Sheet by: Costantino Di Sante

General data

Town: Milano

Province: Milano

Region: Lombardia

Location/Address: Viale Brianza - Milano

Type of camp: Military hospital

Number: 207

Italian military mail service number: 3200

Intended to: officers

Local jurisdiction: Difesa Territoriale di Milano

Railroad station: Milano

Accommodation: military quarters

Capacity: 300

Operating: from 06/1943 to 13/08/1943

Commanding Officer: Captain Luigi Bonetti

Brief chronology:
June 1943: the hospital was opened.
12/13 August 1943: the camp was closed after an air raid.

Allied prisoners in the Milano camp

Camp’s overview

In May 1943, the PoW office of the Italian Chief of Staff decided to establish in Milan PG 207, a hospital camp intended for officers. The building chosen was an elementary school in Viale Brianza, roughly 500 metres from Central station, which needed some restructuring work. In June of the same year, the hospital, with a capacity of 300 beds, was opened.
Among the PoWs was Col. Loris Cooper, transferred from PG 29 Veano, who became the Senior Officer. He complained to the Protecting Power delegate, who inspected the hospital, that the dormitories were too small, that the PoWs had all their belongings confiscated, that they did not have boots, and that officers had not received their pay for quite some time. He also pointed out that he was concerned because there was no place for the PoWs to hide during the frequent bombings of the city. During air raids (at least eight took place in Milan in the two months that the hospital functioned), the PoWs were escorted to a basement.
According to British sources, PoWs from PG 206 Nocera Inferiore (Naples) were brought to PG 207 in reprisal because some Italian officers had been hospitalised in London even though the city was being heavily bombed. However, it seems more likely that this transfer was due to the gradual closure of all PoW camps in the south of Italy after the Allied landings in Sicily.
Between 12 and 13 August 1943, the hospital was bombed during an air raid on Milan. The attack killed eight Allied PoWs and two Frenchmen. Due to the damage it sustained, the hospital was closed.
After the war, the building again became an elementary school and, in 1997, it was merged into the Istituto Comprensivo «Teodoro Ciresola».

Archival sources

• Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Ministero dell’Interno, Direzione Generale Pubblica Sicurezza, A5G, II GM, bb. 116, 117, Verbali e Notiziari della Commissione Interministeriale per i Prigionieri di Guerra
• Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, N1-11, DS b. 1130
• Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, H8, b. 79
• Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, L10, b. 32
• The National Archives, WO 224/148
• The National Archives, FO 916/369

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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