The misfortunes of a Royal Marine officer, Tobruk, 1942

[Nick Colley]

Captain Salmons was a Royal Marine officer deployed on Operation Agreement, a large scale raid on Axis-held Tobruk, on 14th September 1942. The illustrated item, and several more from his correspondence are the subject of a forthcoming article in the Journal. Operation Agreement was a disastrous operation, with the army and navy suffering heavy losses with little or no apparent benefit. Captain Salmons was one of the Marines embarked on the Tribal class destroyers HMS Sikh and HMS Zulu, part of the assault force. Both these vessels were lost during the operation. Captain Salmons was one of 576 survivors taken prisoner. With the help of other items from his correspondence, the forthcoming article (Autumn edition, I understand?) traces his travels in Italy, and then Germany as a guest of the Axis forces.

Anyway, the point of the post is that I'd never previously seen the return to sender label with the printing referring explicitly to the addressee being a prisoner of war in Italian hands - hence the posting here to give you a preview.

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