Info on the PW camp in Reims France 1944-45

by:  Son of Lawrence Russell

THE CASERNE MAISTRE was an old French Army barracks. From the book presented to Dad: Camp commander, Maj Lawrence Russell Jr.; on his birthday on 23 January 1946:

" Reims was liberated by the American Army on September 1, 1944. That was the signal for entry into the city of thousands of service troops. ...

One of the military areas, the Caserne Maistree, former French barracks area and more recently a German installation and renamed the Caserne Herman Goering, had suffered extensive damage in Eighth Air Force bombing raids, but, nevertheless, was occupied by the Americans ...

The original plan called for temporary occupancy as the Caserne was a devastated area of demolished buildings and bomb craters and debris covered all the open spaces. Plans were altered, however, and it became evident that the caserne would have to be put into condition for permanent housing...

a stockade for nearly seven thousand prisoners of war has been operated. The stockade began October 2 (1944) with 200 POWAs, who were housed in a roofless, battered building. Conbstant addition of more prisoners required eight expansions of the stockade area until the total figure reached 6,750 prisoners.

Adequate facilities for military operations were build amidst the rubble and ruin of the Caserne. The permanent installations which have been developed by reconstructing and redecorating the buildings and clearing the area include: GI Theatre. Consolidated Mess. Post Exchange. 177th Motor Pool. 533 Motor Pool. Machine shop, Woodworking Shop. Officers’ Mess. French Civilian Mess. NCO Club. Laundry. French Guard Quarters. Guard House (533d). Officers’ Club. (Underlined facilities run by POWs)

Organizations which have used the Caserne Maistree include: .....177lth Labor Supervision Center. (This was the official designation of the POW unit, which was used to provide work details for various tasks in the area.. Most of the work in clearing the area and reconstructing and rehabilitating the buildings was by the POWs. )

[ two pictures of the machine shop]

the unique and versatile machine shop. This shop began with one salvage lathe and was later expanded by the securing and installing of captured tools and equipment. The skilled POW machinists produce a large quantity of useful items on the lathes, drills, presses and forges and also in handcraft at the work bench. Valuable items produced in this shop include novel and practical jeep-mounted buzz saws which are essential in speeding up wood-cutting production.

[picture of the carpenter shop]

Prisoners of War at work in the carpenter shop. Many useful items are produced daily in this shop which was created out of scrap and salvage materials.

[picture of the laundry]

the laundry operated by and for the prisoners of war solved a complex problem created by the presence of more than 6000 prisoners in one stockade. the laundering of clothing soiled on the work details is accomplished her. Efficient production is achieved by a systematic processing through marking, laundering, sorting and bundling sections. All of the machinery was obtained by salvaging damaged and discarded equipment.

[picture of the kitchen]

feeding the 6750 prisoners in the stockade has been a difficult problem and one of the heaviest burdens was in preparing the three daily meals with a minimum kitchen force. Time-savers were developed by ingeniously devising machinery, such as the above pictured potato peeler, from salvage materials. {the ‘potato peeler’ in the picture includes various parts including some vehicle’s motor, a couple of large drums, and a large angle iron frame work holding it together.}

[ picture of a street of squad tents]

Typical of the prisoner of war stockade is this neat and orderly row of tents. This site also had to be cleared of debris before it was possible to utilize the space. All of the tent-front plots have been attractively arranged with novel rock designs. POW entertainment has been provided through construction of a "local talent" variety show theatre which may be seen at the end of the street.

[picture of an outdoor incinerator and several men on an adjacent concrete pad ]

Prisoners of war washing at the outdoor community wash stand. The stockade is subdivided into small sections and each section has its own washing facilities. Note the mess-kit laundry in the foreground. This wood-burning laundry is an economical and sanitary means for cleaning the mess gear. "

the book than has several more pictures of the camp, without captions.

I don’t know when Dad took over the camp, but it had to be in the fall of 1944 because he was there and had been there for a while when the battle of the bulge struck them just before Christmas, 1944. They were worried that, of course, the main thrust of the offensive would be right in their direction and would try to release the POWs to rejoin the German Army. So for the time they had greatly increased security. As you know from the note with the three soldiers around the camp fire picture, that was painted at that time while Dad was keeping the camp as tightly shut up as possible. He remained commander until Spring 1946, when he transferred to Mannheim. During the time after V-E day Dad organized the orderly release of the POWs to go home. About the first thing was, I believe in August or September 1945, a contingent of a dozen or so were sent out on a reccon with an American truck, to go to the various parts of Germany and come back with reports of the conditions. They each went to their home areas, and all but one of them came back to report on conditions. Of course the US vehicle was only used close to the French border, and most of them used whatever transport was available. As a result of the reports they brought back, most of the prisoners elected to stay in the camp through the winter of 45-46 where they were at least assured of food and lodging. There was little of either in most of Germany at the time, and there was not much they could do to help families in that turmoil. General releases began early in 1946, and continued through the year. As we moved to Mannheim in May 1946, and got dependent quarters of a large house in a suburb, and had two of the POW residing with us (Josef and Willie) who kept in touch with the camp, many of the ex POWs came by and visited us there on their way home. Of course Josef, who had been the manager of the US Officer’s Club at the POW stockade, came there as our Maitre d, and he then brought his wife and son down from Bonn. They lived with us, Josef as the bartender, labor manager and whatnot, Hannah (his wife) as cook and chief of the household inside staff, and Walter who joined the US teenagers in the dependent community and soon was indistinguishable from the US kids.