Memories of wartime exploits in Mid Argyll
THE PUBLICATION of Archie McAllister’s postcard featuring Cairnbaan camp in a recent edition of the Argyllshire Advertiser sparked fond memories for one of our readers.
Well-known Inveraray resident Niall Iain MacLean wrote to the paper with his recollections.
He wrote: ‘We lived at Ballymeanoch, mid way between Kilmichael and Kilmartin, during the ear- 1930s. We were all aware of it being built as a labour camp by the Ministry of Labour and this caused concern among local residents. Thoughts of rough city dwellers living amongst us were common – but no-one thought of how these alleged ‘roughies’ thought of us. Maybe they had fears of being sent to a camp amid wild Highlanders, who knows?
‘It later became a prisoner of war camp and when Italy joined the fray against us, the army of Marshal Graziano was routed in the western desert by General Wavell - later Field Marshal and Viceroy of India, a Scot and a great soldier.
‘So it was that Italian prisoners of war came to Cairnbaan.
‘Father, mother, sister and myself, by this time living in Dunoon where father had taken a teaching post in Dunoon Grammar School, went for a holiday to Culfail Hotel, Kilmelford, which was owned by mother’s brother, Johnnie Currie. This would be about early spring 1943. The weather was not great but the trout fishing was good.
‘Then, one really nasty, wet and cold night a prisoner of war escaped from Cairnbaan.
‘There was a national alarm, of course. This desperado had to be recaptured, but where was he in this vast hinterland? The Home Guard, police et al sought this Scarlet Pimpernel throughout Mid Argyll.
‘I remember the Kilmelford Home Guard assembling in the tap room of the hotel. This was an obvious meeting place where the local policeman gave them instructions and where body fuel could be obtained – some call it Dutch courage. Anyway, suitably fired up they set off to search for this dangerous enemy.
‘Don’t forget, these Home Guards were shepherds, foresters, keepers and the like and knew their wild hillsides well, and many were pretty good shots too. The odds seemed stacked against the escapee. It was a dreadful night of rain and wind – real Argyll weather – but by daylight there was no sign of the escaped enemy.
‘Weary, soggy Home Guards were stood down until later and went home to a warm fire and some breakfast.
‘Then...bingo! A tired, soaking wet, totally dispirited prisoner on the run turned up at the main gate at Cairnbaan, rang the bell or whatever one did and cried ‘bongiorno’. He must have reckoned that even Cairbaan camp was preferable to such a night in the Knapdale hills.
‘What happened to him, we never learned. He probably cleaned latrines and paintly ed coal white – a favourite punishment – and then, of course, they changed sides and became allies of some sort. A true story, no doubt replicated throughout Mid Argyll. We came to own Cairnbaan Hotel from 1960 until we moved to the Lochgair Hotel in 1963 and remember the camp very much as the postcard shows.
‘So, thanks to Archie McAllister for prompting some memories.’