AUSTRALIA 1946 CAMP COWRA POW LETTER TO ITALY VERY RARE

Description

AUSTRALIA 1946 CAMP COWRA POW AEROGRAM TO ITALY
CAMP - Cowra, New South Wales (1941–47)
The Cowra prisoner of war and internment camp was located several kilometres outside the town of Cowra in south-central New South Wales. It officially began operation in June 1941, but it was several months before the first prisoners arrived. Cowra was purpose-built to house prisoners of war, mostly Italians, brought to Australia from overseas and it operated primarily as a prisoner of war rather than an internment camp. Civilians interned at Cowra included local Italians
The camp was divided into four compounds, each surrounded by high barbed wire fences. Compounds A and C housed Italians, compound B housed Japanese soldiers and non-commissioned officers, and compound D housed Japanese officers as well as Koreans and Chinese from Formosa (Taiwan) who had been interned as Japanese. The first prisoners at Cowra lived in tents while their huts were being completed. Eventually, Cowra had its own stores, kitchen, mess huts, showers and latrines, recreation huts, shops, playing fields and vegetable gardens.
Most of those held at Cowra were repatriated at the end of the war. The last prisoners left Cowra in January 1947.