Robert Stanley Bertram Jones was killed in action on 15 April 1945. He was a Fusilier in the 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) (Service number 6478652). He was initially buried at Margraten and subsequently re-interred on 1 May, 1947 in grave III. A. 12 at the Overloon Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery.
 
No photo of Robert Stanley Bertram Jones has yet been found. Should anyone reading this have a photo of him or further information regarding him – or if they are aware of any errors in his biography below can they please contact the Foundation?

Family background

Robert was born on 4th February, 1911 in Hammersmith, London. He was the son of Charles Bertram Jones and Rose Emily Licence who married in 1910 in Fulham. Charles had been born in Oxford and Rose Emily in Deal in Kent. At various times Charles was described as an Electrician; a Carriage & Motor Dept Electrical Examiner with the L & N W Railway and as an Electrical Examiner for the LMS Railway. They appear to have had 3 children between 1911 and 1917 of which Robert was the eldest. The family had moved to Willesden by 1917 and his parents were still in that area in September 1939.
 
Robert SB Jones married Marjorie Vera Whitehead in Willesden on 23 June 1935 and appear to have had a child, John E Jones, in 1935 in Hammersmith, London. By September 1939 they were living at 110 Rucklidge Avenue, Willesden but no child is with them. It may be that he had died as no allowance is provided for him after Robert’s death. At the time, Robert was working as an Electric Train Equipment Cleaner for the LMS railway.

Military career

Robert Stanley Bertram Jones enlisted as a Fusilier in the 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers (City of London) Regiment on 12 December 1940. He gave his address as 179 Brentfield Road, Willesden, NW10 when he enlisted. This was actually his parents’ address. He named his wife, Mrs MV Jones, as his next of kin at 36 Tudor Court South, Wembley Middlesex.
 
He was described as 5ft 6 ½ in tall and weighed 119lbs. He had brown eyes and dark hair. He was grade 1 medically fit. His religion was given as Church of England. He had been working as a Railway Cleaner.
 
He was posted to the Middle East on 28 July 1941. He was captured as a prisoner of war at Tobruk on 21 June 1942 (prisoner 229942).
 
Allied forces had taken Tobruk in Libya from the Italians in January 1941. Attempts were made to push further west, but the Allies had to pull back to Tobruk in April that year to avoid encirclement. Prolonged fighting against German and Italian forces followed. Although the siege of Tobruk was lifted in November 1941, a renewed offensive by Axis forces under Erwin Rommel the following year resulted in the fall of Tobruk on 20 June 1942. A great many prisoners were taken. This was probably the operation in which Robert was captured.
 
Robert’s wife received a letter form him dated 21 September 1942 indicating that he was at PoW Camp 57 at Grupignano Near Udine, at Cividale del Friuli in Italy. This was located near Italy’s eastern border with what is now Slovenia. It was commanded by Colonel Vittorio Calcaterra, described by one prisoner as “a sadist and a beast and an accessory to murder”. Thanks to Calcaterra, conditions in this camp were extremely harsh. Food was poor, and housing was crowded and insanitary. The prisoners had to improvise their own medical treatment, coping with the “57 twins”, pneumonia and kidney disease.
 
Later reports indicate that he spent time in 1943 at PoW Camp 73 in the village of Fossoli, Carpi, Emilia-Romagna in Italy. This had been set up by the Royal Italian Army on 30 May 1942 for the British, South African and New Zealand military personnel captured in military operations in North Africa. Prisoners of war were accommodated in 191 tents in what was called the “Old camp”, the Campo Vecchio. With the surrender of Italy on 8 September 1943 the camp was evacuated and all prisoners of war moved to Germany. It was later used as a Jewish concentration camp.
 
Robert Jones was moved to Stalag IV-F which was a prisoner of war camp in Hartmannsdorf, Chemnitz, Saxony. This had been opened in February 1941. It held mainly French troops captured during the battle of France, and British captured in North Africa. The POWs were assigned to various Arbeitskommando (“Work detachments”) locally. The camp was liberated by American forces in April 1945.
 
It was reported on 16th October 1945 that RSB Jones had died on 15th April 1945. On 30th October 1945 this record was corrected to indicate he was killed in action. His Service Record indicates that he “died as a result of Aerial Activity after being liberated.” Charles Golesworthy, who is also buried at Overloon, suffered a similar fate the following day having also been liberated from Stalag IV-F.
 
They were both initially buried at Margraten but later re-interred side by side at Overloon.
 
Robert had served for 4 years and 125 days of which 327 days were in the Middle East and 2 years and 299 days were as a prisoner of war.
 
He was awarded the 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, War Medal 1939/45.

After the war

His wife Marjorie received a pension of £1 a week from 7 January 1946. No allowance was made for any children.  

A probate record in 1946 following Robert’s death in 1945 gives an address of 36 Tudor Court, Wembley, Middlesex. His administrator was his widow, Marjorie Vera Jones.

Marjorie married for a second time in 1948. Her husband was Archibald Roy Le Breton who was born in Jersey on 15 April 1912. Archibald had served in the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers from 22 June 1940 to 11 May 1946. It is believed that they had a daughter, Carol Ann Le Breton, in Jersey in 1950. She is thought to have married in 1969, but her husband’s name is not known.
 
Marjorie Vera Le Breton died in St Helier, Jersey, on 6 February 1960 and is buried there. Archibald Roy Le Breton died in St Helier on 20 September 1980. Their daughter, Carol Ann, died on 2 May 2005 in St Helier.

From FindMyPast website: Civil and Parish Birth, Marriage and Death Records; England Census and 1939 Register Records; Electoral Rolls; Military Records
Military records from ForcesWarRecords website
Wikipedia
Service Record for RSB Jones from National Archives ref WO 423/597773
Wikipedia North African Campaign WW2 and PoW Camps
Ancestry trees showing Archibald Roy Le Breton

Research Elaine Gathercole