Tex Banwell

Who is Tex Banwell?

Keith Deamer Banwell was a soldier in the British Army in the Second World War. He is best known for serving as a political decoy for General Montgomery, and for being imprisoned in Auschwitz.

Banwell was born in Newport, Essex. His father served with the Australian Imperial Force, and Banwell lived in Australia from 1920 until he returned to England in 1936 to join the Coldstream Guards. He later transferred to 1st Battalion, the Hampshire Regiment, and served in India, Palestine and then Egypt, where he was a temporary physical training instructor, and was given the nickname "Tex". After the outbreak of war, he volunteered for special service and joined No. 52 Commando, and then the Long Range Desert Group. He was captured in 1942 during a raid on Tobruk, but he and a friend stole a German vehicle and escaped back to British lines.

He was captured a second time during a raid on Crete. Taken prisoner near Heraklion, he was guarded by Max Schmeling, a former world heavyweight boxing champion. Banwell escaped again with some friends on a stolen assault landing craft, but they ran out of fuel and drifted for nine days before reaching the coast of North Africa.