Murray, Robbins: German POWs eased job shortage in Fort Oglethorpe

German prisoners of war volunteered to make a flower bed bordering a gravel walkway inside the Fort Oglethorpe prison camp, which was noted for its "orderliness and neatness."
German prisoners of war volunteered to make a flower bed bordering a gravel walkway inside the Fort Oglethorpe prison camp, which was noted for its "orderliness and neatness."

Fort Oglethorpe was established as a cavalry post in 1902, served as a war-time induction and processing center during World Wars I and II, and converted into a WAC training center, the largest in the U.S., in February 1943. A year later, several hundred German POWs, members of Gen. Edwin Rommel's Afrika Corps, arrived.

Importantly, they had been in America for a year and were treated well under the rules of the Geneva Convention.

Upon arrival, Col. Howard Clark II, the commanding officer, who spoke excellent German, informed the group members they would be given courteous and humane treatment. The prisoners were supplied with adequate food, clean housing, medical care, recreation and educational opportunities.

An October 1944 Chattanooga Times article, "Nazi Prisoners Help Solve Fort's Manpower Shortage," pointed out that the Germans plugged the gap and filled both skilled and unskilled jobs, racking up a record "100 percent utilization."

With large letters "PW" emblazoned on the backs of their shirts, coats and trousers, they became a familiar sight on the post. Some worked on the roads. In the bakery, they operated mixers, ovens and other machinery. At the shoe shop, they repaired GI footwear. In the warehouses, they stored equipment and loaded trucks, and in the tent shop, they sat at the sewing machines repairing canvas tents.

They fired furnaces and worked at the post laundry, carpenter and furniture shops. At the Officers Club, they prepared meals, with one of the prisoners diligently translating menus from English to German for the benefit of the other cooks. They were especially proud of their pastries.

When Col. Clark and visitors came through, the Germans would snap to attention with an American-style salute.

The POWs kept their barbed wire-surrounded grounds, barracks and mess halls spotlessly clean and neat. The inevitable photographs of wives, parents and children were pinned above their well-made beds.

Lighter activities involved planting flowers along the walks and buildings and playing soccer on the large field.

The prisoners received pay of 80 cents per day in canteen credits, which they could spend on American cigarettes, candy and a variety of other merchandise, including one bottle of beer per man per day. A piano was available for the glee club.

Officers weren't compelled to work; enlisted men were. If they refused to work, they were put on half rations. POWs could be contracted to work on farms, in the lumber industry or in other nonwar related industries.

The prisoners faced minimal danger from their American captors. However, hard-core Nazis would threaten anti-Nazis with beatings and murder. The War Department's efforts to separate the hard-core Nazis met with mixed success.

There were no escapes at Fort Oglethorpe and few throughout the nation, due to hunger, clothing and language. (One POW was discovered sitting on a bus under a sign that read Colored People Only.)

Most escapees were captured in the first three days. One exception was a POW who escaped from Crossville, Tenn., and wound up at a mountain cabin, where he was confronted by a gun-toting granny. She said, "Git." He didn't, and she shot him dead.

When the sheriff informed her that she had killed an escaped German POW, she burst into tears. Puzzled, the sheriff asked, "Why the grief?" "Why," she replied, "I thought he wuz a Yankee."

There were two different views of German POWs. The 1973 film "The Summer of My German Soldier" exemplified the romantic view. Warm relations developed among many Germans and their captors, especially among the farmers' families with whom they worked and were treated with meals.

The more sinister view of the POWs at Fort Oglethorpe was supported by hard-core Nazis taken prisoner from the Afrika Corps before Germany's defeat became apparent. Though treated well, those 10 percent to 15 percent of all German POWs remained hardened to the end, even after seeing pictures and films of German atrocities. The group considered those photographs to be fake images of German bodies mangled by the Russians.

Toward the end of the war, a harsher atmosphere developed in the U.S. Liberated American POWs in Europe reported brutal treatment, and the Holocaust was made public. U.S. prison camps retaliated with smaller rations and fewer luxury items.

Despite this, many German POWs after V-E Day on May 8, 1945, were not eager to be returned to face chaotic conditions in Germany.

Dr. Smith Murray is a retired urologist. Mickey Robbins is an investment adviser at Patten and Patten. For more, visit .www.chatta historicalassoc.org.

Upcoming Events