Rome, the ‘Eternal City’, had a peculiar war. With Italy an axis nation it was a target for allied bombers but in the centre is the Vatican, home of the Pope. A neutral state within the capital of a belligerent nation. In deference to the Pope allied bombing operations were curtailed, perhaps more than they might otherwise have have been.
When the Italians secretly brokered an armistice with the allies in September 1943, Rome was occupied by the Germans. With the Germans in charge, Italian men would be deported as forced labour and the Jewish population of Rome rounded up to be sent to concentration camps.
At the same time the Vatican became a magnet for escaped Prisoners of War who would seek refuge inside the walls of the holy city.
I’m joined by Victor Failmezger.
Victor is a retired US Naval Officer who served in Rome as the Assistance Naval Attaché. He is also the author of Rome City in Terror: The Nazi Occupation 1943-44.
48 - Fallen Giants: The Russian T-35 Tank
47 - Flying to Victory: The Western Desert Campaign 1940-41
The Covenanter Tank
46 - Fighting Through From Dunkirk to Hamburg
45 - The Jersey Brothers
44 - The Winter War: The British Reaction to the Invasion of Finland
43 - The Red Cross: Humanitarians at War
42 - The Battle of the Coral Sea
41 - Amphibious Operations in WWII
40 - Homefront to Battlefront
39 - Allen Dulles and the German Resistance
38 - The Race for the Rhine
37 - 82nd Airborne at Operation Husky
36 - Volunteers and Pressed Men
35 - Air Campaigns on the Eastern Front
34 - Surviving the Nazis, Gulags and Soviet Communism
33 - The American St Nick
32 - Operation Sea Lion - The invasion of Britain
31 - Shadow Warriors: Daring Missions of WWII by Women of the OSS and SOE
30 - Lucky 666: The Impossible Mission
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