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Oral history recording in English with Raffaele Quaglia. Recorded as part of the Italian Memories in Wales project (2008-10), delivered by ACLI-ENAIP and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Part 3 of 7 (AV 11453-11459)

00.01 The interviewer asks Raffaele to explain the arms used during the war and he recounts that they used various tyes of cannons, whereas the fanteria were specialised in machine guns. Raffaele remmbers that a mines were also used, which were spread across vast areas of land and caused the death of many soldiers.

05.05 The interviewer then asks Raffaele to talk about food supplies and he explains that they weren’t good because they would often be covered in flies and, particularly at night they would eat the flies as well as the food. The worst problem, however, was the lack of water; each soldier only had a quarter of a litre of water per day, which was extremely difficult due to the heat. The situation got better when they were taken prisoner by British forces, who ensured they had sufficient food and water supplies.

10.17 Raffaele remembers that during the night they slept in the desert and would often create a hole in the sand to protect themselves from the cold of the desert wind. In those situations the hygeine conditions were terrible and they would often wake to find themselves covered in flies.