Repatriation

Given that diplomatic communications between Italy and the Soviet Union were interrupted, for the whole duration of the conflict the Italian government was left in the dark as to the number of its men who had gone missing on the Eastern front. When the armistice was signed and Italy acquired its co-belligerent status, the Badoglio and Bonomi governments, in turn, lodged official requests with the Soviet government for the repatriation of Italians under Soviet custody. It was the first time such requests were made. The USSR’s political recognition of the Badoglio government (14 March 1944) changed the Soviets’ attitude toward