On 3 September 1943, the Allies landed in Calabria. The conditions of ceasefire and surrender were signed by the Italian in Sicily. When the agreement was announced five days later, the Germans occupied the rest of the country and quickly placed Benito Mussorini, the dictator, at the head of the Fascist Republic of Puppet.
I had relatives on both sides of the forefront. My British father was a soldier of the 8th Army. My Italian mother and grandparents lived in Castell & amp; Arquato village in Paciaza State in northern Fascist.
Genocide from prison camps throughout Italy continued after the armistice. Allied soldiers were flooded in the country and thrown away by ordinary Italian mercy. The general citizen and members of the resistance movement helped over 170,000 escape routes, crossed the mountain path to Neutral Switzerland, and crossed the Allied forces through enemy lines.
The border of Parma Piacenza was the scene of Italy 's biggest war fugitive prisoner. More than 500 Allied soldiers left Camp 49 Fontane Rato at noon on 9th September. Among the brave Italians who helped escape, there were my mother and grandparents. At the end of the war, my grandfather was awarded the "Alexander Certificate". It recognized the help the family gave to the British and South African 20 soldiers, enabling the enemy to escape and caught.
My father arrived at Piacenza with Mayor of Kenneth Winston Tudor (Royal Signs Knutter Master) in May 1945 with the Liberation Army. He worked his mother Clara Dahl & Arda as a translator for the Allied Governor. My parents married in Swindon in 1948 and I moved to my father's hometown of Montgomery Shire Province New Town where I was born. I grew up in a story of war and escape. My grandparent's window shutter & # 39; Castell & Arquato's house had a bullet hole. On April 5, 1945, the parties dispatched enemy troops dispatched to blow up the river bridge. The battle spread in the garden.
I decided to investigate further. After meeting with some of my escaping escapes my family ran away, I studied in Italy and the National Archives of England. Collecting valuable information was a logical next step. And in 2000 my book "British POWs of the Italian War: a way to freedom" was born. Along the way I write six other books on escape and avoidance, SOE, air supply and resistance. A new edition of my first book was published in 2012.
I became an early member of AIFHS (number 44). I am proud of the heritage of Anglo Italy and have made good progress in recording the history of my family. The story is one of continuity and change, war and peace, emigration and romance.
At the beginning of the 19th century, my three-time grandmother Antonio Volponi and his wife Rosa Arata decided to reach the mountain path from Liguria to Castell & Arquato and settle it. This route has been used for carrying agricultural products between the coast and plains for thousands of years.
Giuseppe, one of the sons of a couple, married Maria Bonvicini, another family daughter of a merchant originating in Liguria. Four out of their five granddaughters, Giuseppina was my grandmother.
By contrast, my grandmother's family was a farm worker in the Village of Commune Chiavenna Rocchetta of Lugagnano. My great-grandmother, Giovanni Dar & Arda, was killed by unknown people on the way home from the market. His wife, Maria · Solari, was left to make the family independent. It is probably not surprising that my grandfather, Alfredo, will bring the child home and try new life in the UK.
My grandparents came to London early in the last century. They came from neighboring villas in Piacenza. My grandmother Alfredo Dall & Arda got a job as a protagonist of a silent movie, then became a waiter. He met a young confectionery company named Giuseppina Volponi of "Little Italy" which flourished in London. Married at the Italian church of Saint Peter in Clerkenwell on March 16, 1914.
Alfredo was sent to the Italian army in front of Austria during the First World War and returned to London as peace recovered. My mother, Clara Dall & Arda, was born in a family house of 368 on August 29, 1920.
My grandfather served as a chef at several hotels in the capital including the capital Ritz and Savoy and in 1928 I opened a restaurant on the 4th floor of W1 Golden Square's Upper James Street. We flourished and absorbed the premises of the neighboring French restaurant. The men's diner was always given a big free cigar. Women received a fresh red rose.
Three years later, Alfredo returned his family to Italy. They settled in the family of my grandmother Castell & # 39; Arquato in the hill of the Apenin people. My grandparents purchased a villa with a lovely garden on the bottom of Guglielmo Marconi street at the village. Grandmother Giuseppina inherited the share on the vineyard farm above Castell '# 39; Arquato. Life was good - Until June 10, 1940, Benito Mussolini took Germany to World War II.
When the allies landed south in September 1943, they believed that the campaign would close soon. However, the determined Germany resistance, national geography and harsh weather combined to prevent early victory. By the time North Korea is released it will be complete for 20 months. People were reduced to self-help efforts and improvements.
During the war, the Ligurian merchants bought olive oil in the mountainous areas. It was changed in the village for wheat. By this time, as a result of the closure of the Allied Navy, even essential items could only be obtained for the black market and exchange. The amount of bread every day was only 150 grams. Precious grain supply was hidden from German and fascist in the attic of the house.
For many of the prisoners who escaped, the same national highway will become the way to freedom.
