[SECOND WORLD WAR - ITALIAN CAMPAIGN / SOUTH AFRICAN FORCES]...

[SECOND WORLD WAR - ITALIAN CAMPAIGN / SOUTH AFRICAN FORCES]. GRAVES, Molly L. (S/P/N, 254535/V). Manuscript wartime diary kept while serving with No. 106 South African General Hospital (UDF / MEF) during the Italian Campaign, 28 April - 30 October 1944 [with retrospective summary notes to May 1945 and later transcripts to 1990]. Unnumbered preliminary leaf of chronological summary notes, 123 numbered pages neatly penned in ink (expanded from her pocket engagement diary), including two integrated architectural sketches of an octagonal hilltop fortress [Castel del Monte], recording operational service across Puglia, Campania, and Rome. Entries detail operating theatre duties, receiving incoming casualty convoys, three-hourly administration of penicillin injections, and billeting in an active psychiatric asylum at Ponte Mammolo, balanced with leave in Naples and Rome, an audience with the Pope [Pius XII], and visits to the Caffe Greco. Marginal notes throughout track Allied operations, including the capture of Monte Cassino, the entry into Rome, D-Day, the entry into Florence, airborne landings at Arnhem, and the German surrender in Italy. Contemporary presentation inscription to front flyleaf signed ''Rosemary'' [a nursing colleague]. Ruled exercise notebook, remaining leaves blank, orig. cloth-backed covers, 8vo. [A firsthand record of Commonwealth military nursing and garrison life in wartime Italy.]

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