Themes
HMS Oswald
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Help given to escapees
Help given to escapees
In Italy numerous accounts by Allied fugitives speak of the kindness and generosity shown by all sections of Italian society to escapees. Most striking of all was the help offered by the impoverished peasantry. If discovered this could result in their punishment and even death. One such account involved Leading Telegraphist E J Arnold who became a prisoner of war when the Italian corvettes Minerva and Euterpe sank the submarine HMS Saracen in 1943. He managed to escape from his internment camp and found refuge with two Italians called Rosa and Seraphina in the village of Caparolla. Uniquely, during his escape, he had taken a Luftwaffe shirt.
Luftwaffe shirt taken by Leading Telegraphist E J Arnold (RNSM)
After the war Arnold returned to Caparolla to say thank you to Rosa and Seraphina for their help in saving his life. He discovered that someone had reported them to the Germans. They made Rosa and Seraphina stand outside of their house all night long and in the morning shot them. As a vivid reminder, Arnold saw the bullet holes still in the side of the house.
