Custodis, Johann (2011) Exploiting the enemy in the Orkneys : the employment of Italian prisoners of war on the Scapa Flow barriers during the Second World War. Journal of Scottish Historical Studies, Vol.31 (No.1). pp. 72-98. doi:10.3366/jshs.2011.0007 ISSN 1748-538X.

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Abstract

The British naval base at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys played a vital role during the
Second World War for the Allied war effort. It housed the British Home Fleet
and provided a strategic military base for Allied operations in the North Sea,
Atlantic and the Arctic. Although Scapa Flow’s military history is well served, the
barriers built by Italian prisoners of war (POWs) to strengthen its defences in the
early war years have received little attention.1 Britain faced a peculiar dilemma
in the Orkneys: defences needed to be fortified given Scapa Flow’s key location
and military role, but manpower was extremely scarce. Civilians were reluctant
to work on the islands due to harsh and dangerous working conditions. Since
efforts to attract them via compulsion and bonus schemes, and to employ migrant
workers were insufficient, the government employed 1,200 Italian POWs instead,
despite the scheme’s doubtful legality under the Geneva Convention. This article
examines the history and significance of the Italians’ employment in the Orkneys
and demonstrates that their contribution was vital for the construction of the
Churchill barriers. Previous studies have neglected the multiple strikes by the
prisoners and their protests against illegal work and some wrongly assume that
the prisoners were not participating in the construction of the barriers. This article
explicitly examines the legality issue and the prisoners’ extensive employment.
Although their employment violated the Geneva Convention, British authorities
and neutral delegates deemed it legal, thus securing the barriers’ completion.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D731 World War II
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Scapa Flow (Scotland) -- History, World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, Italian, World War, 1939-1945 -- Conscript labor -- Great Britain, World War, 1939-1945 -- Law and legislation, Prisoners of war -- Scotland
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Scottish Historical Studies
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
ISSN:	1748-538X
Official Date:	May 2011
Dates:	Date Event May 2011 Published
Volume:	Vol.31
Number:	No.1
Page Range:	pp. 72-98
DOI:	10.3366/jshs.2011.0007
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access (Creative Commons)
Date of first compliant deposit:	1 August 2016
Date of first compliant Open Access:	1 August 2016

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