Sheet by: Isabella Insolvibile

General data

Town: Foggia

Province: Foggia

Region: Puglia

Location/Address: sconosciuta - Foggia

Type of camp: Work camp

Number: 132

Italian military mail service number: 3450

Intended to: troops

Local jurisdiction: IX Army Corps

Railroad station: Foggia

Accommodation: military quarters

Operating: from 01/1943 to 08/1943

Commanding Officer: Major Oreste Bonvini

Brief chronology:
January 1943: some PoWs were transferred to the camp to work on the landing strips.
End of August 1943: the camp was closed.

Allied prisoners in the Foggia camp

There are no definitive sources on this camp. It is certain that, in January 1943, two detachments of 200 and 450 «white» South Africans were assigned as workers to the Foggia and San Pancrazio Salentino airfields. They were transferred from PG 85 Tuturano and PG 75 Torre Tresca.

Camp’s overview

We have little information on PG 132 Foggia and no reports from the Protecting Power or the International Red Cross, which were never admitted to the camp. This was probably due to the fact that the PoWs were primarily assigned to work in the local airfields and, therefore, were directly involved in the Italian war effort (a clear violation of the Geneva conventions). In fact, the camp was opened as a work detachment, and the PoWs were transferred from PG 85 Tuturano and PG 75 Torre Tresca.
Although the context was quite troubled, as the PoWs were opposed to working in the airfields in dangerous conditions – the runways were a prime target for Allied bombings – the camp remained open for a relatively long period, from the spring, or even January, of 1943 to the end of August. Sources are discordant on who was in command, but the PoWs who worked in the airfields were undoubtedly working for the Germans, while those who employed on the local farms worked for the Italians.
There is no other information on the camp; today, its existence is wholly forgotten.

Archival sources

• Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Ministero dell’Interno, Direzione Generale Pubblica Sicurezza, A5G, II GM, bb. 116, 117, 118 e 140, Verbali e Notiziari della Commissione Interministeriale per i Prigionieri di Guerra
• Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Ministero dell’Aeronautica, Gabinetto, b. 70, Verbali e Notiziari della Commissione Interministeriale per i Prigionieri di Guerra
• Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, L10, b. 32
• Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, M7, b. 3131
• Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, H8, b. 79

Bibliography

• Insolvibile I., I prigionieri alleati in Italia 1940-1943, tesi di dottorato, Dottorato in "Innovazione e Gestione delle Risorse Pubbliche", curriculum “Scienze Umane, Storiche e della Formazione”, Storia Contemporanea, Università degli Studi del Molise, anno accademico 2019-2020,

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