Italian soldiers guarding captured German train, Bolzano, 1945

Description: 

Photograph. Italian soldiers guarding captured German train, abandoned in Italian countryside, full of German loot. Official Captions: "Rome, 6/22/45 -- German loot train -- Standing on the Main Brenner Rail line near Bolzano, Italy, is a freight train 2-½ miles long packed with German loot caught on V-E Day en route to various destinations. The variety of the cars contents gives a hint of German preparations for a last ditch stand in the so-called Alpine fastnesses of the Bavarian redoubt. Stolen goods from Italy, Holland, Hungary, Belgium and France are included in the train's cargo which the Allied commission will dispose of. OWI Staff photos approved by appropriate military authority. Serviced by Rome OWI (D List)." And: "Italian soldiers stand guard over captured train. 6843 D/E." Near Bolzano, Italy. 22 June 1945

Image Information

Donor: 
Dylan Utley
Accession Number: 
2012.019.023
Date: 
06/22/1945
Location: 
Hometown: 
Branch: 
Theater of Service: 
Unit: 
Campaign / Event: 
POW / KIA: 
Topical Subjects: 
Soldiers--Italian--Italy
Railroad trains--German--Italy
Machine guns--American--Italy
Abandoned vehicles--Italy
Confiscations--Italy
Collection Level: 
Items from the service of Isaac "Ike" Bethel Utley, who was born in Smith Mills, Kentucky on 3 March 1920. Ike enlisted in the Army Air Corps on 19 January 1942. He was shipped overseas to the European Theatre and worked with a supply division based out of the city of Naples with an office set up in a residential villa. Utley worked with the Office of War Information and used their photographs in news articles to inform soldiers of the progress of the war. At war's end, Utley returned stateside. A trunk full of over 800 photographs from the O.W.I. arrived on his doorstep from his office in Italy, sender unknown. This collection consists of those photographs.
Geography: 
Bolzano
Latitude: 
46.517
Longitude: 
11.367
Thesaurus for Graphic Materials: 
Soldiers--Italian--Italy
Railroad trains--German--Italy
Machine guns--American--Italy
Abandoned vehicles--Italy
Confiscations--Italy