Ernesto La Greca,

Fabio, Fabbricatore

Vanni, Duccio

Vanni, Paolo

English

Florence Research

ITALIAN RED CROSS OPERATIONS DURING WORLD WAR I (THE “GRANDE GUERRA”)DUCCIO VANNI1, ERNESTO LA GRECA2, FABIO FABBRICATORE3, PAOLO VANNI41University of Florence (Italy) - 2Ferdinando Palasciano Association -Roma - 3CRI Committee, Torino - 4Emeritus pro-fessor Medical Chemistry University of Florence (Italy)The OrganizationEverything started with the action ofInternational Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) inGeneva, which ran from August 21th 1914 until theend of 1923, taking care of the correspondence ofthe military and civilian prisoners and of missingsoldiers. The Geneva agency opened files on about 7million missing, and had to create Bureaux andCommittees in several cities of the Confederationthat worked to manage the relief and for newsacquirement about military and civilians. The ICRC agency began to operate in Rue del’Athénée in Geneva, in a little and modest room,that was soon replaced by the Geneva TownCouncil -due to the impressive proportions of everincreasing work- with the 120 seats hall of the Rathmuseum. This was not enough, and so they moved tothe headquarters of General Council of Geneva,where over 1200 volunteers worked throughout thewar and even later.In Berne -the capital of the Confederation- theCommittee was in 1, rue de l’Arbaléte. The best part of work was managing corre-spondence. Several offices with same duties wereorganized in all belligerent and neutral countries.  The first step of information research aboutsoldiers, civilians, prisoners or missing personsalways started either from the military unit to whichthey belong or from the civil number of the lastaddress of the civilian wanted. A file was opened for each person with precisealphanumeric references, and all the correspon-dence traveled “franc de port”.Other Agencies: the Copenhagen Prisoner ofWar Agency was created in a neutral country andActa Medica Mediterranea, 2019, 35: 123Received July 17, 2018; Accepted Septemper 20, 2018ABSTRACTIn this article we aim to resume briefly the role of Italian Red Cross during World War I.We are deeply persuaded that the history of Red Cross is the Red Cross itself, with its characters, dates and facts that havecharacterized it(1, 2). The topic will be dealt within seven paragraphs, according to the following order:1) The Organization;2) Women’s role;3) Collaborations;4) Military medicine behind the front line;5) The Red Cross and the camps for prisoners of war;6) Financing sources;7) Post-war assistance(3).Keywords: Red Cross organization and collaboration, Women’s role, Red Cross and prisoners of war, Financing sources.DOI: 10.19193/0393-6384_2019_1_20was operational from July 1915 to October 1917.He took care of Russian prisoners in Germany, andGerman soldiers in Soviet prison camps. In Copenhagen there was also a Committee ofthe Muscovite Red Cross, a guest of Denmark.Sweden also disarmed unilaterally, and theStockholm Agency was very active for thousands ofrefugees and missing persons. The agencies ofLiège and Brussels  collaborated closely withGeneva, making available some hospitals that werefrequently visited by the Queen of Belgium,Elisabeth of Bavaria.Italy: The ICRC created in December 1914 theItalian Commission, that started operating fivemonths later assisting our soldiers. Our commissionwas urged by the ICRC, that was overworked, tomake direct contacts with the Austrian Red Cross. Austria accepted, and there was always collab-oration between the two nations under the RedCross flag. The Commission tasks were the transmissionof correspondence between families and prisoners,sending money and parcels, the management ofrelief, the exchange with foreign commissions ofthe lists of prisoners and the relics of the deceasedones.Italian prisoners in the Germanic camps wereallowed to receive money through the Italian RedCross from the Banca Commerciale ItalianHeadquarters, with transfer to the Deutsche Bank ofBerlin, passing through the neutral zone of theSwiss Italian Bank. Pre-printed postcards were sent to the prison-ers to allow them to communicate to families thearrival of the amount. The same organization was adopted for foodparcels, always passing from Switzerland and witha double postcard. It was established the “bread service” for sol-diers: it was possible to send a maximum of 2 kg ofbread in each pack, including a small postcard witha little space for a few personal information. No more than two bread packets per monthcould be sent via Italian Red Cross (IRC). The delivery took place every 40 days and thefamily members paid a monthly subscription forthis service. The Prisoners of War Commission also tookcare of the redelivery of the collected relics. They were delivered to the Mayors of thecities of residence of the families of the dead sol-dier. The work of Red Cross Delegates nominatedby the International Committee was fundamental. They managed both in the belligerent and neu-tral countries every tasks we have spoken about: thetypology of hospitals, the general organization,food and medical warehouses, restaurants at therailway stations, the correspondence and the repa-triation of the injured and the sick soldiers. On field the best amount of work was man-aged by the local Committees, directed by therespective central ones. In Italy the general organization managingstarted from the Central Committee of Rome, pass-ing to the regional Committees, then to the provin-cials and finally to the locals. They supported also remarkably militaryhealth service in a real good way! It should beemphasized that all this service by Italian RedCross took place without any postal deductible.Women’s roleAfter initial optimism, the participation ofwomen at war with the replacement of men withinthe country led to their increasingly heavy involve-ment, but with great enthusiasm and dedication. The greatest substitution took place in the ser-vices and in the internal production, while those ofproletarian origins were widely present in agricul-ture and in the factories. The aristocrats and the bourgeoisie womenengaged in medical fields, several being nurses andsome doctors and military doctors. As Red Cross nurses, they invaded hospitals,then were engaged on the ships, on the hospitaltrains and at the railway assistance posts. This presence concerned every belligerentcountry and the neutral ones.Their activity also extended to kitchens, cloak-rooms and related organizations. Startiong from about a thousand, the ItalianRed Cross nurses at the beginning of the war werealready four thousand and at the end they had morethan doubled. Many of them were decorated with militaryvalor, even with silver medals and more than thirtyleft their lives on the field of honor. We have also to remember the English citizenMiss Edith Louisa Cavell English, who in 1907directed the Ecole d’Infermieres Diplomées ofBruxelles. 124 Duccio Vanni, Ernesto La Greca et AlThe school was transformed into a hospitaland assisted soldiers from all nations. She wasblamed of espionage and arrested on 15 August1915: despite of the involvement of all the“world”diplomacy was sentenced to death by theGerman court. On October 12th, 1915 she was shotnear the Tir National shooting range in Brussels. Infront of a weeping platoon of execution, her lastwords were “I cannot feel hatred and resentmenttowards anyone, I am happy to die for my country”.CollaborationsWe have also to remember the role of a verynoble and important institution, the Sovereign mili-tary Order of Malta (S.M.O.M.). The S.M.O.M. operated with 8 relief posts, afield hospital, organized warehouses of medicalmaterials behind the front line, a large territorialhospital in Rome and for hospital trains. Rescue and refreshment stations were also setup at the railway stations of Rome, Bologna, Milanand Padua in collaboration with Red Cross volun-teer nurses and Italian doctors. Ladies and knightshad a gray-green uniform with a red cross armletand a maltese cross. The king at the end of the wardecorated the banner of the S.M.O.M. with a warcross on military valor and a cross of merit war.The Republic of San Marino: Since the begin-ning of the war the Republic of the Titan, thanks tothe association “Pro Fratelli e Combattenti” (broth-ers and fighters) and together with the LocalCommittee of Red Cross, in November 1916 orga-nized a war hospital, which began to work in thespring of 1917, assigned to the VII Army Corps. The hospital was completely destroyed duringthe retreat of Caporetto: on November 5th 1917 SanMarino decided to set up a second 130-bed warhospital with radiology, operating room and ambu-lance (this one was a gift of the American RedCross). This structure was supported by the IIIArmy: damaged by the Austrian artillery, wasdecommissioned on December 24th 1918.The American Red Cross: The American RedCross provides large quantities of medicines, sever-al ambulances with nurses and drivers. The Romedepartment store supplies the Italian CentralCommittee, even with money (one million Lire wascollected in America). The first Americans arrivedin 1917, hired by the American Field Service(AFS), above all as drivers. They were young uni-versity students. A group of 200 members was con-stituted and organized in five sections, Bassano delGrappa, Schio, Fanzolo, Roncade and Casale sulSile. Each section had twenty ambulances (Fordmodel T or Fiat 15 Ter and 18BL) with 40 drivers.They served also in refreshment posts distributingchocolate (and so they was called “those of choco-late”). The nurses arrived during the spring of 1918,aiming to go to the front, and they were called“those of pity”.The British Red Cross: The first British RedCross hospital in Italy was in Villa Trento inDolegnano, that worked from the end of 1915.Thousands of volunteers enrolled in the VAD (vol-untary aid detachment), and about six thousandEnglish “ladies” spread everywhere in hospitals,places of comfort, relief etc. Also the order of St. John of Jerusalem wasactivated in parallel with the British Red Cross.Hospital knights specialized in first aid wore arm-lets with white eight-pointed stars on a black back-ground.The French Red Cross and associated compa-nies: Following the impulse of Henry Dunant, in1864 the Duke of Montesquieu founded the SSBM(Societè Francaise de secours aux BlessèMilitaires). This company was approved by theICRC. After 1870 the name was changed adding“des armées de terre e de mer” and Volunteers weresent to the front for the Franco-Prussian war.During the First World War the committees inFrance were 400.In 1879 the women, tired of being held in thebackground, broke off thanks to Dr. Duchaussoy,founding the Association de Dames Francaises(ADF) that the ICRC authorized to use the emblemwith the red cross. In 1881 there was another split, that led to theUnion of Femmes de France (UFF), under the guid-ance of Madame de Koechlin , who became presi-dent in 1907. In the same year the three associations createda single central committee, which mantained itsoriginal name until 1940, when it became the CroixRouge Francaise. During the WWI several reliefassociations led by the CRF or independent wereformed in France: they mainly took care of corre-spondence and of collection of food and clothingfor prisoners of war. Religious assistance: Even religious assistancedid not fail in Italy: it had already been present inLibya with the militarized Capuchin friars (with thestars emblm of Italian Army), but General CadornaItalian red cross operations during world war 1 (The “Grande Guerra”) 125during WW I reconstituted the regimental militarychaplains. The choice of the chaplains was made bythe Military Bishop (Vescovo Castrense) MonsignorBartolomasi(4). The Chaplains were 2738: 1350 atthe front line -the most famous were father Semeriaand don Facibeni who were among the “12 apos-tles”, those with the highest religious and humani-tarian value, 37 in the marine direction, 60 in thehospital trains and the others in the various hospi-tals(5). When the intervention of Pope Benedict XVwas clearly vain to avert the war, the Vatican acti-vated assistance with Catholic organizations,including the “Opera dei Prigionieri di Guerra”(prisoners of war relief organization), that workedin synergy with the Italian Red Cross, and also forthe soldiers at the front.Military medicine behind the front linesWe have already spoken extensively aboutmilitary medicine(6); it should be added that therefreshment and rescue stations also functioned aspost offices, and Italian Red Cross operated alsowith the Università Castrense (Field medicineUniversity)(7).To lighten the work of health facilities, thewounded and sick soldiers weresorted into hospitalships and river boat ambulances. The first was theGerman transatlantic ‘Konig Albert’, seized in theport of Genoa and renamed ‘FerdinandoPalasciano’, with 1000 beds. Hospital Ships andAmbulance Ships (for the transport of the wound-ed) were often the target of enemy torpedoes,despite the new international protections of 1907recognized by the Geneva Convention.  Around the Po river and the Lakes of Comoand Maggiore there were several lagoon and riverambulances: they had the advantage of not cloggingthe roads and transporting the wounded without ter-rible jolts. They had about 300 beds with 80 supportstaff. The treated and healed but convalescent sol-diers were sent to the Divisional, Armed andReserve Hospitals, or to the convalescent and warhospitals and Red Cross hospitals for disabled peo-ple. The local hospitals were about 220 with 30000beds and 7320 volunteer nurses(8). The territorialhospital No. 1 of Italian Red Cross was the one ledby Queen Elena with headquarters at the Quirinale. At the beginning it was used for every kind ofwounded, then essentially for the assistance to themaimed and psychiatric rehabilitation. The QueensElena and Margherita also transformed VillaMargherita into a hospital, and studied variousways of subsidizing Red Cross with photographs,calendars and various types of postcards. QueenElena was the first Crocerossina of Italy.The Red Cross and the camps for prisoners ofwarThe majority of our soldiers were locked up inMauthausen near Enns, while unreliable civilianswere locked up in Katzenau near Linz. Anothercivil and military mixed camp wasSigmundsherberg, only for Italians, at the gates ofVas.The Italian command set up 83 prison campswhere 10,000 soldiers from the central empires and5,000 Italian deserters stayed. Public buildings suchas schools and barracks and the Asinara island wereused.Before being distributed to the families, ourprisoners letters were subjected to a censorship onenemy soil, then went to the ICRC that then sent itto the Italian Red Cross, where was cleared byItalian censors (80 employees of the I.R.C.), andfinally was placed in regular Italian mail .The Italian Command was always opposed tothe assistance to prisoners of war, considering themto be cowards or traitors who had not wanted tofight. It was only the Italian Red Cross togetherwith the families that limited the suffering and thedeaths(6).Financing sourcesAll the bourgeois and aristocratic ladies“invented” various forms of financing, from post-cards to calendars and so on. Also important wasthe collection of paper and archive waste that weresold to national paper mills. Clothing was also soldto be sent to the front. The Red Cross Ladies orga-nized dances, concerts, charity evenings, perfor-mances and exhibitions. Even the lotteries wereimportant and the letterboxes replaced the waxen.Famous the 5 cents Erinnofili closures (from theGerman Erinnerungsmarken = souvenir stamps)that recalled the terrible bombing of Naples by theGerman Zeppelin L59, which launched several tonsof bombs from 3600 meters high against the rail-way and the Ilva metallurgical plant in Bagnoli,causing 16 dead and 35 injured (March 11th 1918).126 Duccio Vanni, Ernesto La Greca et AlPost-war assistanceThe consequences of the war were terrible:643,000 mutilated and large disabled filled duringyears nursing homes and hospitals for maimed,mainly managed by the Italian Red Cross. Theassistance involved also the populations refugeesfrom war zones. The main task of I.R.C. was tohelp the refugees in their return home operations. Even the missing research work, always byI.R.C., lasted for long after the end of the war.Special attention with celebrations concerned thereturn from the front of our victorious soldiers.References1) Tissier R, Chenoune M, Ghaleh B, et al. The smallD.Vanni, P.Vanni, I.Mannelli, S.Vanni “ Elena, Duchessof Aosta, Inspector General of the Red Cross volunteernurses in Great War.” Acta Medica Mediterranea, 2018,34:713-7182) D. Vanni, G. Palasciano, P.Vanni, S. Vanni, E.Guerin“Medical doctors and foundation of the InternationalRed Cross” Internal and Emergency Medicine (2018)13: 301-305.3) E. La Greca “Ruolo ed attività della Croce Rossadurante la Grande Guerra”. Notiziario a diffusioneinterna Società F. Palasciano. Numero speciale, maggio2018. Roma.4) R. Belogi “Il Corpo militare della CRI” Comitatoprovinciale CRI Bergamo editore. 1990, 1: 1-120.5) P.V anni, R. Ottaviani, M.G. Baccolo, D. Vanni “Laquestione Don Barzizza” in “Don Lorenzo Barzizza.Cattolicesimo sociale e radici della Croce Rossa” acura di C. Cipolla e S. Siliberti. F. Angeli Ed. Milano2007: 103-127.6) D. Vanni, P. Vanni and S. Vanni “Great War: MilitaryMedical Care and Italian Red Cross” in press.7) D. Baldo, M. Galasso, D. Vianello ( a cura di)“Studenti al fronte” Goriziana Ed. Gorizia 2010: 59 eseguenti8) D. Vanni, E. Diana, P. Vanni e S. Vanni “ Gli ospedaliterritoriali della CRI durante la Grande Guerra” Atti delConvegno nazionale di storia. “La Sanità Militare e laCRI durante la Grande Guerra” 16-18 giugno 2017 -Abbazia di Vallombrosa (FI), 2018: 396-402.AcknowledgementsHeartfelt thanks go to the young nephews of P. Vanni, Emmaand Guido, for the interest shown in the care of the manuscript.__________Corresponding authorPAOLO VANNIUfficio Storico CRI -Regione ToscanaVia dei Massoni 2150139 Firenze(Italy)Italian red cross operations during world war 1 (The “Grande Guerra”) 127

Italian Red Cross operations during world war I (The “Grande Guerra”)

https://flore.unifi.it/bitstream/2158/1147858/1/AMM351232019.pdf

Italian Red Cross operations during world war I (The “Grande Guerra”)

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Florence Research

Italian Red Cross operations during world war I (The &#8220;Grande Guerra&#8221;)

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Florence Research

Italian Red Cross operations during world war I (The “Grande Guerra”)