WO392/21 CD -Imperial Prisoners of war held in Italy during 1943

Discussion in 'Prisoners of War' started by GeoffMNZ, Jul 16, 2019.

  1. GeoffMNZ

    GeoffMNZ Well-Known Member

    Has anyone any experience with this CD that is for sale from xxx?
    Most online databases are based on knowing a name, but I am interested in finding out who was in each camp and this appears to be a possible source if it is searchable by camp.

    Thanks
    Geoff
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 16, 2019
  2. alieneyes

    alieneyes Senior Member

  3. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Agree with Alieneyes

    Reference: WO 392/21
    Description:
    Section 1: British Army. Section 2: Australian Army. Section 3: Canadian Army. Section 4: New Zealand Army. Section 5: South African Army. Section 6: Indian Army. Section 7: Naval Forces and Merchant Seamen. Section 8: Air Forces.
    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

    Better to ask
    http://ww2talk.com/index.php?members/psywar-org.2876/
    or
    http://ww2talk.com/index.php?members/drew5233.6786/

    to make you a copy on their next visit to Kew - you never know they may already have one

    TD

    Bugger - just thought - does FMP have it in their database of records ??
     
    ozzy16, alieneyes and Recce_Mitch like this.
  4. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    How much are they charging for the complete list?
     
  5. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    get rid of the name on the title please
    we dont mention that website
     
    ozzy16, Drew5233, Buteman and 2 others like this.
  6. Recce_Mitch

    Recce_Mitch Very Senior Member

    More than likely its just a collection of photos of WO 392/21.
     
    alieneyes and CL1 like this.
  7. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    I've edited out any mention of that place.
     
  8. vitellino

    vitellino Senior Member

    Geoff,

    It isn't camp by camp but national section, then alphabetical order - first officers then ranks.I have the entire file. I have just emailed you the New Zealand Section. Sample page attached for others interested.

    Vitellino

    PICT0083.JPG
     
  9. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Just had it confirmed as well that it is a file accessible on the web site Find My Past (FMP) - in case you are a subscriber

    TD
     
  10. GeoffMNZ

    GeoffMNZ Well-Known Member

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
    "You can now purchase this collection on CD for £93.45. XXX have painstakingly transcribed this data and have now compiled it onto CD with a fully-fledged GUI (Graphical User Interface) to allow you to search this collection using any search terms you wish directly from your computer.* Requires a PC running Microsoft Windows and a CD Rom reader."
    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
    I transcribed one column of one page (about 110 names) of W) 392/21 using my PC based OCR programme into a Excel spreadsheet, which took just over an hour. If there are 75-80,000 names that is about 20 weeks full time!, so I thought this may be an option.
    I have tried FMP "Prisoners Of War 1715-1945" search using a number of combinations of terms and cannot find POW in Italy in WW2. There are about 60,000 results for WW2 POW but they all appear to be the Far East.

    Thanks for the feedback
    Geoff
     
    Drew5233 likes this.
  11. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Geoff

    Re FMP

    Have found a way to isolate WO 392/21 from all the other WO records and can confirm that it is on FMP, it produces 74,083 records

    Vitellino has emailed you the whole file - have you rec'd it??

    TD
     
    vitellino and dbf like this.
  12. GeoffMNZ

    GeoffMNZ Well-Known Member

    TD,
    Yes I have received the NZ section of WO392/21 images from Vitellino, which is great to have as I have been down loading each one as required from Italian POW’s | Powvets, so good to have the NZ collection.
    Can you let me know how to find it on FMP?

    Thanks
    Geoff
     
  13. GeoffMNZ

    GeoffMNZ Well-Known Member

    Draft of my extract
    Cheers
    Geoff
     

    Attached Files:

  14. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    If it's less than 934 pages I can do it for less :lol:
     
    Recce_Mitch likes this.
  15. GeoffMNZ

    GeoffMNZ Well-Known Member

    Hi,
    Just finished looking on FMP at their WO 392/21 files and as Tricky Dicky says there are 74,083 records by searching for WO 392/21, but very few have their camp numbers, could not find any Army Service Numbers. Adding "Italy" to the country search criteria reduced the file count to 62,844!
    Never mind
    Geoff
     
  16. vitellino

    vitellino Senior Member

    The only places to get access to the ORIGINAL record FOR ANYBODY are:

    National Archives - British, American or others
    Service Records
    IRC in Switzerland for POWs
    Australian online POW cards

    Perhaps someone can add to this list.

    Everything else is a waste of time and money in my experience.

    Vitellino
     
    Tricky Dicky likes this.
  17. Mr Jinks

    Mr Jinks Bit of a Cad

    The original file as Vitellino rightly said is at the National Archives (Service records are held by the MoD )
    but
    There is a FULL copy as TD has said on FMP which once accessed you can flick page by page its alphabetical and also contains dominion and commonwealth soldiers..word of warning though its not always accurate,WO392/21 has always been understood to contain errors, this was fully highlighted by the late Brian Sims on many occasions ( I still enjoy reading his posts he was a great help here :( )
    Screen shot of inside book cover;-
    screenshot wo21.jpg
    screenshot wo21 2 .jpg
    267 pages which can be accessed at the bottom of the page.

    Kyle
     
    Drew5233 and Tricky Dicky like this.

Share This Page