PG 148 - Pol di Pastrengo

Sheet by: Costantino Di Sante

General data

Town: Bussolengo

Province: Verona

Region: Veneto

Location/Address: Pol di Pastrengo - Bussolengo

Type of camp: Work camp

Number: 148

Italian military mail service number: 3200

Intended to: troops

Local jurisdiction: XXXV Territorial Army Corps

Railroad station: Verona

Accommodation: huts

Capacity: 250

Operating: from 12/1942 to 09/1943

Commanding Officer: Major Aldo Gianni Castelli

Brief chronology:
September 1942: Construction of PG 148 started.
December 1942: the camp opened, and the first New Zealander PoWs arrived.
May 1943: PG 148 became a base camp for many work detachments.

Allied prisoners in the Bussolengo camp

Date Generals Officers NCOs Troops TOT
31.12.1942 250 250
31.1.1943       250 250
28.2.1943     2 247 249
31.3.1943     2 247 249
30.4.1943     2 245 247
31.5.1943     2 786 788
30.6.1943   1 10 1257 1268
31.7.1943     10 1257 1267
31.8.1943     10 1258 1268

Camp’s overview

PG 148 Pian di Pastrengo was built between September and December 1942 in an area near the banks of the Adige river in the Bussolengo township. The Società Idroelettrica Medio Adige (SIME) was in charge of its construction.
In mid-December 1942, the first 250 PoWs arrived from PG 57 Grupignano (Udine). They were divided into groups and employed by the SIME to build the «Biffis» canal, which would be used to power a hydroelectric plant using water from the nearby river. The PoWs worked six hours a day during the winter and nine during the summer and were mainly employed in excavating and building embankments. Their treatment was respectable. Their food rations were abundant, the military shop was well supplied, and the Red Cross parcels arrived regularly. They were housed in stone huts, and the camp’s structures, albeit with some defects in the electrical system and the sewers, were considered comfortable by the Protecting Power inspectors.
No escape attempts were made but there was a strike by five PoWs who protested at some delays in the distribution of the mail and the Red Cross parcels. As a punishment, they were put in security cells for 56 days, according to an accusation made by one PoW after the war. The camp’s commander, Major Castelli, was accused of mistreatment, but the case was quickly archived.
In May 1943, PG 148 became a base camp for several detachments established in the surrounding farmlands, and the PoWs would increase to 1,250. In the following months, there were 16 work detachments subordinated to PG 148. They were, located in: Montecchia di Corsara (148/I), Lazise (148/II), San Martino Buon Albergo (148/III), Zevio (148/IV), Oppeano (148/V), Bonavigo (148/VI), Angiari (148/VII), Legnago/Vangadizza (148/VIII), Isola della Scala (148/IX-X-XI-XII), Vogasio (148/XIII), and Mozzecane (148/XIV).
After 8 September 1943, the majority of the PoWs escaped, and, later, thanks to the help provided by some of the guards, they managed to reach Switzerland. For example, this happened in the Angiari detachment, where the camp’s commander, Lt. Alessandro Benetti, who knew the area very well, guided the PoWs to the Swiss border.
Only the building where the Italian officers lived was left standing for a few years after the war. Today, there are no traces of the camp.

Archival sources

Bibliography

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