ANZACS At The Frontiers 1941-45: Northern Italy

I’ve recently stumbled across this interesting 2-Volume book ANZACS At The Frontiers 1941-45: Northern Italy by Ken Fenton – at least I don’t recall having seen these before. The overview starts “what happened in northern Italy over the years from 1941 to 1945 affected the lives of thousands of New Zealand and Australian servicemen, caught up in the events that were taking place in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations…“

ANZACS At The Frontier 1941-45 Volume 2 Front Cover

It’s a two volume set (only available in paperback though, unfortunately – no hardcovers) and totals about 750 pages between the 2 volumes, published in 2008. Rather than try and describe it (prior to reading) here’s a bit more of the publisher’s blurb: “Ken Fenton has been able to draw on many recollections of Anzac ex-servicemen, along with his personal knowledge of northern Italy during World War 2, as a young soldier with the 2nd NZ Division. His two volumes give a detailed insight into the varied fortunes of those initially imprisoned, and into how escapers from among them later coped with the challenges of war-torn Italy. They were confronted by many difficult situations resulting from the actions of the warring regimes.

Before the Italian Armistice of September 1943, thousands of Aussies and Kiwis were held in the prisoner of war camps of northern Italy, particularly in the notorious Campo 57 at Gruppignano. There the physical and mental states of those incarcerated were under considerable threat. Some Anzacs were fortunate to be transferred to the farm work camps around Vercelli in the northwest, or around and beyond Torviscosa to the northeast.

This is a book that is both macro and micro. It looks into some of the higher policies and decisions that affected both Anzacs and Italian civilians. It also contains many accounts by both servicemen and civilians who speak naturally and candidly about the situations in which they found themselves, accounts which have not been modified to any extent. In doing so, it extends our historical records and enables many who have been relatively silent over the years. to have their views heard.”

ANZACS At The Frontier 1941-45 Volume 1 Back Cover

The 2-volumes look especially interesting with regard to the state of Northern Italy in late 1943 to war’s end in 1945 when it became very much a ‘wild frontier’ with the local civilians & peasants trying just to survive while surrounded by German Troops, Pro-Fascist Italian Security Forces, German-allied Cossacks and Yugoslavs (all of which were very brutal towards the Italian Civilians as well as the partisans & POWs), and Italian Partisans, Allied POWS and Allied Special Forces. One of the reasons for getting these books is my interest in the partisan war in the Balkans (Greece/Crete & Yugoslavia) and in Northern Italy.

Best source for this 2-volume set is new from the publisher: Real NZ Books (Copy Press). There are a few second hand copies around, but be wary as these are often only one or the other of the 2 volumes, not both.

Alamein To The Alps by Ken Fenton (2011)

Ken Fenton (b. 1924-) has also since published Alamein to the Alps: War in the Piedmont with Mission Cherokee and the Lost Anzacs 1943-45 in 2011. This records the experiences of Anzac soldiers who escaped from prison camps among the Vercelli rice- fields in the Piedmont Region of northern Italy. Mission CHEROKEE in Northern Italy (November 1944 – May 1945) included units such as Special Operations Executive (SOE) No.1 Special Force who were co-ordinating the activities of the Italian Partisans. Unfortunately this book is out of print and fairly hard to find if you want a copy – but I’m currently working on obtaining a high quality second hand copy to accompany ANZACS At The Frontiers as looks like one or two NZ Book Dealers currently have used copies available.

[Addendum: I’ve ordered a copy of this book from a second-hand book dealer in Nelson at the time of this post, but for those interested one other copy is currently showing available in NZ from Phoenix Books NZ in Waimate.]

If you have any questions about these books feel free to post a comment below, otherwise if time permits I may post a review of them all once I’ve read them. A couple of useful links are below: