"Italian military internees" was the official name given by Germany to the Italian soldiers captured, rounded up and deported in the territories of Nazi Germany in Operation Achse in the days immediately following the World WarIIarmistice between Italy and Allied armed forces. After disarmament by the Germans, the Italian soldiers and officers were confronted with the choice to continue fighting as allies of the German army or, otherwise, be sent to detention camps in Germany. Only 10 percent agreed to enroll. The others were considered prisoners of war. Later they were re-designated "military internees" by the Germans, and finally, in the autumn of 1944 until the end of the war, "civilian workers", so they could be subjected to hard labor without protection of the Red Cross. The Nazis considered the Italians as traitors and not as prisoners of war. The former Italian soldiers were sent into forced labor in war industries, heavy industry, mining, construction and agriculture. The working conditions were very bad. The Italians were inadequately fed or clothed for the German winter. Many became sick.
Numbers of prisoners and casualties
The Germans disarmed and captured 1,007,000 Italian soldiers, out of a total of approximately 2,000,000 actually in the army. Of these, 196,000 fled during the deportation. Of the remaining approximately 810,000, more than 13,000 lost their lives during the transportation from the Greek islands to the mainland and 94,000, including almost all of the Blackshirts of the MVSN, decided immediately to accept the offer to fight alongside the Germans. This left a total of approximately 710,000 Italian soldiers deported into German prison camps with the status of IMI. By the spring of 1944, some 103,000 had declared themselves ready to serve in Germany or the Italian Social Republic, as combatants or as auxiliary workers. In total, therefore, between 600,000 and 650,000 soldiers refused to continue the war alongside the Germans. The estimates of losses among the IMI vary between 37,000 and 50,000. The causes of death were:
the harshness and danger of forced labor
disease and malnutrition, especially in the last months of the war
executions inside the camps
the allied bombings of facilities where they worked
At the end of the war, several thousand former IMI ended up in the hands of French, Soviets or Yugoslavs, and instead of being released, were kept in captivity for some time after the end of the war.
Ships sunk carrying Italian POWs
Gaetano Donizetti, Sep. 23 1943, Rhodes, 1,796 killed, sunk by HMS Eclipse
Ardena, Sep. 27 1943, Argostoli, 779 killed, sunk by a mine
Mario Roselli, Oct. 11 1943, Corfu, 1,302 killed, sunk by RAFair attack
Maria Amalia, Oct. 13 1943, Kefalonia, 544 killed, sunk by a mine or by a British submarine
Sinfra, Oct. 20 1943, Crete, 2,098 killed, sunk by RAF and USAAF air attacks
