The P.O.W. Experience In Photos: Italian

May 10, 2005

1-- Capture

2-- Disarmament & field interrogation

3-- Removal from the front

4-- Transport

5-- Camp

6-- Release

2: This MASS of Italian soldiers still includes men with white handkerchiefs on sticks. Gathered in a minor dip in the ground out of flat fire, this is obviously still in the front lines.

Notice the smiling faces directed towards someone off camera-right, presumably reassuring them that

"For you, the war is over" and telling them what to do. Disarming this many prisoners would certainly have been a matter of discipline and... trust.

There must be hundreds of Italians here, and yet I cannot see a single Austrian or German soldier-- presumably taking cover on the over side of this hollow.

Somehow, all these men, some wounded (like the man in left foreground) have next to be gotten across No man's Land and back into the Central Powers lines.

The first shock has worn off, relief has set in-- but there is still much, much danger to be faced in the coming minutes.