Where was Marmica?

I have recently discovered information about my father who died 20 years ago and sadly I never met him. He was an Italian PoW and I have a copy of his military record from Italy which states that he was captured by the British in December 1941 in Marmica. I believe he was a truck driver - his recode says he was assigned to "128° Autogruppo Pesante". He spent the rest of the war as a PoW working on a farm on the Isle of Wight. My mother was working on the same farm as a Land Girl, which is how I came about! But I was wondering if anyone can take a stab as to where he might have been captured. Marmica appears to me an ancient name from Libya with no modern equivalent.

 

Hello Collin, welcome to the forums, I'm sorry to hear about your fathers passing and that you weren't able to meet him, I've never heard of Marmica either. Do you have any other paperwork on him so the experts here can do their magic?

 

Hello JJ! (is that what you like to be called?). Nice to make your acquaintance and thanks for your reply. I could send you my father's military record if you think that would be a help. Let me know what you think. By the way, there's only one letter "l" in Colin! Cheers!

 

JJ is perfect! It's nice to meet you as well, I am no expert on finding military records at all, but I can direct other members who are experts to the thread so you can communicate with them. Sorry about the two letter "l", I have a good friend with the two l's, habit!

 

Wonderful JJ! I've attached the first of two sheets. Second one coming up. The website made me reduce the size unfortunately so I hope they're readable

 

Here's the second one. C

 

Latin term for the region of Cyrenaica along the Egyptian border. He was part of the 128th Heavy Transport Group.

 

BTW, his name was Mario Zucchini

 

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Thank you!

C

 

So I guess that means he was involved in the transportation of heavy equipment such as tanks or guns, do you think?

 

Wikipedia indicates that the Western Desert Campaign took place in that region at about 1941. Does it look like that would have been what he was involved in?

 

Good old Wiki...the "Western Desert Campaign" began with the Italian invasion of Egypt on 9 September 1940, following their declaration of war on 10 May, and extended until the final rout of the Italo-German army from Egypt following 2d Alamein, after 4 November 1942.

 

Hello Colin and all, i've just seen this old post while i was looking for information on 128° Autogruppo Pesante on the web.

I don't know if you are still active on this forum, however i'm writing you because my grandfather and your father fought together on the same unit!

I'm italian from Rome, so i'm reading your father's Foglio Matricolare... your father and my grandfather for sure shared few months in Lybia until the 4th of Dicember, 1942, when Mario Zucchini was taken prisoner.

My grandfather Costantino Carosi was a Corporal, a squad leader (the squad was composed by six medium trucks, i think model "OM Taurus") and was awarded a "Croce al valor militare" (Military valour cross) for his action of 4/12/42, the same day your father was captured.

My grandfather fought all the North African campaign from July 1941 until May 1943, when he was taken prisoner in Enfidaville, Tunisia.

He spent the next 3 years in England, between Camp 40 (Tonbridge) and Camp 57 (Guildford), working as a farmer and coming back home in March 1946.

Regards,
Alessandro Borsetti