Behind the Wire

PRISONERS

For the 40,000 Axis prisoners now quartered in wire-ringed camps scattered through the U.S. hinterland, the war is over but not the duration. On both sides of the wire, prisoners and guards alike wait for an end to their unwilling fellowship. Last week the press was permitted to inspect some of the camps newly built as by-products of victory. One of the most notable that newsmen saw, because it houses the most explosive elements (German and Italian officers, but quartered separately), is Camp Crossville, Tenn.

Crossville simmers quietly in the scrub oak of the Cumberland Plateau, nine bumpy miles from the neat little county seat whose name it shares. In a rough rectangle, 2,400 ft. by 1,100 ft., stretches the barbed-wire stockade, two 12-ft. fences of 21 strands.

Between them lies a 14-ft. width of no man's land. Within the wire, the POWs wait through their days: sullen, unreconstructed Nazis, cheerful Italians. Among the guests: several Italian generals.

Planned as an officer camp, Crossville houses some 1,000 of these privileged prisoners, together with 400-odd enlisted POWs who serve as valets, waiters and cooks, according to the terms of the Geneva Convention. By this agreement, captives must be kept safe from "acts of violence, insults and public curiosity." They are prisoners but not criminals, can not be confined in penitentiaries, subjected to corporal punishment or any form of cruelty. They have regular complaint courts to vent POW frustration. They are still soldiers, maintain their own military discipline, salute only their captors of superior rank. They live like soldiers -- but in a cage -- and they gripe like soldiers.

Shortage of Valets. Complaints and demands are constant. Higher Italian officers beef about not having enough valet service. They want to buy more phonographs, especially big electric models (some have money of their own). One German officer demanded a canary. Both Germans and Italians worry the guards with trivial requests--like going for beer after hours. Common complaint: not enough mail. POWs are permitted to send two letters, one postcard a week.

Germans and Italians are quartered separately--another Geneva rule. Officers live 20 in a standard U.S. barracks; enlisted men are lodged 36 in the same space. Generals and colonels have private rooms. Food is regulation U.S. Army field rations, but national tastes are considered.

Germans get more potatoes, fewer of the vegetables (such as carrots) which they dislike. Italians get more spaghetti, more flour for the solid Italian bread they bake for themselves. American officers of the guard are content to carry their own trays, but POW officers must be served by their own orderlies.

Officer POWs are not required to work, keep themselves amused with their hobbies and the elaborate pebble work common to all prison camps. One barracks at Crossville boasts an iron cross featly executed in gravel. Germans do a good deal of wood carving and clay modeling.

Italians (except their generals) are the happiest in captivity. They play boccie (a bowling game) and bridge (Culbertson). Both Germans and Italians play their own brand of basketball and soccer--the Germans a particularly energetic variety which keeps some of them in hospital with "soccer knee."

Beer and Hair Tonic. All POWs are paid a regular allowance, credited to their account or in the cash of the camp: canteen coupons. Enlisted men get 10-c- a day, another 80-c- if they work on the camp farms or roads. Lieutenants get $20 a month, captains and majors $30, all ranks above, $40. Afternoons, there is a heavy run on the canteen. The Germans go for 3.2 beer (when available), the Italians for hair tonic. Cokes and ice cream are international favorites.

The Germans sing a lot, especially with their beer. Marching to the soccer field, they thunder out "Heute gehoert tins Deutschland, Morgen die ganze Welt" ("Today we have Germany, tomorrow the world"). Marching back, they sing their sad, old soldier favorite, "Ich hatt' einen Kameraden" ("I had a comrade"). Italians seem to like to listen rather than sing, are always buying more records (mainly operatic) for their phonographs.

Crossville is quiet--the U.S. Army sees to that. But old hates still smolder. Nazis smile little. First groups of POWs were surly and uncooperative. More recent captives are more amenable. All show the effects of Axis reverses.

Outside the wire, the guards watch and wait, bound to the camp almost as tightly as the prisoners. Guards are older men, specially selected and trained. A good many have M.P. schooling. They are changed frequently to keep them alert in their boring work. The guards, too, will be glad when it is all over.

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