| Original caption: “American prisoners of war are surrounded by German troops as they march to an internment camp. The Coliseum is seen in the background.” 2,000 American and British soldiers are marched down the Piazza del Colosseo past the Roman Coliseum. Among these men are American Prisoners of War from the Battle of Cisterna, fought on January 28-30 1944; and British Prisoner of War from the Battle of Aprila on January 25, 1944. At Cisterna, 761 Rangers of 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 6615th Ranger Force were killed captured or wounded; only 6 returned to Allied lines after attacking across an open field and encountering Nazi German armor. At Aprila, the Allies held the line but the United Kingdom Royal Army 1st Infantry Division suffered 1,400 casualties. Before taking them to prison camps in Germany, the German paraded the captured Allied soldiers through the streets of Rome. The Nazi German guards were well turned out; tall and freshly uniformed, they provided a stark contrast to the defeated and exhausted Americans and British. Memories of the Rome march vary. Some Americans recall Fascist youth tossing garbage at them. Others remember Italian civilians trying to give water and showing signs of support. Some of the Rangers sang “God Bless America” and strove to march in cadence. United States Army Private Tommy Mascari (July 3, 1922 – May 22, 2022), and the other captured Rangers were taken to Castel Romagn, a cheese factory that served as Nazi German headquarters. “That night,” he later recalled, “British fighters arrived and strafed us. After two days, we were put on trucks and paraded through Rome, to show they were winning the War. It wasn’t how I had imagined seeing Rome.” United States Army Sergeant George Kopanda (November 23, 1919 – January 25, 1972) was taken by truck to Rome the day after the battle. He was mocked and spit upon by Italians. He believed this was staged for the Nazi Germans; he noticed an Italian woman crying and a Carabinieri making the “V for Victory” sign. Denied food or latines, he endured a 3-day train trip to Mossburg, then was sent to Stalag 2B in Hammerstein. He made numerous escape attempts before liberation in April 1945. United States Army 2nd Lieutenant Robert M. Watt (March 2, 1924 – February 14, 1992) detailed to the 1st Ranger Battalion, surrendered at the Battle of Cisterna when the ditch he was in was surrounded by panzers and Fallschirmjäger. He was spit upon as he marched through Rome. He escaped from Oflag 64 just as the war ended, before the camp was liberated. He didn’t get home until 1946. The Nazi German newsreel proclaimed over martial music, “Over four thousand prisoners have been taken in the fighting in the Nettuno sector so far. A unit of Anglo-Americans marches into Rome. This time, too, they arrive not as victors, but as prisoners. Among them are the survivors of the elite British battalion that was encircled and wiped out at Aprilia.” | |
| Image Filename | wwii0670.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.40 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 2000 x 2917 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Kriegsberichter |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | February 1, 1944 |
| Location | Coliseum |
| City | Rome |
| State or Province | Lazio |
| Country | Italy |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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