A part of WWII history I had forgotten about

[eagle7-31]

German POW's in the US. And I marvel a the US production during and just after WWII and some where along the line we lost a big part of it. Now we have the Chinese Communist party buying up US farmland among other things that have gone wrong.

 

[Dekster]

IDK. There was a german POW camp near where my dad's family lived. When I was a kid I heard the old timers talking about it from time to time. Apparently you could rent them as day laborers if you had the money, but mostly they worked on public projects like roads and bridges and such in the area. The don't seem to have been well guarded though as people would occasionally pick them up and take them back to the camp without much fuss if any of them wandered off or got left behind at one of the job sites. They said a lot of them came from rural areas so they fit right in on farming even if they didn't speak a word of english.

 

[1srelluc]

There was a Remount Depot in my AO that was a POW camp during the war.

Prisoners of War at the U.S. Cavalry Remount Station

siarchives.si.edu

The Germans had a lot of horse drawn transport so they had a lot of veterinarians, many of which were captured with the fall of Tunisia. A bunch landed at the Remount to look after the horses and mules.

One Veterinarian stayed on after the war and remained there, married, raised a family on site. and died there. I went to school with his boys.

The POWs also did a lot of work for the town, building bridges and such....They were built so well only one has been replaced since the war and only because the road was widened.

 

[Leo123]

When the Nazis controlled Germany, they took over the media and Germans were fed Nazi propaganda. When German soldiers were captured they were amazed at how well they were treated and saw the abundance of America. Many turned against the Nazis.

 

[Zebra]

There was a Remount Depot in my AO that was a POW camp during the war.

Prisoners of War at the U.S. Cavalry Remount Station

siarchives.si.edu

The Germans had a lot of horse drawn transport so they had a lot of veterinarians, many of which were captured with the fall of Tunisia. A bunch landed at the Remount to look after the horses and mules.

One Veterinarian stayed on after the war and remained there, married, raised a family on site. and died there. I went to school with his boys.

The POWs also did a lot of work for the town, building bridges and such....They were built so well only one has been replaced since the war and only because the road was widened.

fine to hear sth good about my country!

 

[Meathead]

When the Nazis controlled Germany, they took over the media and Germans were fed Nazi propaganda. When German soldiers were captured they were amazed at how well they were treated and saw the abundance of America. Many turned against the Nazis.

To be fair allied soldiers from the West were treated relatively well in German POW camps. That was certainly not the case for POWs from the east.

In Greece in fact the soldiers were released and officers were allowed to keep their sidearms. Hitler said, Let it be said that Spartans did not fight like Greeks, but Greeks fought like Spartans.

The occupation of Greece though was hell for 3 years as the Greek resistance actually fought the Nazis in the mountains unlike the largely mythological French resistance.

 

[1srelluc]

To be fair allied soldiers from the West were treated relatively well in German POW camps. That was certainly not the case for POWs from the east.

Yeah, if you call being starved to death "treated well"....My uncle went into Stalag IX-B (Bad-Orb) at 186# and came out at 86#.

 

[Meathead]

Yeah, if you call being starved to death "treated well"....My uncle went into Stalag IX-B (Bad-Orb) at 186# and came out at 86#.

Western Allied POWs generally experienced better conditions than most other belligerents, although their treatment by the Japanese was harsh.

Prisoners of war in World War II - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Litwin]

German POW's in the US. And I marvel a the US production during and just after WWII and some where along the line we lost a big part of it. Now we have the Chinese Communist party buying up US farmland among other things that have gone wrong.

have you seen this film ?

 

[whitehall]

A crappy WW2 vintage photo substitutes as a historical argument? The U.S. made use of German scientists like Van Braun but most German POW's were simply repatriated.

 

[AZrailwhale]

Yeah, if you call being starved to death "treated well"....My uncle went into Stalag IX-B (Bad-Orb) at 186# and came out at 86#.

To be fair, the German civilians had it just about as bad, at least the POWs got nutrition and vitamins from Red Cross Parcels that as far as I know the POW Camp operators never blocked unlike the Japanese.