"John Keeney" wrote in message
...



I've read of German PWs being dropped off around California
during Orange season to pick the fruit of indivual trees in
peoples' yards. Later in the day, the truck would come back for'm,
no guards, no escapes.
I don't know if such low security was common.


It was pretty normal for Italian POW's in the UK

There was a 'POW camp' in the village where I live, in Cambridgeshire
which consisted of a shed where the prisoners would report to the
'guard' which was one corporal and a private of the home guard before
being allocated work. They were all billeted with local families and worked
on the area farms. The only 'escape' was after the war when 3 disappeared
to avoid being sent home.

Keith