There were 80 Axis prisoner-of-war camps in Italy during World War II. The full title of an Italian Prisoner of war camp was Campo di Concentramento per Prigionieri di Guerra, which translates as Concentration Camp for Prisoners of War. This title is often shortened to P.G. (prisoners of war) followed by the number of the camp and its name. For example, P.G. 59 Servigliano. With the declaration of the Italian Armistice on 8 September 1943 Italian administration of the camps was ended. Those located behind the front line in northern and central Italy were taken over by the occupying German forces and used as transit holding camps for both prisoners taken during the Italian Campaign and recaptured escapees awaiting transfer to the Stalags in Germany and German-occupied territories .Mason, W. Wynne (1954). Events Preceding and Immediately Following the Italian Armistice at Victoria University of Wellington. Part of The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945
List of POW camps
CampLocationNotes GermanDulag 226Pissignano, Campello sul ClitunnoOriginally designated "C.C. 77" and then P.G. 77 by the Italian Army. After the Armistice the Germans used this as a transit camp and renamed it Dulag 226. P See P.G. 77 below.Dulag 339MantuaFormerly 337, elsewhere listed as a stalag. Distinct from P.G. 339 belowStalag 339TriesteDistinct from P.G. 339 below ItalianMari camp no.1Manzianato the west of Lake Bracciano, province of Rome. Interrogation camp for submariners. San ValentinoPoggio Mirteto in the province of RietiInterrogation camp for aviators in a convent. One of the detainees was David Westheimer.P.G. 5Gavi-Serravalle Scrivia PiedmontSome north of Genoa, the camp was turned over to the Germans when the Italians capitulated. However, for 24 hours, obeying an order of the War Office, the British POW senior officer refused to allow prisoners to attempt an escape. Three days later, J. E. S. Tooes, a Royal Navy submariner, was able to escape when on an outside work detail. Claimed to be the only Gavi fort prisoner ever to escape in 800 years, he crossed into Switzerland in four days.Photo of Camp 5 fortressphoto of lower compoundP.G. 10Acquapendente in the province of ViterboP.G. 12 Vincigliata Candeli A 13th-century castle near Florence, used to hold about 25 high-rank prisoners, notably several British generals including Major-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart, Air-Marshal Owen Tudor Boyd, Lt-Gen. Richard O'Connor, Lt-Gen. Philip Neame, and New Zealand Brigadiers Reginald Miles and James Hargest. There were several escape attempts—one successful with six officers through a tunnel, four being caught soon after. Brig. Miles and Hargest escaped to Switzerland, but only Hargest eventually escaped to England via Spain. After the Italian Armistice in September 1943, 11 officers and 14 other ranks escaped with Italian partisan and SOE help. Most officers made the Allied lines, whilst many NCOs and other ranks were rounded up by the Germans and consigned to camps in Germany until the end of the war.P.G. 17Rezzanello Near PiacenzaP.G. 19BolognaA camp for officers.P.G. 21ChietiAn old convent used as a camp for about 1300 officers.Capt F. W. Stone - private papers After the Armistice, anybody wishing to leave the camp was forcibly prevented from doing so by the orders of the Senior British Officer who was following to the letter the orders of Allied HQ to remain in the camp and await the arrival of Allied forces.Rollings, C. (2007), p. 281 Consequently, the Germans were able to capture them all. They were subsequently transferred to P.G. 78 [Sulmona] and thence to camps in Germany where they remained until the end of the war.P.G. 23Vestone near BresciaP.G. 26CortemaggiorePiacenzaP.G. 27San RomanoPisaP.G. 29 Veano PiacenzaP.G. 32Bogliaco Lake Garda near Salò, BresciaP.G. 35Certosa di PadulaMonastery, near SalernoP.G. 38PoppiMonastery near Arezzo, TuscanyPhotograph of New Zealand officersP.G. 41Montalbo Hilltop 15th Century castle near Piacenza.Held about 300 Allied prisoners, 280 officers and 20 other ranks between 1941 and 1943. In March 1943 the castle was seized by German command when the prisoners were moved to P.G. 49 FontanellatoPte P. J. L. Randles (S. Africa) private letters P.G. 43GaressioCuneoP.G. 47ModenaOfficers, mainly from New ZealandPhotograph of a Ju-Jitsu displayphoto of building, raceP.G. 49FontanellatoOrphanage near Parma. For 500 Allied officers and 100 other ranks. The first to escape were Lt Michael Ross and Lt Jimmy Day of the WELCH Regiment on 7 May 1943 by hiding in a trench dug in the exercise area. They were recaptured after 10 days in Como near the Swiss Border. After the armistice all 600 men, including Eric Newby and Richard Carver, marched out with the connivance of the Italian commandant and guards an hour before the Germans arrived, thanks to the decision by the Commandant, Colonel Eugenio Vicedomini, to open the gates the day after the Armistice of 8 September 1943.Note: Colonel Vicedomini was imprisoned in Germany as a result of this act of humanity and died soon after the war. Obit of Ian English ExcerptSee also in Further reading, a newsletter which includes an escape plan map from this camp.P.G.50RomeIn a military barracks, The Caserma Macao, known as the Caserma Genova Cavalleria.A transit camp for officersP.G. 51Altamura Villa Serena 45 km from Bari - Transit campP.G. 52Pian di Coreglia also known as ChiavariAbout inland from Chiavari, on the northern edge of a small town called Calvari on the banks of the Lavagna River, near Pian de Coreglia.Here you can see a bridge over the Lavagna river on the northern edge of Calvari, near Pian de Coreglia. Mounted on the side of the bridge is a marble slab erected in 2002, commemorating the site.Photo of Camp 52sketch of Camp 52 Photo of camp moneySketch of "brew-up"Sketch of POW, stoveSketch of bees in Red Cross boxP.G. 53Macerata Referred to in Italian documents as Urbisaglia Macerata and by Prisoners of War in their Liberation Reports as Macerata, it is also known as Sforzacosta, not to be confused with P.G. 56 Sforzacosta. A large camp, situated in the small town of Sforzacosta iin the province of Macerata. Projected in July 1942 with a capacity of 12,000 prisoners on the site of a disused linen factory at Casette Verdini. Postal address 3300. The camp was located about from the railway station near Urbisaglia, today called Urbisaglia-Sforzacosta. In addition to the buildings of the former linen mill, which housed about 2,000 men per floor, other barracks were built in the southeast corner of the site. As pointed out in the 1943 camp inspection carried out by the Protecting Power, The International Red Cross,WO361/1891 the camp had poor sanitation facilities: one source refers to just 12 toilets and 3 taps.NOTE: Google Maps shows the Urbisaglia Sforzacosta transit station, which is nearly 7 km from the city of Macerata. The commander, a colonel who had participated in the fascist "March on Rome" on 28 October 1922, had under his command a number of elderly officers, sentries, dogs, Carabinieri, and two interpreters. Despite lying only 140 metres above sea level, winters were cold. P.G. 54Passo Corese known as Fara in SabinaIn the Commune of Montelibretti. from Rome. According to statistics published by the SMRE (Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito Italiano) held in the State Archives in Rome, on 30 November 1942 the camp housed lower-ranked prisoners - 2,374 British and 1,361 South African prisoners along with 10 prisoners of various nationalities, many captured following the surrender of Tobruk, were initially held in two compounds of tents. with very poor conditions and food shortages. Barracks, many of which are still in existence and now form the nucleus of a settlement called Borgo Santa Maria, were constructed at a later date. Many prisoners escaped into the Apennine Mountains when guards deserted after the Italian Armistice was announced on 8 September 1943. It was then taken over by the Germans who used it as a transit camp for recaptured escapers and men taken prisoner during the allied advance in Italy in the autumn of 1943. It was completely evacuated in January 1944 ahead of this advance.There are photographs and several eyewitness accounts of Camp P.G. 54 on the Allerona bombing website The 1,100 British, South African and American prisoners of war were put on a train to be taken to a camp in Germany. On 28 January 1944, they were crossing the Orvieto Railroad Bridge North in Allerona, Umbria, when the American 320th Bombardment Group arrived to bomb the bridge. Unaware that there were Allied prisoners on the train, they dropped their bombs on their targets. The Germans left the prisoners locked in the boxcars and fled. Approximately half the men were killed by the bombs, or when the cars ultimately tumbled into the river below.P.G. 55BussetoNear Parma. The headquarters of this camp were in the town of Busseto in the stables of the Palazzo Pallavicini from where the six dependent labour camps were adminiistered.https:// prisonerofwarcamp55busseto.weebly.comP.G. 56SforzacostaThis tented camp was closed down in September 1942 following flooding and was never reopened. P.G. 57GrupignanoNear Udine, at Cividale del Friuli. Mostly Australian and New Zealand other ranksSketch of Camp 57Photo of delousing in Camp 57photo of Cookhousephoto of POWsPhoto of camp leader, padreP.G. 59Servigliano Fermo According to statistics published by the SMRE (Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito Italiano) held in the State Archives in Rome, in December1942 the camp capacity was 2,000 which had risen to 3,000 by March 1943, though the maximum number was reached in December 1942 when 2,012 prisoners were present - 690 British, 11 Australian, 15 Canadian, 1 white and 13 Black or mixed race South AFrican, 45 Cypriot, 4 French De Gaullists, 416 American and 13 others.For detailed information see the camp 59 survivors website. P.G. 60Colle di Compito (:de:Colle di Compito)Near the city of Lucca, in the comune of Capannori in the province of Lucca. Conditions were reported to be very bad in this camp from late 1941-late 1942. Overcrowded tents, swampy land, mosquitoes, dysentery, heat, no Red Cross Parcels, meagre water supply.Personal memoirs of Corporal Ron Myburgh, published on Many prisoners were moved to other camps before winter set in. The camp housed more than 3,000 British and Commonwealth prisoners of war over the period of its existence. A group of about 1,000 black South African prisoners were present in September 1943 having being transferred there from P.G.85 Tuturano in August.Two days after the Italian Armistice on 8 September 1943, a German military column from the Tassignano airfield arrived at the camp and demanded that it be handed over. Camp Commander Col Vincenzo Cione, explaining that he had received no such orders, refused to do so, whereupon German soldiers opened fire, killing the Colonel, his second-in-command Captain Massimo Felice and a camp guard named Domenico Mastrippolito. In the confusion that followed this atrocity prisoners fled en masse. Local people who had suffered wartime deprivation then looted the camp. The camp was re-established as an internment camp with wooden huts before the end of 1943 and in the early part of 1944 it was used as a detention centre for anti-fascists, civilian prisoners, Jews and foreign citizens, then later abandoned.A. R. Irvine-Fortescue visited camp and given guided tour by former camp guard Antonio Dell'Immagine in 2016. On-site visitor information.P.G. 62Grumello del PianoNear Bergamo. Mostly Indians and Cypriots. Seven satellite work camps, including Gamba, Cremona and TorboleP.G. 63Carinaro