PG 148 Pol di Pastrengo / Bussolengo

According to camp lists issued by the Royal Army General Staff, Prisoner of War Office, PG 148 was located at Pol di Pastrengo. Other sources locate the camp at Bussolengo, just 2.5 miles (4 km) from Pol di Pastrengo.

Pol di Pastrengo is a hamlet of Pastrengo, in the province of Verona, Italian region Veneto.

PM 3200

The camp was operational from May 1942. It was a work camp* for 250 prisoners, mostly New Zealanders, but also English, Scottish, Egyptians, South Africans, Americans, Indians.

14 satellite work camps at Isola della Scala, Lazise, Mozzecane, Vigasio at San Bernardino, Montecchia di Crosara in the Cava Basalti stone farm, Legnago/Vangadizza at Rosta, Zevio at Villa da Lisca, San Martino, Buon Albergo, Bonavigo, Oppeano in the Mazzantica Village, Mozzecane near the church, Angiari.

Closed following the mass outbreak of prisoners in the days after the Italian Armistice was announced on 8 September 1943.

Some images from this camp can be discovered here:

http://www.pegasusarchive.org/pow/pPG_148.htm

*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 148/VI represents work camp VI of PG 148. 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.