Evening Post, 23 December 1944 BRUTAL TREATMENT LIFE IN ITALIAN HANDS Trenchant comment on conditions in Italian prisoner-of-war camps was made by Corporal George London, former Mayor of Petone, who has returned after four and a half years overseas. He said the conduct of the camps was a reflection, on the Italian people, and insufficiency of food and bad sanitation made the treatment accorded prisoners brutal. He, had been told by men who had had experience of German camps as well as Italian that the German.; establishments were far better. Corporal London, who was taken prisoner in North Africa several months before the battle of El Alamein, was one of those put to work in the rice fields in the north of Italy. When the Italians withdrew from the war they were free to leave the prison camp, and, dressed in civilian clothes, wandered about, for five weeks. They decided it would be possible to get to Switzerland. After climbing to an altitude of more than 10,000 feet they found a part of the frontier not guarded by Germans, and entered Switzerland. In Switzerland he and other ex-prisoners of war were accommodated in barracks till he left on the journey home 13 weeks ago. SWISS ON SHORT COMMONS. The Swiss were on very short commons, he said, and he and his companions there received a ration of butter of a little more than an ounce a week, and of jam a dessert-spoonful. Potatoes were grown in great quantities, and were the foundation of all meals. Much of the food that Switzerland produced had to be sold to Germany for the products that Switzerland lacked, such as coal and iron. A Swiss economist who knew conditions in Germany told him that the Germans standard of living was but a few points below that of a Swiss. People in Australia and New Zealand were fortunate not to be living now in the European countries he had passed through. Corporal London remarked on the contrast noticeable when one arrived in Australia and New Zealand, not only in the quantities of food available, but also in the friendliness of the people. He praised warmly the treatment New Zealand soldiers in Australia received from Australians. Not only was official hospitality lavish while his draft was there on its way to New Zealand, but a New Zealand soldier mixing with the people was impressed by the warmth of their feeling. Corporal London will be accorded a public welcome which is being arranged by the Petone Borough, Council. GREAT WORK BY RED CROSS Another ex-prisoner of war endorsed all that Corporal London had said about the Italian camps. Medical supplies throughout Italy, he said, were poor in quality and insufficient in quantity, and but for the supplies provided through the International Red Cross, many of the prisoners would undoubtedly have lost their lives. The Red Cross had done wonderful work, and its parcels were a god-send. They arrived about once a week, except when the Italian transport system broke down, which, frequently happened, and then no parcels arrived for substantial periods. At those times the prisoners were dependent upon Italian rations, which were barely adequate to keep body and soul together. This soldier said that he had never seen anyone living in such poverty as the Italian peasants. Switzerland appealed to him as the cleanest country he had seen abroad, but the staple diet founded almost exclusively on potatoes was apt to become tedious. He had been fortunate in being able to get around, but most of the others who had escaped from Italy got no leave at all during their internment. There were still a considerable number of the boys living in hiding with peasants in enemy-occupied Italy, and some of them had taken a very prominent part with the partisan forces. Wonderful work had been done by the New Zealand High Commissioner in London, Mr. Jordan, in sending essential clothing and cigarettes from patriotic funds to the New Zealand prisoners in Italy. These parcels bridged the gap until the arrival of the first next-of-kin parcels. The general opinion in the camps was that the New Zealanders were the best off of any of the Empire troops in the matter of parcels.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 11:45:46 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015