I want to thank the people affiliated with the celebration at this former P.O.W. camp for their invitation to sit on the 'Panel of Experts'. While this camp was used primarily to house members of the AFRIKA KORPS, probably the most famous group in this camp was the crew of U-505.

The U-Bootfahrer were put in this camp, specifically not in any camp for Kriegsmarine P.O.W.s, so the Germans would not know that U-505, and her codes etc., were captured by the US Navy. Whenever the Red Cross Camp Inspectors came to this camp, the crew of U-505 were transferred to another camp - before the Red Cross people got to Camp Ruston. Once the inspection was finished, the U-505 crew was brought back.

While this may have been a breach of the Geneva Convention, it did keep the news of the capture of U-505 and her vital codes a total secret from Germany through the end of the War.