Interview to Domenico Badolato

Source	Interview
Event referred to	June 6th, 1944: the D-day
Technological characteristics	Type of file: Video clip Extension: avi Dimension of the file:3,38 mb Availability proposed: Full availability
Description of the source	Type of source: Interview Origin of the source: Language: Italian Copyright issues: Agreed with the interviewed
Contextualisation of the source	This is an interview to an Italian soldier imprisoned by the Germans after the Armistice between Italy and the Allies.
Interpretation of the source	It’s interesting because shows the expectations of people imprisoned when they knew about the landing and how they were waiting for the freedom.
Original Contents	Nato nel 1920, Maresciallo del Genio, si occupava di trasmissioni radio e telefoniche. Si arruola nel 1938, non ancora diciottenne, con molto entusiasmo. Nel 1939 è mandato in Libia con la divisione “Brescia”. Lo scoppio della guerra lo coglie in una zona fra Tripoli e il confine tunisino. Con la capitolazione della Francia il suo reparto è spostato in Pirenaica, a Tobruk. Nella prima parte dell’intervista spiega, con molti dettagli sui luoghi, l’evoluzione della guerra sul fronte nordafricano. Poté rimpatriare nell’autunno 1942 (prima di El-Alamein) avendo conseguito 36 mesi di servizio in Africa. Venne mandato a Palermo, dove aveva sede il 12° Reggimento del Genio, dal quale dipendeva il suo reparto. Vi rimase fino al maggio 1943; poi fu trasferito a S. Maria Capua Vetere, dove nel 1938 aveva svolto l’addestramento. L’8 settembre 1943 si trovava in Albania. Subito catturato dalla Wehrmacht, venne mandato in un campo in Germania. «In Germania non sapevamo niente di quello che succedeva in Italia, perché nessuno ci diceva niente. Non sapevamo nemmeno dello sbarco in Normandia: questo l’ho saputo dopo, dove erano sbarcati. L’ho saputo da voci che correvano. Non so se i tedeschi abbiano parlato lì al campo di concentramento con qualcuno. Non c’era possibilità di ascoltare la radio. Non c’era la possibilità di ascoltare niente, non si sa perché, ufficialmente; erano voci. Ce ne rendemmo conto, io mi resi conto, quando i tedeschi ci lasciarono liberi lì nel campo e ognuno prese la sua strada per casa…a piedi. Io ho impiegato due mesi per arrivare a casa.
Original Contents (English Translation)	Born in 1920, Marshal of the Engineer Corps, his mansions were radio and telephonic transmissions. He enters the Army in 1938, not yet 18 years old, with a lot of enthusiasm. In 1939 is sent to Libya with the “Brescia” division. At the breaking of the war he is on duty in an area between Tripoli and the Tunisian border. At the moment of the French defeat his detachment is moved to Cyrenaica, exactly to the area of Tobruk. In the first part of the interview he explains, with a lot of details on places, the evolution of the war on the Northern Africa front. In autumn 1942, before the English attack and the Italian defeat at El-Alamein, he was allowed to come back home, having 36 months of service in Africa. First he was sent to Palermo, where the 12th Engineers Regiment had seat, where stayed until May 1943, and then to S. Maria Capua Vetere (near Naples), where in 1938 he had attended the drilling. On September 8th, 1943, when was given the news of the Armistice between Italy and Allies, he was on duty in Albania. Soon captured by the Wehrmacht, he was sent to a camp in Germany. «In Germany we didn’t know anything about what was happening in Italy, because nobody told us anything. We didn’t know anything about the D-day too. Only later I knew about the landing and the place where it happened, thank to voices running for the camp. I don’t know if Germans had told someone anything about the D-day. We couldn’t listen to the radio. “Officially” you couldn’t listen to anything, I still don’t understand why. There were only voices. We realized, I realized when the Germans let us free in the camp; each one of us took his way home…on foot. It took me two months to come back home».