The British Empire and Its Italian Prisoners of War, 1940-1947

342 Pages·2002·1 MB·English

by  Bob Moore

The British Empire and its
Italian Prisoners of War,
1940–1947
Bob Moore and Kent Fedorowich
Studies in Military and Strategic History
General Editor: Michael Dockrill, Professor of Diplomatic History, King’s
College London
Published titles include:
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IMPERIALISM REVISITED
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Security Problems, 1935–39
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BRITISH MILITARY PLANNING FOR THE DEFENCE OF GERMANY, 1945–50
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BRITISH ESTABLISHMENT PERSPECTIVES ON FRANCE, 1936–40
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THE PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE, 1919
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The Coming of the Cold War, 1942–47
John P. S. Gearson
HAROLD MACMILLAN AND THE BERLIN WALL CRISIS, 1958–62
John Gooch
ARMY, STATE AND SOCIETY IN ITALY, 1870–1915
G. A. H. Gordon
BRITISH SEA POWER AND PROCUREMENT BETWEEN THE WARS
A Reappraisal of Rearmament
RaffiGregorian
THE BRITISH ARMY, THE GURKHAS AND COLD WAR STRATEGY IN THE FAR
EAST, 1947–54
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THE IRISH QUESTION AS A PROBLEM IN BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY, 1914–18
Brian Holden Reid
J. F. C. FULLER: Military Thinker
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WAR AND EMPIRE IN MAURITIUS AND THE INDIAN OCEAN
Stewart Lone
JAPAN’S FIRST MODERN WAR
Army and Society in the Conflict with China, 1894–95
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Bob Moore and Kent Fedorowich
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T. R. Moreman
THE ARMY IN INDIA AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF FRONTIER WARFARE,
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KENNEDY, MACMILLAN AND THE NUCLEAR TEST-BAN DEBATE, 1961–63
Elspeth Y. O’Riordan
BRITAIN AND THE RUHR CRISIS
G. D. Sheffield
LEADERSHIP IN THE TRENCHES
Officer–Man Relations, Morale and Discipline in the British Army in the Era of
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Adrian Smith
MICK MANNOCK, FIGHTER PILOT
Myth, Life and Politics
Martin Thomas
THE FRENCH NORTH AFRICAN CRISIS
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Simon Trew
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Studies in Military and Strategic History
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The British Empire and its
Italian Prisoners of War,
1940–1947
Bob Moore
and
Kent Fedorowich
© Bob Moore and Kent Fedorowich 2002
All rights reserved.No reproduction,copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
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A catalogue record for this book is available
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Moore,Bob,1954-
The British Empire and its Italian Prisoners of war,
1940–1947 / Bob Moore and Kent Fedorowich.
p.cm.– (Studies in military and strategic history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–333–73892–6 (cloth)
1.World War,1939–1945 – Prisoners and prisons,British.
2.Prisoners of war – Italy – History – 20th century.3.Prisoners
of war – Commonwealth countries – History – 20th century.
4.Repatriation – Italy – History – 20th century.I.Fedorowich,
Kent,1959-II.Title.III.Studies in military and strategic history
(Palgrave (Firm))
D805.G7M66 2002
940.54(cid:1)7241 – dc21 2001054581
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Antony Rowe Ltd,Chippenham,Wiltshire
Contents
List of Tables and Maps vi
Preface vii
List of Abbreviations x
Introduction 1
1 British Planning and Policy for Prisoners of War, 1939–41 14
2 The Essential Labour Supply: The Import of Italian 27
POWs to the United Kingdom
3 Italian POWs in Africa, 1940–3 44
4 ‘Farming Down Under’: Italian POWs in Australia, 1941–3 72
5 Intelligence, Propaganda and Political Warfare 92
6 The Watershed Year of 1943: From Enemies 131
to Co-Belligerents
7 Neither Enemies Nor Allies: Italian Prisoners in the 148
United Kingdom After the Armistice
8 Freedom, Farming and Frustration: Italians in 171
Africa and Australia, 1943–5
9 The Long Road Home 205
Conclusion 223
Appendix: Tables 228
Notes and References 231
Bibliography 284
Index 301
v
List of Tables and Maps
Table
1 Directorate of Prisoners of War. Return of Enemy 228
Prisoners of War Detained in United Kingdom and
Dominions as of 15 September 1943
2 Demands for Prisoner of War Labour After Cessation 229
of Hostilities with Germany
3 Statement of Prisoners of War Held by British 230
Commonwealth and USA
(a) British Commonwealth
(b) United States
Map
1 Italian Working Camps and Labour Battalions in 29
the United Kingdom, 1945
2 Prisoner of War Camps for Italians in Egypt, 1941–3 45
3 Prisoner of War Camps for Italians in South Africa, 1941–7 53
4 Prisoner of War Camps for Italians in Western 73
Australia, 1941–7
5 Prisoner of War Camps for Italians in New South 74
Wales and Victoria, 1941–7
6 Prisoner of War Camps for Italians in India, 1941–7 116
7 Prisoner of War Camps for Italians in Kenya, 1941–7 176
vi
Preface
The origins of this book go back to the late 1980s when the authors
were both employed at the former Bristol Polytechnic and had adjacent
rooms in the (now condemned) attic of ‘The Conifers’, the School of
History’s former office building. This prompted extensive general discus-
sions on the military history of the Second World War, but the catalyst
for further investigation into prisoners-of-war came with the supervision
of an undergraduate dissertation based on materials in the Public
Record Office written by Heather Parkin on the Italians in British hands.
This helped to demonstrate how little was known about the history of
prisoners-of-war in this, or in any other modern conflict, and led to an
ongoing collaboration which has so far seen the publication of an
edited collection, Prisoners of War and their Captors in World War II
(Oxford, 1996), and a series of journal articles, written jointly or indi-
vidually. In this context, we would like to express our thanks to the edi-
tors of the International History Review and Intelligence and National
Security for permission to publish reworked material which first
appeared in their journals in 1996 and 1999 respectively.
No book of this nature could be attempted without extensive primary
research and we are delighted to acknowledge the financial assistance
provided by the British Academy, Scouloudi Foundation, Australian War
Memorial, Australian Army, UWE (University of the West of England)
Bristol, Faculty of Humanities Research Committee, and the History
Department, Manchester Metropolitan University. Collectively, they
facilitated visits to libraries and archives in Australia, South Africa, New
Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Bob Moore would also like
to thank the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, whose
award of a non-stipendiary fellowship in 1999 greatly assisted in the
completion of several chapters in this book.
The co-operation we have received from archivists and librarians
across the world has been exemplary, and we would like to record our
gratitude to the directors, staffs and librarians of the Australian Archives
(Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney); Australian War Memorial; National
Archives of Canada; National Archives of New Zealand; South African
National Archives, Pretoria and Cape Town; South African Department
of Defence Archives (Ms A. van der Westhuizen and Mr Steve de Agrela);
Zonderwater Prison (Ernest Collins); Killie Campbell Africana Library,
vii
viii Preface
University of Natal, Durban; India Office Records and Library, British
Museum, London; Mass Observation Archive, Sussex (Dorothy
Sheridan); British Library of Political and Economic Science, London;
National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh; Churchill College Archive
Centre, Cambridge; Imperial War Museum; Liddell Hart Centre for
Military Archives, King’s College London; Rhodes House Library,
Oxford; the John Rylands University Library, Manchester; the Public
Record Office of Northern Ireland, Belfast; and the Public Record Office,
Kew, London.
On a more personal note, the authors owe debts of gratitude to many
friends and fellow scholars who work in this field of study. Firstly we
would like to record our thanks to Professor Michael Dockrill (London)
in whose series this book appears. His support and continuing interest
have been invaluable. We would also like to thank a number of other
historians whose work has informed our own, namely Gerry Douds and
David Rolf (Worcester), Martin Thomas (UWE, Bristol), Keith Jeffrey
(Jordanstown), Martin Alexander (Aberystwyth), Carl Bridge (London),
David Killingray (School of Oriental and African Studies), Andrew Porter
(King’s College, London), Anthony Hellen (Newcastle), Graham
Thompson (Edinburgh) and Barbara Hately-Broad (Sheffield) in the
United Kingdom; Günther Bischof (New Orleans) and Paul MacKenzie
(South Carolina) in the United States; Joan Beaumont (Deakin) in
Australia; Rüdiger Overmans (Freiburg) in Germany and Barbara Stelzl-
Marx (Graz) in Austria. Equally important has been the linguistic and
bibliographical help given to us by Rob Mallett (Birmingham), Dick van
Galen Last (Amsterdam) and Nicola Iannelli (Rome), all of whom gave
freely of their time and expertise to help us. And finally to Chris
Hearmon (UWE, Bristol) for his technical wizardry with the maps.
In a different way, but no less valuable, are the friends who looked
after us so very well on our travels over the last six years: Jeff and Gina
Grey (Canberra), Adrian and Linda Fitz-Alan (Sydney), Bruce Faraday
(Canberra), Nic Thomas (Melbourne), Gareth Hughes (Bangkok), Jane
and Hugh Patrickson (Pretoria), Peter Dennis and family (Canberra),
Rex and Simonè Tomlinson (Johannesburg), Daryl and Sandra François
(Durban), Ian and Nöelle van der Waag (Saldhana Bay) and ‘Bwana’ Bob
Keffen and ‘friends’ in the Pilansberg National Park, near Sun City.
There have also been a number of bars and restaurants which have
played an important role in the gestation and completion of this proj-
ect, notably the Blaythwayt Arms (Bath), Doyles Restaurant (Watsons
Bay, Sydney), the Taras Bulba Steakhouse (Pretoria), the Butcher Boys
(Durban) and the Konaki Greek Restaurant (Bloomsbury, London). Last
Preface ix
but certainly not least, we both owe an enormous debt of gratitude to
our respective wives and families who, in spite of extended absences on
research trips overseas and houses littered with books, papers and the
detritus of this project over many years, have supported us with love
and understanding.
BOBMOORE
KENTFEDOROWICH