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

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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: Nigel John Ashton EISENHOWER, MACMILLAN AND THE PROBLEM OF NASSER Anglo-American Relations and Arab Nationalism, 1955–59 Christopher M. Bell THE ROYAL NAVY, SEAPOWER AND STRATEGY BETWEEN THE WARS Peter Bell CHAMBERLAIN, GERMANY AND JAPAN, 1933–34 Philippe Chassaigne and Michael Dockrill (editors) ANGLO-FRENCH RELATIONS 1898–1998 From Fashoda to Jospin David Clayton IMPERIALISM REVISITED Political and Economic Relations between Britain and China, 1950–54 Michael J. Cohen and Martin Kolinsky (editors) BRITAIN AND THE MIDDLE EAST IN THE 1930s Security Problems, 1935–39 Paul Cornish BRITISH MILITARY PLANNING FOR THE DEFENCE OF GERMANY, 1945–50 Michael Dockrill BRITISH ESTABLISHMENT PERSPECTIVES ON FRANCE, 1936–40 Michael Dockrill and John Fisher THE PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE, 1919 Peace without Victory? Robert Frazier ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS WITH GREECE 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 Stephen Hartley THE IRISH QUESTION AS A PROBLEM IN BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY, 1914–18 Brian Holden Reid J. F. C. FULLER: Military Thinker Ashley Jackson 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 Thomas R. Mockaitis BRITISH COUNTERINSURGENCY, 1919–60 Bob Moore and Kent Fedorowich THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND ITS ITALIAN PRISONERS OF WAR, 1940–1947 T. R. Moreman THE ARMY IN INDIA AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF FRONTIER WARFARE, 1849–1947 Kendrick Oliver 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 the First World War Adrian Smith MICK MANNOCK, FIGHTER PILOT Myth, Life and Politics Martin Thomas THE FRENCH NORTH AFRICAN CRISIS Colonial Breakdown and Anglo-French Relations, 1945–62 Simon Trew BRITAIN, MIHAILOVIC AND THE CHETNIKS, 1941–42 Steven Weiss ALLIES IN CONFLICT Anglo-American Strategic Negotiations, 1938–44 Studies in Military and Strategic History Series Standing Order ISBN 0–333–71046–0 (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a stand- ing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England 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. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced,copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,90 Tottenham Court Road,London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2002 by PALGRAVE Houndmills,Basingstoke,Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue,New York,N.Y.10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE is the new global academic imprint of St.Martin’s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 0–333–73892–6 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 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

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During the Second World War, British and Imperial forces captured more than half a million Italian soldiers, sailors and airmen. Although a symbol of military success, these prisoners created a multitude of problems for the authorities throughout the war. This book looks at how the British addressed
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