This photograph from the file of inquiry into the death of Signalman Sidney Smith by the Special Investigation Branch (SIB) of the Royal Military Police shows the spot on a road outside the comune of Montelparo, Italy, where the soldier was killed.
This detail (from the above photograph) shows the wooden cross erected by local Italians in remembrance of Sidney Smith, the man they affectionately knew as “Giorgio.”
The killing of an escaped prisoner of war outside the village of Montelparo is a subject that has come up twice on this site recently. In “Tenna Valley Memorial Walks,” Anne Copley recounted how, two months ago, Freedom Trail walkers visited the spot outside Montelparo where a young British soldier, known to locals only as George—or “Giorgio” in Italian—had been shot by German soldiers.
And in “War Crimes—Sorting through the Accounts,” I questioned whether George Godfrey was the same soldier killed at Montelparo.
But now, thanks to help from British researcher Brian Sims, we have a clear answer to the identify of the soldier and a detailed account of the tragic end to the life of Sidney Smith.
Below is the official summary of an investigation by the Special Investigation Branch (SIB) of the Royal Military Police into the death of Scottish soldier Sidney Seymour Smith, Signalman, Royal Corps of Signals.
Camp 59 Survivors 