PG 117 - RuscioSheet by: Costantino Di Sante
General data
Town: Monteleone di Spoleto
Province: Perugia
Region: Umbria
Location/Address: Ruscio - Monteleone di Spoleto
Type of camp: Work camp
Number: 117
Italian military mail service number: 330
Intended to: NCOs – Troops
Local jurisdiction: XVII Army Corp
Railroad station: Serravalle-Cascia
Accommodation: huts
Capacity: 200
Operating: from 08/1942 to 09/1943
Commanding Officer: Captain V. Romano (August – September 1942); Captain Arnaldo Mutti (October 1942 – September 1943)
Brief chronology:
August 1942: the camp opened.
October 1942: a few Allied PoWs were registered in the camp.
April 1943: the camps began to be used for the internment of civilians
Allied prisoners in the Monteleone di Spoleto camp
| Date | Generals | Officers | NCOs | Troops | TOT |
| 31.10.1942 | 5 | 5[1] | |||
| 31.12.1942 | 6 | 6[2] | |||
| 31.1.1943 | 1 | 1[3] | |||
| 31.3.1943 | 1 | 1[4] |
Camp’s overview
Work camp n. 177 Ruscio was used almost exclusively to hold Yugoslavian PoWs and civilian internees who worked in the local lignite mine. The few Allied PoWs present in the camp belonged to «various nationalities».
The camp was born to satisfy the request of the Società Mineraria Umbra, made in June 1942 to the Fascist Party Direttivo nazionale, to receive some PoWs to use as workers. Therefore, the camp was opened in August 1942. It consisted of one hut used as a dormitory and a kitchen and another as a storehouse. Outside of the wire fence, two more huts housed the guards and the camp’s Command.
Although PoWs worked in a mine in harsh conditions and were housed in a wooden hut which was far from comfortable, their situation was deemed «acceptable». The main complaint made by the PoWs was about the lack of water. The camp lacked a lavatory, and the plumbing system was inefficient, forcing the PoWs to gather their water from a stream using canteens.
In April 1943, the camp became intended exclusively for Yugoslavian internees and no longer for PoWs. It would be relabelled as a detachment of PG 115 Morgnano (PG) in the following months.
After the Armistice, the camp was closed and the internees (the vast majority were Montenegrins) were probably transferred to Colfiorito camp from which they originally came.
Archival sources
- Archivio Apostolico Vaticano, IAC, UIV, Sez. Segr., b. 518, f. 29
- 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, Verbali e Notiziari della Commissione Interministeriale per i Prigionieri di Guerra
- Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, N1-11, DS bb. 667, 1130, 1243
- Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, L10, b. 32
- Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, M/3, b. 64
- Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, H8, b. 79
Bibliography
- Capogreco C.S., I campi del duce. L’internamento civile nell’Italia fascista (1940-1943), Torino, Einaudi, 2004
- 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,
- Nardelli D.R., Il campo PG n. 117 di Ruscio. Un caso di sfruttamento del lavoro obbligatorio in tempo di guerra (1942-1943), Ruscio, Edizioni “La Barozza”, 2013 (Quaderni di Ruscio, n. 9)
- Nardelli D.R., Pergolini L., Impiegati in lavori manuali. Lo sfruttamento dei prigionieri di guerra e degli internati civili slavi nei campi di concentramento in Umbria (1942-1943), Foligno, Editoriale Umbra-Isuc, 2014