What Happened to Italian Soldiers After WW2?

check out our newest exclusive video on melini's black shirts over on armchair history. TV along with several other armchair historian exclusives use the code below for a discount on your first month it's a calm and pleasant Sunday in Boston 1944 Italian soldiers in American uniforms maintain a victory garden attend Mass with locals and enjoy delicious food just a few years earlier they were behind bars in Texas captured after uche's disastrous desert campaign but a single stroke of the pen changed everything across the Atlantic Italian men shiver from the cold hard labor and lack of food hated by their captors and distrusted by their fellow prisoners they suffer the full Wrath of the Reich just a few years earlier they were stationed On the Sunny shores of Greece but a single stroke of the pen changed everything few Fates differ as radically as those of Italian soldiers during the second world war although Italy fought as a loyal Ally in the early War the sudden 1943 Armistice and side switching changed the situation for many troops on the ground the fates of many captured Italian soldiers also VAR greatly the British Empire was the primary processor of Italian PS after almost 200,000 Italians had been captured between fall 1940 and spring 1941 prisoners were sent far away from the home Isles fearing security risks many Italians were sent to Australia and South Africa instead nonetheless by July the first Italians started arriving in Britain these men proved to be an asset in the local labor market however and so for the home is 2 economic demand won out over security concerns British authorities saw The Italian prisoners as an economic asset to alleviate labor shortage on the home front for that reason many Italians were not held in camps but rather on individual Farms where their labor was needed the most although soldiers were screened for fascist sympathies especially those heading for Britain proper the guarding was very LAX besides farmw work Italian PS engaged in other non-war activities per the Geneva conventions they worked in forestry civil engineering and infrastructure projects like Kenya's great North Road although conditions undoubtedly varied throughout the corners of the empire conditions were relatively good in working Camp 37 in wincham England the Italians were active in an agricultural Camp built by prisoners themselves their dwellings were well insulated Huts containing air heaters for the cold British Winters there was sufficient light ventilation water running Taps and three rations a day prisoners were paid for their work and it was limited to 8 hours per day they enjoyed books plays music and Sport Sundays were spent attending Mass with local villagers followed by football matches against their guards and the village team regular mail from Italy kept them connected with opportunities to send a letter and a card each week did you know that with the invention of Aqua mirabilis a clear substance made of 95% alcohol and imbued with strong scent Italy became the center of the world perfume trade for several hundred years through the Middle Ages and Renaissance period thanks to the sponsor of today's video scentbird I don't need to be a wealthy Italian Noble to look and smell my best scentbird is a fragrance Subscription Service whose mission is to empower everyone to express themselves through scent I recently received Regent leather from tomine London which has a great fragrance of lemon saffron roses and and musk perfect for the office meetings and my everyday activities my wife received lavant by orande Jane a beautiful soft fragrance with hints of bergamont Mandarin pean and Amber each fragrance vial is filled with a generous amount of perfume or cologne and they come in easy to use portable twist cases which can be conveniently carried in a pocket or handbag the best part is that scent bird is Affordable your first month is only8 and after that it's less than $17 a month they have a diverse selection of popular brands like Versi and Prada as well as Niche labels perfumes de Marley and Roa that you can choose before committing to a full-sized bottle perfect for fragrance lovers and novices alike you'll receive a 30-day supply of each fragrance and if you take their quiz you'll get personalized suggestions based on your preferences if you're interested in trying sent bird scan the QR code or use the link in the description below use my coupon code armchair and get 55% off of your first month plus you'll get free delivery to your door and a free case following the 1943 Armistice life changed considerably for Italian PS in the UK as patro bolo's new government aligned with the Allies Italian captives had a choice those who cooperated enjoyed better conditions and freedom of movement while non-cooperators were sent to more secure camps although the new government and many Italians wanted their soldiers returned home the Allies were unwilling to give up this valuable labor force instead the Italian PS entered a strange legal limbo where they were legally PS of a nation that was now an Allied co- belligerent in practice this meant that the Italian prisoners were a flexible labor pool that Allied leadership could deploy anywhere including indirect military work in general the experience of Italian PS in the UK was relatively smooth although incidents of violence and clashes with the civilian population occurred about 63% of the PS chose to support the Allied war effort after the war the last PS were only patriated well into 1947 Italian labor proved far too valuable for the British Empire to release quickly many returned to Britain after their repatriation for example to marry the local women they met while in captivity in the United States the system was similar to the United Kingdom when Italian captives began falling into American hands in early 1943 authorities hesitated to bring them to American soil but economic demand again won out PS were put to work picking cotton detasseling corn and digging potatoes all as replacement for those men who went to war the conditions for PS were good one Italian servicemen recalls at 600 p. m.

the American Soldier waiters returned with paper plates Wooden Forks and small glasses for dinner we have cheese one egg prudo salad iced tea and grapefruit we think we are in heaven in particular Italian mes sergeants had the freedom to choose their own help and create custom menus and dishes from scratch Army Chow turned into Italian cuisine which even attracted American Personnel to the P compounds during their free time prisoners could enjoy sports music and theater camps included universities where prisoners learned English engineering literature and business educated internes even became P professors the US had its own program for Italian prisoners to contribute directly to the Allied war effort through Italian service units or isus 75% of the prisoners took this opportunity these ISU units would help out in road construction Park cleaning but also in military logistics although it's easy to frame them as simp simply auxiliary these men also performed other crucial duties for the Allies in one example ISU soldiers used their native Italian to direct the partisans who fought melini's fascist Republic of Salo though officially prisoners ISU men were paid like American privates and could get weekend passes although they enjoyed a very high standard of living for prisoners of war the ISU path wasn't necessarily easy volunteers often felt inner conflict over the decision as they were sometimes reluctant to take up arms against their fellow Italians and former allies despite the moral dilemma and hard work American civilians occasionally complained that Italians were coddled there was also friction between American units and isus when American soldiers were dying on mass in Northern Italy during 1944 it was hard for Americans to view Italians as co- belligerant this animosity led to harassment and vindictiveness still despite occasional runin Italian PS were treated well in the US and isus were treated even better one p even reflects the Americans they treated us too good too good many Italians especially those who fell in love with American women chose to build their new lives in the United States overall the conditions of Italian PS in Allied captivity were good although the labor was hard and they remained prisoners before anything the men were treated well and in accordance with the Geneva conventions not all were so lucky however the Armistice with the Allies produced an entirely new fate for Italian soldiers those captured by the Reich following Italy's defection from the axis German troops swept into the kingdom and its territories during operation axis the Italian Army was in complete disarray and quickly collapsed some soldiers joined local partisan units or formed new ones for them the fight continued others would soon find themselves at gunpoint of their former allies many soldiers were forced to choose between fighting alongside Germans disarming or facing brutal reprisals although the exact numbers vary it is estimated that the Reich captured some 800,000 prisoners here much like the camps in the US and the UK they were offered a choice to continue serving the access cause and join melini's Legions in Northern Italy the vast majority refused to return to the front despite the tantalizing prospects to escape life in the German camps the Germans saw The Italian not as prisoners but as traitors to Berlin these men came from a government that had betrayed them twice in 1915 and again in 1943 on top of that Italian prisoners were treated without much sympathy from their fellow British French and Soviet Prisoners the bolio pigs as the Germans called them were deliberately assigned the label of Italian military interne or IMI to distinguish them from regular prisoners of War by doing so they were not legally protected by the Geneva Convention later in the war many were again rebranded into civilian workers to eliminate the legal protection of the Red Cross as well Italian PS endured hard labor poor shelter and malnourishment hundreds died from tuberculosis and thousands more from exhaustion and exposure in agriculture mining and filthy industrial workplaces some Italians who did not work hard enough were shot and killed by the guards the annual mortality rate was about 40 per thousand which is about four times higher than the average West European prisoner in German captivity even after Germany's surrender the plight of some Italian prisoners continued while many were released others were reassigned by liberating Nations like France Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union there were two main ways for Italian captives to end up in the prison camps of the Soviet Union some were captured as part of the Italian Army in Russia others ended up in the Russian cold after they were liberated from German captivity by the Red Army throughout 1945 for instance soldiers intered in camps near pnan in Poland were deported to a Soviet camp near Kari of the some 65,000 Italians captured by the Soviets only around 20,000 return Italian casualty rates in Soviet captivity were horrendously High the rates among Italian PS were around 57% compared to 14% for the Germans or 30% for Romanians these figures are in a large part due to the circumstances of their capture many Italians were captured at the daf front after the Battle of Stalingrad here they had been forced to retreat on foot up to 500 km or 310 Mi with no supplies and temperatures reaching -30 C or - 22 F many succumbed to cold hunger typhus and malnutrition numerous deaths occurred during the Divi marches to makeshift camps rail heads east of the Dawn and during their transfers in over crowded cattle cars the conditions for these prisoners were appalling the Italian representative to the com turn appealed to Soviet authorities to improve conditions emphasizing their potential as ideological converts many Italians volunteered for indoctrination programs as the conditions here were better than those in ordinary camps despite the terrible conditions and mockery from Soviet soldiers veterans recall the kind hospitality and aid from Soviet civilians and local troops while the fates of many Italians captured in the Soviet Union remained unknown throughout the Cold War the Soviets were quick to begin and finish repatriation already on August 25th 1945 before Japan even surrendered Moscow had made the decision to send prisoners home the progress ended a little over a year later in addition to those captured on foreign soil hundreds of thousands of soldiers and bureaucrats became PS in Italy guarded by Italian soldiers this bizarre situation resulted from Italy's Civil War following its defection from the axis those who served fascism in Italy experienced both lenient and extreme repercussions after melini's removal from Power the new government wasn't radically different from the previous regime although it aimed to punish fascists the effort was extremely lackluster for example war criminal Mario rata responsible for ethnic cleansing in Slovenia became Chief of Staff of the Italian Army in the new regime and was entrusted by the new badolo regime to shoot peaceful protesters in Rome he was only removed after Allied pressure the military was barely purged and the entire black shirt brigades were repurposed into Royal Italian armies without screening or repercussions high-ranking officers of the Italian fascist party even continued receiving stiens however as the fascist stronghold in the north crumbled by the war's end the lenient tone shifted melini's violent death at the hands of partisans was indicative of the Fate for many Italians who were in any way related to the fascist mission of the Republic of Salo people's courts started trying fascists encouraged by death warrants issued by the partisans although the Allies had declared that everyone who fought for melini's socialist republic should be treated as PS the government and the emerged mobs did not share that view the government wanted to punish the men and women as traitors and the mobs wanted their heads in cities like Milan the Allied Declaration was simply ignored although the Government tried to stop the lynchings especially after melini's death Furious partisan mobs would regularly storm courtrooms and prisoners to try their fascist former oppressors by popular Justice already in 1944 in recently liberated Rome these partisans violently killed a former prison director who was respons responsible for the death of many of their relatives and friends just a year later a group of masked partisans entered SK prison and murdered 55 fascist inmates while these lynchings took place thousands more prisoners were rotting away in Italy's messy prisons which were both extremely poorly run and overcrowded in colano prison where over 32,000 inmates were held young men lived in an unpaved sea of mud with scarce access to water and food in nearby calina a prison exclusive to women the situation was deplorable to a point where the Red Cross stepped in citing the prison to be nothing more than a [Music] cesspool these conditions were an embarrassment to the Italian authorities equally shameful were these stories of escapes the camps had lack security to the point where high-ranking fascist Commanders could simply walk out of the front Gates entrenched corruption meant that war criminals with friends in high places could place illegal release requests and then quickly hiil it to Switzerland or Spain the partisan and political violence in Italy decreased considerably in 1946 as Italian leadership sought to distance themselves from the fascism which still permeated their government the monarchy largely seen as a fascist institution had been abolished by popular vote to Mark Italy's rebirth as a United Democratic and Western Nation the government proclaimed a general Amnesty on June 22nd 1946 the amnesty largely exonerated fascists and collaborators moderate Christian Democratic factions in Italy relied on Christian virtues like mercy and forgiveness rather than further persecution and sanctions although these factions sought to heal the nation the result was that thousands of fascists were simply let back into Italian Society without any repercussions throughout these efforts to deal with the fascist Legacy the fates of Italian captured soldiers became a significant political asset the new Republic had to establish a narrative for itself as a western democracy the fates of the prisoners brutalized by the Nazis could be used to position Italy as a victim of Nazi aggression while the fate of Italians in Soviet hands became a major political anti-communist cause despite their important contributions to the Allied war effort those who had been in Western prisons were ultimately marginalized as an embarrassment to Italy's new identity as a western democracy in the decades after the war Memoirs from some soldiers say they still dreamt about and suffered from their time in captivity those who were in Russia were not taken seriously by local communist youths when they told their stories of suffering families were torn as brothers chose different loyalties soldiers returning home had no work and lived from a modest pension many returned with broken Health not all returned to Italy however many in the US or UK either stayed or returned there to build a new life don't forget to check out our website armchair history. TV we have a ton of exclusive content there like our video on melini's black shirts Israel's modern military a 50-minute documentary on the rise and fall of Isis India's annexation of Portuguese Goa Gaddafi's Amazonian Bodyguard the Rwandan Genocide and much much more all of these are available to watch now for just $4.