Tag Archives: Italian prisoners of war Libya

POW Paperwork Trail

From the time the Italians were captured in North Africa to the time they were repatriated and handed over to authorities in Naples, the footprints of the Italian POWs can be traced through a dossier of documents. Each document provides a glimpse into the journey of a prisoner of war.

Collectors of military records and military postal correspondence have preserved important documentation regarding prisoners of war. Together with official documents in national archives, items in private collections assist researchers to piece together a more complete picture.

A special sincere grazie to Vitoronzo Pastore for his permission to reproduce the documents relating to Donato Lorusso and Lorenzo Illuzzi. Members of the Associazione Italiana Colleczionisti Posta Militare have been most helpful in my quest to find prisoner of war letters for Italians who were in Australia and Queensland in particular.

Processing as a prisoner of war

The start of the official documentation begins with each Italian being registered, processed and allocated a Middle East prisoner of war number (M.E. or M/E). This number is a British number and stays with the Italians in the camps of India. The men captured in Libya and Greece/Albania were processed in Egypt POW Camps. The men captured in Eritrea and Ethiopia were processed in Sudan.

The men from the Bartolomeo Colleoni were among the first Italian prisoners of war: date of capture is 17 July 1940. You will notice Nicola Aucello’s Middle East Number: 34.

Notification of Capture- Prisoner of War – Comite International de la Croix Rouge

Once the Italian prisoners of war were processed in Egypt, they were given a Notification of Capture card to send to their next-of-kin. Information included place of imprisonment: Italian POW Camp N. 19, Egypt.

from the collection of Vitoronzo Pastore

Letter to Italy – from Prisoner of War Cage in Middle East

Mail from Egypt. When you read the address: Camp 321 POW Cage 5, Chief POW Postal Centre Middle East, one understands why letters when missing and were never received.

Mike White Worldwide Postal History

Notification of Transfer to India

Every time an Italian prisoner of war was transferred, they were given a card to send to their next-of-kin regarding the transfer: Transfed to India.

from the collection of Vitoronzo Pastore

Italian Prisoner of War in India

A number of documents have survived relating to POWs in India. On the Australian Service and Casualty Record, there is a M/E number. This is the number given to the Italian prisoners of war once they were processed in Egypt. This number stayed with the men in India, and then is recorded on their Australian card as well.

India: Prisoner’s of War and Civil Internee’s History Sheet – of particular interest is the record of vaccinations and inoculations. Some Italian families have found this pink India History Sheet in file for their father in the Italian military archives.

(NAA: A 7919, C99078 Isaia Torrese)

India: Envelope containing POW photos for prisoners of war – Bangalore

(NAA: A7919, C104104 Gino Santolini)

India: ID photograph

Some India ID photos are in the Australian dossiers for an individual. You will notice that the background and format is different to the Australian ID photos. If you have a photo with a similar backdrop, more than likely it is from India. I do not know if ID photos were taken in Egypt and Sudan. This is an unknown.

(NAA: A7919, C100451 Italo Rossi)

India: Postcard

from the collection of Vitoronzo Pastore

India: Financial Record for No 16 Prisoner of War Camp, Bairagarh

Procedures ensured that financial accountability for all income and expenses was recorded.

(NAA: A7919, C101033 Giorgio Migliore)

India: Booklet – Clothing and Supplies

Italian prisoners of war in India were issued with a Clothing and Supply Booklet which accounted for the dispersal of items to the men.

(NAA: A7919, C98805 Michele Truono)

Notification of Transfer to Australia

Once the Italians arrived in Australia, they were given a card to notify next-of-kin of their transfer: Transfrd to Australia. To comply with Article 36 of the Geneva Convention, these cards were to be sent within a week of arrival at their camp. Lorenzo Illuzzi was scheduled to be transferred to South Africa, but was sent to Australia instead.

Italian POW Transfer to Australia lluzzi

from the collection of Vitoronzo Pastore

Italian Prisoner of War in Australia

Australia: Service and Casualty Form for Prisoner of War

This form contains valuable information about the movement of the Italian prisoner of war. Finding Nonno is a HOW TO interpret the information on this form.

Service and Casulty Form Italian POW Pietro Romano

(NAA: MP1103/1 PWI60929 Romano, Pietro)

Australia: Property Statement

Financial accountability required a Property Statement to be issued for each prisoner of war regarding the amount of money relinquished to authorities upon arrival in Australia.

(NAA: MP1103/2 Brancato, Salvatore PWIX66245)

Australia: Medical History Sheet

Each Italian prisoner of war was medically examined upon arrival in Australia.

from the collection of Vitoronzo Pastore

Australia: Agreement to work on farms

Italian prisoners of war volunteering for farm work, completed the form below.

(NAA: A7919, C101443 Costa, Francesco PWIM12105)

Australia: Identity Cards Issued for POWs allocated to PWCC and PWC Hostels

For Queensland, Italian prisoners of war sent to work on farms, their Identity Cards were issued at Gaythorne PW & I Camp.

(NAA: J3118, 65 Fresilli, Sebastiano)

This is a copy of an Identity Card for Italian prisoners of war who worked in Victoria.

(NAA: A7919, C102791 Di Pietro, Camillo)

Australia: Army Issue Post Card

Written to Filippo Modica (father) from Gaetano Modica (son) who was in New South Wales (Cowra and Liverpool Camps and N20 PWCC Murwilimbah)

from the collection of Carlo Pintarelli AICPM

Australia: Army Issue Notelope

You will notice a signature: Blunt above the addressee’s name. This was the captain of the Q8 Prisoner of War and Control Centre. All mail for Queensland Italian POWs went via POW Camp at Gaythorne, which was the parent camp for the men.

from the collection of Carlo Pintarelli AICPM

Australia: Christmas Card: Natale 1943

Christmas Cards were provided to the prisoners of war by the YMCA. They were provided in German and Italian.

from the collection of MARIAMAR AICPM

Australia: Mixed Medical Commission Assessment

To comply with Article 68 of the Geneva Convention, A Mixed Medical Commission was formed to assess cases for early medical repatriation. The men had to be in a fit condition to travel. Seriously wounded or seriously ill prisoners of war could ask to appear before the Commission. There were 1400 Italian prisoners of war examined in Australia, with 242 being recommended for early repatriation. The form below was part of this process. Orzaio Baris was repatriated on Empire Clyde, a Royal Navy hospital ship.

(NAA:A7919, C101259 Baris, Orazio)

Australia: Financial Statement of Account

Upon repatriation, a Statement of Account was presented to the prisoners of war. The financial settlement as below was settled the day before repatriation. The Australian Government remitted monies owed to the Italian prisoners of war to the British Government. The British Government (or relevant authority) then remitted this money to the Italian government. Discharge papers included a detailed record of finances for each man.

Statement of Account: Umberto Confrancesco

Back in Italy

Once in Naples, the Italian prisoners of war were accompanied by their Australia guards onshore. The Italians are no longer prisoners of war. They are still members of the Italian Armed forces. The Australian guard detachment deliver the necessary paperwork to the Italian authorities including medical records.

The Italians are handed a Riconoscimento allo Sbarco card. Giuseppe Lutro’s card from the ‘Ormonde’ outlines the next stage of the process.

Vito Pastore writes in reference to LoRusso’s return to Naples… “He introduced himself to the Accommodation Center of S. Martino in Naples where group drew up a questionnaire and sent in return license. Placed on leave on 6 \ 2 \ 47″.

Accommodation Centre at San Marino Napoli is also mentioned on documents in individual military records.

Important for Italian families to know, is that families can obtain a copy of Service Records for their fathers/grandfathers, from the Office of State Archives in their region.

At the Military Housing Centre in Naples (San Martino), the POWs were registered and given two months leave together with a payment of 10,000 lire. Technically, they were still soldiers in the Italian Armed Services. Due to inflation 10,000 lire had little value.

Declaration of Leave from Naples Military Command Centre

(From “Guerra e Prigionia di Giovanni Riboldi”)

The men would then have to report to their local Military District Offices. There, more paperwork was completed regarding military service and time spent as a prisoner of war. This was important documentation, which was needed to determine when one could receive a pension. I have been told that, “For every year you [Italian soldier] served in the army, you were given a 2 year reduction in your pension age.”

For those Italians who had experienced hospitalisation or a medical condition, they would not be discharged until further medical investigations were completed.

The declaration below from Giovanni Riboldi, also provides detailed information about his time as a prisoner of war. He was captured on 7.2.41 at Agedabia, was liberated by the Italians on 5.4.41 and was captured again at Sidi Oma [Sidi Omar] on 22.11.41.

Declaration: Distretto Militare di Tortona

(From “Guerra e Prigionia di Giovanni Riboldi”)

Capture…what next and where to!

1 Reply

The Italians soldiers, airmen and sailors who were captured from December 1940 to February 1941, believed the propaganda promises that the second advance would arrive quickly to liberate the increasing numbers of prisoners of war. This was not to happen.

Another insult was that they felt betrayed by the Italian Commanders. Before capture, the soldiers were ordered to destroy everything. The belief was that the enemy would not take any of the supplies. Water tanks were tainted with oil and food supplies destroyed. How then were the Allies expected to conjure food and water for 40,000 prisoners at Bardia? This order to destroy Italian provisions contributed to the deaths of Italians from starvation. The other betrayal was that the commanders ‘vanished’ so as to evade capture.

Ferdinando Pancisi remembers, “We hadn’t eaten for days. Food wasn’t arriving. We tried our best to survive. We were trying to make do looking for food on one side or the other of the Front, looking everywhere that we could and we survived. Well those who managed, survived, many others didn’t make it. I went for 7 days and 7 nights without food or water because the English were not giving us anything. I tried asking a British guard for some food or water and he’d always reply “tomorrow, tomorrow”. For 8 days we were kept at Bardia. Then they moved us to near Alexandria in Egypt near the SuezCanal. Every now and then they would send some of us to some part of the World.

For me, India. I was trying to depart, I wanted to go. I was trying to get out of there. People were dying of starvation, there were fleas and head lice, we couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t a nice place to be.”

13th December 1940 SIDI BARRANI – A STREAM OF PRISONERS NEARLY TWO MILES LONG CAME INTO SIDI BARRANI FROM THE SOLLUM AREA, THERE TO AWAIT TRANSHIPMENT TO PRISON CAMPS. (AWM 004436 PHOTOGRAPHED BY F. HURLEY).

The Italian POWs also suffered from bombardments by the Germans. Filthy, covered in lice and sand, hungry and thirsty, there are many testimonies that the Italians did not eat or drink for seven days. There was always a promise of ‘tomorrow’ from the British and Australia.

10th December 1940. WESTERN DESERT – THE MOST PRECIOUS COMMODITY IN THE DESERT….WATER. EVERY OPPORTUNITY MUST BE TAKEN TO REPLENISH SUPPLIES & THESE ITALIAN PRISONERS, ALTHOUGH THEIR WORRIES ARE OVER, ARE TAKING NO CHANCES OF RUNNING DRY DURING TIME OF WAITING TO BE SENT TO SOME COMFORTABLE PRISON CAMP. (AWM Image 004452 PHOTOGRAPHED BY F. HURLEY).

From places of capture the men walked to internment areas; caged compounds; and then to marinas at Bardia, Sollum or Tobruk.

“In fact, now prisoners they led us to Sollum and I stayed there for five days. Waiting for the propaganda promises of the Army that the 2nd advance that would come to free us. Hunger, the despair was so great and who knows the destiny what would have reserved for us. So from Sollum they transferred us to Mersamentuck in a concentration camp in Egyptian territory. From there they took us to the station and as beasts they put us in a freight train, and each wagon more than 40 -50 prisoners to reach a concentration camp along the Suez Canal.

The number of prisoners, which could not be counted, was high and I can affirm that the treatment for us was of the pitiful and inhuman ones that not everyone could sustain. In this field I stayed for about two months, then they took us to lead us to Suez and from there embarked on an English ship, think that in a hold, below sea level, worse than animals we were amassed in 700 prisoners. For nineteen days by sea we suffered that penance, until we arrived in Bombay in India and received another “moral slap”.” Domenico Masciulli

Loaded onto supply ships, Italians were first used to unload supplies before embarkation.

SIDI BARRANI – ITALIAN PRISONERS EARNING THEIR KEEP & HELP TO UNLOAD STORES FROM BRITISH SUPPLY VESSELS. LOWER RIGHT CORNER MEMBERS OF THE “COMMANDERS” – A SORT OF ENGLISH FOREIGN LEGION, WHO BECAUSE OF THEIR SLOUCH HATS ARE OFTEN MISTAKEN FOR AUSTRALIANS. (AWM Image 004464, PHOTOGRAPHED BY F. HURLEY).

One ship transporting 400 Italians from Libya to internment camps in Egypt hit a mine. Eight minutes from the first explosion, the ship sunk. Casualties were heavy among the prisoners and Australian guard. It was reported: “The prisoners were sitting on deck laughing and talking and playing cards…there was a thunderous explosion… the whole ship rocked and shuddered and stopped…and on the prisoners deck hell had broken loose. ..the water was full of prisoners full of fear. They were clutching one another and screaming over and overs, ‘Madre, madre…’. Italians too frightened to jump [into the water] were clinging to the rails and rigging as the ship’s bow canted high into the air. A mine sweeper collected the survivors and transferred them to an Australian destroyer.”

Some were shipped to Marsa Matruh (Mersa Matruh) and entrained to Alexandria: Film footage of the Italians on trains

MERSA MATRUH, EGYPT. C.1941. GERMAN PRISONERS OF WAR CAPTURED IN THE WESTERN DESERT IN A COMPOUND SEEN THROUGH THE BARBED WIRE PERIMETER. (AWM Image P00064.013)

Others were sent directly to Alexandria.

31st December 1940 Alexandria, Egypt. An Australian destroyer with Italian prisoners aboard. (AWM Image 005002/03 Photographer Damien Peter Parer)

Recollections tell of being treated no better than beasts as they were loaded into train crates. Sent to camps such as Quassassin or Ismailia the Italians eventually were sent to camps at Geneifa where they were officially processed.

In time they boardered ships at Suez headed for Australia or India. ‘Emanuele Favoloro a fishman from Lipari Sicily: “…took us to Alexandria in Egypt. Here we were given a loaf of bread for tomorrow. But we ate it instantly and starved fthe next morning. We had plenty of water. We got given five cigarettes and I sold my cigarettes for more bread. My biggest horror from the war is the starvation and lack of water plus the horror of the deaths. After six months in Alexandria, I was taken to Quassassin Camp. We worked carrying light poles. I was there six months and then I was shipped to Suez where I became ill and was left behind whereas the others went to Australia.” Favoloro Emanuele from Bocia Cesarin by Cesare Romane Stefanate.

GINEIFA, EGYPT, 1941. PRISON CAMP AT GINEIFA, NOT FAR FROM SUEZ. TAKEN FROM PASSING TRAIN. (AWM Image P00237.056)

Luigi Bortolli kept a diary and detailed maps of Campo 9 Ismailia and Campo 2 Suez: Luigi Bortolotti: From Tobruk to Clare.

Edmondo Mazzinghi Testimonial Yol-La mia avventura: is in Italian and includes numerous photos for his journey.

Canal Zone Camps

It was 1941 and those sent to Australia did not return home until January-February 1947.

Marsa Matruh… Alexandria…Port Said…Ismailia…Suez…

(from Google Maps)

the words of an Italian soldier

Libretto di Paolo Reginato

(photo courtesy of Daniel Reginato)

Paolo writes: On 8th December (in the afternoon) we suffered a heavy naval bombardment and on the 9th we were attached by a strong artillery fire throughout the day, the same afternoon when the fire ceased the order came to retreat to Sidi el Barrani. Our subcommander takes a bottle of anise and makes us all drink, one by one with his own hands on his knees around him, at night we follow the retreat and on the morning of 10th we are located 10 km from Sidi el Barrani where we went again. We attacked with batteries and armed cars throughout the day, at night the fight continued until day 11, at hour 9 I was taken prisoner with almost the entire divison.

Newsreel: Fall of Sidi Barrani

From Second World War Official Histories, Volume 1 – to Benghazi (AWM):

Naval ships were to shell the Maktila positions on the night before the attack, [8] air support was to be given by No. 202 Group which included three squadrons and one flight of fighters, three squadrons and two flights of day bombers and three squadrons of night bombers… [9th] Frightened, dazed or desperate Italians erupted from tents and slit trenches, some to surrender supinely, others to leap gallantly into battle, hurling grenades or blasting machine guns, futile against the impregnable intruders… On the morning of the 10th the 4th Armoured Brigade was lying on an arrowhead between Sidi Barrani and Buq Buq, facing on the west a series of Italian camps…the 7th Hussars attacked the enemy’s posts but they were too strong to take with out costly losses and by early afternoon the main strength of the brigade had been sent eastwards… 6th Royal Tanks and the 2nd Royal Tanks attacking… the 16th Brigade had attacked at dawn on the 10th..Advancing over open country in a dense dust storm it was met by effective artillery fire and was held… Finally a concerted attack late in the afternoon broke the enemy’s resistance and by 4.40 Sidi Barrani had fallen.

12th December 1940 SOME OF LATEST BATCH OF 4000 PRISONERS FROM AREA BETWEEN BARRANI AND Buq Buq. ALL ITALIAN TROOPS WERE WELL-CLOTHED & ARMED & IN GOOD PHYSICAL CONDITION BUT SEEMED IN NO MOOD FOR FIGHTING AFTER THE FIRST FEW HOURS OF THE ENCOUNTER. (AWM Image 004431 PHOTOGRAPHED BY F. HURLEY).

Long columns of dejected prisoners in drab olive-green and khaki streamed eastwards. In the whole battle 38,300 prisoners, 237 guns and 73 tanks were captured. Four generals were taken: Gallina of the Group of Libyan Divisions, Chario of the 1st Libyan Divison, Piscatori of the 2nd Libyan, Merzari of the 4th Blackshirt.

To Palestine…

2 Replies

Every day there is new history to be learnt. What was the status quo regarding Italian prisoners of war in December 1940 and January 1941? Probably, strategic planning and availability of sites would have determined the flow of prisoners. Which groups of Italian prisoners of war were sent to Egypt and which group of prisoners went to Palestine?

Sidi el Barrani Italian prisoners of war were sent to Palestine and ‘some’ Bardia Italians joined them. With 38,300 Italian captured at Sidi el Barrani and thousands of allied army forces marshalling in Egypt, for the continued assault westward through Libya, these first prisoners were sent to Palestine. [Palestine was a Protectorate of the British Government: British Mandate of Palestine] Latrun Prisoner of War camp was constructed in three days.

Paolo Reginato records in his libretto some details of his time from Sidi el Barrani to Latrun Palestine:

I was taken prisoner [11 December 1940] with almost the entire division. For 4 days we stayed in the desert (four days to remember), on the 15th [December] we left in column towards Marsa Matruh and on the 16th we left for Alexandria, here we stayed until 21st day when I was transported to the port and I was embarked. On the Egiziano Ethiopia ship we left for Palestine and on the 24th we arrived in Haifa where we also passed ‘il bel giorno di Natale’. On the 30th we left and arrived in Latrum [Latrun] to a great concentration camp where we remained until 14th June 1941.

Australian war photographer Damien Peter Parer and Frank Hurley captured the events described by Paolo Reginato through the lens of their cameras and newspaper articles recount the movements of Italian POWs:

Column of Italian Soldiers: Sidi el Barrani

13th December 1940 SIDI BARRANI – A STREAM OF PRISONERS NEARLY TWO MILES LONG CAME INTO SIDI BARRANI FROM THE SOLLUM AREA, THERE TO AWAIT TRANSHIPMENT TO PRISON CAMPS. (AWM Image 004436 PHOTOGRAPHED BY F. HURLEY).

Arrival at Alexandria Egypt

31st December 1940 Alexandria, Egypt. Italian prisoners being put ashore from an RAN destroyer.(AWM Image 005002/05 Photographer Damien Peter Parer)

Arrival at Haifa Palestine

The featured photo also records the arrival of Italian Prisoners of War to Haifa including the injured:[ 20th December 1940 HAIFA – A BRITISH CORPORAL AND A PRISONER ASSIST A SLIGHTLY DISABLED PRISONER TO THE TRAIN. (AWM Image 004607 NEGATIVE BY D. PARER)].

20th December 1940 HAIFA, PALESTINE. AUSTRALIAN TROOPS DISHING OUT ITALIAN PRISONERS’ FIRST MEAL IN PALESTINE. (AWM Image 004605 NEGATIVE BY DAMIEN PARER).

Haifa to Latrun via Yesodot

Italian POWs, captured by the British in North Africa, arrive at Wadi Sarar [name of train station] in Palestine near Yesodot. Latrun is 14 km east of Wadi Sara [Wady Sarar] train station. Alighted from trains, the Italian prisoners of war were fed. They were then assembled and from the photographic records, it appears that they walked to Latrun. Injured POWs were loaded in ambulances.

Contrary to popular belief, winter in Palestine can be quite cold; both Italians and British are wrapped in their winter coats. Wady Sarar Dec 21, 1940. [Library of Congress Matson Collection: Eric and Edith Matson]

21st December 1940 Men Eating on Ground Wady Sarar [Library of Congress Matson Collection: Eric and Edith Matson]

21st December 1940 Men Gathered in a Field Wady Sarar [Library of Congress Matson Collection: Eric and Edith Matson]

To Latrun Palestine

Information about the Prisoner of War camp at Latrun is scare. Without Paolo Reginato’s mention of Latrum [Latrun], it is doubtful the location of this camp would be known. [Notice the absence of town name in the articles below.] In 1940, Latrun was used for 3 months as a training camp for Polish soldiers. It is better known for a series of battles between Israel Defense Forces and the Jordanian Arab Legion in 1948.

1940 ‘ITALIAN PRISONERS.’, The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 – 1954), 26 December, p. 5. , viewed 24 Aug 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47299778

1940 ‘Drawing In On Bardia’, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 – 1954), 23 December, p. 1. , viewed 24 Aug 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248827242

Christmas Mass In Jerusalem 1940

The distance between Latrun and Jerusalem is 35 km.

1941 ‘Italian Prisoners Hear Christmas Mass in Jerusalem.’, Catholic Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1932 – 1942), 17 April, p. 13. , viewed 24 Aug 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146369616

from the collection of Vitoronzo Pastore

from the collection of Vitoronzo Pastore

(NAA: A 7919, C99078 Isaia Torrese)

(NAA: A7919, C104104 Gino Santolini)

(NAA: A7919, C100451 Italo Rossi)

from the collection of Vitoronzo Pastore

(NAA: A7919, C101033 Giorgio Migliore)

(NAA: A7919, C98805 Michele Truono)

from the collection of Vitoronzo Pastore

(NAA: MP1103/1 PWI60929 Romano, Pietro)

(NAA: MP1103/2 Brancato, Salvatore PWIX66245)

from the collection of Vitoronzo Pastore

(NAA: A7919, C101443 Costa, Francesco PWIM12105)

(NAA: J3118, 65 Fresilli, Sebastiano)

(NAA: A7919, C102791 Di Pietro, Camillo)

from the collection of Carlo Pintarelli AICPM

from the collection of Carlo Pintarelli AICPM

from the collection of MARIAMAR AICPM

(NAA:A7919, C101259 Baris, Orazio)

Declaration of Leave from Naples Military Command Centre

(From “Guerra e Prigionia di Giovanni Riboldi”)

Declaration: Distretto Militare di Tortona

(From “Guerra e Prigionia di Giovanni Riboldi”)

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13th December 1940 SIDI BARRANI – A STREAM OF PRISONERS NEARLY TWO MILES LONG CAME INTO SIDI BARRANI FROM THE SOLLUM AREA, THERE TO AWAIT TRANSHIPMENT TO PRISON CAMPS. (AWM 004436 PHOTOGRAPHED BY F. HURLEY).

MERSA MATRUH, EGYPT. C.1941. GERMAN PRISONERS OF WAR CAPTURED IN THE WESTERN DESERT IN A COMPOUND SEEN THROUGH THE BARBED WIRE PERIMETER. (AWM Image P00064.013)

31st December 1940 Alexandria, Egypt. An Australian destroyer with Italian prisoners aboard. (AWM Image 005002/03 Photographer Damien Peter Parer)

GINEIFA, EGYPT, 1941. PRISON CAMP AT GINEIFA, NOT FAR FROM SUEZ. TAKEN FROM PASSING TRAIN. (AWM Image P00237.056)

Marsa Matruh… Alexandria…Port Said…Ismailia…Suez…

(from Google Maps)

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Libretto di Paolo Reginato

(photo courtesy of Daniel Reginato)

12th December 1940 SOME OF LATEST BATCH OF 4000 PRISONERS FROM AREA BETWEEN BARRANI AND Buq Buq. ALL ITALIAN TROOPS WERE WELL-CLOTHED & ARMED & IN GOOD PHYSICAL CONDITION BUT SEEMED IN NO MOOD FOR FIGHTING AFTER THE FIRST FEW HOURS OF THE ENCOUNTER. (AWM Image 004431 PHOTOGRAPHED BY F. HURLEY).

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Column of Italian Soldiers: Sidi el Barrani

13th December 1940 SIDI BARRANI – A STREAM OF PRISONERS NEARLY TWO MILES LONG CAME INTO SIDI BARRANI FROM THE SOLLUM AREA, THERE TO AWAIT TRANSHIPMENT TO PRISON CAMPS. (AWM Image 004436 PHOTOGRAPHED BY F. HURLEY).

Arrival at Alexandria Egypt

31st December 1940 Alexandria, Egypt. Italian prisoners being put ashore from an RAN destroyer.(AWM Image 005002/05 Photographer Damien Peter Parer)

Arrival at Haifa Palestine

20th December 1940 HAIFA, PALESTINE. AUSTRALIAN TROOPS DISHING OUT ITALIAN PRISONERS’ FIRST MEAL IN PALESTINE. (AWM Image 004605 NEGATIVE BY DAMIEN PARER).

Haifa to Latrun via Yesodot

Contrary to popular belief, winter in Palestine can be quite cold; both Italians and British are wrapped in their winter coats. Wady Sarar Dec 21, 1940. [Library of Congress Matson Collection: Eric and Edith Matson]

21st December 1940 Men Eating on Ground Wady Sarar [Library of Congress Matson Collection: Eric and Edith Matson]

21st December 1940 Men Gathered in a Field Wady Sarar [Library of Congress Matson Collection: Eric and Edith Matson]

To Latrun Palestine

1940 ‘ITALIAN PRISONERS.’, The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 – 1954), 26 December, p. 5. , viewed 24 Aug 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47299778

1940 ‘Drawing In On Bardia’, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 – 1954), 23 December, p. 1. , viewed 24 Aug 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248827242

Christmas Mass In Jerusalem 1940

1941 ‘Italian Prisoners Hear Christmas Mass in Jerusalem.’, Catholic Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1932 – 1942), 17 April, p. 13. , viewed 24 Aug 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146369616

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