Dobson, Tony

Major-General Anthony Henry George Dobson CB, OBE, MC, was captured during the battle of Gazala in north Africa and interned by the Italians in Campo PG29 near Veano, north Italy. Following the Italian Armistice in 1943, he left the camp and, together with some other British officers, he helped to set up an escape route into Switzerland. He eventually made his own way there via Milan and Como. While interned in Switzerland, he met his future wife, Nellie Homberger, on the ski slopes.

Please click on the pdfs below to read Tony Dobson’s story, which is a both a heart-warming tale and a valuable memoir of how escapes into neutral Switzerland were organised. Part One is told in Tony Dobson’s own words. Part Two was put together by his son, Mark Dobson, from information Major-General Dobson left on a tape-recording  held by the Imperial War Museum (ref 4670-5) and his letters home from the PoW camp and Switzerland.

Tony Dobson’s story pt1

Tony Dobson’s story pt 2

Tony Dobson and Nellie Homberger, his future wife. The photo was taken on ski slopes in Switzerland on the day they first met
Tony Dobson
Tony Dobson in Basel with a jeep “borrowed” from the Americans