Sheet by: Isabella Insolvibile

General data

Town: Castel San Pietro Terme

Province: Bologna

Region: Emilia-Romagna

Location/Address: viale Oriani 1 - Castel San Pietro Terme

Type of camp: Military hospital

Number: 203

Italian military mail service number: 3200

Intended to: Officers; NCOs; Troops

Local jurisdiction: Difesa Territoriale Bologna

Railroad station: Castel San Pietro

Accommodation: military quarters

Capacity: 550

Operating: from 09/1942 to 08/09/1943

Commanding Officer: Lt. Col. Agostino D’Agostino

Brief chronology:
September 1942: Allied PoWs were assigned to the hospital.
8 September 1943: the hospital was evacuated, and the PoWs were deported to Germany.

Allied prisoners in the Castel San Pietro Terme camp

Date	Generals	Officers	NCOs	Troops	TOT
30.9.1942		26	29	256	311
31.10.1942		37	34	354	425
30.11.1942		36	39	389	464[1]
31.12.1942		24	36	371	431[2]
31.1.1943		20	33	318	371[3]
28.2.1943		17	27	275	319[4]
31.3.1943		6	14	165	185[5]
30.4.1943		6	16	191	213[6]
31.5.1943		5	14	141	160[7]
30.6.1943		4	7	373	384[8]
31.8.1943		25	24	445	494[9]

  [1] Including 1 American NCO and 1 private. [2] Including 2 American NCOs and 4 privates. [3] Including 4 American NCOs. [4] Including 1 American NCO and 2 privates. [5] Including 1 American NCOs and 1 private. [6] Including 3 American NCOs and 12 privates. [7] Including 3 American NCOs and 11 privates. [8] Including 2 American NCOs and 36 privates. [9] Including 10 American officers, 10 NCOs and 65 privates.

Camp’s overview

Hospital 203 Castel San Pietro (previously 205, when it was intended for non-Allied PoWs) received its first Allied PoWs in the autumn of 1942. The site was in line with regulations, and, according to the Red Cross and Protecting Power delegates, the accommodation was excellent. The PoWs also said they received good treatment. The hospital housed PoWs of different faiths, trying to keep them separated when possible. All religions were practised freely, and the only rule was not to sing patriotic hymns during religious functions. Sikh PoWs were spared from having to shave their hair and beards.
According to the International Red Cross Committee delegate who visited the hospital in mid-December 1943, most of the PoWs came from the Caserta hospital and, previously, from the Front. Among the prisoners, two-thirds were surgical patients – many amputations, laparotomies, and plastic surgeries were performed in the hospital – while the rest of the prisoners suffered from dysentery, nephritis, rheumatism or lung problems. Some medicines, such as insulin and vitamins, necessary to treat dysentery, and also Emetine, were scarce and were thus requested by the hospital.
The PoWs remained satisfied with their treatment for the whole time the hospital was operational.
After the Armistice, the Germans evacuated the hospital, and the PoWs were deported to Germany. The building again became a civilian hospital.

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 Centrale dello Stato, Onorcaduti, b. 1
• Archivio del Comité international de la Croix-Rouge, BG-017-05-159
• Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, H8, b. 79
• Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, L10, b. 32
• The National Archives, WO 224/150
• The National Archives, WO 361/1921

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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