Hi guys, found some old records to a distant relative that ended us as a POW after (I believe) he was captured at Tobruk. I have four codes of these records but have gone backwards and forwards trying to find out where they were. I am also confused why two of them are listed as being in Italy??? His service number was 1738508 Gunner Alfred Cornes of 107 Battery, 27th Regiment, Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery. I have attached the four camp addresses. Any help on these will be really appreciated. Thanks, Mark
Hi, The 2 camps with PG prefixes were Italian Camps and the the 2 with Stalag Prefixes were German Camps - although he was not in the main camps as the records show he was in work camps (Arbeitskommando). It was quite usual for men captured in the Middle East to be detained in Italian Camps before onward transportation to Germany. Some went there before September 1943 but the majority went after that date when the Italian armistice was signed. You will find loads on the internet if you Google the camp numbers. For instance Stalag IV-G - Wikipedia and List of World War II prisoner-of-war camps in Italy - Wikipedia Steve
Looks like the second camp is PG65 Gravina in Italy. There is a decent thread about this camp on the forum here: Campo 65 Gravina Report
(You beat me to it Bamboo. I was writing this as your post cmae through.) Hello Mark, What a coincidence! Tomorrow I am going down to PG 65 which is Gravina in Puglia, to take part in a four day conference on this camp. There are some excellent photos of it on this website and also a report on the camp by the International Red Cross. Youi might also like to check on Ralph Corps' account on the BBC's The People's War. His nephew will be at the conference as he's programmed to be on the rostrum after me. PG 87 was at Cardoncelli (Benevento) It was closed down in the autumn of '42. Alfred appears in the Internatioal Red Cross Prisoners of War Register, WO 392/21, held in the National Archives ( I have a copy) as being in PG 65, so he must have been sent there after PG 87 was closed down. This register, compiled in August '43, shows the LAST KNOWN CAMP in which the prisoner was held - it does not signify that he was in that camp on that date. In fact, PG 65 was also shut down in the summer of 1943 and the men were moved to camps further north, from where, as Steve says, they were sent to Germany. I'm going to make a plug here for my website on POW camps in Italy - italianpowcamps.weebly.com. There are a lot of errors - some slight some less so, on the Wikipedia list. The PM number doesn't tell you anything important about Italian camps - it was simply their postal address. Best wishes, Vitellino (a gal)
Thanks very much Vitellino and bamboo 43. Finally starting to piece this together. Would have really struggled with your input. Cheers!!
Don't worry, I knew what you meant. I'm now down in Altamura ( the camp was nearer to Altamura than Gravina) and am speaking this afternoon on PG 65 - it's a massive event with an excellent exhibition of life in the camp, photos of the camp and the prisoners, letters and postcards home etc. Do you have a photo your relative? If so, please send it with any info. you have on him to Domenico Bolognese on this forum via a private message. Regards, Vitellino