PG 54 Passo Corese, Fara in Sabina

Passo Corese is an Italian town and hamlet of Fara in Sabina, a municipality in the province of Rieti, region Lazio.

PM 3300

Information about this camp can be discovered from these links:

https://www.primidi.com/list_of_world_war_ii_prisoner-of-war_camps_in_italy

https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=349

Translation for Campi Fascisti main page:

Passo Corese – Camp for prisoners of war n. 54
Passo Corese, municipality of Fara Sabina (Rieti) – Italy
Camp type: Prisoner of war camp from July 1942
Source: DPG27
History: The PG camp N. 54 of Passo Corese, in the municipality of Fara Sabina today in the province of Rieti, started operating in July 1942. Internees are POWs of lower grades (NCOs and enlisted men). The camp is attended and has a capacity of 6,000 (see DPG27). In anticipation of winter, the camp is arranged to be transformed into wooden or masonry barracks (PGVA06). For this purpose – to transform the camp from a waited-for barrack – the use of 2,000 pg as workers is authorized (PGPA01). On 31 December 1942, in addition to urging the construction of the barracks, it was proposed not to dismantle the tents in order to bring the overall capacity of the camp to 10,000 places (DVA46).

Three months later, in March 1943, as can be read from an inspection probably carried out by the Prisoners of War Office of the General Staff of the Royal Army, there were many constructive shortcomings. There is no water, the toilets have not yet been completed so much so that the prisoners have not washed since the day the camp opened, the latrines are holes without any shelter which force the internees “to do their business in full sight of all” (DPG43).

On September 1, 1942 in the P.G. No. 54 there are 2,626 prisoners of war (1,294 British, 1,323 South African and 9 other nationalities) (DPG17). In March 1943 the number of internees rose to 4,154 (2,328 English, 1,810 white South Africans, 5 black South Africans, 1 Australian, 8 New Zealanders, 1 Cypriot, 1 Middle Eastern) (DPG35). This camp is also used by the Italian military authorities to find manpower to send to other places.

On 14 September 1942, a telegram from the Prisoners of War Office ordered the establishment of two nuclei of 200 internees each, “possibly suitable volunteers to carry out trades”, to be started up for construction work at the PG camps. N. 77 (Pissignano) and Colfiorito (P.G. N. 64) (PGPI02)

On Christmas Day 1942, at the request of the Carboni Italiani Company, the XVII Army Corps on which the Passo Corese camp depends, organized a nucleus of 700 prisoners of war “of South African nationality (white race) – preferably volunteers – farmers, diggers, unskilled workers or similar activities, drawn from field no. 54, to be started as soon as possible at the Bacu Abis (Sardinia) detachment dependent on field P.G. No. 110” (DCB10).

The transfer of 700 prisoners of war from the P.G. No. 54 at the Carbonia prisoner of war camp P.G. 110 on which the Bacu Abis work detachment depends is confirmed by the schedule on the number of P.G. of 31 January 1943 (DPG32).

In January 1943 (PGDS13) 250 white South African prisoners of war were requested to be sent to a work detachment in Sesto San Giovanni (unfortunately the company is not specified in the document).

At the end of February 1943, the establishment of two work detachments directly dependent on the Passo Corese camp (PGDS26) was authorised. Even if the verification of the effective entry into operation is still missing, we point out the two hypothetical work detachments: the first is located in Collescipoli (Terni) at the disposal of the company Eng. Droghetti and Masotti, the second in the hamlet of Rota Castello (perhaps in Tuscia?) available to the Orfeo Pasticci administration.

On 27 March 1943, 4 prisoners of war escape from the camp (PGPA02) who will be captured again – even with the help of some peasants – a few days later in the locality of Vannino in Ponte Mammolo (AC02062).
At the end of April 1943, to increase surveillance of the camp and reduce the risk of evasion – it was decided to build a “third wire fence” (PGPA03). On 11 May 1943, Giuseppe Danna, a sentry soldier, “inadvertently let go of a rifle shot that killed the English prisoner Corporal Bowem, Charles William” (AC02061).

The research on the Passo Corese POW camp is still ongoing.
Note: Our research on Italian POW camps is still ongoing. The information reported here is mainly taken from documents kept in the Historical Office of the Army General Staff and concerns in particular 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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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.