Hi all, I'm an Italian university student. the first part of my master's thesis is based on the presence of American prisoners of war in Italy during the second world war. Although I am finding important information regarding this topic, I have not yet been able to find any material that focuses on the single and specific experiences of these soldiers (diaries, documents, etc.). Would you give me a hand in order to find them out please? thanks a lot!
Stories of American Escapees from Prisoner of War Camp 59, Servigliano, Italy – Part I U.S. National Archives—Italian POW Records For a start
You could also try posting on our "cousins" website in the USA: WWII Forums On a quick look they do not have a POW section, though there is one for Italy / Mediterranean theatre. There is a section for Information Requests. It might help to break down the periods of US POW time and from my very brief look months ago US POW were found in Italian POW camps alongside allies regardless of origin. The logical periods or themes would be: pre-Italian surrender, post-surrender, escapees, those who escaped and joined the Partisans. At the POW Camp I researched there was New Zealand Lt. Col. who was the Senior British Officer (SBO) and from memory a USAF Colonel for the US POWs. Sorry, I saw that fcat and made no notes.
I downloaded two Escape and Evasion reports for American Airmen who were held in Italy a few months ago for another contact. Here is the link. If you click on the Airman's name and scroll down you will see a pdf icon. Click this and the full report will load and can then be downloaded to your desktop: https://catalog.archives.gov/search?q=pow campo Italy&f.ancestorNaIds=305270
Try my website https://airmenpowsitaly.weebly.com which deals with mostly American airmen being held in the interrogation camp set up at Poggio Mirteto in the San Valentino Convent. Among them was David Westheimer of Van Ryan's Express fame. Then you might also like to read La Lunga Via del Ritorno, Morlacchi Editore University Press, Perugia, in which I have dedicated a chapter to American air crews shot down over Umbria, some of whom became POWs. Vitellino (Janet Kinrade Dethick)
