aynsley andras staff writer
German U-boats (submarines) targeted merchant vessels in the Gulf of Mexico in an effort to disrupt the Allies’ supply lines. This campaign had a significant impact on Louisiana’s coast and the prisoners of war captured from the U-boats.
The U-boats specifically targeted defenseless tankers and transport ships to cut American oil supply lines through the Gulf, according to When German Submarines Brought WWII to Louisiana’s Shores by Eli A. Haddow. This was due to the Gulf having access to the Mississippi River and merchant ships passing through.
One of the most well-known U-boats to be captured and the crew sent to Louisiana was U-505. U-505 was seized on June 4, 1944, as it was returning home after patrolling the Golden Coast of Africa, according to The U-505, a Submarine from Hilter’s Deadly Feet, is Captured.
Brian Davis, the executive director of the Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation, says the U-boat crew was sent to Camp Ruston, located seven miles northeast of Ruston, Louisiana.
“The crew was sent there because it was such a remote area,” he says. “They [prisoners] were less likely to have a direct route to be able to find their way back to U-boats.”
