In the United States at the end of World War II, there were

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. ...

s, including 175 Branch Camps serving 511 Area 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

barrack Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

s in colder areas. Eventually, every state (with the exceptions of Nevada, North Dakota, and Vermont) had at least one POW camp. Some of the camps were designated "segregation camps", where Nazi "true believers" were separated from the rest of the prisoners, whom they terrorized and even killed for being friendly with their American captors. Approximately 90% of Italian POWs pledged to help the United States, by volunteering in

Italian Service Units The Italian Service Units or ISUs were military units composed of Italian prisoners of war (POWs) that served with the Allies during World War II against Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan from May 1944 to October 1945. The armed forces of the Un ...

(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. Raw Text of: Prisoner of war utilization by the United States Army 1776-1945
By, Lewis, George G., Lieutenant Colonel, MPC, United States Army, and Mewha, John Captain, Armor, United States Army, pages 189–191 At its peak in May 1945, a total of 425,871 POWs were held in the US. This included 371,683 Germans, 50,273 Italians, and 3,915 Japanese.

Footnotes

External links

A nearly complete list of all camps

Camp Rucker (Fort Rucker), Alabama

The German POW camps of Michigan during WWII

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pow Camps in the United States 01 World War II sites in the United States

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

United States history-related lists United States military-related lists United States Department of Defense lists *World War II

See also

Footnotes

External links