John Desmond Peck (1922-2002) was born in Woollahra (New South Wales), and his experience in the war began very early, as he enlisted in 1939 in the Australian Imperial Force. He would later forge his birth documents, claiming to be four years older, to be able to fight in Europe.

He reached the Old World on the Empress of Japan, landing in Palestine, where he received his first training before going to Egypt. He was deployed in Greece, and soon after, was captured by the Germans on the island of Sfakia on 1 June 1941. Three days later, he escaped, reaching the far side of Sfakia and living on the run in the mountains. This was the first of a long series of escapes and recaptures that would mark his life in the following years, as he joined the local resistance in both Greece and Italy.

In the spring of 1942, John joined forces with another Australian escapee, Claude Dunn, and the Greek partisan Pandivakis to attempt to travel east, seeking contact with the Allied forces. However, during their journey, they were captured by a group of Italian soldiers near the town of Lasethi. The Italians brought them to the central command and then to Rhodes, where they stood accused of being spies coming from Egypt.

On 1 June 1941, John was transferred from Rhodes to Bari, marking the beginning of his peregrination among the Italian prisoner camps. Initially, he was sent to PG 75, Torre Tresca, then to PG 65, Altamura, and later to PG 57, Udine. However, this was not his final destination, as he was moved again to PG 103, Vercelli, in April 1943. On 13 June 1943, John and another 13 prisoners attempted to escape. Only four of them succeeded, including John; however, they were recaptured on the Swiss border by an Italian patrol. A prisoner once again, John was put in isolation because of his escape attempt, and while he was being kept separated from the other PoWs, Italy surrendered.

The inability to come out into the open and be recognised, combined with the desire to help others escape who shared his fate, led John Peck to devise a plan to rescue other prisoners of war and to wear civilian clothes.

Thus, John quickly became the cornerstone of a network of committees involved with rescuing escaped PoWs in the northern part of Italy. The groups were linked by John himself, who travelled by train to connect them. Soon enough, however, the lack of money and physical fatigue started to wear him down, and John decided to contact the National Liberation Committees (CLN) of Turin and eventually the Central Committee in Milan (CLNAI).

During this period, the 1943-1944 winter, John managed to establish a Central Escape Committee with branches in all major Italian cities in the North, and reaching as far as Fiume (Rijeka) and Rome. His efforts enabled a large number of escapees to move northward and find safety in Switzerland.

image taken from the Luciano Giachetti-Fotocronisti Baita photographic archive, courtesy of Istorbive

In February 1944, his work continued without much risk. However, his area was targeted by repeated Nazi-fascist anti-partisan operations and eventually John was caught in the home of one of his collaborators, Oreste Ferrari, wearing a German uniform.

Since he refused to talk, John was brutally beaten and tortured. Finally, he was put in front of a kangaroo court on 16 February 1944 and locked in isolation in cell 48 in San Vittore prison (Milan). He was sentenced to death after a period of 75 days in prison. However, the day before his execution, John was able to escape thanks to an Allied air raid. Undeterred, he returned to Piedmont, in Vercelli, where he began to reorganise his Central Escape Committee.

Ultimately, in the summer of 1944, he crossed into Switzerland, only to return to Italy shortly afterwards and join the Resistance. In this period, he changed his name to avoid being recognised.

Partisan warfare in Italy was a complicated affair, as victories followed defeats and vice versa. At one point, John reacted indignantly to what he perceived as Italian mistakes, threatening to pull back from the Piedmontese Resistance after a spat with the local commander, Cino Moscatelli.

During the autumn of 1944, John became the commander of the Lombardia and Matteotti brigades in the Ossola Valley, which the partisans had liberated during the summer. However, this period also marked the beginning of furious Nazi-fascist attacks against the Resistance, and, despite fighting bravely, the partisans were eventually overrun. John managed to cross safely into Switzerland, not without remorse:

Bibliography/Sources