PG 110 - CarboniaSheet by: Costantino Di Sante
General data
Town: Carbonia
Province: Cagliari
Region: Sardegna
Location/Address: Cortoghiana - Carbonia
Type of camp: Work camp
Number: 110
Italian military mail service number: 50
Intended to: troops
Local jurisdiction: FF.AA: Sardinia
Railroad station: Carbonia
Accommodation: huts
Capacity: 3000
Operating: from 07/1941 to 07/1943
Commanding Officer: Major. Lamberto Lelli (July 1941 – May 1942), Col. Vittorio Rota (June – November 1942); Lt. Col. Pierino De Felice (December 1942 – July 1943)
Brief chronology:
January 1943: 700 South African PoWs arrived at the camp.
14 April 1943: South African PoW Frederick Charles Hatley was killed.
Allied prisoners in the Carbonia camp
| Date | Generals | Officers | NCOs | Troops | TOT |
| 31.1.1943 | 46 | 654 | 700 | ||
| 28.2.1943 | 51 | 649 | 700 | ||
| 31.3.1943 | 51 | 649 | 700 | ||
| 30.4.1943 | 51 | 646 | 697 | ||
| 31.5.1943 | 51 | 646 | 697 | ||
| 30.6.1943 | 51 | 646 | 697 |
Camp’s overview
PG 110 Carbonia was opened in July 1941 as a work camp, among the first in Italy. 1,500 Serbian PoWs were assigned to the «Azienda Carboni Italiani» («Italian Coal Firm») to work in the local mines. During the following September, some Greek PoWs were transferred from PG 124 Bacu Abis, located nearby, to a sitethat would become a detachment of PG 110.
At the end of 1942, the «Azienda Carboni Italiani» asked the Italian Chief of Staff for 800 more PoWs to employ as porters and in reclamation works. On 25 December, the PoW office of the Italian Chief of Staff assigned 700 «white» South African PoWs to the Sardinian camp. According to the PoW office’s instructions, they had to be volunteers from among the PoWs held in PG 54 Passo Corese (Rimini). Moreover, they had to be either farmers, labourers, reclaimers, or a similar profession. After a few weeks, 700 South African PoWs were sent to the work detachment of Bacu Abis, where Greek and Serbian PoWs were already working in the mines.
Apparently, the British PoWs were not employed to work underground but rather on farms. Since international inspectors could not visit the PoW camps in Sardinia or Sicily, we have little information on their living conditions. We know, from a report, that their outhouses were insufficient and the sanitisation building inadequate. During an air strike on 14 April 1943, South African PoW Frederick Charles Hatley was killed by sentry Francesco Manca while the former was sleeping in his bed. After the war, Manca was sentenced to an unknown number of years in prison.
In July 1943, the camp was closed.
Archival sources
- Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Ministero dell’Interno, Direzione Generale Pubblica Sicurezza, A5G, II GM, bb. 116, 117
- Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Ministero dell’Aeronautica, Gabinetto, b. 70
- Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, L10, b. 32
- Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, Diari storici, bb. 840, 843
- Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, H8, b. 79
- The National Archives, WO 344/1/1
- The National Archives, WO 311/318