1929 Geneva Convention/ Evacuation Italian POW Camps

Discussion in 'Prisoners of War' started by vitellino, Nov 6, 2016.

  1. vitellino

    vitellino Senior Member

    Hello everybody who is interested in the movement of prisoners between camps in Italy and also from Italy to Germany.

    My recent research into POWs form PG 82 Laterina being sent to Germany on 22 July 1943 (list on www.campifascist.it website) led me to check them out in WO 392/21. Of the 263 who were sent to Lamsdorf and Teschen only 42 are listed as being in PG 82 Laterina. Of the others, two were still listed as being in Sicily in Camp PG 98 and sixteen as being in Puglia (one in PG 65 Gravina, and the others in PG 75 Torre Tresca Bari).

    On 22nd July 1943 heavy fighting was going on in Sicily. Had the two men listed as being in PG 98 still been there the 1929 Geneva convention would have been broken:

    1929 Geneva Convention. Evacuation of prisoners of war

    Articles 7 and 8 state that prisoners should be evacuated from the combat zone within the shortest possible period, and that Belligerents are bound mutually to notify each other of their capture of prisoners within the shortest period possible.


    This raises the question as to WHEN the Sicilian camp and the camps in Puglia (51,65,75,85 and 204H) were actually evacuated. By 9 September Brindisi (the nearest city to PG 85) was already in Allied hands due to one of the terms of the Armistice agreement, and I cannot think that men were still in PG 85 in August 1943.

    The following document description to be found in the National Archives on-line catalogue is unhelpful at the best and likely to lead to misinterpretation at the worst. Although it states clearly that the listed camp is the last one the prisoner was known to have been in it also gives the document date as August 1943:


    WO 392/21


    This document is a compilation of lists of members of the Allied Forces who were reported by Italian or Red Cross sources as being prisoners in Italian hands, minus those known officially to have died in Italian hands. The document includes men listed who died as a POW at sea in 1942, and also some listed as being in Libyan camps or buried in Greece. Camp locations are given where men were last known to be, in most cases


    Date:
    1943 Aug

    I now intend to collect evidence from Liberation Reports as to when men left the Sicilian camp and those in Puglia. I have two testimonies which name May as the month in which they were evacuated from PG 85. If anyone already has any information please post it in this thread,

    Thanks,

    Vitellino
     

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