A little known aspect of WW2 was the creation of PoW Camp 621 for Italian prisoners at Bonita stables in Maisey. Situated just beyond the Upper Yard it consisted of two wooden huts and was possibly a satellite to the larger camp at Wanborough. The prisoners were employed on the local farms and planted several of the stands of trees around Maisey. They also laid piped water to the immediate village from the tank just to the north of the yard. The latter type of work was usually carried out under the supervision of the Pioneer Corps.
At the outbreak of war, Lower Yard was taken over as billets for British Army Other Ranks, with Officers installed in the Manor and Bonita. The Upper Yard stables were used as stores. When the Americans arrived in 1942 they displaced the British but presumably the PoW camp remained under control of the British Army.
Detailed administration records from this period are now very rare, but an enquiry from Italy has revealed at least one local story. The soldier involved was captured in the battle of Enfidaville in North Africa in 1943 and spent the period of August 1944 to March 1946 in Camp 621 (Italian records). Despite detailed researches it has been unable to uncover any local connections to this man.
It had been assumed that the camp at Maisey was a satellite to that at Wanbrough since it consisted only of two huts (demolished in the early 1960s without any recording of the grafitti or names and addresses written in the walls). However a British Southern Command document from 1945 quotes the capacity of the camp 621 at 'Ogbourne Maizey' as 400, with no mention of Wanborough. Whether this was a typographical error or merging with the Wanborough camp (also known as camp 621) is not known. Certainly there is no evidence of any large encampment at Maizey.
One sidelight has emerged from the studies however, and that is the Authorities' concern with so many PoWs in the area. A Wiltshire Constabulary memo from 1945 reveals that there were approximately 955 Italian 'Co-operators' in the district. Following the surrender of Italy in 1943 the PoWs were suitably re-classified. Of the 950, 525 were stationed with the Americans at Savernake Forest, 355 'at other military camps at Marlborough and Ogbourne' with the remainder in farms or requisitioned houses. It was noted that 'on the whole their behaviour has been good' and that 'there were no complaints'. However a member of the Women's Land Army in Pewsey was pregnant from a liaison, and that in the Upavaon, Bedwyn and Beckhampton 'associations' had taken place. (Similar cases were recorded in Swindon / Wanborough).
