(Tribune News Service) — Ernest Gueymard spent Dec. 15, 1943, at Prisoner-of-War Sub-Camp No. 7 in Port Allen, La., for a feature story for the State-Times, The New Orleans Advocate’s then-afternoon sister newspaper.

“The swish-swish of the cane knife is resounding over West Baton Rouge’s broad sugar fields as wielded by sturdy young German prisoners of war,” Gueymard wrote.

There were approximately 300 “broad-shouldered young men” who were living in the Port Allen prison of war sub-camp in 1943.

“The prisoners, who appear to be in their early twenties, are grappling with an industry new to them and are doing fairly well,” Gueymard reported.

The camp was located behind where the West Baton Rouge Museum is now, according to Lauren Davis, West Baton Rouge Museum’s curator.

“A state historic marker stands at the spot where a reconstructed concrete water fountain from the camp still stands,” Davis said.

The marker was erected in 2011 by the West Baton Rouge Historical Society in Port Allen, pointing out that the water fountain is the only remaining structure of the POW sub-camp, which was a satellite facility of the larger Camp Plauche downriver in Harahan.

Then again, there is one other surviving structure from the camp, which now serves as the museum’s juke joint.

The sub-camp operated from 1943 to 1946, housing between 500 and 774 German prisoners-of-war captured in North Africa and throughout Europe.

Gueymard, in his 1943 article, added that the the camp was situated on the old West Baton Rouge Parish fairgrounds near Port Allen’s community center. U.S. Army Capt. C.W. Weltzin was the commander. He said the prisoners’ living facilities were minimal, and their needs were met.

“The camp consisted of tents with wooden floors, each housing several prisoners,” the historic marker reads. “There were separate buildings for the kitchen, mess hall and showers. Due to wartime labor shortages on the home front, prisoners were used on local sugar plantations, Cinclare, Poplar Grove, Westover, Smithfield, Devall and Alma. Ranging in age from 19 to 52, the prisoners were paid 80 cents a day for an 8 to 10 hour workday, six days a week.”

Meanwhile, Davis points to the West Baton Rouge Museum’s website, westbatonrougemuseum.com, which dedicates a page to the parish’s World War II experience.

“The state of Louisiana had the third largest number of Prisoner of War camps in the U.S., behind California and Texas,” the museum’s page said. “There were five main camps for Axis prisoners in Louisiana and a number of satellite camps.”

The five camps were Camp Ruston in Lincoln Parish, Camp Claiborne in Rapides Parish, Camp Livingston in Rapides and Grant parishes, Camp Polk in Vernon Parish and Camp Plauche in Orleans Parish. Sub-Camp No. 7 was among the satellites.

“German prisoners were brought here on November 19, 1943,” the museum’s page continues. “The U.S. War Department had standard requirements for the construction of POW camps, and this camp was built according to these conditions for approximately 350 prisoners. The camp consisted of tar-papered buildings within a barbed wire enclosure of two separate 10- to 12-foot-high fences. Guard towers were placed at strategic points within the enclosure.”

The museum points out that not everything went smoothly in the beginning. There was one incident between the prisoners and the locals, when “a strike occurred at the camp after the 240 prisoners there refused to work in order to show solidarity for one punished detail of prisoners.”

In retaliation, the prisoners were only allowed bread and water until the strike was over. They lasted about three days.

But that seems to be the only documented outward show of contention during the camp’s operation. Gueymard’s article traces the prisoners’ assimilation into their new surroundings, beginning with their learning how to chop sugarcane stalks.

“When the men got into the field, the planters soon found that the prisoners had no training whatsoever in cutting cane, and the recruits had to learn from the beginning,” Gueymard wrote. “Few speak English, so the problem was made more acute ... the work of the prisoners has been fairly good but not excellent. However, planters are glad to get what they can.”

Meanwhile, Port Allen residents naturally were curious about their POW neighbors.

Gueymard details an instance when the prisoners arrived on a Sunday afternoon, and residents from Port Allen lined up at the Community Center pool benches to see the prisoners. On the other side of the fence, the prisoners lined up to look at the Americans.

“It was all very funny, and everybody began laughing, the prisoners and the Americans,” Gueymard wrote.

And what, exactly, did the Port Allen residents see? Gueymard described the prisoners as husky, broad-shouldered but not overly tall. He said they often engaged in horseplay while in the field.

“The boys seem to take their plight good-naturedly and are a jovial lot — not sullen — while at work in the fields,” the reporter wrote.

On the outside, the museum’s page states, Port Allen residents collected musical instruments for the Germans at the camp and hosted dances for them at the Community Center.

“People from West and East Baton Rouge recall how the young German men would often whistle at local girls as their work convoys passed,” the museum’s web page continued. “On the weekends, girls would try to talk to the young men through the fence from houses that backed up to one side of the camp on Michigan Avenue. Friendships developed between some farmers and POW laborers as well.”

In 1945, two German prisoners escaped, determined to celebrate their third Christmas post captivity outside the camp. The State-Times reported on Dec. 26, 1945, that local law enforcement arrested the duo, Heinrich Knuepe and Goenter Lessner, both 25.

“Just how far they got with their celebration was not learned, but they had apparently done little drinking when they were nabbed,” the article stated.

After Sub-Camp No. 7’s 1946 closure, German POWs were sent to various locations, primarily within the allied occupying zones in Germany for processing, labor or repatriation.

But Port Allen made a good impression on some.

“Several prisoners corresponded with residents,” the museum’s page states. “After leaving, one even stated that he wished he were back in Louisiana because of the difficulties of getting food in war-torn France, where he had been transferred.”

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