Australian prisoners of war in Europe

Prisoners of the Italians

Italy had 12 hospitals and over 70 POW camps for Allied prisoners. Throughout Italy, the main camps were:

• Bari
• Bologna
• Capua
• Chiavari
• Gavi
• Gruppignano
• Sulmona
• Vercelli.

Making the trip to a POW camp was uncomfortable and often dangerous. Allied servicemen captured in North Africa spent up to 2 weeks in transit. They were trucked to Benghazi and Tripoli, standing all the way and experiencing dust storms. From there, they crossed the Mediterranean Sea to transit camps at Naples and Capua.

Many prisoners suffered from disease, and some died before arriving in Italy. On 17 August 1942, 41 Australians were among 336 Allied prisoners of war killed when an Italian transport ship, MV Nino Bixio, was torpedoed by an Allied submarine. Among those who survived the attack was veteran Sydney Shaw who later spoke to the Australian War Memorial about his experience.

Conditions in the Italian camps varied. Some were described as being 'almost bearable', like the camp near Rome, called Sulmona. Food was adequate, hot water was available and the Italian captors relaxed in their treatment of POWs.

At Gruppignano in north-east Italy, POWs were treated with more brutality at Campo 57. The camp commander, Colonel Vittorio Calcaterra, was erratic and violent in his treatment of prisoners. Even the most minor offence was punished. Some prisoners were shot.

Added to the misery of such harsh discipline, every day the prisoners dealt with:

• disease
• lack of medical care
• overcrowded housing
• poor food.

Ten Australians died in Campo 57.

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Prisoners of the Germans

The Germans took charge of Italian POW camps after Italy's surrender to the Allies in 1943. Prisoners were loaded onto cattle trucks and moved to German camps. They joined Australian soldiers, airmen and sailors who had been captured elsewhere in Europe.

There were 40 major camps, from Lithuania to the Rhine. The POWs called the camps 'Kriegies', which was short for the German word, 'Kriegsgefangener' (war prisoner).

Prisoners of war were organised into 4 types of camps:

• Marlags for naval servicemen
• Oflags for officers
• Stalags for soldiers of other ranks
• Stalag Lufts for airmen.

POWs were responsible for the day-to-day running of the camps. They elected a go-between to negotiate with their German captors. In Oflags, this was the senior Allied officer. In Stalags, the role was filled by a non-commissioned officer known as the camp's Man of Confidence.

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Conditions in the camps

Many camps were overcrowded and dirty. Limited warm clothing and boots made cold, damp weather conditions difficult. Poor sanitation meant diseases like diphtheria and dysentery and conditions like diarrhoea spread easily.

Prisoners were not given adequate food or medical care. They relied on the mostly regular deliveries of Red Cross parcels. The rations in these varied, depending which Commonwealth country had sent them. Historian Peter Monteath says parcels from the Canadian Red Cross were particularly favoured. They included:

• butter
• canned fish
• chocolate
• cigarettes
• dried fruit
• powdered milk
• soap
• tea and coffee.

At times, particularly later in the war, the German civilian population were no better off than the POWs regarding the availability of food. Some were worse off and they did not have access to Red Cross parcels.

Red Cross parcels would sometimes be the difference between survival and starvation for many prisoners. They were creative in making the most of these rations, including using the cartons and tins they were delivered in. 

The contents from these parcels were sometimes sold by POWs to raise money for escape funds. In Prisoners of the Germans and Italians, author Albert Field said German civilians sometimes paid more than 20 German Reichsmark to buy cigarettes, tea or coffee from prisoners.

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Working for the Germans

Any POW who was not an officer had to work for the Germans. Officers and non-commissioned officers could work if they wanted to. But it was not compulsory under the rules of the Geneva Convention.

Types of work included:

• bomb removal
• burying human remains
• farming
• factory work
• loading supplies
• mining
• repairing roads, bridges and railways.

How prisoners were treated on work detachments varied depending on where they worked and who was in charge. Generally, conditions were better for POWs who worked for local farmers. Many farming families shared meals with their workers. These meals often included fresh vegetables and meat. Working in the countryside also gave prisoners the chance to escape or carry out sabotage.

In contrast, conditions in factories, mines or on construction sites were often dangerous, harsh and unpleasant. Many POWs suffered ongoing health problems as a result.

Fighting the boredom

Keeping morale high was a priority. Prisoners busied themselves with camp activities. They pooled their talents to organise:

• concerts
• educational courses
• lectures
• prison newsletters
• sport
• theatrical performances.

POWs in German camps came from almost 30 different countries, according to Tony Vercoe in Survival at Stalag IVB. Their pre-war jobs were as diverse as in any small city, with almost every trade and profession represented. This variety of experiences meant many skills were shared in organised lessons and lectures.

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Great escapes

Prisoners considered it their duty to escape. There were many successful outbreaks from Italian and German camps. In the weeks that followed Italy's surrender in September 1943, almost 50,000 POWs escaped from Italian camps.

Escapees faced many challenges. Many of the camps were in isolated areas, surrounded by steep, inaccessible mountains. When winter approached, staying warm was important. There was also the risk of being found by Germans or Italian Fascists.

Almost 18,000 Allied POWs remained free with the help of locals. Many farmers and villagers had little interest in politics, according to historian Roger Absalom. They risked their lives to share what little they had with escapees. Many of the Allied POWs repaid the favour by working for their hosts. Close relationships were formed that lasted long after the war.

Another factor that influenced the success of any escape attempt was the distance to neutral Switzerland. Following Italy's surrender, 400 Australians escaped from work camps near Vercelli in northern Italy. They safely crossed the border into Switzerland.

In August 1944, Australian Private Ralph Churches led one of the war's boldest escape attempts. With the help of Slovene Partisans, Churches returned from his own escape to rescue a work detachment from Stalag XVIIID. More than 100 Allied prisoners made it to safety in Allied-held Croatia. They survived the elements and harsh terrain for 15 days, narrowly avoiding capture.

Many prisoners attempted escape through tunnels. On 30 October 1942, 19 Australian and New Zealand POWs tried to escape from Campo 57. One veteran was interviewed before his death in 2004: RAAF Sergeant Thomas 'Eric' Canning from No. 3 Squadron. Canning recalled spending 6 weeks digging the tunnel using a stolen tin helmet and pick. The initial escape was successful, but the prisoners were recaptured.

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Stalag Luft III: 'the Great Escape'

Five Australians were part of one of the war's most famous escapes. This took place at Stalag Luft III, Sagan, in German-occupied Poland on 24 and 25 March 1944.

The Great Escape was made famous by the 1963 film of the same name. Although based on true events, the film was no documentary. Some details were changed for dramatic effect, or to make the movie more commercially appealing to American and British audiences. But the facts of the 'Great Escape' from Stalag Luft III are as exciting as the fictional version.

Around 600 POWs from various Allied countries worked on 3 tunnels they called 'Tom', 'Dick' and 'Harry'. The digging of these tunnels and the removal of the evidence was carefully planned and coordinated over 12 months.

Around 200 men attempted the escape on the night of 24 and 25 March. The 5 Australian airmen were part of the 76 prisoners successful in getting away from the camp.

Only 3 of the 76 men were not recaptured. Adolf Hitler was furious about the escape attempt. He ordered the Gestapo to execute 50 of the recaptured escapees, including the 5 Australians:

• Squadron Leader James Catanach
• Flight Lieutenant Albert Hake
• Flight Lieutenant Reginald Kierath
• Flight Lieutenant Tom Leigh
• Squadron Leader John Williams.

Winter marches of 1944 and 1945

As the Allies moved towards Germany from the west and east, the end of the war for the Third Reich closed in. To keep them out of Allied hands, Hitler ordered 80,000 prisoners of war, including Australians, to be taken from POW camps in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Germany.

Caught between the advancing armies of Britain, the United States and Russia, the POWs marched westwards for hundreds of kilometres. They endured below-freezing conditions, trudging through snow and slush. Frostbite and gangrene were common. The prisoners were plagued with dysentery and lice.

By 1944, the Allies had achieved almost complete air superiority over Europe. There were daily attacks by Allied planes. With nothing to identify them as Allied POWs, the prisoners had little protection and were constantly forced to run for cover.

With so many troops, refugees and POWs on the move, there was little food. German guards were given priority for rations. Red Cross rations, which prisoners had managed to bring, soon ran out. POWs scavenged what food they could find, or stole or traded with farmers and villagers.

There was also little shelter from the bitter cold. Sometimes, prisoners sheltered in abandoned factories or barns. Mostly, they were forced to sleep in the open. Many froze to death.

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End of the European war

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The war came to an end in May 1945 and the last Allied POWs were liberated. The former POWs were sent to England to prepare for life back in Australia.

Formed in May 1944 and headquartered at Eastbourne, the AIF Reception Group UK was a special unit set up to help ex-POWs make the transition back to civilian life. Ex-POWs received medical and dental care, pay advances, new uniforms and travel passes. They were also interviewed about their wartime experiences, as the Allies started gathering information about war crimes.

By late May 1945, staff at the unit were swamped. Up to 21,000 former Allied POWs were arriving in Britain each day, and the 1,600 Australian staff struggled to keep up. There were also too few ships available to transport the Australians home. Some Australian POWs could wait up to 3 months before coming home, according to historian Bryce Abraham.

To keep the servicemen occupied, several activities were organised, including, classes, dances, films and sport.

After their repatriation was finalised, the Australian soldiers, airmen and officers finally got to go home.
 

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