1 Anna Ramgarh; PoW Camps

Ramgarh, in the Bihar region of British India, held Italian prisoners captured primarily in the North African and East African campaigns. The camp scrip issued there in 1942 was a practical containment measure — PoW currency prevented internees from accumulating British Indian rupees that could fund escape attempts or purchase cooperation from local civilians. The 1 Anna denomination is the smallest in the Ramgarh series, consistent with the need to facilitate minor canteen transactions without giving prisoners access to any meaningful purchasing power outside the wire.

Campbell 5291 is one of several distinct PoW camp issues documented from wartime India, a collecting field that remains genuinely underresearched relative to comparable European camp currencies.