Charles Edwin West was born on 31 March 1916 and took part in the war as a pilot of a Bristol Bombay aircraft of the 216th RAF Squadron. On 16 November 1941, he took off from his base in Fuka (Egypt) to deploy some paratroopers near the enemy air base of El Gazala. During the flight, the plane was hit by enemy fire, and Charles, despite losing control of it, attempted a desperate manoeuvre to bring it back behind Allied lines. However, the remaining fuel was insufficient, and he was forced to crash-land in the desert. The next day, he attempted again to cross the lines but was shot down again, and this time he crashed near Tobruk, losing consciousness. He would wake up only a few days later, on 24 November, discovering he was now a prisoner of the Germans in a camp near El Gazala. After a stay at the hospital in Derna and Benghazi, and then in Greece, Charles was handed over to the Italians, who took him to PG 85, Tuturano, a hamlet near Brindisi. In March, he was transferred to PG 65, Garavina, and, on 3 March 1942, he attempted to escape after short-circuiting the camp’s lights. He then climbed the outer walls and walked towards Brindisi for three hours at night before stopping for about 36 hours in a stone hut due to a bout of malaria.

During his journey, bad weather conditions and the lack of food forced Charles to seek shelter. However, as he was crossing a road, he was spotted by a policeman, who took him to the barracks in Noci. The next day, he was brought back to Gravina, where he was confined until May 1943. He was then transferred to PG 52, Pian di Coreglia (Genoa). On 9 September 1943, following the Armistice, Charles and the other prisoners were loaded onto train carts to be deported to Germany.

After their escape, the group took shelter in the farmer’s house, working for him in exchange for food, blankets and especially quinine to treat malaria, which had tormented Charles for many months. On 22 October, Fascist squads snuffed them out, and they were forced to flee into the mountains. Charles spent the winter on those rocky slopes, occasionally helped by local families who provided some makeshift shelters, and gathering food only at night.

In Verona, Charles could get some news from the radio and discovered that British troops had reached the Franco-Swiss border. He thus decided to contact the Allies or, at least, some local partisans, to attempt to cross into Switzerland. He walked to the village of Spiazzi at the end of August and tried to get a boat ride on Lake Garda. However, he was stopped by a group of partisans, who believed he was a spy. 

During this period with the partisans, Charles was responsible for capturing and executing Nazi-Fascists, as well as taking part in their interrogations. Due to the snow, the group was forced to halt their activities, and Charles realised it was time for him to move away and reach Switzerland. He reached Lake Idro on foot and then, aided by a boat, made his way to Anfo, a town in the province of Brescia. He spent a few nights there in a stable before continuing his journey to Persegno, where he was compelled to stop because of the snow. 

After the failed airdrop, the Germans began their withdrawal, and Charles’s group was called into action to hinder them. They were highly active and even managed to halt an entire motorised German column that was heading to Trento. Thanks to the radio, Charles managed to contact the Allies for support, and this time, he was able to receive the aid they needed to block the enemy and capture more than 600 prisoners. 

Once operations ended, Charles was finally able to rejoin the Allied forces, turning up at the headquarters of the 34th US Division, which in turn handed him over to the Intelligence Section. He then began a close collaboration with them, sharing his knowledge about the local infrastructure and ways of communication. On 1 May, Charles shared his reports with the British Intelligence Section as well, detailing his activities as a partisan against the enemy alongside the Italians over the previous two years: