Volume 16 , Issue 31

Trinidad Colorado WWII POW Camp

Back during World War II, 1943, if your grandparents or elders could tell you the story of German prisoners boarding a train in Boston, Massachusetts, only to be headed inland to Prisoner of War (POW) camps in the heartlands of America. More than 378,000 German prisoners would embark on similar trips in the U.S. during WWII.

We were initially going to explore the POW camp at Trinidad, Colorado, but thought perhaps we would refresh your memories of the POW camps across America's South and Southwest. Yes! Similar scenes occurred that year (1943) in dozens of small communities throughout the American South and Southwest.

Enemy POW's would eventually fill more than 900 camps in 46 states, plus Alaska. According to official count, these installations would house no fewer than 435,788 men who had fought the Allies, the vast majority from the German military. There were also 51,455 Italians and 5,435 Japanese held in the United States, but the Americans and British confronted and thus captured far more Germans on the battlefields of North Africa, Italy and Western Europe.

This was the first time that a substantial number of foreign POWs were held on American soil. During World War I, only 1,346 German POWs, mostly sailors, had been interned here. As of August 1942, only 65 German prisoners were being held in the United States.

The United States was completely unprepared to deal with POWs on this large scale. The nation was gearing up its war industry, training troops, officials had to figure out how to house, feed, and secure incoming POWs. It was under a crash program launched by the army's Prisoner of War Division in September 1942, parts of existing army installations were converted, enemy alien interment camps appropriated, Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps camps rehabilitated, and new facilities built from scratch. By 1943, housing was ready at 33 camps for some 78,000 prisoners.

The camp construction, operation adhered strictly to Geneva Convention specifications. The main 155 camps, housing three thousand or so prisoners, were established in the South and Southwest, dry, mild climates where the prisoners would be comfortable while the War department saved on heating costs.

Each captive non-commissioned officer and private soldier received 40 square feet of lodging, and officers received 125 square feet. If POWs had to be temporarily housed in tents, so did their American guards. Meals equaled those fed to American troops stateside.

Trinidad's World War II POW Camp (1943-1946)

Trinidad's POW Camp was located in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies. If you visited it today you might find remnants of crumbled cement foundations, an old water treatment plant and parts of the main gate is all that's left of Camp Trinidad that once held thousands of captured German soldiers.

Cattle graze the remote 715-acre prison site, located about 200 miles south of Denver near the New Mexico border. This $1.8 million facility opened on 4 June 1943, housing about 3,500 German soldiers during its heyday. Many were "the cream of prisoners," such as German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps, who had been defeated by British Filed Marshal Bernard Montgomery's 8th Army.

The camp was a beehive of activity with 330 structures, including 10 guard towers, and its own sewage and water supply systems. A hospital, blacksmith shop, stable, theater and post office were also on the prison grounds.

They had everything there you could want during the camp's three-year existence. It was like a big city with its warehouses and theaters, although it was located in a pretty remote area.

German officers were allowed to take college courses in politics, chemistry, medicine and engineering through correspondence work offered by the University of Colorado and the University of Denver, as well as learning from on-site college professors.

More than 1, 000 American servicemen and 140 civilian personnel watched over the camp until it closed in early 1946. Most of the prisoners of war returned to Germany or other European locations after the war.

During the war, the German prisoners were well-behaved and respectful, you could not patronize them other than saying good morning. Despite the close proximity of the POWs, the American civilian workers were never fearful.

The camp had two theaters where Germans and Americans watched their own movies. Admission was a dime. The German POWs generally were credited with introducing soccer to the area. Inmates were paid wages anywhere from $3 in camp scrip to $40 cash a month, depending on their rank. Shortly after the camp opened, three POW escapees were shot and killed. Their trial records are kept in Washington, D.C.

The camp reportedly had some other POW escapes, but all were eventually captured, including one as far east as St. Louis and two in a Colorado haystack.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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