20th December 1940 and Damien Parer captures the first arrival of Italian prisoners of war in Haifa Palestine. [photos below] What is more remarkable is the film footage that Parer also took: showing the Italians boarding a train, Australian soldiers giving Italians cigarettes and Italians walking in a long column into the distance.

A more comprehensive historical picture now emerges of the first 1000 Italian soldiers captured at Sidi el Barrani and their first days in Palestine. The photos and film footage by Damien Parer compliment the images from the Eric and Edith Matson Collection taken at Wady Sarar.

December 1940: Italian prisoners board a train in Haifa under the watchful eyes of Australian soldiers. British Mandate of Palestine: Haifa (AWM Film Footage by Damien Peter Parer)

 

Photographs by Damien Parer from Australian War Memorial:

Image 004601 Haifa. Italian prisoners leave ship

Image 004602 Haifa. Italian prisoners leave ship

Image 004603 Haifa. Italian prisoners leave ship

Image 004604 Haifa. Italian prisoners Dimeria Agostino and Besella Calagero both from Sicily

Image 004605 Haifa. Australian troops dishing out Italian prisoners first meal in Palestine

Image 004608 Haifa. Some Italian prisoners

Image 004609 Haifa. Australians give Italian prisoners a much needed smoke on their arrival in Palestine

004682A Haifa. 1000 prisoners (Italian) sitting down on the wharf