Stalag II - B Stalag II - B was a German World War II prisoner - of - war camp situated west of the village of Hammerstein , Pomerania ( now the town of Czarne , Pomeranian Voivodeship , Poland ) on the north side of the railway line . Camp history . The camp was situated on a former army training ground ( " Übungsplatz " ) , and had been used during World War I as a camp for Russian prisoners . In 1933 it was established as one of the first Nazi concentration camp s , to house . In late September 1939 the camp was changed to a prisoner - of - war camp to house Polish soldiers from the September Campaign , particularly those from the Pomorze Army . In December 1940 , 1 , 691 Polish prisoners were recorded as being there . At first they lived in tents , throughout the severe winter of 1939 - 1940 , and construction of all the huts was not completed until 1941 . In June 1940 French and Belgian prisoners from the Battle of France began to arrive . To make room for them many of the Poles were forced to give up their status as POWs and become civilian slave laborers . The construction of the second camp , " Lager - Ost " ( " East Compound " ) began in June 1941 to accommodate the large numbers of Soviet prisoners taken in Operation Barbarossa . It was located south of the railway tracks . In November 1941 a typhoid fever epidemic broke out in " Lager - Ost " . It lasted until March 1942 and an estimated 45 , 000 prisoners died and were buried in mass graves . The camp administration did not start any preventive measures until some German soldiers became infected . In August 1943 the first American prisoners arrived having been taken prisoner in Tunisia . In April 1945 the camp was liberated by the Soviet Red Army . United States Army Official Report , 1 November 1945 . The prison . In August 1943 the Stalag was reported as newly opened to privates of the US ground forces with a strength of 451 . The Hammerstein installation acted as a headquarters for work detachments in the region and seldom housed more than one fifth of the POWs credited to it . Thus at the end of May 1944 , although the strength was listed as 4 , 807 , only 1 , 000 of these were in the enclosure . At its peak in January 1945 , the camp strength was put at 7 , 200 Americans , with some 5 , 315 of these out on 9 major " Arbeitskommando " ( " Work Companies " ) . Description . The camp sprawled over surrounded by the usual two barbed - wire fences . Additional fences formed compounds and sub - compounds . Ten thousand Russia ns lived in the East Compound , while the other nationalities — 16 , 000 French , 1 , 600 Serbs , 900 Belgians — and the Americans were segregated by nationalities in the North Compound . Within the American enclosure were the playing field , workshops and dispensary , showers , and delouser . At times more than 600 men were quartered in each of the three single - story barracks wide and long , made available to the Americans . Although this resulted in extremely crowded conditions , it contrasted well with the Russian barracks which held as many as 1 , 000 POW apiece . Barracks were divided in two by a center washroom which had 20 taps . Water fit for drinking was available at all hours except during the last two months when it was turned off for part of the day . Bunks were the regulation POW triple - decker types with excelsior mattresses and one German blanket ( plus two from the Red Cross ) for each man . In the front and rear of each barracks was a urinal to be used only at night . Three stoves furnished what heat there was for the front half of each barrack , and two for the rear half . The fuel ration was always insufficient , and in December 1944 was cut to its all - time low of of coal per stove per day . On warm days the Germans withheld part of the fuel ration . Treatment of prisoners . Treatment was worse at Stalag II - B than at any other camp in Germany established for American POW before the Battle of the Bulge . Harshness at the base Stalag degenerated into brutality and outright murder on some of the Kommandos . Beatings of Americans on Kommandos by their German overseers were too numerous to list , but records that 10 Americans in work detachments were shot to death by their captors . In the fall of 1943 , when Hauptmann Springer was seeking men for work details , American NCOs and medical corpsmen stated that according to the Geneva Convention they did not have to work unless they volunteered to do so , and they chose not to volunteer . At this , the German stated that he did not care about the terms of the Geneva Convention , and that he would change the rules to suit himself . Thereupon , he demanded that the POW in question fall into line and give their names and numbers for Kommando duty . When the Americans continued to refuse , Springer ordered a bayonet charge against them . At the German guards ' obvious disinclination to carry out the command , Captain Springer pushed one of the guards toward an American , with the result that soon all POW were to line up as ordered . Typical of the circumstance surrounding the shootings are the events connected with the deaths of PFC Dean Halbert and Pvt . Franklin Reed . On August 28 , 1943 , these two soldiers had been assigned to a Kommando at Gambin , in the district of Stolp . While working in the fields , they asked permission to leave their posts for the purpose of relieving themselves . They remained away from their work until the work detachment guard became suspicious and went looking for them . Sometime later he returned them to the place where they had been working and reported the incident to his superior . Both of the Kommando Guards were then instructed to escort the Americans to the Kommando barracks . Shortly after they had departed , several shots were heard by the rest of the Americans on the work detachment . Presently the two guards returned and reported that both Halbert and Reed had been shot to death for attempting escape . The guards then ordered the other American POWs to carry the bodies to the barracks . On another Kommando , the Germans shot and killed two Americans , stripped them and placed the bodies in the latrine where they lay for two days serving as a warning to other POW . Eight of the killings took place in the latter months of 1943 , one in May 1944 and one in December 1944 . In almost every case the reason given by the Germans for the shootings was " attempted escape " . Witnesses , however , contradict the German reports and state that the shootings were not duty ; but clear cases of murder . Forced labor . Except for housekeeping chores benefiting POW , no work was performed in the Stalag . All men fit to work were set out to Kommandos where conditions approximated the following : A group of 29 Americans were taken under guard to a huge farm from Stolp , where 12 French POW were already working without guards . Americans were billeted in a section of a large brick - floored barn . Adjoining sections were occupied by pigs , cows , and grain . POW slept on double - decker bunks under two blankets . The French had a small building of their own . Guards lived in a small room opening onto the Americans ' quarters . Each day the men rose at 06 : 00 and breakfasted on Red Cross food and on potato soup , bread and hot water ( for coffee ) which they drew from the farm kitchen . At 06 : 30 they washed their spoons and enameled bowls and cleaned their " barracks " . They shaved and washed themselves in three large wash pans filled from a single spigot which gave only cold water . The outdoor latrine was a 3 - seater . At 07 : 00 they rode out to potato fields in horse - drawn wagons driven by coldly hostile German farmhands who would welcome the opportunity to shoot a " kriege . " Under the watchful , armed guards they dug potatoes until 11 : 30 when they rode back to the farm for the noon meal . This consisted of Red Cross food supplemented by German vegetable soup . Boarding the wagons at 13 : 00 , POW worked until 16 : 30 . The evening meal at 17 : 00 consisted of Red Cross food and the farmers issue of soup , potatoes and gravy . After this meal they could sit outdoors in the fenced - in pen of by until 18 : 30 . Then the guard locked them in their section for the night . On Sundays , the guard permitted POW to lounge or to walk back and forth in the " yard " all day , but they spent a good deal of their time scrubbing their " barracks " and washing their clothing . Sunday dinner from the farm usually include a meat pudding and cheese . Once a month each POW received a large Red Cross food box containing four regulation Red Cross parcel s . These were transmitted to distant Kommandos by rail and to nearby unit by German Army trucks . Parcels were stored in the guard ' s room until issued . The average tour of duty on a farm Kommando lasted indefinitely . On other work detachments it lasted until the specific project had been completed . Evacuation and liberation . On January 28 , 1945 , POWs received instructions to be ready to evacuate the camp at 08 : 00 hours the following morning . Upon receipt of these instructions , M / Sgt . John M . McMahan , the " Man of Confidence " ( MOC ) ( a prisoner selected to liaise with the camp authorities ) set up a plan of organization based on 25 - man groups and 200 man companies with NCOs in charge . On the day of the evacuation , however , POWs were moved out of camp in such a manner that the original plan was of little assistance . German guards ordered POWs to fall out of the barracks . When 1 , 200 men had assembled on the road , the remaining 500 were allowed to stay in the barracks . A disorganized column of 1 , 200 marched out into the cold and snow . The guards were considerate , and Red Cross food was available . After the first day , the column was broken down into three groups of 400 men each , with NCOs in charge of each group . For the next three months , the column was on the move , marching an average of a day 6 days a week . German rations were neither regular nor adequate . At almost every stop McMahan bartered coffee , cigarettes , or chocolate for potatoes which he issued to the men . Bread , the most important item , was not issued regularly . When it was needed most it was never available . The soup was , as a rule , typical , watery German soup , but several times POW got a good , thick dried - pea soup . Through the activity of some of the key NCOs , Red Cross food was obtained from POW camps passed by the column on the march . Without it , it is doubtful that the majority of men could have finished the march . The ability of the men to steal helped a lot . The weather was atrocious . It always seemed to be either bitter cold or raining or snowing . Quarters were usually unheated barns and stables . Sometimes they slept unsheltered on the ground ; and sometimes they were fortunate enough to find a heated barn . Except for one period when Red Cross food was exhausted and guards became surly , morale of the men remained at a high level . Practically all the men shaved at every opportunity and kept their appearance as neat as possible under the circumstances . From time to time weak POW would drop out of the column and wait to be picked up by other columns which were on the move . Thus at Dahlen on March 6 – 7 , the column dwindled to some 900 American POW . On March 19 at Tramm , 800 men were sent to work on Kommandos , leaving only 133 POW who were joined a week later by the Large Kommando Company from Lauenberg . On April 13 , the column was strafed by four Spitfire s near Dannenberg . Ten POW were killed . The rest of the column proceeded to Marlag X - C , Westertimke , where they met the men they had left behind at Stalag II - B who had left on 18 February , reached Stalag X - B after an easy three day trip , and then moved on to adjacent Marlag X - C on April 16 . Westertimke was liberated by the British on April 28 , 1945 .