Sheet by: Costantino Di Sante

General data

Town: L'Aquila

Province: L'Aquila

Region: Abruzzo

Location/Address: Contrada S. Antonio - L'Aquila

Type of camp: Work camp

Number: 102

Italian military mail service number: 3300

Intended to: troops

Local jurisdiction: IX Army Corps

Railroad station: L'Aquila

Accommodation: military quarters

Capacity: 500

Operating: from 07/1942 to 08/09/1943

Commanding Officer: Captain. Tito Perrone

Brief chronology:
12 May 1942: the Società Imprese Industriali (Rome) requested the Italian High Command for 500 PoWs to employ as builders.
5 July 1942: the Presidio militare in L’Aquila began preparing the camp.
24 July 1942: 200 British PoWs were transferred from PG 78 Sulmona.
13 March 1943: an escape attempt was discovered by the guards.

Allied prisoners in the L'Aquila camp

Date	Generals	Officers	NCOs	Troops	TOT
1.9.1942			13	237	250
30.9.1942			11	239	250
31.12.1942			13	238	250
30.4.1943			10	503	513
31.5.1943			9	710	719
31.6.1943		1[1]	8	709	718
31.8.1943		1[2]	8	703	712

[1] a Yugoslav officer. [2] a Yugoslav officer.

Camp’s overview

PG 102 L’Aquila opened on 24 July 1942, when 200 British PoWs were transferred there from PG 78 Sulmona to be employed by the Società Imprese Industriali to build some barracks. The camp was set up by converting an old stone building in Contrada Sant’Antonio. The PoWs were housed in dormitories without heating and worked on the construction site six days a week with Italian workers. Their overall conditions were good, despite the lack of clothing and shoes appropriate for their work.
Working with civilians allowed some PoWs to gather tools useful in case of escape. At the end of January 1943, during a search of the dormitory, the guards confiscated many maps, compasses, photos (used to forge documents), money and some hats. On 16 March, the Italians discovered a tunnel, dug thanks to help by some Italian workers. The local Fascists denounced acts of fraternisation if the population showed solidarity with the PoWs. According to the local carabinieri, only a few «acts of compassion» had occurred, such trading coffee or soap for food. Despite stricter surveillance in the camp, these episodes increased in the summer of 1943. This happened for several reasons: the rise in the number of PoWs (from 250 to more than 700); the opening of a new construction site, «La chioma», in the Eritrea neighbourhood of Valle Pretare; and finally, the employment of 50 PoWs in a local company.
After the Armistice, the guards allowed the prisoners to escape and disperse in nearby hills. There is no certain information on what happened to the building that housed the camp.

Archival sources

• Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Ministero dell’Interno, Direzione Generale Pubblica Sicurezza, A5G, II GM, b. 117
• Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Ministero della guerra (1831-1944), Comando generale dei Carabinieri (1900-1944), Miscellanea 1940-1944, Comando del Nord dei Carabinieri, Scatola 8
• Archivio di Stato de L’Aquila, fondo Prefettura Atti di Gabinetto II Versamento Cat. XIIa b. 86
• Archivio di Stato de L’Aquila, fondo Prefettura Atti di Gabinetto II Versamento Cat. XIIb b. 100
• Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, L10, b. 32
• Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, N1-11, Diari storici, bb. 667, 843, 1.243
• Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, H8, b. 79
• The National Archives, WO 224/138

Bibliography

• Absalom R., A Strange Alliance. Aspects of escape and survival in Italy 1943-45, Firenze, Olschki, 1991 trad. it. L’alleanza inattesa. Mondo contadino e prigionieri alleati in fuga in Italia (1943-1945), Bologna, Pendagron, 2011
• 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,

Online resources

• campifascisti.it

Stories linked to this camp