Multidisciplinary Investigations at P.O.W. Camp 198, Bridgend, Wales: Site of a Mass Escape in March 1945.

Abstract

Phone Number: +44 (0) The last twenty years or so has seen the development of the conflict archaeology 49 and the application of scientific principles to the investigation of sites of battle (see 50 Pollard and Freeman, 2001, and Scott et al., 2007 for overviews, see also Gaffney et 51 al., 2004;Passmore and Harrison 2008;Saunders, 2011;, 2014; Saey et al., 2016), as 52 well as the investigation of the infrastructure and fortifications of war, including 53 trenches, dug-outs, foxholes and tunnels (see, for example, Rosenbaum and Rose, 1992; 54 Doyle et al. 2001 54 Doyle et al. , 2002 54 Doyle et al. , 2005Everett et al. 2006; De Meyer and Pype, 2007; Brown 55 and Osgood 2009;Masters and Stichelbaut, 2009; Banks, 2014; Banks and Pollard, 56 2014; Doyle 2015 Doyle , 2017, hospitals, airfields and logistics (e.g. Dobinson et al. 1997; 57 Schofield, 2001;Passmore et al. 2013; Capps Tunwell et al. 2015) Doyle et al. 2007Doyle et al. , 2010Doyle et al. , 2013Pringle et al. 2007; 59 Doyle 2011; Early 2013; Mytum and Carr, 2013;Schneider 2013). These 60 investigations include investigative archaeology, geophysical surveys as well as the 61 consideration of landscape and topography in relation to battle that has emphasised a 62 growing importance of conflict archaeology and of scientific interpretation informing 63 the understanding of such events. 64As part of the investigations of wartime sites, near-surface, multi-technique 65 geophysical surveys have become increasingly popular (see, for example, Gaffney et al. 66 2004;Everett et al. 2006;Pringle et al. 2007; Fernandez-Alvarez et al. 2016), due to 67 their capability to characterise sites rapidly, as well as pinpointing key buried areas of 68 interest for subsequent intrusive investigations. 69A developing area of interest in conflict archaeology has been the location and 70 characterising of P.O.W. camp escape tunnels, as part of a wider interest in the study of 71 P.O.W. camps (e.g. see Mytum, 2012 and Carr, 2013). 72Underground tunnelling has been a popular method for prisoners to escape confinement 73 for centuries, and particularly so during the two world wars, both of which saw mass 74 internment on a scale not seen before (see, for example, Barbour, 1944;Evans, 1945; 75 Crawley, 1956;Schneck, 1998;Moore, 2006; Doyle 2008 Doyle , 2011 with a large number of accounts published both during and after conflict (Williams 79 1945(Williams 79 , 1949(Williams 79 , 1951Hargest 1946, Brickhill, 1952Reid 1952 Reid , 1956 Burt and Leasor 80 1956;Rogers 1986) with, arguably the so-called 'Great Escape' of 77 Allied P.O.W. 81 airforce officers in 1944 being the most famous (Brickhill, 1952). 82There were generally two types of escape tunnels: (1) relatively short tunnels, 83 excavated quickly to enable small numbers of prisoners to go under camp perimeter 84 fences and escape, and which entailed relatively little work, but which were generally 85 poorly concealed (see Doyle, 2011); and, (2) relatively long tunnels that w...

‘Citadels of spiritual resistance’: the Italian schools in Scotland, 1924–1940

“…The article also investigates the wider topic of diasporic education in Britain under Fascism that only Claudia Baldoli (2003) has covered (although just for London schools in the 1930s). Other scholars who have focused on Italian communities in interwar Britain have either wholly neglected this topic (Chezzi 2014; Hughes 1991; Marin 1975) or analysed different contexts. For example, Sponza (2000) has discussed the experience of Italians in Britain after Italy declared war on Britain in June 1940, while Colacicco (2018) has explored the Fascist effort to spread propaganda in British elite circles and universities by introducing Italian Studies there.…”