ITALIAN PRISONERS OF WAR IN PENNSYLVANIA: Allies on the Home Front, 1944-1945 (The Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Series in Italian Studies) - Hardcover

Fiell, Charlotte & Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1611479975 ISBN 13: 9781611479973

Verlag: FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2016

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Críticas:

The portrait that emerges is fascinating and remarkably positive; it's notable that Italian co-operators received a modest regular salary and more freedom than most POWs, even the liberty to leave their posts in groups chaperoned by American soldiers. Notes, appendices, and an index round out this welcome contribution to public and college library American history collections, highly recommended. * Midwest Book Review * This...book serves as a memorial for several Italian POWs, all members of the Italian Service Unit 321st Quartermaster Battalion assigned to the Letterkenny Depot in central Pennsylvania during and after WW II. Based primarily on interviews, letters, testimonials, some background texts, and newspaper accounts from the region, it outlines life for those Italian soldiers, captured mainly in North Africa by British and US forces, who then volunteered for the Italian Service Units after Italy changed sides in September 1943. Aside from simple homesickness, the Italians had a good war. They earned money doing war work for the Americans, whereas German POWs worked in agriculture. Protected and supported by the Catholic Church and many Italian American families, many of these men remember their captivity as an introduction to friendship, democracy, and, in many cases, family. The authors point out that Letterkenny was an extraordinary POW experience, with great food and no escapes. That all the Italian POWs returned home pays homage to the US creation of the Italian Service Units. A local history, the book is a remembrance and a contribution to the historical record. Summing Up: Optional. Graduate students, faculty, specialists. * CHOICE *

Reseña del editor:

Italian Prisoners of War in Pennsylvania examines the World War II experience of 1,200 Italian soldiers, detained at Letterkenny Army Depot near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, who agreed to cooperate with the U.S. government and were organized into the 321st Italian Service Unit Battalion. In addition to providing valuable logistical, quartermaster, repair, and ordnance support that aided Allied operations, these POWs formed strong bonds with local citizens and Italian Americans, leaving a legacy that survives to this day.

Über diese Auflage

• Verlag: FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON UNIVERSITY PRESS
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1611479975
• ISBN 13: 9781611479973
• Einband: Tapa dura
• Anzahl der Seiten: 312