Evening star., 1943-09-01
By THOMAS r.. HENRY,
star Staff CORRESPONDENT.

arly appearing gentleman looked
through the iron bars of his prison
cell in the north coast town OF Ro-
meta.
In the distance he saw soldiers
marching down the road He could
not recognize the uniforms, except
that they were not italian. They
might be German. They might be
British or American.
His heart beat fast. If they were
German he probably had only a few
minutes to live. II they were Brit
ish or American he was a free man.
He lived a century in the next
quarter hour. The pageant of past
years passed before him-peasant
Washington autumns, his best
friend in America, DR.. Pete Moran.
1T was queer thing to think
about then" he says, but I kept
wondering how many children Dr..
Moran has now"
The soldiers drew nearer. They
were, he saw now, Americans. In a
few minutes the prisoner was shak-
ing hands with 1t Eugene Phillips
Of Royston. Ga. After a few for
malities DR.. Berislav Angelinovic,
formerly on the staff of the Yugo-
slavian Legation in Washington, was
a free man. The shadow of death
which had hung over his head for
three years was lifted. In the next
few days he proved of inestimable
value to the American occupation
forces through his knowledge of the
Italian language.
DIR. Angelinovic left Washington
in 1896. At the outbreak of the war
he held a captains commission in
the Yugoslavian Army. He played
a big part in Yugoslavia's deter
mined guerrilla resistance.
Sooner or later, as was inevitable.
he was caught. He was sent at first
to the big Italian prisoner OF war
camp on the island of Lipari, north
of Messina. From there he was
sent with IL other prisoners ac-
cused of serious offenses to the Jail
at Milazzo. There he was kept in
close confinement in the picturesque
medieval castle on the hilltop over
looking the town. Eighteen times
while he was prisoner there Allied
airmen bombed the. town, reducing
it almost to ruins. But no bomb
ever hit the castle. It stands today
about the only untouched building
in the little seaport city.
From Rome came an order to
transfer the Yugoslav prisoners to
Florence for safekeeping. The Fas-
cist leader of the district shipped
out 10 of them. But this man, Gui-
seppe Geraci, whom DR.. Angelinovic
describes as one of the hardest
boiled followers of Mussolini, had a
special grudge against the former
diplomat and another prisoner, a
prominent Yugoslav journalist. He
said they were too important to risk
transferring to Florence. Instead he
would send them to Rome to face a
special military tribunal, which un-
dobtedly would sentence them to
death.
BY this time Milazzo was becoming
a very unhealthy place. He sent
them about 10 miles south of Ro-
meta which, being inland, was left
alone by the bombers. The little city
was an important Italian military
base and radio station.
Transport to Rome was becoming
more and more difncult because of
Allied bombing Of the shipping lane
from Milazzo. Then the American
Sd Division came.
Il suppose Geraci did me big
favor says DR.. Angelinovic. He
intended I should die. Instead he
saved my life and the poor fellows
accused of less serious ofTenses still
are In Jail in Florence If the boat on
which they were loaded was not
sunk. If they are alive they are
doubtless getting terrible treatment.
have heard a lot of German con-
centration camps but doubt If any
of them is as bad as the Italian
camp on Lipari. hate to talk of
some of the things that happened
RI, arc -