About

My main aim in starting this Website was to create a space where I could lay out all the pieces of the jigsaw that I had been gathering for a number of years in relation to where my father had participated in World War II.

During his lifetime he had been reluctant, perhaps understandably, to talk about his wartime experiences and it was only the lighter moments that he chose to reflect on, and this largely centred around the wonderful Italian communities (I now know to be referred to as the ‘Contadini’) who provided him with food, shelter and, despite being far from home, a safe refuge from war and imprisonment.

And so it was that, whilst I knew a little about the fact that he had participated in the Desert War – which he described as “Walking backwards and forwards across the Western Desert fighting Rommel.” The only real clue that I had to go on, thanks to my Mum, was that Dad had been a POW in Fontanellato in Italy.

Little did I realise on commencing this journey, what an extraordinary “Prison” PG 49 at Fontanellato had been, and the gathering of information that had emerged from an extraordinary community of people, ably led by Keith Killby and consequently the Monte San Martino Trust, to provide me with the building blocks I needed to piece my Dad’s life (before I was born) together.

So, this website has started to take the form of a melting pot, dedicated to the memory of Allied Servicemen who were Prisoners of War at “Prigione di Guerra” (PG) 49, Fontanellato, but also, as importantly, in dedication to the bravery and fortitude of all the Italian families and communities (The Contadini) who risked their own lives to protect these prisoners after they had been released into the Italian countryside around Emilia-Romagna and beyond.

A similar story emerges from another Camp, PG 59 at Servigliano, at which the local council installed a plaque in 1993 explaining that:-

“After the Armistice of September 8, 1943, 3,000 Allied prisoners escaped through the opening they had dug on the west side of this camp. They will forever be grateful for the immediate and courageous generosity shown by the Italian people.”

The author of that story, Dennis Hill of Camp 59 Survivors, goes on to add:-

“Indeed, it is our hope that these kindnesses will be remembered by the servicemen’s families for generations to come.”

Emilia-Romagna

Contact

Please feel free to Get in touch! if you have a story to tell. Especially if you have any connection to any of the information that’s going to pop up here!

We are glad to share our stories and knowledge with all who are interested. However, participation in this site is restricted to authorized contributors.

If you were a POW at PG 49 or are, more likely, a family member of a former camp prisoner, or if you have some other knowledge of the camps WWII history, please contact us.

Also, please know that we would like to hear from Italians who lived in or around Fontanellato during the war or who were involved in assisting Allied servicemen who escaped from Camp 49.

Let’s talk 👋 Don’t hesitate to reach out by sending a message using the form above.