German POWs in America Part I

There are many little-known aspects of World War II on the homefront in America. Perhaps one of the most interesting is the story of the enemy prisoners of war (POWs) who waited out the end of the war in prison camps across the country. Beginning with the defeat of Rommel’s Afrika Korps in mid-1943, a steady stream of German and Italian soldiers, sailors, and airmen were dispatched to the United States. After arrival, they were moved to prison camps around the country, many of them refurbished Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) sites.

In 1943, the military made public that 72 camps were being established nationwide, with the great majority in the South and Southwest. Two camps were announced for Virginia and one each for North Carolina and West Virginia. In Virginia, the first two camps were located on existing military facilities: Camp Pickett near the town of Blackstone, and Camp Lee near Petersburg. By April 1944, there were more than 3,000 German and Italian POWs in the state.

In spite of the logistics of transporting them across the Atlantic via ship, moving the enemy soldiers captured in North Africa, Italy, and France to America made perfect sense. Most America-bound vessels were sailing nearly empty anyway as the stream of soldiers and equipment flowed the other direction. In effect, the North American continent became one big prison. Captured Allied soldiers in Europe could attempt escapes from their German prisons knowing they might receive some help from the citizens of occupied countries to reach safe haven in neutral Switzerland or Sweden. German POWs had no such sanctuaries. Mexico and Canada were both engaged in the war on the Allied side. And while the local populations around the camps were generally congenial, they would not help escapees.

Italy’s surrender on Sept. 3, 1943 and its subsequent support to Allied forces created an awkward situation for a while. Italian prisoners had been captured as members of an enemy army, but post-surrender became citizens of a semi-allied country. Eventually, almost half of the Italian POWs were released to become members of Italian Service Units (ISUs), who were dressed in U.S. Army uniforms and paid as low-ranking American soldiers. Most of these men were given duties in the various ports of embarkation or military depots around the country, while others were allowed to join the U.S. military and dispatched to serve in the Pacific.

Meanwhile, the POWs began to fill another labor need. By the end of 1943, with the United States fully engaged in fighting on many fronts as well as providing support to other Allies, American industry, while production boomed, had reached the bottom of the manpower barrel. Even with a large influx of women into the workforce, many industries, agricultural areas, and military posts were feeling the labor pinch. Very quickly, and sometimes with little supervision, the POWs were employed in forestry and agricultural jobs and even in some military factories. Some military leaders and private citizens were hesitant at first to use the POWs in the field and factories, but the quality of their work and their generally good behavior changed many minds. Before long, German POWs dressed in salvaged uniforms marked with large letters “P” and “W” were a common sight in the areas near the camps.

Using the prisoners had a two-fold purpose: it replaced American workers who had already left to join the military, and it freed up others to go and do likewise. In return, the POWs received a daily salary which was entered into their personal accounts in their camps. Employers — farmers and factory managers-who “hired” the POWs — were required by the United States government to pay the equivalent salary that would have been earned by a regular citizen in that job. However, the POWs themselves only received 80 cents daily pay regardless of the job, the rest taken by the government to defray the cost of the camps and prisoners. This proved to be an extremely profitable program, and by mid-1945 it had generated over $22 million for the U.S. Treasury. And the profit was not all one-sided: those POWs who saved their salary in the camp accounts were able to redeem it for dollars when the war ended and they were repatriated to Germany.

The POW work program was a success for the war effort. Major General Russel B. Reynolds, Commander of the Sixth Service Command, reported: ”Working in a variety of shops…they are conserving a vast quantity of manpower, doing jobs in which either soldiers or civilians would have to be used.” And while not all of the POW workers were skilled at the jobs they were assigned, notably in the pulp-wood industry and in harvesting cotton, they were steady workers. Through their efforts, many home-front industries and farms managed to remain productive throughout the war.

- In the second part of this article, we will look specifically at two of the camps in Virginia. CLICK HERE FOR PART II

{Alexander F. Barnes is a former Marine and retired Army Warrant Officer. His most recent book, “United States Army Depot Brigades in World War I”, with Peter Belmonte was released December 2021. He currently serves as the Virginia National Guard Command Historian.}