CONFUSION IN ITALY

Evening Star, Issue 25070, 11 January 1944, Page 2

CONFUSION IN ITALY

RESULTS OF CAPITULATION ESCAPED PRISONER'S EXPERIENCES. Some features of the confusion in Italy which followed the capitulation of the country to the United Nations were related by a Dunedin sergeant who was a prisoner of war in Soutiiern Italy and wiio made his escape and has now returned to Dunedin. The sergeant was taken prisoner at Sidi Rezegh, Libya, in ly4l, and after an adventurous journey across the Mediterranean he was finally established in a prison camp in Italy. Many of the Italian guards of prison camps rioted against Fascist rule when the armistice between the Allies and Italy was announced, the Dunedin man said. This gave the prisoners an opportunity to make a break, and they took full advantage of their chances. Unfortunately, the Germans were fairly quickly on the scene, and it Was probable that a number of the prisoners were recaptured. Stocks of Red Cross parcels in the prison camps were particularly sought by the Germans who invaded Italy like a horde of locusts, depriving the civil population and all others of all available "foodstuffs. The sergeant said he made his way from the prison camp at Gravina down to the Allied lines, a distance of 150 miles, and was particularly glad to be back with the British forces after two. years in enemy hands. PLIGHT OF CIVILIANS. The plight of the Italian civilians was pitiable, he said. Many of the shops were closed because there was nothing to sell. Shoes had not been available for a considerable time, and foodstuffs were very scarce. The Italians had hoped that with the armistice their country would be definitely out of the war, and they were bitterly disappointed to discover that it was to become a battleground. They had appeared delighted to see the end of the unpopular Fascist regime, and were ... prepared to accept the Badoglio Government. The monarchy, however, was definitely unpopular with the people. In an adventurous t journey from North Africa to Italy in 1941 the sergeant and a big batch of other British prisoners were taken to Benghazi, and then embarked in a ship to cross the Mediterranean. Off the south-east coast of Greece the vessel was torpedoed and promptly abandoned by. the Italian officers and crew. However, a German officer took charge, and the ship was beached. The prisoners were accommodated in a building atPa'trasso for six weeks in appalling conditions which resulted in them suffering severely from dysentry. After several false starts they were taken by ship to Italy; first to a transit camp at Tutrano, and then to a permanent camp at Gravina. Warm appreciation of the Red Cross parcels supplied to prison camps was expressed by the sergeant. The food rations in the camps were quite inadequate, and the food parcels, were both necessary and welcome. One party of 281 repatriated prisoners of war 'subscribed £2,000 to the Red Cross Society in appreciation of the magnificent help they had received from the organisation, and that action typified the gratitude of all prisoners of war.