Radio War Nerd EP #231 — Annibale's Italy on the Eastern Front, Pt. 4: POWs in the USSR (Patreon)

Guest: Annibale

Recorded: May 27, 2020

Fourth in our series with popular RWN guest "Annibale" on Italy on the Eastern Front in WWII. This episode: the fate of Italian POWs taken by the Soviets after they smashed Italian and Axis lines in early 1943, and how the POWs influenced Italian postwar political culture.

First — We discuss the latest pandemic news from northern Italy with Annibale...

At 26:55 —  We pick up where we last left off (RWN #228):  early 1943, the Soviet Red Army takes tens of thousands of Italian soldiers prisoner. We discuss their grim fate in the Soviet camps, and how the nearly 95,000 MIAs influenced postwar Italy political culture. It's an important and complex story requiring two episodes, so we stop after Italy's infamous 1948 postwar elections, but the POW/MIA story for Italy remains relevant for decades to come...

Listen to Annibale's popular RWN series on Italy on the Eastern Front in WWII (#228, #227, #226).

Check out more Annibale series:  Italy's Years Of Lead (#134, #135, #136, #139); Italian Resistance in WW2 (#131);  The Hundred Years War(#175, #176, #177, #180, #182, #183); Venetian Empire (#207, #208, #209, #214).

Follow Annibale on Twitter. 

Total time: 1:49:41

Direct link to this episode's mp3 here