POW Camps in USA

Missileer

Active member
I wonder if anyone here knows of or lives close to a POW camp where German POWs were interned. I pass by one in a small town here in Texas on my way to work every day. It is located close to a small town, Princeton, which was pretty isolated during WW II. I have watched some of the programs on the History channel and it seems that our own soldiers who came home on leave or because of wounds were upset because the POWs were allowed to work on nearby farms for pay. One Marine was pretty bitter about the POWs being allowed to go to town under guard and spend their money on things that he couldn't afford.

I know that most POW camps were located in Texas and Arizona in areas that would be harder to escape from but there were few escapes because they were treated pretty good. Where were the Japanese POWs interned?
I have read that not many Japanese surrendered so there weren`t as many to imprison.
 
Yea the Germans were treated like VIP's, America hoped Germany would follow our lead and do the same with American POW's. Allot of the Germans did not want to leave and right after they were sent home they came right back to America. We had Japanese camps as well but they were American Japanese. I'm not sure if you have seen some of the video clips but the Japanese would rather jump off of cliffs then surrender.
 
The Grill Instructor said:
Who´s interested in that topic can find a list at http://home.arcor.de/kriegsgefangene/usa/camps_usa/standort.html

This list is also available in german language. I found that in my favorites. Should be an almost complete list of POW camps in the US.

The list of camps in Europe is defenately useless since lots of camps are not listed.

T.G.I.

Thanks GrillInstructer, I may have one city that I can add to his list. I saw a lot of towns around me but not the one I was speaking of. I think this sign pointing to the camp has only been up for about a year so it may not be on his list. I'll stop by and check out the name and send it to him.
 
Well the germans Pow camps were perty bad for the allias because there tried to espace there were probly shot on site but in ares Pow camps we cound't have just shot them on site
 
If you look at Japanese POW camps in WW2 they make German POW camps for allied Brits/US/Aussies were rather luxurious.

I won't go into too much detail, but look at the examples of Changi prison and the forced work on the Burma Railway, thousands of Australians and Brits died at the hands of their Japanese captors. and as for shooting on sight, try the example of when the Japanese took the island of New Britain off the coast of PNG. They captured a regiment of 1000 Australian soldiers, and on the first day they tied 160 of them to trees and used them as live bayonet practice (plus other beheadings and shootings). Absolutley and horribly brutal. Understandably there were only a couple of survivors of the New Britain massacres. At least during the second world war, on the whole, the Nazis were to some degree gentlemanly about taking prisoners of war (western allies anyway).
 
AussieNick said:
If you look at Japanese POW camps in WW2 they make German POW camps for allied Brits/US/Aussies were rather luxurious.

I won't go into too much detail, but look at the examples of Changi prison and the forced work on the Burma Railway, thousands of Australians and Brits died at the hands of their Japanese captors. and as for shooting on sight, try the example of when the Japanese took the island of New Britain off the coast of PNG. They captured a regiment of 1000 Australian soldiers, and on the first day they tied 160 of them to trees and used them as live bayonet practice (plus other beheadings and shootings). Absolutley and horribly brutal. Understandably there were only a couple of survivors of the New Britain massacres. At least during the second world war, on the whole, the Nazis were to some degree gentlemanly about taking prisoners of war (western allies anyway).

Out of the 134 Royal Winnipeg Grenadiers capture at Hong Kong in WW2, 16 survived
 
Incredible cruelty in those POW camps, if they were lucky enough to be taken to a POW camp and not get killed outright. I forgot the Canadians were in Singapore as well.
 
there was a POW camp at Camp Beale in california (now Beale AFB). the camp trained tank crews, the 81th inf and the 96th inf....

there was a POW camp at Camp Perry in Ohio, Fort Custer, Michigan, and i think there was one at Camp Grayling in michigan...

david
 
AussieNick said:
At least during the second world war, on the whole, the Nazis were to some degree gentlemanly about taking prisoners of war (western allies anyway).

That is a great point. In German POW camps in WWII American troops were treated better than any other countries troops because the Germans had the most respect for America's power over that of any other nation. Russian troops were treated terribly, forced into slave labor and given terrible barracks to live in. But then again look at how German POW's in America were treated compared to German POW's in Russia, perhaps there was something to this theory of if we are nice to their troops they will be nice to ours. Or such is my understanding of how things were.
 
AussieNick said:
Incredible cruelty in those POW camps, if they were lucky enough to be taken to a POW camp and not get killed outright. I forgot the Canadians were in Singapore as well.

Hongkong not Singapore


I know Canadians imprisoned all Japanese in Canada in what could only be called POW camps; and yeah...our prisons were a fair bit less cruel the the German ones...mind you, German bombers weren't destroying North American towns...
 
Hongkong not Singapore


I know Canadians imprisoned all Japanese in Canada in what could only be called POW camps; and yeah...our prisons were a fair bit less cruel the the German ones...mind you, German bombers weren't destroying North American towns...

Hong Kong? I would have figured they would have been part of the british garrison in Singapore. Oh well.
 
AussieNick said:
Hongkong not Singapore


I know Canadians imprisoned all Japanese in Canada in what could only be called POW camps; and yeah...our prisons were a fair bit less cruel the the German ones...mind you, German bombers weren't destroying North American towns...

Hong Kong? I would have figured they would have been part of the british garrison in Singapore. Oh well.

Well Hong Kong would be the other major British garrison I suppose, I dunno though; we hear alot more about the war in Europe then that in the Pacific in Canada.
 
POW Camps

The Italian POW's in Australia had an extraodinary amount of freedom.
They worked on local farms and towns, many left camp in the morning and returned of an evening for roll call. Many were alowed to live on the farms where they worked.
Generally they were pretty amiable and happy to be out of the war.
On the other hand the Japanese POWs at Cowra in NSW were cruel to their own comrades and then there was that mass breakout. The biggest mass escape of WWII.
My Grandfather was one of the civilians that helped to capture some of them. Those that didn't commit suicide etc.
 
Japanese soldiers who surrendered were kept in camps in the new Zealand, and possibly Australia.

When the Marines departed Iwo Jima they had taken 212 POWs. The Marines were replaced by regular Army and Navy personnel. They continued to take POWs (or kills), and those units sustained some casualties in the process. The total POW count for Iwo Jima approached 1000. I believe there were still incidents with Japanese soldiers who remained in hiding until well into the 1950s.
 
Back
Top