PG 68 Vetralla

Vetralla is a town and comune in the province of Viterbo, in the Lazio region of central Italy.  It is located about 50 miles (80km) north of Rome.

PM 3300

The camp was operational from 1st July 1942 to 10th January 1943.

More information can be discovered here:

https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=359

Google translation for Campi Fascisti main page:

Vetralla – Prisoner of war camp no. 68
Vetralla (Viterbo) – Italy
Camp type: Camp for prisoners of war from July 1, 1942 to January 10, 1943
Source: PGVE02 DPG21
History: The prisoner of war camp P.G. N. 68 of Vetralla, in the province of Viterbo, starts operating on 1 July 1942 (see PGVE02) and is closed just over six months later, exactly on 10 January 1943 (see DPG21).

The project to build a camp for prisoners of war in Vetralla dates back to 1940. From a document dated April 1942 (PGVE01) it seems to understand that the construction works are interrupted due to some frictions with the municipal administration regarding damages to the municipal aqueduct.

In the intentions of the Royal Army, the Vetralla camp must intern at least 4,000 soldiers (see PGVA03). The first 200 prisoners of war (English used for the construction of the camp) are present in Vetralla on August 1, 1942 (see DPG16). In October, the camp commander, Colonel Alfredo Mercurelli, communicates the escape of a prisoner assigned to build the camp (see PGVE04).

Work seems to continue until November, when just under two thousand British prisoners of war arrive in the camp (see DPG25). Then, suddenly, an order from the Prisoners of War Office of the General Staff of the Royal Army decreed the closure of the camp because – the document says – it was destined for another use (see PGVE03). The document, dated December 20, 1942, describes in detail what to do with the prisoners and all the material present in the camp (including the Red Cross parcels sent to the internees). These are the main provisions:
850 pgs. (including all white South Africans) transferred to camp P.G. No. 52 of Pian di Coreglia
500 pgs. at the PG camp No. 73 of Carpi
500 pgs (including New Zealanders, Australians and Chinese pg) at the P.G. No. 57 of Grupignano
500 pgs. at the PG field No. 70 of Monte Urano
500 pgs (including all Cypriots) to camp P.G. No. 65 of Gravina in Puglia
200 pgs (constituting the nucleus of workers already employed for the construction of the field) to the construction camp P.G. No. 10 of Acquapendente

At the state of our research, however, it is not yet known what other use the PG camp was intended for. No. 68 of Vetralla.

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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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.