In early June 1940, immediately Italy entered the Second World War, all Italian male civilians between the ages of 18 and 70 years living in the UK were arrested by the police and military to be interned under instructions of the War Cabinet. Following a decision to transport a number of internees to Canada and Australia the liner “Arandora Star” left Liverpool for Canada carrying some 1,570 Italian, German and Jewish internees, mostly shop owners, barbers, market salesmen and such like who had been arrested by the British as they were considered a threat once Italy had allied with Germany. The ship was also carrying 400 troops to guard the prisoners and some heavy machine guns for protection.
It was the 1st of July 1940, the Arandora Star’s third day at sea and the captain was unhappy with the weather as it was flat calm and they were clearly visible to enemy ships.
Meanwhile a German U-boat captain called Prien was on his way back to Germany and not very happy either. Prien was aged just 32 and was already a war hero, but one of his students, a captain Endrass, was set to receive an award for the highest tonnage of ships sunk within that month. This obviously did not sit well with his master’s ego. Prien was on his way home with seemingly no hope of beating Endrass, as he was 5,000 tonnes short of doing so and had no deck ammunition and only one torpedo. Then on July the 1st he spotted the Arandora Star and sank her with his remaining torpedo. The Italians began clambering into the lifeboats to save themselves from drowning but the British shot holes in the lifeboats to stop them from escaping.
682 people perished including 200 soldiers. The surviving Italians were shipped back to Liverpool where they were transported to prison camps in Australia the following week.
Among those lost on the Arandora Star were the following Barghigiani:
Agostini, Oliviero 29.04.1904
Bertolini, Vincenzo Silvio 14.06.1876
Biagioni, Ferdinando 06.07.1895
Da Prato, Silvio 27.02.1878
Poli, Amedeo 10.03.1896
Rocchiccioli, Caesar 06.12.1909
Togneri, Giuseppe 19.03.1889
Other articles about the Arandora Star already published on barganews can be seen here and here
Ho aspettato fino all’ultimo
prima di scrivere ……..perchè speravo che qualcuno ricordasse oggi 2
luglio 2010 ….. il Giornale di Barga, il sito del Comune di Barga, i
quotidiani locali…..invece niente….. non ho trovato niente, nessun
articolo, tranne uno stasera sul sito “Barga News”, per commemorare il
70° anniversario della tragica morte di 446 uomini italiani civili,
emigrati e residenti in Gran Bretagna, di cui 12 barghigiani, che
scesero nel profondo del mare Atlantico il 2 luglio 1940 alle ore 06.58
quando il transatlantico inglese “Arandora Star” fu colpito da un
sottomarino tedesco. Barga, simbolo nella nostra Provincia dell’
emigrazione, che si vanta di essere “la città più scozzese di Italia”,
pare si sia dimenticate di ricordare le vittime di un imperdonabile e
inspiegabile errore della guerra. Spero di essermi sbagliata …. In
questi giorni ho ripreso in mano il libro scritto nel 1985 da Padre
Pietro Zorza, per anni parroco della nostra comunità italiana a
Glasgow, semplicemente intitolato “Arandola Star”, dove parla del
“dovere di ricordarli” e descrive la tragedia come “un eccidio che ha
segnato profondamente la storia della comunità italiana in Scozia. Una
tremenda esperienza che non è stata conosciuta e provata da nessun’
altra comunità italiana sparsa nel mondo”. Ricordiamo i nostri
barghigiani e tutti i nostri connazionali che persero la loro vita –
sepolti – forse in una delle tante tombe che riporta il necrologio
“Sconosciuto italiano civile internato……morto per la patria”.
Io non
dimenticherò mai il mosaico imponente dedicato alle vittime che era
appeso nell’ingresso della Casa d’Italia a Glasgow con la scritta “Non
vi scorderemo mai”.
Sonia
Ercolini