In the United States at the end of World War II, there were prisoner-of-war camps, including 175 Main Camps serving 511 Branch Camps containing over 425,000 prisoners of war (mostly German). The camps were located all over the US, but were mostly in the South, due to the higher expense of heating the barracks in colder areas. Eventually, every state (with the exceptions of Nevada, North Dakota, and Vermont) and Hawaii, then a territory, had each at least a POW camp.
Some of the camps were designated "segregation camps", where Nazi "true believers" were separated from the other prisoners due to retaliation killings and terror toward POWs they thought were too friendly to their American captors.
After the Armistice of Cassibile, approximately 90% of Italian POWs pledged to help the United States, by volunteering in Italian Service Units (ISU). Due to a labor shortage, Italian Service Units worked on Army depots, in arsenals and hospitals, and on farms. POWs who were a part of the ISU received better housing, uniforms and pay.
At its peak in May 1945, a total of 425,871 POWs were held in the US: 371,683 Germans, 50,273 Italians, and 3,915 Japanese.: 272
See also
- German prisoners of war in the United States
Footnotes
External links
- A nearly complete list of all camps
- Camp Rucker (Fort Rucker), Alabama
- The German POW camps of Michigan during WWII
- Map of WWII POW Camps in the US with links
