|
[2003 Prisoner of War Camps survey by English Heritage -
Ordnance Survey Grid Reference / current condition of the camp : 1 Complete; 2
Near complete; 3 Partial remains; 4 Removed; 5 Unresolved - details only given
for camps in England]
| 51 |
Allington, Grantham, Lincolnshire -
standard type [SK 8604 3972 / 4; site now housing]
International Red Cross inspection - 18 February 1943 -
Italian prisoners, capacity 750. Initially held Italian PoWs. "In 1946 some
1,000 Germans and others were confined there. Between 25 and 30 British
soldiers were on duty as guards and drivers.... closed September 1947 and
became a transit camp for stateless people..." 'extracted from
'Grantham Today' |
|
52 |
Cholderton, Amesbury, Wiltshire
[not listed in 2003 report]
|
| 52 |
Nether Headon Camp, Ladywell Rise,
East Retford, Lincolnshire - standard type [SK 7506 7810 / 2; 2003 part
industrial estate]
*POW Postcard 11 November 1945 in Italian to Italy -
POW Postcards 16 May 1946 / 17 November
1946 / 31 December 1946 in German to
Germany |
| 53 |
Sandbeds Camp, Gateforth New Road, Brayton, Yorkshire
- standard type [SE 5735 2970 / 4; 2003 a mushroom farm] |
| 54 |
Longbridge Camp, Hampton Lovett, nr Droitwich, Worcestershire
- standard type [SO 888 652 / 4; 2003 residential caravans, hut footings as
hardstandings]
International Red Cross inspection - 9 March 1943 - Italian
prisoners, capacity 800. Later German working camp. |
| 55 |
| Shalstone Camp, Shalstone, Buckinghamshire
- standard type [SP 657 356 / 3] Built 1943 [?]. 50 - 100 POWs working mainly on local
farms. Further information from Ray Hudson shows
that this camp was open earlier than 1943 - "My grandfather was
posted to Shalstone camp as a guard in early 1942. He was in the
Pioneer Corp and remained at the camp until December 1943.....
The camp was situated on the A224 at Water Stratford crossroads
across from the Water Stratford Lodge.... I believe there are
still signs of the camp at the location. I believe the camp remained
open until 1949 when the last of the prisoners were repatriated."
Ray also supplied a 1955 Ordnance Survey map showing the camp >
|
.JPG) |
|
| 56 |
Botesdale, Botesdale, Suffolk -
standard type [TM 056 764 / 4; 2003 water tower remains]
* month? 1942 from Italian POW to Italy |
| 57 |
Merrow Downs Camp, Merrow, Guildford, Surrey
- Standard type working Camp - Grey [TQ 022 500 / 4]
International Red Cross inspection - 3 July 1943 - Italian
prisoners, capacity 1050.
Camp built in 1941-42 to
house Italians from the North Africa campaign - later it housed German POWs.
A series of huts with outlook towers on the corners of the camp.
Some
prisoners cleared ditches, carried out road maintenance, or helped at local
farms and market gardens. After the war, prisoners were given more freedom,
such as going into Guildford unescorted. The huts were also used for a while
after the war as temporary housing for local people. The camp was demolished
in the early 1950s.
|
October
1945 the main camp housed the Italian Labour Battalion with German POWs in
three local hostels. By June 1946, 61 Germans were housed with the Italians
in the main camp and the number of Germans housed in 6 local hostels had
risen to 2512. It was also noted that the arrival of 'black' prisoners
including 30 Waffen SS soldiers had led to difficulty with existing
White/Grey POWs.
By
the September all the Italians had gone but as late as March 1948 540
prisoners were still living in the main camp, with a further 242 in
hostels and 35 in billets. By this time several prisoners had received
diplomas in English and were studying a wide range of courses at
Guildford Technical College. A number of prisoners held in Britain never
went home to Germany, marrying English girls and settling in this
country.
Information from 'Village History' by the Merrow Residents' Association
*From Italian POW 7 August
1943 |
Plan of camp |
|
|
58 |
Firs Camp, (Nether Heage Camp), Belper, Derbyshire
[SK 36 50 / 5]
|
| 58 |
[The Hayes] Swanwick Hayes, Swanwick, Derbyshire -
[cf 5, 13, 179, 297] |
| 59 |
Sawtry Camp, Wood Walton Lane, Sawtry, Huntingdonshire
[TL 19 82 / 5]
International Red Cross inspection - 12 February 1943 -
Italian prisoners, capacity 880. *POW Postcard May 1944 in Italian to USA |
|
60 |
Overdale Camp, Skipton, Yorkshire
- standard type [S 998 525 / 3; 2003 Overdale caravan site]
Italian, then German POWs
|
| 60 |
Huddersfield Camp, Huddersfield, Yorkshire
[not listed 2003 report] |
| 60 |
Rockworks Camp, Kirkwall, Orkney
[not listed 2003 report]
Article from The Scotsman - Saturday, 5th July 2008
"PoW's
pilgrimage to chapel made of scrap
By JOHN ROSS
MORE than 60 years ago, Guido DeBonis was one of a
team of Italian prisoners of war who fashioned a small chapel out of two
drab Nissen huts in Orkney. Using scrap
material from a wartime construction project, they created a masterpiece
that people have marvelled at ever since. But until recently the 89-year-old
former soldier had no idea the labour of love had even survived the Second
World War,
far less
that it had become one of the islands' most iconic buildings.
Yesterday, he made an emotional pilgrimage to the uninhabited island of
Lambholm to see again the sanctuary that became known as the Miracle of Camp
60.
"I cried when I walked through the door," said Mr DeBonis, now a
great-grandfather. "I was brought here in 1942 and I cannot believe it is
still so beautiful after all these years."
Following the sinking of the battleship HMS Royal Oak by a German U-boat in
Orkney in October 1939, with the loss of 833 lives, the prime minister,
Winston Churchill, ordered the closure of the four eastern channels leading
into Scapa Flow. Work on Churchill's barriers, huge walls of rock and
concrete forming causeways that linked South Ronaldsay and Burray to the
Orkney mainland, began in 1940, but labour shortages forced the Balfour
Beatty company to look elsewhere for a workforce. In January 1942, 1,200
Italian PoWs captured in north Africa were brought to the islands to help
the construction effort. Some 500 were taken to Lambholm, where they set up
Camp 60, just 13 small huts amid the barren landscape.
|
Mr DeBonis was 21 when he was captured in Egypt on New Year's Day, 1940.
Shipped at first to Australia, he ended up at Camp 60. Despite the huge
effort in building the barriers, the Italians found time to make instruments
for a camp band, a concrete bowling alley and a snooker table complete with
concrete balls. They left a statue of St George made from barbed wire coated
in concrete. But their masterpiece was the chapel. One of the prisoners,
Domenico Chiocchetti, an artist, put together a squad of plasterers,
electricians and blacksmiths to design a place of worship that has since
become a symbol of Orkney's modern history. Using plaster to hide the huts'
corrugated iron, they painted the interior to look like brickwork and a
installed a façade with a belfry. The centrepiece was an altar with a huge
mural of the Madonna and Child, painted by Mr Chiocchetti.
After Italy's capitulation in June 1943, the Italians were no longer
prisoners and were employed on the same basis as British civilians. But
their lasting legacy is Orkney's most popular tourist attraction, drawing
more than 90,000 visitors a year.
Mr DeBonis, from San Polo dei Cavalieri, near
Rome, said: "I had no idea our church had survived for so long. When I found
out it was still here I had to come back to see it for myself. I am so proud
of what we did and so glad to see that it is still loved."
Mr DeBonis, who hopes to return to Orkney next year to celebrate his 90th
birthday, added: "It has also brought back so many memories. I remember
working in the snow and my hands cracking with the cold. But they gave us
good warm clothes and we were well looked after, and in a funny way I
remember them as happy times."
BACKGROUND
ABOUT 1,200 Italian prisoners of war formed part of the workforce to build
'Churchill's Barriers'. A change in the description from "barriers" to
"causeways" helped get around rules on prisoners working on war projects.
The barriers stretch for nearly two miles. In all, 40,000 cubic metres of
rock was encased in wire cages and dropped into the water, topped with
300,000 tonnes of concrete blocks. The structures came into use as roads
after the war ended and they still form part of the islands' transport
network. Having passed their 60th anniversary in 2005, calls have been made
to have the landmarks listed as a World Heritage Site."
|
Picture taken from a small book giving details of the 'Italian Chapel' at
Camp 60 -
'Orkney's Italian Chapel' by the P.O.W. Chapel
Preservation Committee, no date. |
|
| 61 |
| Wynolls Hill, Broadwell, Gloucestershire
- standard type [SO 588 106 / 4; 2003 site occupied by housing] International Red
Cross visit - 21 July 1942 - Italian prisoners, capacity 750; 8 July
1943 - Italian prisoners, capacity 950.
Italian prisoners built a
memorial to Marconi at the camp in late 1944. Unfortunately the memorial was
allowed to fall into disrepair and was later demolished. In use early 1944
> |
 |
|
| 62 |
The Moor Camp, Thankerton, Lanarkshire
[listed, Scotland]
International Red Cross inspection - 11 November 1942 -
Italian prisoners, capacity 525.
*10 March 1943 - 22 March 1946 from Italian POWs / 26 March
1947 - 9 November 1947 in German |
| 63 |
Balhary East Camp, Alyth, Perthshire
- [cf3]
International Red Cross inspection - 12 November 1942 -
Italian prisoners, capacity 800.
*25 April 1943 - 24 January 1944 to Italy / 20 June
1947 in German |
| 64 |
Castle Rankine Camp, Denny, Stirlingshire
[listed, Scotland]
International Red Cross inspection - 10 November 1942 -
Italian prisoners, capacity 750.
Mentioned in 'Thresholds of Peace'.
*POW Lettersheet from German POW to Germany 18 May 1947 |
|
65 |
Setley Plain, Brockenhurst, Hampshire
- standard type [SU 301 998 / 4]
|
| 65 |
Bank Hall, Bretherton, Preston, Lancashire
[SD 463 202 / 4]
Huts to southeast of hall. |
| 66 |
Calvine Camp, Blair Atholl, Perthshire
[listed, Scotland]
International Red Cross inspection - 13 November 1942 -
Italian prisoners, capacity 600. Report of the
International Red Cross Inspection 24
November 1945, with 436 Austrian POWs. Calvine became a camp for displaced persons until the 1950's.
*7 May 1943 - 20 March 1944 to Italy
|
| 67 |
Sandyhillock Camp, Craigellachie, Banffshire
[listed, Scotland]
*POW Lettersheets 3 September 1944 and 5 December 1945 in
Italian to Italy |
| 67 |
Rothes Camp, Rothes, Scotland
[not listed 2003 report]
*POW Postcard September 1945 in German to Germany |
| 68 |
Halmuir Farm Camp, Lockerbie, Dumfrieshire
[listed, Scotland]
*POW Lettersheets 24 November 1942 and 27 February 1944 in
Italian to Italy |
| 69 |
|
Darras Hall, Middle Drive, Ponteland, Northumbria
- standard type [NZ 1465 7088 / 4] International Red Cross
visit - 9 May 1944 - Italian prisoners, capacity 760.
Details from the history
of Camp 69, available from Ponteland Local History Society.
At least four watchtowers were constructed, but were removed in 1945. Inside
the prisoner enclosure were 19 huts, each for 24 men (though often more were
accommodated) ; 2 dining huts, each to seat 200 men; 2 ablution huts, a
recreation hut, 2 latrines, a cookhouse, a shoemaker’s hut, a hut for
groceries and a reception station. These buildings 70 feet long by about 18
feet wide were of prefabricated precast concrete modular construction
supported on concrete bases. Buildings to the north of the enclosure and
fronting onto Middle Drive provided admin and living accommodation for the
Commandant, Officers and Guards. Some of these were prefabricated, others
were built entirely of brick. A 15,000 gallons elevated water storage tank,
35 feet high and supplied from the main distribution system in Middle Drive,
was built to the east of the prisoner compound.
The first Italian POWs arrived early 1943. They had a
yellow patch on the back of their uniform jacket and a further similar patch
on the back of one trouser leg. They were transported daily from Ponteland
to work on local farms and market gardens. After the Italian surrender in
September 1943 supervision became more relaxed. The majority of Italian
POW’s left Camp 69 towards the end of 1944 to be either repatriated,
transferred to smaller local satellite hostels, or billeted on local farms.
A small number stayed on as cooks, gardeners or general labourers, and were
accommodated outside the main compound in the admin area.
The first German prisoners arrived by bus from Newcastle
Central Station on 10th March 1945. Dr. Mamie of the International Red Cross
(IRC) from Geneva inspected the camp on 25th May 1945 and
reported a total of 830 POW’s with an occupancy rate of 40 men per hut. |
Article from the Evening Chronicle |
The
British Commandant was Lieutenant Colonel R. F. Pitz and the German Camp
Leader was Stabsoffizier Heinz Effinghausen, who was responsible for
internal discipline. Sundays were free and working parties returned to camp
at 3p.m. on Saturday afternoons. Protestant and Catholic Padres each held
weekly religious services in the camp chapel. There was a small library,
which also provided some German and English newspapers; educational classes
in modern languages were held and a stage was erected in the recreation room
for theatrical and musical performances. Films were shown by the Y.M.C.A and
BBC programmes were available via camp radios. The prisoners had a football
pitch and athletic area and competitive matches were held with other
hostels. The camp newspaper "Welle 69" (Wave 69) was first published on 1st
February 1946.
By April 1946 there were 1,320 men, which included 200
new arrivals from the United States. There were 716 at Darras Hall, 126
billeted and the remaining 478 were accommodated in hostels.
By April 1947 the main camp had reduced to 500, and a
further 700 were accommodated in billets or hostels. By October of that year
the total strength was below 1000 and only two hostels. Towards the end of
1948 the last of the German prisoners of war at Darras Hall were replaced by
Displaced Persons (European Volunteer Workers) who had been recruited in
Europe to help with the continuing labour shortage in Britain.
Towards the end of 1949 the last of the workers had
either returned home or been transferred elsewhere. In 1950 most of the
prisoners’ accommodation was demolished and in February 1951 the site was
used as a Training Centre for Civil Defence. The site was cleared by July
1961. *POW Postcard 5 January 1943
in Italian to
Italy |
| 70 |
Henllan Bridge Camp, Henllan, Cardiganshire
- standard type [listed, Wales]
International Red Cross inspection - 12 July 1943 - Italian
prisoners, capacity 1500. Italian POWs from 1943,
then as German resettlement camp.
*POW Postcard 28 December 1946 in German to
Berlin. Lettersheet 1947 to Germany |
|
71 |
Sheriff Hales Camp (Sheriffhales), Shifnal, Shropshire
- standard type [SJ 757 115 / 4]
*POW lettersheet
1944 to Italy
|
| 71 |
Lower Hare Park, London Road,
Newmarket, Cambridgeshire [TL 592 595 / 4] |
| 72 |
Duck's Cross Camp, Dacca Farm, Colesdon Road, Wilden, Bedfordshire - standard type
[TL 109 561 / 3]
International Red Cross inspection - 8 February 1943 -
Italian prisoners, capacity 750. |
| 73 |
Storwood Camp, Cottingwith, Yorkshire
- standard type [SE 720 443 / 2]
*POW
lettersheet from Italian to Sicily 10 March 1944
*POW Postcard July 1947 to Germany |
| 74 |
Racecourse Camp, Road Street, Tarporley, Cheshire
- standard type [SJ 5407 6372 / 4]
International Red Cross visit - 25 November 1943 - Italian
prisoners, capacity 800.
*POW Postcard 1945 to Italy |
| 75 |
Northhill Camp, Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire
[listed, Scotland]
International Red Cross inspection - 14 November 1942 -
Italian prisoners, capacity 750.
*POW Lettersheet 10 August 1943 and 19 November 1944 in Italian to Italy -
POW Lettersheet 1 February 1947
in German to Germany |
| 76 |
Merry Thought Camp, Aikbank Common, Calthwaite, Cumberland
- standard type [NY 4861 4048 / 2]
*POW
lettersheet 22 November 1945 in Italian to Italy. |
| 76 |
Dymond's Farm, Clyst Honiton,
Exeter, Devon - [SX 986 927 / 4] (cf
276) |
| 77 |
Aunsmuir Camp, (Annsmuir) Ladybank, Fife
[listed, Scotland]
International Red Cross inspection - 26 May 1943 - Italian
prisoners, capacity 750.
*2
August 1943 - 16 May 1945 to Italy / POW lettersheet 31 August 1946 in
German to New York / POW lettersheet 23 February 1947 written in
German to Germany |
| 78 |
High Garrett Camp, Halstead Road, Braintree, Essex -
Base camp [TL 781 274 / 4; 2003 site has radio mast]
International Red Cross inspection - 12 February 1943 -
Italian prisoners, capacity 750. Italian then German POWs. Mentioned in
'Prisoners of England' |
| 79 |
Moorby Camp, Revesby, Lincolnshire
- standard type [TF 2981 6378 / 1]
*POW Postcard 21 July 1946 in German to Germany |
| 80 |
Horbling Camp, Sleaford, Lincolnshire -
standard type [TF 1210 3499 / 4; 2003 site occupied by housing] |
| 81 |
Pingley Farm Camp, Bigby High Road, Brigg, Lincolnshire
- standard type [TA 0178 0700 / 2; 2003 agricultural use] Italian then German POWs.
Originally designed to house 750 prisoners. The camp consisted of 35
prisoners' huts (25 accommodation / ablutions, cookhouse, workshops) and 15
guards' huts, recreation ground and garden plots. There were no guard
towers; the prisoners being regarded as 'low risk'. 1,862 POWs held in 1946
with overflow accommodated in tents and local housing/farms. Became an
agricultural hostel in 1949.
*POW Postcard 2 May 1948 in
German POW to Berlin |
|
82 |
Aldborough, Aldborough, Norfolk
[not listed 2003 report]
|
| 82 |
Hempton Green Camp, Fakenham, Norfolk
- standard type [TF 910 282 / 2; 2003 caravan site]
Italian then German POWs. |
| 83 |
Eden Camp, (Ryton), Malton, Yorkshire -
standard working camp - [SE 797 735 / 1; museum] (cf
250)
Built 1942 it first housed 250 Italian POWs from the North Africa campaign.
The camp expanded to 250 huts. German POWs were held from 1944 to 1948.
The site is now a museum -
http://www.edencamp.co.uk/ |
| 84 |
Sheet Camp, Sheet, Ludlow, Shropshire
- standard type [SO 5316 7408 / 4; 2003 only water tower remains]
*1946 to Germany |
| 85 |
Victoria Camp, Brandon Road, Mildenhall, Suffolk
- standard type [TL 7308 7665 / 4]
*POW Postcard 28 October 1944 in Italian to Italy |
|
86a |
Woodchurch Camp, Hengherst House, Woodchurch, Ashford, Kent - [TQ
95 34 / 5] (cf 282)
|
| 86 |
Stanhope Camp, Stanhope, Kent -
standard type [TR 000 408 / 4; 2003 site occupied by housing]
*POW Lettersheet 30 March 1947 in German to Germany |
| 87 |
Byfield Camp, Byfield, Northamptonshire
- standard type [SP 5020 5340 / 3]
International Red Cross visit - 4 January 1944 -
Italian prisoners, capacity 520.
*POW Lettersheet 24 September 1945 from Italian to
Sicily - POW Lettersheet 1946 to Netherlands |
| 88 |
Mortimer Camp, Stratfield Mortimer, Berkshire
- standard type [SU 678 635 / 4]
Picture from : 'Progionieri italiani in Gran Bretagna
(1940 - 1947)' by Luciano Previato
A postcard to Obersch. Emil Sommer. B 193850 at POW Camp No 88, Mortimer
Camp was sent from Itzehoe, in Northern Germany and dated 19 Dec 1948.
This is a very late posting. (Thanks to Pete Feeney).Mentioned in 'From Schoneiche
to Alton, a Prisoner of War who stayed' and in 'Prisoners of England'. |
 |
|
| 89 |
Easton Grey Camp, Malmesbury, Wiltshire
- standard type [ST 8915 8750 / 2; 2003 light industry and agriculture] |
| 90 |
Friday Bridge Camp, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire
- standard type [TF 4548 0417 / 3; 2003 agriculture and youth hostel] Ex guard remembers about 2000 German POWs in 1945.
Information published by 'the historian' on
http://www.online-archaeology.co.uk/ -
"Friday Bridge Camp #90 was a standard type
German working camp, i.e. it consisted of a tented camp, guards’ compound,
prisoners’ compound, prisoners’ garden plots, recreation ground and a sewage
disposal works. An outer plain wire fence supported by concrete posts and an
inner barbed wire fence enclosed the prisoner compound and the recreation
ground. Within the prisoners’ compound a ‘sterile’ area was established
between the inner fence and a further coiled ‘Danart’ barbed wire
entanglement.
After all prisoners were repatriated in 1948, the camp was used as an
agricultural and international worker's hostel." |
| 91 |
Post Hill Camp, Farnley, Yorkshire
[SE 24 33 / 5] |
| 92 |
Brampton Road Camp, Brampton Road, Tiverton, Devon
- standard type [SS 952 134 / 4; 2003 site occupied by school]
Mentioned in 'Thresholds of
Peace'. |
| 93a |
Oaklands Hospital, Cockton
Hill, Bishop Aukland, Co.Durham [NZ 2081 2899 / 1; 2003 12 large gable
roofed huts in use as part of hospital]
International Red Cross inspection - 24 June 1944, German,
Russian and Czech prisoners.
A subsidiary POW Camp to Camp 93, at Harperley. Up to about
300 POWs. Some prisoners were men with
medical training and worked on the wards. Hospital run by 1/17 Group
Emergency Medical Service, it cared for wounded and sick POWs as well as
civilians and military personnel. Mentioned in 'Prisoners of England'
Whittingham's Hospital nearby was also used for German pow's
and was inspected by the International Red Cross on 5 August 1944. |
| 93 |
Harperley Camp, near Crook,
County Durham [NZ 1269 3553 / 1; 2003 scheduled]
First used as a prisoner of war camp during the first WW1. Designed to house
low security-risk POWs. At first prisoners were housed in tents but
prefabricated buildings were soon erected by the first Italian prisoners,
(1943). By
September 1944, most of the Italians had dispersed to hostels and farms to
make way for around 900 German prisoners identified as ‘low risk’, who
provided the area with a valuable workforce. Camp magazine 'Der Quell' (The
Source). Scheduled site, many buildings still exist. |
| 94 |
Gaulby Road, Billesdon, Leicestershire
- standard type [SK 717 021 / 4] |
| 95 |
Batford Camp, Harpenden, Hertfordshire
- standard type [TL 148 153 / 4] Memories of ex German POW released 1947 |
| 96 |
Wolseley Road Camp, Rugeley, Staffordshire
- standard type [SK 030 197 / 3; 2003 sewage farm] |
| 97 |
Birdingbury, Bourton on Dunsmore, Warwickshire
- standard type [SP 430 698 / 4]
International Red Cross visit - 14 March 1944 - German
prisoners - capacity 560. |
| 98 |
Little Addington Camp, Hill Farm Estate, Irthlingborough
Road, Little Addington, Northamptonshire - standard type [SP 960 731 / 3]
International Red Cross visit - 6 January 1944 -
Italian prisoners, capacity 560. |
| 99 |
Military Hospital Shugborough Park,
Shugborough, Staffordshire [SJ 991 226 / 4; 2003 returned to parkland]
International Red Cross visit - 20/21 July 1942 - capacity 270; 9 July 1943,
capacity 500 beds; 10/11 October 1943, capacity 500 beds; 1/2 May 1944.
Mentioned in 'Thresholds of
Peace'. |
| 100 |
St Martins Camp, St Martins, nr Oswestry, Shropshire
- standard type [SJ 311 363 / 1; 2003 light industry] Italian then German POWs
*POW Postcard 1946 in Italian to Ferrara, Italy |
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