Prisoners Of War

[Prudie]

I've watched one of my favourite WW2 movies today 'The Enemy Below'. I know it's over-romanticised but I have a question - when German survivors were picked up in the Atlantic by either US or British ships (and vice versa) where did they then put them? In prisoner of war camps in UK or what?

[mallyh]

some germans were taken to canada others to here

[sandyRoe]

Whatever country the boat that rescued them landed in, I'd say.

[bookbinder]

There was really nowhere else to put them, Prudie. All combatant nations had prison of war camps, and the UK was no exception.

[Prudie]

So some picked up by Americans were taken back to the States? I've never heard reference to that.

[Zacs-Master]

Have a read of this Prudie.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_prisoners_of_war_in_the_United_States

[Prudie]

Well that is interesting, thanks Zacs I have learnt something - if you had to get caught looks like the States was not a bad place to sit out the war.

[Clanad]

This one was in my home State here in the U.S.

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/historic-preservation-commission-seeks-state-historic-site-status-for-wyoming/article_6002ab7e-8fa8-51e5-89f4-d85721495486.html

[tonyav]

*** hell , that looks a bit better than Stalag 17, Clanad.

[Svejk]

there was quite a good film about a german pow crossing a river(Hudson?) from Canada to the US. presumably when the US was neutral.

[Clanad]

For the times, they were first class, tony… there were at least two more in the State and in the 1980's one could go to the sites with a metal detector and find all kinds of interesting memorabilia. I have several uniform buttons and even a couple of Class rings found at one...

[Svejk]

ah, sounds like a true story then. I didn't know that.

[tonyav]

Yes, they look first class, Clanad. Sounds interesting what can be found with a metal detector.

[stuey]

Then there was the case where the crew of a German merchant ship scuttled it in fairly shallow water in either Curacao or Aruba, and spent the rest of the war as prisoners in a near-tropical Dutch Paradise I dived on that ship many years ago: it was completely intact (No shelling or collision etc damage), and still resting on its keel...It was a really interesting dive.

[stuey]

That German POW managed to make it across the frozen St Lawrence River into the then neutral US.

[stuey]

He escaped from a French-Canadian POW camp, by the way...That figures:)

[tonyav]

LOL, surprised that he didn't get into the USA strapped underneath a lorry in that case, stuey. ;-)

[stuey]

There was a POW camp not that far from where I live, and after the war many of the inmates returned from Germany to take part in the thriving tobacco and apple growing activities. Also, a few miles from me was the location of CampX, a spy training establishment started by William Stephenson (A Man Called Intrepid) at which Ian Flemming spent some time.

[stuey]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_X