Transfer of Two POWs

H E A D Q U A R T E R S 1537th Service Unit Prisoner of War Camp Camp Atterbury, Indiana HNB/egw 25 August 1944 383.6 Subject: Transfer of Prisoners of War. Thru: Commanding General, Fifth Service Command Fort Hayes, Columbus 18, Ohio To: Provost Marshal General, Washington 25, D. C. Attn: Director, Prisoner of War Division       1.  Two Prisoners of War in the camp are now in confinement to protect them from possible injury or death at the hands of other German Prisoners of War.  Their names and cases as stated are as follows:             a.  Soldat ADAM, Robert, 5 WG 14174                  This man is French.  He was forced into a labor battalion and worked in Czechoslovakia for two years.  He was then forced into the German Army, where his height and physique were responsible for his assignment to the Elite Guard.  After various assignments he was sent to Anzio, and posted as an observer.  He surrendered to the first American patrol he saw.  Later he willingly told intelligence officers that he would like to join the Fighting Free French.  Upon being brought to this camp, he emphatically stated in the presence of German Prisoners of War that he would not go into the stockade with Germans because they would kill him.  His subsequent actions have tended to substantiate these statements, and supporting statements by an American Medical Officer and the Camp Chaplain are attached herewith.             b.  Soldat MITRENGA, Josef, 5 WG 14299.                  This man is a Czeck who was forced to work in mines in Silesia for three years, then was imprisoned for one month.  He was forced to choose between more drastic punishment and service with the German Army.  He choose the army, and states that German soldiers killed his mother when she resisted his going.  In this camp he has refused to speck to Germans or associate with them, and one might he was cowardly attacked in his sleep and severely beaten. (remaining lost)

Source: John D. Bowen, researcher, National Archives

Page last revised 09/01/20222  James D. West  www.IndianaMilitary.org  Host106th@106thInfDivAssn.org