At some point during the creation of these pages I managed to put together a Table showing the number of men present in PG 49 at Fontanellato, which included a breakdown of the forces they were from, as of 14th May 1943 when a Swiss Legation inspected the Camp. And now I’ve remembered where I got these figures from!! I had initially forgotten where I had found those details and thank goodness it all came back to me.
Thanks to this BLOG promoting the work of volunteers at The National Archives.
Yes, how many times do I remind myself to keep a note of the source!? Anyway…. in that list it indicated that there were 28 Air Force personnel made up of 27 Officers and 1 Man. So, let’s see if this ties in with Section 8 of WO 392/21.
So far, as at 5th March 2026, I see 19 Officers (all R.A.F.) and 1 Airman = 20. Might it be possible that 8 Officers could be from other nations and were relocated to other camps after May 14th, 1943?
Since then I have also stumbled upon a P/O Dawson RAF (thus making 21 as at 20th April 2026) in the story submitted by Anthony (Tony) Steven published on the MSMT Archives who is shown below as being in PG 17 Rezzanello but also being with Dawson in Room 46 at Fontanellato, along with:-
| Number | Name | Initials | Rank | Pers. No. | Country |
| 1 | Beauclair | D.A. | F/Lt. | 40493 | R.A.F. |
| 2 | Beckett | S. | F/O. | 106061 | R.A.F. |
| 3 | Black | F.A. | F/O. | 46219 | R.A.F. |
| 4 | Bragg1 (PG 75) | P.H. (Peter Hugh) | Wing Commander | 371515 | R.A.F. |
| 5 | Bratchell | D.F. (Dennis Frank) | F/O. | 111534 | R.A.F. |
| 6 | Bridger | J.W.F. | F/Lt. | 42740 | R.A.F. |
| 7 | Dawson (PG 17) | E.C.F. | F/O | 102297 | R.A.F. |
| 8 | Dickinson | H.R. | P/O. | 120070 | R.A.F. |
| 9 | Gee | G.M. | F/Lt. | 89327 | R.A.F. |
| 10 | Goode (PG -) | G.E. | S/Ldr. | 81675 | R.A.F. |
| 11 | Hall | J.D. | F/O. | 41176 | R.A.F. |
| 12 | Halliwell2 | G.F. | Sgt. | 1050080 | R.A.F. |
| 13 | Hill | R.C. | F/O. | 63804 | R.A.F. |
| 14 | Iles | D.S. | F/O. | 66560 | R.A.F. |
| 15 | Monteith (PG 41) | W.N. | F/O. | R.A.F. | |
| 16 | Packington | R.E. | F/O | 41730 | R.A.F. |
| 17 | Pirie (PG -) | A.N. | S/Ldr. | 39643 | R.A.F. |
| 18 | Player (?) | E. | F/O. | R.A.F. | |
| 19 | Rainford (PG -) | R.W.B. | F/Lt. | 82213 | R.A.F. |
| 20 | Rippingdale/Rippondale | F.L. | P/O. | 62005 | R.A.F. |
| 21 | Turner | H.J. | F/O. | 115614 | R.A.F. |
All the above personnel (except Dawson for some reason) are listed in the Nominal Rolls for P.G. 49 Fontanellato for September 1943, contained in Appendix 8 of the book edited by Ian English entitled “Home by Christmas?“.
N.B. Keith Joseph Briggs refers to a P/O Richardson (R.A.F.) (ex-Campo 49) in his story, but his name doesn’t appear in this list? Although there are 2 Sergeants?
