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PG 35 - Padula

Sheet by: Isabella Insolvibile

External wall of camp No. 35 Certosa di Padula (SA) - AUSSME Archive, Fototeca 2 Guerra Mondiale Italia 507/635

General data

Town: Padula

Province: Salerno

Region: Campania

Location/Address: Certosa di San Lorenzo, Viale Certosa, 84034 - Padula

Type of camp: Prisoner of War camp

Number: 35

Italian military mail service number: 3400

Intended to: officers

Local jurisdiction: Difesa Territoriale Napoli

Railroad station: Padula Sicignano

Accommodation: military quarters

Capacity: 490

Operating: from 04/1942 to 08/1943

Commanding Officer: Col. Pasquale Santoro (4.1942-9.1942); Col. Giuseppe Cosentini (10.1942); Col. Mario Gori (11.1942-7.1943)

Brief chronology:
April 1942: a few hundred British officers were transferred to the camp
September 1942: 14 prisoners escaped. Other escapes would take place in the following months.
July-August 1943: the camp was closed. The prisoners were moved to camp 19, Bologna-Due Madonne

Allied prisoners in the Padula camp

Date	Generals	Officers	NCOs	Troops	TOT
1.4.1942		384	3	81	468
1.5.1942		390	6	135	531
1.6.1942		425	6	133	564
1.7.1942	2	399	6	134	541
1.8.1942	5	447	6	134	592
1.9.1942	5	471	5	130	611
30.9.1942	2	474	7	130	613
31.10.1942	2	424	7	128	561
30.11.1942	2	435	7	128	572
31.12.1942	2	439	7	129	577
31.1.1943	2	441	7	137	587
28.2.1943	2	444	7	137	590
31.3.1943	2	464	8	136	610
30.4.1943	2	473	8	130	613
31.5.1943	2	475	8	131	616
30.6.1943	2	473	8	132	615

Camp’s overview

Camp 29 was established in April 1942, in the Certosa of San Lorenzo, a monastery of great artistic and historical value, secularised during the Napoleonic age. Padula was surely the most important prisoner of war camp in Campania. The camp was initially intended only for British officers; the prisoners were lodged in the monks’ cells and could use the cloister. Although the geographical position of the camp allowed it to enjoy a temperate climate, the lack of heating was an issue, compounded by other deficiencies common to all camps in Italy. These included: too few outhouses, insufficient food and lighting, dilapidated structures, obsolete equipment and scarcity of supplies and Red Cross parcels.
On the other hand, the prisoners in Padula could enjoy open spaces to practise sports, walk outside the camp, and organise study courses. A captain recalled the period that he spent in the camp as not too bad, all things considered.

Walks outside the camp have started, and I hope to go on one or two in a day or so. I am working on German and shorthand, but some law lectures are starting shortly. There are several barristers and solicitors here, and a few books now, and I’ll be concentrating on them when they start. I have been on a tour of this monastery, and it’s a most amazing place. Much of the best work was taken away by the French in Napoleon’s time, but there is a lot of wonderful stuff here still, particularly inlaid wood and stonework. Here is our daily routine: 7.30 P.T.; 8 o’ clock, coffee (of a sort), shave, and so on; 9.30, roll call followed by classes. 1.15, lunch-soup, macaroni in some form, and fruit. After that I usually work until four, when we have tea, then read until 5.30, when we have another roll call. Then a walk round the paddock, which is quite large. Dinner is at 7.15 – soup, a fairly substantial second course, usually some sort of stew, and sometimes sweet. After that we usually make cocoa, coffee, or something of that sort out of parcels. The only fly in the ointment at the moment is that the Red Cross parcels are running out again. We are supposed to get one a week, but I’ve actually had the rather improbable amount of five and three-eight parcels in six months. [Barber, pp. 75-76]

Besides the common issues, therefore, what really made life for the prisoners difficult were the guards, with whom relations were poor. In particular with the head of security officer, Captain Francesco Gatti, who was described as violent and quick-tempered. However, Gatti was not the only one who stood out for his brutality. The punishment for attempted escapes (which were common) was especially cruel. The recaptured prisoners were beaten, undressed, and handcuffed under the sun, rain, or snow. Notably, these accounts are only present in British sources, while the Red Cross claimed the «scrupulous application of the laws of the Convention».
Escape attempts from Padula were numerous and well-thought out. The camp’s Escape Committee was ever active. The breakout of 14 prisoners (13 officers and one private) in the night between 12 and 13 September 1942 was resounding. They were all recaptured, the last three on 25 November in Bisceglie, on the Apulian coast. The camp’s commanding officer was removed and replaced.
On 10 February 1943, four prisoners attempted to escape wearing Italian carabinieri uniforms, sewed by themselves, and carrying fake guns. They were discovered, sentenced to 30 days of arrest, and later probably transferred to Gavi. During the summer the guards discovered a tunnel before the prisoners could make use of it.
Another escape attempt, a bit peculiar, happened when the camp was evacuated in August 1943. Private Glyndwar Davies and five comrades hid in the crawlspace between the roof and the officers’ kitchen. They remained there three days, waiting for the Allies to arrive (they knew about the landings in Sicily) but were eventually discovered and beaten by the guards and some carabinieri. Commanding Officer Gori would face a trial after the war for this act of violence. According to the sources, there were more hidden officers, and it took 14 days to find them all. One last escape attempt happened on the train that was transferring the prisoners to the North.
The camp was «retreated» on 28 July 1943. The prisoners were transferred to PG 19 Bologna-Due Madonne.
The conduct of the camp’s commanding officers, after the war, was examined by British magistrates, to ascertain violations of the Geneva conventions and possible war crimes. Colonels Pasquale Santoro and Mario Gori were accused of mistreatment and negligence towards the prisoners. There are no documents on how the investigation ended, thus it is probable that it amounted to nothing. However, Gori was also investigated for beating the prisoners who attempted to escape during the camp’s evacuation. After some uncertainty, he went on trial at the end of 1946 and was sentenced to two months in prison.
Captain Gatti, instead, was investigated for an episode which happened during the transfer of the prisoners to Bologna. On the train, Lt. Stephen Piper tried to escape but was recaptured and beaten by an unknown carabiniere and by Gatti himself. The latter tried to justify himself claiming he suffered from a neurological condition caused by being wounded during the First World War. In May 1946 he was sentenced to six months in prison. As Garwood-Cutler noted:

The parties in the Gatti trial seemed to be confused about whose side they were on. Gatti admitted losing his head and hitting the victim with his two fists, figuring that that was not so bad a crime as standing on the victim's chest, as the latter accused. The victim, however, admitted to having been in the process of escape when he was allegedly ill-treated. Gatti felt justified in his actions, he said, because the victim had «put his tongue out» at him. The defence attorney could not resist political comment: «The Italians are your friends; Mussolini was your enemy. Apply humanitarian principles to this case. Gatti . . . had every provocation». The prosecution countered that «provocation does not excuse striking a bound and escorted man», which the court evidently bought in finding Gatti guilty. [Garwood-Cutler, p. 97]

The camp, already in use during the First World War to hold Austro-Hungarian prisoners, became one of the most important prisoners of war camps for Nazi and Fascist prisoners after the Armistice, the 371 PW Camp. Later, it would also house civilians accused of collaborationism. Finally, it returned to its previous function as an orphanage. Today, the Certosa is well known for its artistic patrimony. In 1998, UNESCO proclaimed it a World Heritage Site.