PG 106 Vercelli

Vercelli is a commune in the province of Vercelli, Italian region of Piedmont in northern Italy.

PM 3100

PG 106 was a work camp* with a number of satellite camps, mostly on farms in the rice fields around Vercelli which is in the north of Italy. Most of the POWs seem to have been from Australia and New Zealand.

Some satellite camps are named as:

PG 106/1 Molinetto, San Dominano, Palestrino/collabanio, Selvi/Salasco, Tenuta Veneria/Lignano, Castell Apertole, Castell Merlino, Tenuta Palestro, Tenuta Castellone, Langosca a busonegno/villaboit, Viancino, Foglietta, Carpenetto/Bianze, Petiva/San Germano, Vallasino/Olcenegno, Cascina Oschiena.

More information about this camp can be discovered from these links:

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-1Epi-c5-WH2-1Epi-i.html

https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=435

Translation for Campi Fascisti main page:

Vercelli – Camp for prisoners of war n. 106
Vercelli (Vercelli) – Italy
Camp type: Prisoner of war camp from March 1943
Source: DPG41 DPG40

History: In March 1943, the order was issued to set up a basic labour camp for prisoners of war near Vercelli (see PGVR01). 22 work detachments for a total of 1,415 prisoners of war will depend on the camp. The camp, which should come into operation on March 15, 1943, is assigned the conventional number PG. No. 106 (see DPG41)

We currently have no other information on this prisoner of war camp.
Note: Research on Italian prisoner of war camps is still ongoing (November 2012). The information reported here is taken from some documents conserved in the Historical Office of the Army General Staff and concerns only the period from March 1942 to March 1943. The data on this sheet are therefore incomplete and still to be verified.

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*Italian work camps (also referred to as satellites, work detachments or labour camps) have two numbers. The first is that of the main camp, the second of the work camp, for example PG 106/XX represents work camp XX of PG 106. The administrative management of the work camps was entrusted to the main camp. In Italy, work detachments could be sent from different prisoner of war camps to a work camp and one camp in the area selected as the main camp.

Work camps were allocated Roman numerals, although Arabic numerals are often used by many sources. Some main camps were also work camps, but were assigned the conventional number as opposed to a work camp number.

PG abbreviation

The full title is ‘Campo Concentramento di Prigioniere di Guerra’ (prisoner of war concentration camp). They were not concentration camps in the normal sense of the word. Camps were normally prefixed PG, but could be referred to as CC, Campo or Campo PG. The exception was the 2 Dulags and 1 Stalag within Italy, which were German controlled transit centres for POWs being transferred to Germany. The camps were originally known by their place names, and numbers were not introduced until early 1942. There are some camps with no numbers, perhaps they closed before early 1942?

PM abbreviation

Camps in Italy were divided into postal areas, each area designated ‘PM [number]’. PM translates to ‘Posta Militare’, meaning ‘military mail’. The number indicated the central postal reception area for the camps’ mail.