Hello everybody, Whilst looking for a particular prisoner of war, whom I knew was in a work camp in Piedmont at the time of the armistice, I came across this piece of information: Date of capture: 11/5/1944. Theatre of Capture:Mantova Mantova (Mantua) was not liberated until 25 April 1945. Perhaps I had misunderstood the meaning of 'Theatre of Capture' and it meant something different from 'Theatre of Battle'. In the meantime I obtained this individual's card. The German reads as follows (see card below) : wann und von wo zugegangen translated: when and from where received. So, the soldier had been registered Germany on 11 May, 1944, arriving from Mantova. This is not surprising, as there was a major transit camp there - Dulag 339 (also known as Stalag 337). He had in fact been taken prisoner on 6/6/42 in the Middle East Theatre (WO 417/49), transferred to Italy, held in PG 53 (WO 392/21) and transferred to PG 112 (Borghetti files, ISTORETO Turin). He escaped at the Armistice and remained at large in Piedmont until picked up and sent to Mantova to await transfer to Germany. I think the section headings available for this series on TNA website can be very misleading for the unwary, who might be tempted to think that the individual was actually taken prisoner in the 'Theatre of Capture' area on that date. I have cross-checked and the same applies to another 30 men taken to Germany from Mantova, to 40 men taken there from Laterina (Dulag 132, previously PG 82) and one fron Pissignano (Dulag 226, previously PG 77). Among those in the Laterina group are a number of officers taken prisoner at Anzio during February 1944 - including Lt. John E.Vesey, Irish Guards. Date when Missing given as 4/2/44 in WO 417/5 (later confirmed Prisoner of War in German hands in the same document), but Date of Capture in WO 416 given as 17/03/44. It is known from the testimonies of various prisoners that many of those captured at Anzio were held in Dulag 132 Laterina prior to transfer to the Stalags. Regards, Vitellino
