, but then suspected a French-Moroccan soldier would give them away, and they left quickly, slowly going 180 miles furher north. There, they were hidden by villagers in a cave in the hills and supplied with food, but there were too many Germans around, and they returned 180 miles back to their first farm. They remained in the area for 3 months working on local farms.
They were not recaptured. The advancing Allies overran them, and after 5 days of interrogation because their story was not believed, they were able to return home.

The men we have followed returned to their old work after the War. Geoff Green had been a grocer, and continued, retiring as Branch Manager at Mersea Co-op in 1979. John Dixon worked at Howards Stores, and also in the Fountain Hotel. William Chapman was a painter and decorator. Clem Smith was a market gardener, as well as being involved in Cresta Stores that was run by his family.

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Clem Smith and John Dixon.

Geoff Green in 1945

Published in Mersea Community Life May 2025