POW Camps in America

POW camps situated within the USA

Aliceville

Ashford

Brady

Como

Custer

Dermott

Devens

Glennan (General Hospital)

Lewis

Livingstone

Meade

Monticello

Nexey

Ogden

Opelika

Reno 26.01.1944

Roswell

Sill

Tonkawa

Prisoner of War Postal Units

'Not all labor for the prisoners benefit was successful, especially that connected with the redirecting and forwarding of prisoner mail. In March 1944, two prisoner of war postal units were established to relieve g serious backlog of undelivered PW mail held by the New York District Postal Censor. This was done in cooperation with the Office of Censorship. An Italian postal unit, manned by Italian service unit personnel, was established at Fort George G. Meade, Md., where it operated until October 1945. Noncooperative German noncommissioned officers, under the supervision of 2 American officers and 10 enlisted men, operated a German postal unit at Camp Hearne, Tex. Noncommissioned officers were used because the work was of an administrative nature, and, therefore, they could be used; and German PW privates were to be used elsewhere. Although the backlog of mail was eliminated, trouble resulted. The noncooperative Germans used the mails to maintain an intelligence system directed against cooperative' prisoners of war in the United States. They obtained censorship-identified covers for reuse; they observed the routing and mail delivery system as well as the camp censorship and postal markings; they checked the prisoners' names through rosters; they manufactured unauthorized censorship and postmark stamps; and they removed the U. S. examiners' label tape for their own use. In addition, they knew the significance of the camps at Fort Devens, Mass., and Camp Campbell, Ky., where anti-Nazi prisoners were kept, and they gained access to the camp rosters. It became necessary to discontinue the German unit at Camp Hearne and to transfer its activity to Fort Meade where Italian Service Unit personnel were used until their repatriation. Cooperative German prisoners of war then relieved the Italian personnel.'

Extract from History of Prisoner of War Utilization by the United States Army 1776-1945

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