War time place name:
Bussetto
Contemporary local place name:
Bussetto

Busseto, Province of Parma, Italy

The camp is located near Piacenza and about 25 miles (40 km) north west of Parma, Italian region of Emila -Romagna.

PM 3200

Camp was operational from June 1941.

4 satellite labour camps located in the vicinity.

Information about this camp can be discovered here, including images of the camp and prisoners:

https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=351#

Translation for Campi Fascisti main page:

Busseto – Camp for prisoners of war n. 55
Busseto (Parma) – Italy

Camp type: Prisoner of war camp from June 1941
Source: DPG27
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.

Officially, the P.G. No. 55 of Busseto in the province of Parma is intended for higher-ranking officers, with a capacity of 165 seats and starts operating in June 1941 (see DPG27). In reality, on March 1, 1942, only 5 non-commissioned officers and troops classified as “Albanian and annexed Italians”, belonging to the dissolved Yugoslav army (see DPG04), were present in the camp.

A document dated March 22, 1942, indicates the Busseto camp as the place to send the former Yugoslav prisoners of war (only non-commissioned officers and troops) still present in the default camp PG. N. 83 of Fiume (Rijeka) in anticipation of its closure (see PGFI01). In fact, in the schedule, on the number of prisoners on May Day, pgs. former Yugoslavs are now 189 (of which 5 Serbs, 3 Montenegrins, 164 Italian Albanians and annexes, 3 Croats, 14 Bulgarians or Hungarians or Slovenians) (see DPG08). But in the Busseto camp the presence of the prosecutors of the dissolved Yugoslav army does not last long. In fact, a few months later there are only Greek POWs in the camp.

However, as happens in the P.G. No. 27 of San Romano, the status of the Greek soldiers present in Busseto was also changed: from prisoners of war, they became civilian internees. Curiously, however, this does not happen for everyone, but only for senior military personnel. Non-commissioned officers and simple soldiers continue to be prisoners of war to all intents and purposes for the Italian army.

The situation of the prisoners of war of the camp P.G. N. 55 of Busseto on 31 March 1943 is therefore the following: total number of internees 206, of which 167 Greek officers considered civilian internees and 38 Greek non-commissioned officers or troops considered as prisoners of war (to these internees we must add a Serbian officer prisoner of war) (see DPG36).

Most likely – but still to be verified – a work detachment also depends on the Busseto camp.
On April 22, 1942, the establishment of a nucleus of 50 prisoners of war was authorized to be taken from the PG camp. No. 62 of Grumello del Piano, and to be started in the municipality of San Rocco al Porto (Piacenza) at the farm owned by Mr. Boselli Nob. Louis. The administrative management of this work detachment is entrusted to the P.G. No. 55 of Busseto (see PGGR03).

Finally, in March 1943, the Prisoners of War Office decided to transfer all the Greeks interned to the prisoner of war camp of Rezzanello (P.G. n. 17), in the province of Piacenza (see DPG48).

Unfortunately, the data in our possession currently stop at the date of March 31, 1943, and therefore we are not able to state with certainty that this transfer actually took place. The order of March 1943 also establishes that the commander of camp n. 55 remains in its place with the task of guarding and keeping the field efficient for possible reuse. All the other soldiers will instead be located in camp no. 62 (Grumello del Piano), or in Mortara, where a base camp is being prepared on which to make the numerous work detachments of the province of Pavia depend.
We currently have no further information on this prisoner of war camp.

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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.

 

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