Browse Items (38 total)
- Spatial Coverage is exactly "Italy--Rome"
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Letter concerning return of Indian Air Force Liberator (B-24) to the Royal Air Force
Letter describes the challenges and problems of taking an ex-RAF Liberator that had been handed to the Indian Air Force at the end of the war and had now been donated back to the RAF for exhibition in museum. Details all the engineering work to get…
Tags: B-24; RAF Colerne; RAF Lyneham
Five headlines concerning Russia and Italy
Cutting 1 headlines: Russians capture Stalino, Germans thrown out of Donetz basin, enemy reduced to three railway lines westward. Cutting 2 headlines: Hitler rages at Italy, treachery of surrender, Germany to fight alone. Cutting 3 headlines: Germans…
Italy
Album page, five photographs, first is of Jack with another SNCO, urban street scene in background, captioned 'Rome 1945'. Reverse captioned 'Rome May 1945, Darling, as I was when peace was declared in Europe, yours as always Jack xxx'.
Second is…
Second is…
Malcolm Staves, 207 Squadron Veteran
Malcolm Staves' life in the RAF, starts with his school reports through his enlistment in 1942. He trained at Bridgnorth then was assigned to 207 Squadron at Spilsby. His colleagues included George Cearns who joined 166 Squadron and Hank Williams who…
Tags: 106 Squadron; 166 Squadron; 207 Squadron; aircrew; animal; bombing of Dresden (13 - 15 February 1945); entertainment; Lancaster; memorial; Operation Dodge (1945); Pathfinders; prisoner of war; RAF Bridgnorth; RAF Dumfries; RAF Madley; RAF Metheringham; RAF Spilsby; RAF Syerston; RAF Winthorpe; wireless operator
Halifax bomber tour
Newspaper article about Halifax on tour of Rhodesia and South Africa via Bulawayo, Ndola, Nairobi, Khartoum, Cairo and Rome. Mentions demonstration flights in South Africa and that the aircraft was commanded by Squadron Leader Clyde-Smith…
Rome [entry point]
This page is an entry point for a place. Please use the links below to see all relevant documents available in the Archive.
Interview with Paolo Ferroni
Paolo Ferroni (b. 1937) remembers the bombings of Rome, describing the ubiquitous noise of sirens wailing and the psychological distress associated with it. He contrasts night bombings, when civilians dashed to improvised dugouts nearby, and day…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; civil defence
Interview with Renato Cardarelli
Renato Cardarelli (b. 1923) remembers his youth as an altar boy and then sexton at the church of San Paolo in Rome. He mentions his decision to enter the seminary at 18, where he spent two years, and explains how he was deemed temporarily unfit for…
Interview with Adriano Acquistucci
Adriano Acquistucci (b. 1927) remembers the bombing of the San Lorenzo neighbourhood in Rome. Upon the arrival of the Allies on 4 June 1944, he describes how some felt liberated and others occupied. He mentions one of his friends as having “a…
Interview with Rosanna Capretta
Rosanna Capretta (b. 1935) reminisces about the frightening sound of the sirens and describes how she and her family tried to cope by hugging each other in a corridor. She recalls food shortages, rationing cards, and black market and describes…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; civil defence; fear; home front
Interview with Rita Patrignani
Rita Patrignani (b. 1921) mentions wartime food shortages and tells how she picked up what she found on the ground at the market. She describes the bombing of the San Lorenzo neighbourhood in Rome. She compares her impulse to dash to the nearest…
Interview with Elena Fornari
Elena Fornari (b. 1936) tells of the private shelter in her house in Rome and describes daily life under bombing. She recollects the frightening encounter with two German soldiers asking for information about her father.
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; civil defence; fear; home front
Interview with Silvana Zerbini
Silvana Zerbini (b. 1924) remembers the bombing of the San Lorenzo neighbourhood in Rome and the concern she had for her husband’s fate. She recalls the attempt to move her grandparents to a safer place out of the capital and remembers American…
Interview with Matilde Pontecorvi
Matilde Pontecorvi (b. 1910) gives an account of the bombing of Ciampino when she was travelling by tram and bombs started to explode around it. She recalls how she survived only because a priest told her to duck under the seats. She describes the…
Tags: bombing; home front
Interview with Silvana Morganti
Silvana Morganti (b. 1924) recalls the bombing of the San Lorenzo neighbourhood in Rome, in which she describes the sight of dead people, a destroyed shelter, and children waiting for their dead mothers to return. Silvana also explains that she…
Interview with Maria Teresa Boazzelli
Maria Teresa Boazzelli describes the bombing of Frascati on 8 September 1943 and provides an account of life inside an improvised shelter: people praying and screaming after explosions. She explains how the Germans had been expecting the bombing and…
Interview with Leontina Giovanetti
Leontina Giovanetti was born in 1913 and reminisces about her early life with three sisters, her father. who was a typographer and photographer, and her mother, a house-wife. She describes musical training at the Milan conservatory, stressing the…
Ted Neale's memories of serving in Italy
Ted arrived in Portici, south of Naples from training in Palestine. He recalls a trip to Rome driven by Jesse Owens, the Olympic athlete. Afterwards he was transferred to Foggia to join 37 Squadron. There was a shortage of crews and he did not fly…