Allies and Italians under Occupation: Sicily and Southern Italy 1943–45

318 Pages·2013·1.93 MB·English

by  Isobel Williams (auth.)

Allies and Italians under Occupation
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Allies and Italians
under Occupation
Sicily and Southern Italy 1943–45
Isobel Williams
© Isobel Williams 2013
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-0-230-57259-1
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
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may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
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work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2013 by
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ISBN 978–1–349–36436–7 ISBN 978–0–230–35928–4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230359284
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Contents
List of Figures and Images vi
Acknowledgements vii
Explanatory Notes viii
List of Abbreviations ix
Map of Southern Italy xiv
Part I Occupation
1 Introduction 3
2 Preparation: Structure, Training and Police 11
Part II Allied Crime
3 Soldier Trouble 31
4 The Moroccan Goumiers of the FEC 45
5 Deserters and Absentees 58
6 Justice and Statistics 77
Part III Italian Crime and Law and Order
7 Allied Proclamations 89
8 Italian Trouble: Crime 107
9 Italian Trouble: Disorder 140
Part IV Collaboration
10 Black Market 169
11 Prostitution 195
Part V Assessment
12 Police Performance 205
13 Occupation 223
Appendix I: Foreign and Other Terms 230
Appendix II: Allied Proclamation No. 2: Articles I and II 231
Notes 234
Bibliography 278
Index 295
v
List of Figures and Images
Figures
5.1 7 8th Division: casualty rates and absentee rates
correlated with frontline action 61
5.2 A ll courts martial convictions of the US 5th Army in
Italy against British desertion convictions,
July 1944–March 1945 63
6.1 A ccidents and crimes committed by Allied troops against
Italian civilians and military, 8 Sept. 1943–31 Dec. 1945 83
6.2 T otal number of crimes committed by Allied troops
in different regions of Italy, 8 Sept. 1943–31 Dec. 1945 84
7.1 P attern of Proclamation contraventions in Sicily, Sept.
1943–10 Feb. 1944 101
8.1 C rimes reported in Sept. 1944, Naples, Sicily and Matera 122
Images
All images are courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, UK
1 An Allied soldier checks confiscated weapons beneath
a plaque of Mussolini at Fascist Headquarters,
Noto, Sicily, July 1943 131
2 Italian civil and British military police on joint patrol,
Sicily, 1943 132
3 The local population reading the proclamations posted
in every town when the Allies arrived 133
4 A Moroccan Goumier sharpens his bayonet 134
5 Italian villagers carrying supplies into the mountains 135
6 Hungry Italians gather around an American Red Cross
station distributing hot soup and biscuits, Naples, Jan. 1944 136
7 Canadian, Scottish and American off-duty soldiers
enjoy a drink in an Italian bar in the Via Roma, Naples 137
8 An Allied military court in session 138
9 Naples waterfront after the Germans retreated in October 1943 139
vi
Acknowledgements
This book was based on a PhD thesis completed quite some time ago. Not
being employed in academia presented some difficulties in attempting to
update it for publication, but I have to thank Dr Jonathan Dunnage profusely
for his support and encouragement, and Swansea University for allowing me
access to the Library and Information Services and other assistance.
As well as the many other people who have assisted me in completing the
project, I should like to thank my husband, Warren, and my daughter, Kate,
for putting up with the whole thing.
vii
Explanatory Notes
1. The term southern Italy in the title corresponds approximately to the
area which was eventually designated the Southern Region by the Allies,
with a little added geographic licence. Broadly, this is territory liberated
prior to the fall of Rome in June 1944.
2. Where Italian terms have been used extensively in the English-language
Allied documentation, they have been retained as such in this thesis.
Thus, for example, ammassi remains ammassi, rather than the unwieldy
‘Italian Government grain collection system’, and Carabinieri rather than
‘military policemen’.
3. Although the Carabinieri were military policemen, they were also used as
a civilian police force and it was as a civilian police force that the Allies
employed them. Thus any policing reference to the Carabinieri is to them
as a civilian police force unless otherwise specified in the text.
4. When dealing with any vaguely militaristic subject, acronyms abound.
A full list of abbreviations and acronyms used in the text can be found in
Appendix I.
5. The two most relevant British histories, those by C.R.S. Harris and F.S.V.
Donnison, were both published without full references. A small number
of copies did contain references but these were only available to secure
sources at the time of their publication. These references are now in the
public domain but their format bears no relation to that currently in
use at the Public Record Office, and no cross-referencing index was used
when the documents were reorganized. It is not possible therefore to look
up directly any of the documents cited in the British official histories.
6. There are many statistics. I apologise. I always believe a graphic repre-
sentation of a statistic is more informative, but for publication I cut the
number of figures down from 49 to 6.
7. All translations from Italian sources are the author’s own.
viii
List of Abbreviations
A Provost Marshal
AAI Allied Armies in Italy
AC Allied Commission
ACA Armistice Terms and Civil Administration Committee
ACAO Official Committee on Armistice Terms and Civil Administration
ACC Allied Control Commission
ACS Archivio Centrale dello Stato (Central State Archive, Rome)
ACSO Assistant Chief Staff Officer
ADAG Assistant Deputy Adjutant General
AFHQ Allied Forces Headquarters
AG Adjutant General
AMG Allied Military Government
AMGOT Allied Military Government of Occupied Territory
AO Administrative Officer
AOI Africa Orientale Italiana
APM Assistant Provost Marshal
APS Agenti di Pubblica Sicurezza (Interior Ministry Police/Urban
Security Guards)
B Busta (envelope)
BEF British Expeditionary Force
CAO Civil Affairs Officer
CAPO Civil Affairs Police Officer
CCRR Carabinieri Reali (Royal Carabinieri – Military Police )
CCAC Chief Commissioner Allied Commission
CCACC Chief Commissioner Allied Control Commission
CCAO Chief Civil Affairs Officer
CCS Combined Chiefs of Staff
CGM Commandement des Goums Marocains
CGS Chief of General Staff
CIC Counter-Intelligence Corps
ix