PG 52 Pian de Coreglia / Chiavari

The camp was about 15kms (9.3 miles) inland from Chiavari, on the north edge of a town called Calvari, near Pian de Coreglia.

PM 3100

More information can be discovered from these links:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/50/a4235050.shtml

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C173844

http://www.pegasusarchive.org/pow/PG52/PicPG_52_Christmas1.htm

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/WH2Pris-fig-WH2Pri10b.html

https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=347

Translate for Campi Fascisti main page:

Pian di Coreglia – Camp for prisoners of war n. 52
Pian di Coreglia, fraction of Coreglia Ligure (Genoa) – Italy
Camp type: Prisoner of war camp from October 1941
Source: DPG27
History: The prisoner of war camp No. 52 of Pian di Coreglia in Liguria starts operating in October 1941. On March 1, 1942, there were 2,601 Allied prisoners in the camp (541 British, 42 Australians, 150 Indians and 1,868 belonging to the British dominions). In October 1942, a group of 493 prisoners from the Cardoncelli prisoner of war camp was transferred to camp number 52.

Some POWs are transferred to labor detachments. For example, in February 1943, 75 p.g. of South African nationality (whites) are assigned as workers to the Francesco Accati company which is building the new shooting gallery in Turin.

At the end of June 1943 in the camp p.g. number 52, 3,615 allied soldiers (4 officers, 664 non-commissioned officers and 2,647 enlisted soldiers) are imprisoned.

The PG camp N. 52 of Coreglia became after 8 September 1943 a camp for civilian internees of the Italian Social Republic.

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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.