Camp San Augustine World War II POW Camp
San Augustine, San Augustine County, Texas
Marker Inscription
During World War II, the U.S. military established multiple Prisoners of War (POW) Branch Camps at the request of East Texas communities seeking to boost federal economic investment and address local labor shortages. San Augustine, a branch of Camp Fannin (Smith Co.) was completed in March 1944. The first POWs, part of Germany's Afrika Korps, arrived here in April 1944, with a peak population of 331. POWs worked primarily on forestry projects. The camp remained open longer than any other branch camp in East Texas. After the war, several area branch camps closed and sent their POWs here, and later Camp Fannin, before repatriation to Europe. Camp San Augustine closed in April 1946. Texas in World War II - 2009
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
During World War II, the U.S. government spread hundreds of prisoner-of-war camps across the country, often at the urging of towns hungry for federal spending and short of workers with so many men in uniform. Opened in 1944 as a branch of Camp Fannin, this East Texas camp first held soldiers captured from Germany's Afrika Korps, who labored in the region's pine forests. It outlasted every other branch camp in the area, becoming a gathering point for prisoners awaiting repatriation before it finally closed in 1946.
Why it matters
The camp is a reminder that the global war reached deep into rural America, where enemy prisoners lived and worked among small communities that had sought them out for economic survival.
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Related events
- · World War II
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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