Today in History

1945 Kiwi soldier faces Nazi firing squad

Enlisting in 1939, David Russell fought with the New Zealand Division in Greece and Crete, and was evacuated to Egypt. He was captured by the Germans during the disastrous defeat at Ruweisat Ridge, North Africa, in July 1942 and transferred to Campo PG 57 in Northern Italy. When the Italians capitulated in 1943 he escaped from his work camp and joined the partisan Bataglione Lepre (Hare Battalion).

After moving around north Italy evading the German security forces, in 1944 Russell made contact with a British team who were organising partisans and sabotage in the mountains at Tramonti di Sopra. He could easily have escaped to safety through Yugoslavia but chose to return to the plains of Véneto to find and assist other escaped prisoners.

He had a series of narrow escapes, often eluding capture by speeding away on his bicycle, but in February 1945 his luck ran out. Arrested by fascist forces, he was beaten, chained to a wall in a stable, deprived of food and water and threatened with death if he did not reveal what he knew. Russell kept his silence. He was executed at Ponte di Piave on 28 February.

The locals later erected a memorial to him. Even the German officer was impressed by Russell's courage. His Italian interpreter reported: ‘The behaviour of the Englishman [sic] was splendid, and it won the admiration of [Oberleutnant] Haupt himself’.

In 1948 Russell’s heroism was recognised by the first award of the George Cross to a member of the New Zealand military forces. The following year the David Russell Memorial Ward at Napier Hospital (where he had worked as an orderly before the war) was named in his honour.

Image: a George Cross (BBC)