Camp Roswell, located on Orchard Park Road, was one of the first and largest base camps built in the U.S. It operated from August 1942 to February 1946 and held 4,816 German prisoners of war at its peak. Its construction resembled Army training centers, with the addition of watchtowers and fences. Most prisoners performed agricultural labor, particularly during cotton season, and smaller side camps associated with Roswell were located in Fort Sumner, Artesia, and Dexter. During World War II, 155 prisoner of war base camps and 511 branch camps were built in 46 states. By 1945, more than 425,000 German, Italian, and Japanese prisoners of war were held in the U.S., including more than 371,000 Germans, and they worked on farms, in mills and canneries, on public works projects, and in other low-risk jobs that helped ease wartime labor shortages. New Mexico's larger camps were in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Lordsburg, Roswell, and Santa Fe.