Sheet by: Costantino Di Sante

General data

Town: San Romano

Province: Pisa

Region: Toscana

Location/Address: Montopoli Val d’Arno - San Romano

Type of camp: Prisoner of War camp

Number: 27

Italian military mail service number: 3200

Intended to: officers

Local jurisdiction: Difesa Territoriale Firenze

Railroad station: Pisa – Montopoli

Accommodation: military quarters

Capacity: 49

Operating: from 01/11/1941 to 08/09/1043

Commanding Officer: Captain. Virgilio Tosi (March – June 1942); Major. Giuseppe Massara (July – December 1942); Major Luigi Bigazzi (January – September 1943)

Brief chronology:
1 November 1941: the camp was set up inside San Romano monastery
March – June 1942: a few British PoWs arrived at the camp

Allied prisoners in the San Romano camp

Camp’s overview

PG 27 was set up within San Romano (Pisa) monastery in the town of Montopoli in Val d’Arno on 1 November 1941. At its opening, the camp was mainly used to hold Greek officers (who were also the first PoWs to arrive); some of them were considered civilian internees. Between March and June 1942, a few British PoWs were transferred to the camp.
We have little information on this camp apart from the testimony of Major A.J. Deane-Drummond. He was an English pilot, captured in February 1941, who tried to escape from PG 27 multiple times. He finally succeeded in June 1942, escaping from the military hospital of Florence-Careggi. He reached the south of France and was repatriated to the United Kingdom, where he reported the abuses he had suffered in PG 27 after his umpteenth unsuccessful escape attempt in June 1942. He was recaptured, undressed, and beaten by the guards in front of his fellow PoWs. In his memoir, he recalled that he and other would-be escapees received a smaller ration of food as punishment.

Archival sources

• Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Ministero dell’Interno, Direzione Generale Pubblica Sicurezza, A5G, II GM, bb. 116, 117
• Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, N1-11, b. 740
• Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, H8, b. 79
• Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, L10, b. 32
• The National Archives, TS 26/775
• The National Archives, TS 26/774

Bibliography

• Deane-Drummond A. , Return Ticket, London, Collins, 1953
• 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

Anthony (Tony) Deane Drummond