PG 103 - MonigoSheet by: Costantino Di Sante
General data
Town: Monigo
Province: Treviso
Region: Veneto
Location/Address: Caserma (barracks) "Cadorin" - Monigo
Type of camp: Work camp
Number: 103
Italian military mail service number: 3200
Intended to: troops
Local jurisdiction: Difesa Territoriale di Treviso
Railroad station: Treviso
Accommodation: military quarters
Capacity: 500
Operating: from 04/1943 to 09/1943
Commanding Officer: Lt. Col. Alfredo Anceschi
Brief chronology:
April 1943: the camp was opened in the «Cadorin» barracks
May 1943: some detachments were formed to work on the Sauris dam.
Allied prisoners in the Monigo camp
| Date | Generals | Officers | NCOs | Troops | TOT |
| 30.4.1943 | 310 | 310 | |||
| 31.5.1943 | 540 | 540 | |||
| 30.6.1943 | 540 | 540 | |||
| 31.7.1943 | 1198 | 1198 | |||
| 31.8.1943 | 1165 | 1165 |
Camp’s overview
PG 103 Monigo was established in April 1943 inside the «Cadorin» barracks, which, since July 1942, had been used as an internment camp for Yugoslavian civilians. Theoretically, this was a temporary accommodation for the PoWs, but the two camps, both under the jurisdiction of the military authorities and with the same command, lived side by side until 8 September 1943.
PG 103 had at least seven work detachments, which housed mainly South African and New Zealander PoWs. One of the first, in Susegana (Treviso), opened on 15 April 1943; the PoWs were employed there as farmers by the Collatlo firm. Another one was in Ponte di Piave (Treviso), where South African PoWs worked for the Soranzo company. Two more detachments, 103/VI and 103/VII were established during May, in response to a request by the Società Adriatica di Elettricità (SADE – Adriatic Electrical Society) to employ some PoWs in the building site of the Sauris dam (Udine). Both detachments, numbering respectively 100 and 180 New Zealander PoWs, were located in Ampezzo (Udine), the former in the district of Plan del Sac, the latter in the district of La Mania. The PoWs were employed mainly in excavation works on the Lumei stream and the tunnels to house the hydroelectric infrastructures. There are no sources about the remaining three detachments, but, most likely, the PoWs were employed as farmers.
According to Roger Absalom and some other sources, we know that the work was hard but tolerable. The PoWs were well fed and enjoyed the sympathy of the local population. Thanks to their friendly relations with the locals and the relative freedom they enjoyed, the PoWs were able to escape quickly after the Armistice. However, some other sources claim they were almost all captured and brought to Tarvisio before being deported to Germany.
In July 1943, at least 1,500 civilian internees were transferred to Gonars camp (Udine), while roughly 600 British PoWs arrived at PG 103.
After the Liberation, the Allied Military Government used the barracks to house foreign refugees and Italian survivors of Nazi concentration camps until August 1945. Today, the barracks are the property of the Italian army.
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 Centrale dello Stato, Onorcaduti b. 1
- Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, L10, b. 32
- Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito, H8, b. 79
- The National Archives, WO 344/6/2
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,
- Martins L., Neozelandesi nella val Lumiei: singolari esperienze di un campo di prigionia italiano, Udine, La Nuova Base, 1999