KRIEGSGEFANGENENLAGER (KGL) MESSOLONGION
KGL Messolongion was not part of the regular German prisoner of war (POW) camp system but rather an ad hoc collection camp for interned Italian soldiers, guarded by regular German troops on temporary detail. The camp opened in October 1943 in the town of Messolongion (also known as Mesolongion and Missolonghi) (map 8).1 It closed down later that year, then opened again from the spring of 1944 until October 1944, at the latest.2 It was subordinate to Army Group South Greece (Armeegruppe Südgriechenland)/Army Group (Heeresgruppe) E.
KGL Messolongion received field post number (Feldpostnummer) 13 347 on April 14, 1944. The number was struck on January 23, 1945.
The Germans used the camp to temporarily hold Italian military prisoners. No detailed information on conditions in the camp is available, but, generally speaking, the Germans did not treat their former allies well.
In the fall of 1943, the Germans transferred the prisoners in groups to Piraeus. No information is available on the prisoners who occupied the camp during its second period of existence.
SOURCES
Primary source material about KGL Messolongion is located in BA-MA (RH 31 X/7: Bestand Armeegruppe Südgriechenland).
Additional information about KGL Messolongion can be found in the following publications: Gianfranco Mattiello and Wolfgang Vogt, Deutsche Kriegsgefangenen- und Internierten-Einrichtungen 1939–1945. Handbuch und Katalog: Lagergeschichte und Lagerzensurstempel, vol. 2 (Koblenz: self-published, 1987), p. 178; and Gerhard Schreiber, Die italienischen Militärinternierten im deutschen Machtbereich 1943–1945: Verraten, Verachtet, Vergessen (Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 1990).
