WW2 German POW Camp Ruston LA

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Some germans came from a captured UBoat where Enimga was recovered ( the fact that enigma was found had to be kept a secret).

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That UBoat is in a museum in Chicago. It’s badass. They talk about how most of the crew was brought to the camp in Ruston.

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escaped from Papago near Phoenix Arizona

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Probably the first time illegals ever entered Mexico.

Uboats were sighted all along the Gulf Coast during that time. Locals along the coast were told to put black paper in windows and not use lights at night as they were coming to shore to find supplies.

There were German and Italian POW camps all over especially in the SE. My grandfather was able to use them as labor on his farms. As he told it some of them (the equivalent of prison trustees?) were allowed to move around the town freely during the day. Many of them stayed in the area after WWII and the remaining German culture in the Upstate of SC is one of the reasons BMW located their US factory there.

Camp Clinton

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Camp Clinton was a World War II prisoner of war facility located in Clinton, Mississippi, just off present-day McRaven Road, east of Springridge Road [outside Jackson]. Camp Clinton was home to 3,000 German and Italian POWs, most of whom had been captured in Africa and were members of the Afrika Korps.

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Camp Clinton also housed several dozen German generals and admirals, including Afrika Korps commander Hans-Jürgen von Arnim, Wehrmacht general Ferdinand Neuling, and Dietrich von Choltitz, the last wartime Governor of Paris

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von Cholitz was the general Hitler ordered to burn Paris, but ignored the order.

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My grandfather was able to use them as labor on his farms. As he told it some of them (the equivalent of prison trustees?) were allowed to move around the town freely during the day

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This was a common practice. There were several POW camps, as well as satellite camps, in Louisiana. State officials lobbied for the establishment of the camps in the state specifically for their ability to provide farm labor.

I’m addition to so many young men actively participating in the armed forces, many other able-bodied men left their rural communities to contribute in other ways. Mainly they left for well paying industrial jobs directly tied to the war effort. The result was a shortage of farm labor.

There were fanatical Japanese and Nazis at some of these camps, but most were common German soldiers captured in North Africa.

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Uboats were sighted all along the Gulf Coast during that time. Locals along the coast were told to put black paper in windows and not use lights at night as they were coming to shore to find supplies.

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There was a camp at the foot of the Huey P Long. Camp Plauche. On the Harahan corner.

No Germans from U Boats came ashore for supplies. Please stop repeating this. No coonasses sold them fuel. They had everything they needed on their submarine.

Yep it happened. My dad was raised in a very small town in the SE. They settled a number of German POWs in his little town. They ended up marrying local women and living normal lives.

I doubt they were settling SS members here or anything. Just regular German army (probably mostly conscripts).

The D-Day museum had an exhibit on this. Found out there was one in Houma not far from my house

Houma Today