Camp 52, Chiavari

Discussion in 'Prisoners of War' started by Warwick13, Jul 12, 2011.

  1. mitsilad

    mitsilad Junior Member

    Well after a few years of considering it I am now going back to Italy and have a better look around. Last time was Florence, Rome, Venice and out. At that stage I did not know where PG52 was but thanks to everyone's help I know where it is and will visit it. I will also visit PG57 and I have tonight found that he was briefly in PG75. I know where 57 is but does anyone know precisely where PG75 is? I will also post on PG75 if there is one.
     
  2. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

  3. Varasc

    Varasc Senior Member

    I am afraid I don't know the exact location of the former POW camp, although I spent my childhood in Chiavari.
    It's such a lovely, elegant small town. I am sure you may find further information there. For instance the concierge of my hotel put me in contact with wreck hunters and underwater archaeologists just with a call. :)
     
  4. Colin R

    Colin R Junior Member

    PG75 was near or in Bari, southern Italy on the Adriatic coast. POW's captured in Nth Africa (including my father a New Zealander) were shipped there, then sent on to other camps around Italy.
     
  5. Varasc

    Varasc Senior Member

    I agree. Here several useful historical data, from the very good Campifascisti.it website:

    http://www.campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=362
     
  6. Frank_Vaccarezza

    Frank_Vaccarezza New Member

    Hi! I am searching for the families of several British Commonwealth soldiers who hid from the German army on my family’s property in Northern Italy during WW2. I am fairly certain these men had escaped from Campo PG52. I’m hoping their families have their stories and would be willing to share them with me. My Grandparents had a somewhat remote parcel of land with an old stone structure where these British soldiers hid. My Grandparents brought them food and managed to keep them hidden from the German soldiers who were stationed very close to my Grandparents home. The British Government recognized what my Grandparents had done by sending them a letter of recognition after the war. I would really love to hear their stories, their experiences from this time during the war. Thanks, Frank V
     
  7. andy007

    andy007 Senior Member

    Hi Frank,
    Thanks for sharing your story. Just out of interest do you happen to know the names of the soldiers who hid on your grandparent's land?
     
  8. tedfromscrubs

    tedfromscrubs Junior Member

    Hi Frank

    For general information about many Allied personnel aided by the Italians you should have a look at this site https://camp59survivors.wordpress.com/ It refers to PG59 Servigliano but there may have been some from there transferred to PG52 and it will certainly give you a flavour of the many stories that arise from that unique series of events. Dennis Hill who runs this site is always interested in further stories, and particularly from the Italian side.
     
  9. Frank_Vaccarezza

    Frank_Vaccarezza New Member

    Thank you Andy and Ted and others who have provided me information about the German PG camps in Northern Italy. Unfortunately my Grandparents had both passed away by the time I started to be interested in writing about our families history. I don't know any of the escaped soldiers names, but do know that one or more of them wrote to my Grandparents after the war and am hoping my cousin in Italy is able to locate these letters. I've posted a little more detail here for anyone interested: http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.Military.wwii.general/4509/mb.ashx Thank you all. Regards, Frank Vaccarezza
     
  10. tedfromscrubs

    tedfromscrubs Junior Member

    It's a long shot but if you type "Chiavari" into the search engine of the National Archives at Kew, 12 entries come up. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r/?_q=chiavari

    Might be worth a look if you haven't tried already and if anything looks interesting there are people on here who can go and copy the documents for a reasonable charge

    Apologies if you have already tried this route
     
  11. GeoffMNZ

    GeoffMNZ Well-Known Member

    Hi,
    I have found out from the letters my father wrote to his mother that he was in Hut 32 at Campo52. Does anyone have a plan of the camp layout?
    Thanks
    Geoff
     
  12. Meloz

    Meloz Member

    I am just in the process of editing my Dad's memoirs now. He was in Campo 52 (before being moved to Stalag VIIIA), and I also have a copy of that sketch by the Kiwi Arthur Douglas. I found a copy of it online here: Cartoon sketch WW2; Arthur Douglas; 1942; 2004_72 - The Kauri Museum Matakohe on NZMuseums

    Following an earlier comment, I found the exact location at Calvari, here: https://goo.gl/maps/pWbMvZxXhv52

    Some of my father's description about his arrival and settling in at the camp:

    "At last we were ushered into 3rd class coaches again for a shorter journey to Chiavari, a seaside resort on the west coast south of Genoa. Having arrived there we had a 16km march inland to Camp 52, which was situated in a valley in mountainous terrain; scenically it was rather beautiful. We even had to cross a small bridge over the little river to enter the camp.

    Here we were issued with battledress uniforms, greatcoats and boots by the Red Cross and our morale improved considerably. This camp, although lacking in space for outdoor sporting activities, was regarded as one of the best camps in Italy. Privates were eventually all dispatched to working camps and we remaining NCO’s soon organized inter-hut bridge, chess and spelling bee and general knowledge quizzes. A few lectures were given as well as Church services by lay preachers. All in all life was quite endurable here, though rather cold in winter with no bungalow heating. We were being issued with half a Red Cross parcel per week and a whole Xmas parcel and a whole Canadian parcel for New Year. My 21st birthday was celebrated in this camp by the cooking of a cake consisting of boiling together well-broken Canadian biscuit, a little butter, Klim, raisins, sugar and water! (The ingredients were all from a Canadian half parcel.)"
     
  13. GeoffMNZ

    GeoffMNZ Well-Known Member

    Meloz,
    I am also writing my fathers memoir. He was at Campo 52 from February to June 1942.

    My own research agrees with your location and I will be visiting the site in June 2017.

    Regards
    Geoff
     
  14. Meloz

    Meloz Member

    Hi Geoff

    I think my dad was there from November 1942 to Sept 1943. I don't have a plan of the layout, unfortunately.

    I have now updated Wikipedia with the location too. List of World War II prisoner-of-war camps in Italy - Wikipedia

    Cheers,
    Mel.

    p.s. I'm guessing that the exact location of the camp may have been in one the fields you can see on the western side of the bridge.
     
  15. Meloz

    Meloz Member

  16. GeoffMNZ

    GeoffMNZ Well-Known Member

    Mel,
    I agree. My dad also had an old newspaper with the cartoon in it. There are also a couple of photos (very low resolution) on the Italian local council site at:
    Comune di Coreglia Ligure.

    The local council has erected a memorial sign just by the bridge and this can be seen on the website and from Google street view.

    I did send the site contact an email to see if they could supply higher res copies of the photos but did not receive a reply. My hope was to use the cartoon in conjunction with the photos and Google street view to determine the layout. Another thing on my "to do" list!

    Regards
    Geoff
     
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  17. vitellino

    vitellino Senior Member

    Some friends of mine have a house overlooking the site but live in the USA and won't be back until April. If you're not in a hurry I could ask them to go into the Comune for you to request better copies of the photos.

    Regards

    Vitellino
     
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  18. GeoffMNZ

    GeoffMNZ Well-Known Member

    Vitellino,
    Thanks, that would very helpful.

    Cheers
    Geoff
     
  19. vitellino

    vitellino Senior Member

    I'll pass the request on
     
  20. vitellino

    vitellino Senior Member

    Geoff,

    My friends have said that' they'll get some good copies of the camp photos in April when they will be back in Coreglia Ligure. Incidentally, they inherited the house from the husband's maternal grandfather, who was the Italian camp commander at PG no. 1 Marina at Manziana on Lake Bracciano from the spring of 1943 running up to the Armistice.

    All the best,

    Vitellino
     

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